AllFreeNovel
Share Us
So clearly, her thinking that she’d almost kissed Drake Alexander was just a fanciful imagining.
Reaching across the wrought-iron table, Emma gave Fleur’s forearm a squeeze. “It was my pleasure to cook for you and have some time together. I’m just so thrilled you decided to cater the wedding.”
Fleur smiled, gladness stealing through her. After navigating the difficult relationships with her sisters, she often felt gun-shy about female friendships. As a result, she hadn’t made those deep bonds that some women form with their friends, and her life was the poorer for it. She hadn’t expected Emma to extend her the warmth of friendship so readily after the broken engagement.
The thought brought her former fiancé’s face to mind. She really needed to ask Emma an awkward question.
“Erm. One thing about the wedding.” She shifted position on the bench, forcing herself to meet Emma’s wide hazel eyes. As much as she wanted this job—and she really, really needed the income at this point—she didn’t want to create unease in the Alexander family. “You know things ended unhappily between Colin and me. You’re not concerned it might be awkward for him? Having me so involved in your big day?”
Emma’s head tilted to one side, her lips drawing into a small frown. “I hope it won’t be hard for him, but given how little effort he’s made to patch things up with Drake since their falling-out over you, I won’t let his feelings dictate my choices.”
Fleur reared back a bit, trying to get a handle on what she’d just heard. Her bare thighs beneath her cutoffs raked along the wrought-iron seat at the movement.
“They quarreled?” She hadn’t known there was tension between them—then or now. “And you think it was over me?”
“You didn’t know?” Emma’s eyes went round as she shoved aside her plate and leaned her elbows on the table. “When Colin moved to Montana, he intended it as a way to put distance between him and Drake. He hasn’t been home since...you know.” She looked abashed, her voice dropping. “Things ended with you.”
Fleur shook her head, unable to believe that she’d been the cause of that sort of standoff.
“There had to be more to it than me. Colin and I—we weren’t meant to be. He knew that as well as I did.” She just hadn’t always liked to admit that to herself since hanging on to her anger with Drake had been easier than blaming Colin, who’d been her friend before he’d been her lover, however briefly.
She thought back to his brief visit to her at her grandmother’s house when she’d told him there was no point in remaining together since she’d miscarried their baby. He’d been kind. Tender, even. And he’d wished her well when she’d given him back his ring.
It would have all been a distant memory for her except that she’d been deep in her own grief. His departure from her life, when she needed someone to grieve with her, or to at least hold her while she cried, had been devastating. Only after he walked out her door for good did she give in to the emotions overwhelming her. She’d cried for days. Weeks, maybe. Time had been a slippery concept in those days of despair and, she realized later, a huge shift in hormones that made it even tougher to get her emotions under control.
Yet she hadn’t blamed Colin, choosing to see his brother as the one responsible for pressing her to end the engagement. Now, she had to wonder why she’d been content to paint Drake as the villain in their drama. Why did she reserve all her animosity for him? But then, Drake had always inspired strong emotions in her.
Even now, her thoughts went to him and not to his brother far away in Montana.
“Do you really think so?” Emma mused, toying with the blond ends of her ponytail. Around them, the gas-fueled tiki torches around the patio flamed to life, giving a golden cast to the evening as the sun disappeared behind tall pines. “I’ll be honest that I never saw the two of you as the right fit for one another.” Her hazel gaze was shrewd for a moment before she smiled. “Either way, if he wanted a say in my wedding planning, he could have come home to congratulate me or visit me anytime in the past five years.”
A new uneasiness returned as Fleur considered what she’d learned. There were dynamics at work in the Alexander family she’d been unaware of and felt unprepared to deal with during the catering job. She empathized, having dysfunction galore in her own family, though it made her uncomfortable that she could be the source of Drake and Colin’s conflict. But since she wouldn’t be able to afford to keep the electric on at the ranch next month if she didn’t have some kind of work, she planned to forge ahead anyhow.
She stood to help Emma clear the table, changing the subject to other wedding details in an effort to lighten the mood. But even as Emma described her dress in detail, and explained her plans for exchanging vows beside the creek in her own backyard, Fleur’s thoughts kept returning to Drake.
Not just the way he held her on horseback. Or the charged moment when she thought he might have kissed her. She also wondered what had happened between the Drake brothers to make Colin leave Catamount for good.
What if the misunderstanding concerned her, or was in her power to fix? Fleur knew how much it hurt to have warring siblings.
Making up her mind to talk to Drake about it when she approached him about the land management issue, she said good-night to Emma, knowing she should start the walk home before it got any darker.
The women exchanged a hug.
“Let me give you a ride home,” Emma offered.
Fleur shook her head. “That’s okay. The fresh air will do me good.”
She had too much on her mind, especially that exchange with Drake.
“Then you can take one of the horses,” Emma insisted as they stood on the flagstones, the creek rippling at their feet. “It’s too far to walk, especially at this hour. And Drake is probably still in the barn. He can saddle one for you.”
“I’ll be fine,” Fleur vowed as she edged onto the damp grass. Because even though she’d decided to speak to Drake, she hadn’t quite recovered enough from their last conversation to spend more time with him tonight. “I’ll take the path that follows the creek.”
“And what if you step into a bog?” Emma argued, distracted by her vibrating phone. She checked it briefly before stuffing the device into her skirt pocket. “A horse will keep you safe and give you some company.”
Fleur retreated another step, knowing she’d taken too much of the woman’s time already. “Don’t think twice about it. Thanks again for a really nice evening—Oof!” she exclaimed as she backed into a warm, muscular wall.
Drake’s hands were on her arms, steadying her from behind. At the same time, he called to his sister over Fleur’s head.
