Happy Is the Bride Read online

  “Oh good. At least I’m in the right place.” She smiled until it reached her sky-blue eyes.

  Up close he could appreciate the porcelain quality of her complexion. This woman would fry up in no time out in the sun, which would be a perfect reason to keep her inside—in his bedroom.

  She still hadn’t offered up who she was or why she was here, but upon further inspection the van provided his answer. The lettering on the side panel supplied him with a company name. He considered the other tidbit of information that the van’s lettering supplied—the company’s location.

  Austin.

  She was a city girl.

  Pity. City folk made Tanner twitch.

  “You the wedding planner?” he asked.

  “I am. Erin Saddler, owner of Happy Is the Bride Event Planning. I’d shake your hand, but . . .” Her gaze dropped to the binders about to slip from her overloaded arms.

  “That’s a’ight.” As dirty as he was, it was probably best she couldn’t shake his hand. In fact, he thought twice before offering to take the notebooks from her for fear he’d ruin those pristine white binders. “Can I help you with some of those?”

  “Thanks. There are actually a few more.” She took a step back from the open door and he saw them on the floorboard.

  “No problem. I’ll get ’em.” Tanner was reaching into the van for the books when he heard the screen door of the house slam.

  “Erin?” The voice of Brady’s fiancée came from the porch.

  “That’s me. And you must be Ellie, my bride-to-be.” At Erin’s reply, Tanner went from wondering what the hell she had in these binders that weighed so damn much to thinking no woman’s voice had ever cut through him quite like Erin’s did.

  And she wasn’t even talking sexy. They were talking about his boss’s wedding, for cripes’ sake. Nothing that should have every cell in him aware of her.

  Tanner straightened up in time to see the bride-to-be trotting down the stairs, beaming with the biggest grin on her face. That was pretty much how Brady had looked lately, too.

  Young love—they’d better enjoy it before they got cynical like him.

  “I’m so glad you could meet with us so fast.” Ellie reached out to take one of the books in Erin’s hands.

  “Not a problem. The sooner the better. It’s going to be tight.” Of course, Erin was talking about the timing of the wedding, but Tanner’s mind went to bad places as he started to ponder everything that was tight on Erin’s tempting little body.

  Down, boy.

  Tanner wrangled his libido into check and reminded himself that city girls and country boys didn’t mix well. Been there, done that, and he had the scars on his heart to prove it.

  “We realize the date we chose is coming up fast, but neither of us wanted to wait.” As the bride turned toward the house, Brady appeared in the doorway. “Oh good. Here’s Brady now.”

  Erin flashed first Brady and then Ellie a brilliant smile that showed off her perfect white teeth. “And now I can see why you don’t want to wait.”

  Ellie giggled. “I know. Isn’t he the cutest?”

  Tanner rolled his eyes as he followed behind the two women. He felt nothing but respect for the Cutwrights, but this shindig, which seemed to grow daily until it had taken on a life of its own, was bullshit in his opinion. Waste of time and money, if you asked him.

  Then again, unlike Tanner, the Cutwrights had the money to waste. That was probably one reason for the wedding planner’s warmth as she greeted Brady: dollar signs.

  Thinking of Miss Erin Saddler, wedding planner extraordinaire, as just another money-hungry big-city business owner helped. Tanner needed something to balance out his other, baser feelings for the woman as she climbed the steps ahead of him and he got another eyeful of her shapely behind in that skirt.

  Yeah, he needed to get out of there before he embarrassed himself.

  Ellie led Erin into the house and Tanner could finally think again, now that her tinkling laugh and twinkling eyes were safely out of range.

  “Here you go, boss. Have fun.” Grinning, Tanner shoved the books toward Brady while thinking that whatever those binders contained was going to be anything but fun.

  Brady was no dummy. He narrowed his eyes. “Oh no. You don’t get out of here that easily.”

  Tanner frowned. “What’s your wedding got to do with me?”

