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Beth lost herself in good memories of Danny before he’d become her husband. He’d graduated from college too, but his engineering degree only got used for a couple of years before he realized how much he hated it. They’d gotten married and bought this beat-up farm on the outskirts of town, next to the wildly successful Bluegrass Ranch.
How hard they’d worked. Sixteen hours, from sunup to sundown. They’d built a lot of the structures on the farm from the foundation up, and Danny had built this porch where she and Trey now stood.
“You must have loved him very much,” Trey said.
“I did,” Beth said, pulling herself from her sadness. She drew in a deep breath, held it, and watched her brother turn off the highway. “That’s Hugh.”
Trey released her hand and put another two feet of distance between them. Beth felt the loss of his touch keenly, and she looked him. “They’re going to find out, like you said.”
“We have five weeks to get married,” he said. “I think we should probably go on at least one date before then.” He kept his eyes on her brother’s huge black truck as it came closer. “What do you think?”
“Yes,” she said, her lungs quaking a little bit.
“That’s my stipulation,” he said. “I should at least be able to tell my family that we’re dating before I start packing my bags to move out.”
Beth swallowed. “You’ll move in here?”
“You have enough bedrooms,” he said. “Might as well make it look real on the outside, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” she said again. Hugh parked beside Trey, and Beth’s window to have this conversation was running out.
“What’s your stipulation?” he asked. “I suppose you can have more than one.”
“I just have one,” she said, her throat so very dry.
“What is it?”
Hugh got out of his truck and lifted his hand in a wave. Beth did the same, and Hugh called, “I’m okay to park here?”
“Yes,” Beth called back to him.
“I’m not going to stay,” Trey said. “You’re busy with your family.” He faced her, and while his shirt and jeans were wet, he was still so handsome.
“That’s why you should stay,” she said. “If we’re to be married in only a few weeks.” She stepped toward him and reached for the buttons on his shirt. She touched one and then the other, waiting for him to take her into his arms. If he’d been engaged before, he surely understood a woman’s unspoken wants.
He finally put one hand on her hip and bent his head down. Beth ran her free hand up the side of his face, enjoying his clean-shaven face and the texture of his longer hair. “I only have one stipulation too,” she whispered, the crunching of Hugh’s footsteps over the gravel getting dangerously close.
“What is it now?” Trey asked.
“The first time you kiss me can’t be on our wedding day.”
Hugh started talking as he came up the steps, and Beth kept her eyes on Trey’s shocked ones as she backed up. She finally turned away when her brother arrived and embraced him. She laughed as he picked her right up off her feet.
“Who’s this?” he asked as he set her down. His bright eyes focused on Trey, and Beth decided they better go for the gold from the very beginning.
“Hugh, this is Trey Chappell. We’ve started seeing each other.” That was one hundred percent true, and neither of them could deny it.
“Well, I’ll be,” Hugh said, his smile a little too wide. It went well with his wide-eyed, shocked look. He stared at Beth for a moment and then back to Trey.
“Good to meet you,” Trey said, stepping forward as if Beth had introduced him to dozens of her friends and family members.
“Why you all wet?”
“I think this was meant for you,” Trey said. “I just got here ahead of you.”
Hugh’s eyes traveled down Trey’s body, and he started laughing. “I guess I owe you one then.”
Trey smiled, and Beth nearly fell down with how beautiful it made him. “I’d be careful going inside.”
