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“Well if you’re going to act like a kid, you’re gonna get treated like one.”
Stella scowled at him and sighed with something close to exasperation. As though he should already know the answer to this one. With his mind occupied with the intricate details that could cost his company billions for one mistake, their father’s death, and everything else in between, he must have missed a finer detail here or there.
“Mind filling me in on what I missed?” He plucked the last bit of her cinnamon roll from her fingers before she could dunk it.
“Oh, that’s low. Momma’s gonna hear about that when we get home.”
He shrugged and leaned against the counter.
Exasperated and fuming that she missed out on her last bit of pastry, Marshall wiggled his brows at his sister. No words were needed to get her riled up. Something each of his brothers thrived on. The girl did it all on her own.
Reserved to seek revenge later no doubt, Stella turned to her steaming cup of coffee. He’d do better to keep an eye open. Redheads tended to be swift, silent, and deadly when on a warpath. Or at least this one did.
She tapped the folder that held his newly-minted contract with his wedding planner and smiled a tiny know-it-all smirk that followed her from childhood. “If I hadn’t we would still be at square one only this time thirteen hundred miles away from home and two days closer to your—our—deadline of getting you hitched.”
He shrugged. “You think me not having a bride would have deterred her away from saving her business by taking us on?”
“Well Mr. Big Shot Risk Taker. You think it was worth risking her scooting us out the door? The fact we have days to get you married and add to that her clients aren’t local? You tell me. A person can only take so much on.”
All very valid points.
Marshall turned a narrowed-eyed gaze on his sister. At only twenty-two, the kid with freckles and pigtails he used to tease had grown up.
“It was hard enough getting her to sign with our kind of deadline. Add in no bride and she would have walked and then where would you be? Breaking your mother’s heart and tossing the company all at the same time. The way I see it I saved us all. It’s only a little white lie that we can sort out later.”
“You know how I feel about that.”
“I do. This time you’ll have to suck it up, buttercup.”
He tossed the remainder of his coffee down the drain. Even the tiniest of lies could turn into an iceberg the size of the Titanic.
Six years ago their brother almost died in a car accident that left him in a coma for two weeks over Christmas because of a lie. His lie.
It almost cost his family the ultimate price. He swore, prayed, begged, and pleaded with all his heart that whoever held the lifeline to his brother would show some mercy. That if Cole survived, he’d never deceive again and dedicate his time to the wellbeing of his family.
He’d kept that promise and had no plans on breaking it.
“You look tense. I see where your head went with this, Marshall.”
The only time his sister resorted to his given name meant she didn’t want to mince words.
“You need to get out of the past. Cole’s accident wasn’t your fault.” Her hand came down on his for a brief second.
“Wasn’t it?” He cursed the tiny two-cup coffeemaker as he refilled the water and put in fresh grounds. “I wanted to teach him a lesson and it almost got him killed. Could have killed others. I should have protected him. Instead, I was too focused on me and what I wanted.”
“I’m not going to argue with you any more on this. And if Cole and Sam were here instead of holding down the fort in Texas, they’d be giving you a solid beating on the head right about now. You know what? On second thought.” Stella got up from the stool she’d claimed the second she poured her coffee and started taking off the few rings she wore on each hand.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m gonna give you that head thumping.”
He flicked her threat away. At five feet and some change to his six-four, she could try. “You know Juniper will hit Google up soon enough if she hasn’t done it by now. She’ll see who you are. Who I am.” She shrugged. “Problem solved.”
His sister reclaimed her stool, glowering his way, “True. I didn’t say the lie had to last forever. But by now she’s checked her bank account for the deposit. Plus,” Stella flagged the folder on the counter again, “we have a signed contract. It’s a done deal. You’re getting married by the time the clock tolls midnight on your birthday, big brother.”
That was the last thing he wanted to hear.
