The Bride Wore Denim Read Free Page A

that.”
    “I should be in with the rest of the family. It seems better if I don’t spend too much time with Mia, and I was one step from having to organize food with her. Not a good plan.”
    “Your Mia? Dr. Amelia Crockett, the very one who keeps all order and makes all peace? Why would you need to keep your distance from your sister?”
    “Amelia moved out a dozen years ago and has never looked back. We haven’t lived together in all that time. But to her, I’m still the hippie screw-up, the sister who couldn’t be organized if her life depended on it. She’s a lot like Dad. I get tired of her telling me what to do as if I don’t understand the world.” She laughed humorlessly. “She was always the border collie, and I was the sheep she couldn’t get into the pen.”
    “I miss the border collies,” he said. “Loved the ones we had. But Mia is no border collie, Harpo. She doesn’t care where the sheep go—she’s only worried about her own destination. She’s more like a bloodhound.”
    “I disagree. Mia could organize squirrels to line dance if she wanted to. Sorry. I’m speaking ill of your ex.”
    Harper hoped no old bitterness bled through the words. Childhood pettiness had no place in their lives anymore, especially at a time like this.
    “I love Mia,” he said, “and I’m sorry things are strained between you. But ‘ex’ is the operative word here, so I’m not necessarily on her side. I think this is a hard time, and you sisters haven’t been around each other enough to smooth things over. Give it time.”
    “Okay, enough of the sensitive cowboy.”
    That was another thing she was remembering about Cole. For a ranch-loving cowboy, he’d always been accused of having a streak of insight and chivalry in him that most macho guys lacked. The soul of a cowboy poet. It was why he’d once juxtaposed so well with the straight-shooting, ultra-efficient Amelia.
    “Hey, I’m no cowboy anymore. At least not most of the time.”
    “Oh yeah,” she said, glad to leave talk and thoughts of Mia behind. “You have some sort of mechanic’s job now.”
    “I work for a company that contracts out big-machinery mechanics to anyone who needs them. It’s not a bad fit for me during the summer. I always liked working on the equipment around here and home. I’m staying on here through the winter now, though. I left the other job early when I heard about your dad. Leif and Bjorn will need all the help they can get, and I was coming back in three weeks at the beginning of September anyhow.”
    Her heart squeezed at the mention of Leif and Bjorn Thorson. Leif had been her father’s right-hand man for forty years. His son, Bjorn, was now the best foreman any ranch owner could ask for. They were devastated by the loss of their tough, savvy boss. Harper felt worse for them than she did for herself.
    “You’re a good guy, Cole. It can’t be easy for you to come back since the Double Diamond was sold.”
    He shook his head. “I was really angry at first. But not at your father like you might think. He did my dad a favor by buying him out so we didn’t have to sell to developers. But I was furious at my father for giving up. For selling off our legacy.”
    “And still, you came back to work for the enemy.”
    “I got over it. I understand what happened to the Double Diamond, and my father made the only choice he could. But I won’t lie. I’m not letting it out of my sight, and I’ll stick around until I can get it back. I’m damn close, Harpo. I’d almost convinced Sam he didn’t really want to keep that little piece of property.”
    “It is a gorgeous hunk of land.”
    “The Double Di was in my family as long as Paradise has been in yours. I’d like to be the one to restore the legacy.”
    “Ironic.”
    “What is?”
    “Out of four tries and six children, my dad didn’t get a son—or even a daughter—who wants this place as much as your father’s one child wants his. You lost yours to our