Okay, she didn’t, but he sure as hell didn’t need to know that.
He raised an eyebrow and toasted her with his empty ginger ale can. “Duly noted.”
And with a final evil-eyed glare, she pulled back onto the road, feeling pretty good about things—right up until she drove into the yard in front of the house. There were nearly a dozen family members waiting on the front porch, eager to get all the constant family togetherness started.
Oh God. What in the blue blazes had she done?
…
There were a million people waiting for them when Hadley pulled up in front of the house.
It was a big place, two stories with a wraparound porch that had an honest-to-God metal triangle hanging from the ceiling that someone could bang the attached rod against, the clang alerting everyone it was time to head home—just like the old black-and-white cowboy movies he used to watch as a kid. It sat alone on the top of what could barely be called a hill, since it was more of a roll in the land. Big leafy trees surrounded the house like guards around the four walls. Off in the distance, he spotted the red metal roof of a barn or bunkhouse and several smaller houses between the big building and the main house.
The whole thing was about as country sweet as you could get—especially considering the place had managed to spawn the ball-threatening Hadley Donavan. Maybe she moved in late in life.
“Were you born here?” Will asked.
“Not out here.” She put the SUV into Park and turned off the engine. “I grew up in town. Didn’t move out here until I was fourteen when Mom married Gabe.”
“There’s a town?” Okay, he’d sacked out, lulled to sleep by the Dramamine and never-ending interstate, but he definitely would have woken up with stop-and-go city traffic.
“Yeah, we drove right through it.” She reached for the door, exhaling as if to gird herself, and opened it. “We were lucky and the single stoplight on Main Street was a blinking yellow when I drove through.” She paused and shot him another glare. “Remember what I said about my family. Do not fuck with them.”
“The thought never crossed my mind.” No, he’d been too busy having dreams about literally fucking Hadley, which just went to show how much the drive had messed with him.
He took a sly peek at her ass as she got out of the car. Yes, he was a glutton for punishment in the no-touch zone, but he wasn’t fully awake yet and had absolutely no interest in Hadley, no matter what lies the lusty twitch in his dick tried to tell as he watched her strut around the SUV’s hood.
Damn. He was going to have to get all of this “not interested” under control if he was going to make it through this week without getting distracted. He was a man on a mission, and he wasn’t about to let his brother fall into the same trap that had gotten Will once before. No pretty face or sweet ass would come between the Holts and their money ever again.
Although Will was going to have to be careful about how he went about convincing Hadley that even if Web might be an easy mark, Will would do whatever it took to protect him. There were a lot of places to hide a body out here—not that anyone looked particularly murderous, but if there was one thing he understood more than anything else, it was the power of family loyalty. Judging by the happy tears, hard hugs, and general joy from Hadley’s family as they rushed to greet her, he had no doubt her family understood it as well.
Unable to put off this ridiculous plan any longer, he channeled his twin and put on his friendliest smile before getting out of the car and joining the throng of mostly women surrounding Hadley.
“You must be Webster. I’m Hadley’s mom, Stephanie,” Stephanie said, turning to him with a friendly, if reserved smile and holding out her hand.
He accepted her handshake and managed to cover his shock at the strength in her grip. “Everyone but Hadley calls me Will. She loves to give me a hard time about my name.”
Hadley shot him a death glare. So they hadn’t discussed the name thing, but he was right and he knew it. It was only a matter of time before he failed to answer to Web and then the gig would be up.
Adalyn, judging by her Bride-To-Be T-shirt, cocked her head to the side, her face twisting with confusion. “Isn’t that your bro—”
Her question was cut off by a well-timed elbow from Hadley followed by a speaking glance that said, Shut the hell up.
“My brother’s nickname for me, yes,” he covered.
“Well.” Stephanie paused for a second, not looking the least bit appeased. “Will. It’s good to have you here for this special occasion.”
“Thanks for having me, and please let me know what I can do to help.” The polite words came out almost as a reflex, because the answer was always no when it came to big events that were always catered and planned by professionals.
“Don’t suppose you can cook?” Stephanie asked.
Considering she probably didn’t want her entire family slightly poisoned by undercooked chicken, there was only one answer he could give. “No, but I can wash dishes like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Good.” She gave him a real smile this time that had the corners of her eyes crinkling. “You’ve got a job.”
As everyone started to walk inside, Hadley pulled him back half a step. “Do you even know how to wash dishes?”
“I can load a dishwasher.” Occasionally he even did it. Usually, though, the cleaning crew took care of all that at his Harbor City penthouse.
“But have you ever actually done that?” She took a step closer, looking up at him with a knowing little smirk—the one that told him she knew just how full of shit he was. “Have you ever washed dishes by hand?”
“I’m not a complete spoiled jerk,” he said, sounding exactly like one even to his own ears.
She just lifted an eyebrow.
God, she was pushy—something that should have been annoying. Really, it was annoying. Completely. Utterly. Without a doubt. That was the only reason why he couldn’t drag his attention away from that smart mouth of hers because he couldn’t believe what words came out of it.
“Okay, fine.” He closed the distance between them, using the advantage of his height to look down at her. “No. I haven’t, but I’m sure I won’t have a problem excelling at it just like I do everything else.”
“Oh really?” she asked, not giving an inch. “I suppose you can also excel at all the ranching chores, like help check the fencing and gather eggs and muck the stalls, too.”
“Of course,” he said, his mouth running without his brain because all he could think about was how badly he wanted to kiss that knowing grin off her face right now. “By the end of the week, your relatives will be thinking of me like I’m just another cowboy in the family. They’re gonna love me.”
Hadley scoffed. “No. Fucking. Way.”
“Wanna bet?”
He had no idea why he was doing this. Proving her wrong about his abilities to wash dishes or muck fences or mend stalls or be a beloved member of her family wasn’t on his agenda. He was here for one reason: to convince her to take her gold-digger hooks out of his brother. She was priming Web, softening him up for the taking. He’d seen it before—lived it—and the pattern was the same as what Mia had done to him. Start with friendship, add in some damsel-in-distress bullshit like her I-really-need-you-to-go-to-my-sister’s-wedding ploy, and then go in for the multimillion-dollar kill.
“So do we have a bet or not?” he asked.
“Bet on what?” she asked as she pantomimed pulling finger guns from a holster on each side of her round hips and shooting them into the air like a trick shot. “That you can become a rootin’ tootin’ city slicker cowboy much beloved by my family in a week? It’ll never happen.”
Oh, it was definitely happening now. Winning was his specialty. There was no way he’d lose to her. “If you lose, you leave my brother alone. If I lose—which isn’t going to happen—I’ll never mention you being a gold digger again, and I’ll get out from between you and my brother.”
Hadley released a dramatic sigh and pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. “Oh no, all my plans to marry a billionaire are in jeopardy.”
Such a smart-ass.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
She crossed her arms, cocked her hip, and considered him for a moment before saying, “You bet your never-seen-a-cow-patty-before boots.”
Then, in a repeat of what had happened at the airport, she turned and walked away, going up the steps of the ranch house’s front porch.
She was confident, he’d give her that. Too bad for her, he was a man who never lost—not in business and not when it came to protecting his family.
Hadley Donavan was about to find out firsthand just how good the bad Holt twin could be.
Chapter Six
Hadley was going to love watching Will have to shut up already about his totally wrongheaded belief that she was friends with Web only because she had plans to steal his money. Really, how many bad movies had he watched to come up with such an inane plot? All of which would make seeing him end up falling on his tight-Wranglers-wearing ass at the end of the week even sweeter.
Petty?
Her?