  “Ellie and I have another appointment we have to get to this afternoon, so I need you to take the wedding planner over to Meg’s and show her where the reception’s gonna be. And drive her out to the chapel so she can see where we’re having the ceremony.”

  Oh no. No, no, no. Him alone in his truck with her was not gonna happen.

  He’d been too long without his hands on a woman to be alone with Miss Sex on Heels inside the confines of the cab of his truck.

  Tanner was into many things, but self-torture wasn’t one of them. He had a bad feeling Miss Saddler was already going to invade his sleep tonight, just from this one brief encounter by the minivan.

  He didn’t need to fuel that fire with any more time spent with her—alone and in his own damn pickup truck to boot.

  “Why don’t you just give her the directions? Meg can show her around there.”

  “Meg is meeting us in the city for our appointment. It’s wedding stuff and Ellie wants her there.”

  Tanner lifted one shoulder to concede Brady’s point as he crafted another suggestion to get himself out of escorting Miss Tight Skirt. “The dude ranch has staff. They can take her around.”

  “Meg’s crew has their own work to do. This time of year you know she’s booked full up. It’s nice enough of her to clear her reservations for the week of our wedding on top of letting us have the ceremony and the rehearsal dinner and the reception there. I’m not gonna take her crew away from their work.”

  “Fine. I’ll do it.” Tanner scowled, unhappy with the turn of events. To make sure his displeasure was fully known, he added, “It’s not like I got a fence to put up or anything.”

  Brady shook his head. “I knew you were a confirmed bachelor, but I had no idea your aversion to marriage included other people’s weddings, too.”

  “Maybe it’s my aversion to city folk and not weddings. You ever think of that?” Tanner cocked a brow high.

  The problem was, this particular city girl made him want to break his own rule. Made him want to run his hands through her hair to see if it felt as soft as it looked. Made him want to lean in and get a better whiff of whatever damn scent she wore, which still clung in the air long after she was gone.

  “Well, you can get in that fancy air-conditioned truck of yours and chauffeur that city girl in there around for an hour or so while Randy works on the fence and finishes the afternoon chores in this heat. Or I could see if Randy wants to take her over to Meg’s while you finish up work here for the day. You decide.” Brady folded his arms and waited.

  Given those options, there was no choice in Tanner’s mind. “What time you figure she’ll be ready for me to take her over to Meg’s?”

  Brady grinned. “Thought you’d say that. And I’d say in about an hour.”

  “A’ight.” With a nod, Tanner spun on one boot heel and headed back out to the new paddock to break the news to Randy and then get himself and his truck cleaned up before either could mess up pretty Miss Erin and her skirt.

  Chapter Three

  A wedding on three weeks’ notice.

  The bride and groom must be crazy to plan such a thing.

  No, she must be crazy to agree to put it together for them . . . and on a dude ranch no less!

  But now that Erin realized who the groom’s family was, it was a good thing she had said yes. The Cutwrights were an important family in this part of the country, with the money to match the status. Having their wedding on her résumé would boost her reputation and her business in a way that no amount of posting on social media could—no matter what Jessica said.

  But in exchange for th
at coup, she was certainly being put through the wringer.

  Erin drew in a breath as she bounced along in the passenger seat next to a cowboy who spent more time fiddling with the radio than he did keeping his eyes on the road. Though, actually, they’d left the road a few miles ago. Now they seemed to be driving in a field of some kind. Nothing road-like about it.

  He hit another pothole or gopher hole or whatever kind of hole was found out in the middle of nowhere and Erin’s teeth clashed together. She’d be lucky if she didn’t end up biting her own tongue off during this ride from hell.

  “Where exactly are we going?” she asked.

  “Chapel.”

  Another one-word answer. Those were all she seemed to have gotten from him since they’d climbed into the truck. Oh, he was a perfect gentleman but not exactly a conversationalist.

  She gripped the safety bar above her head a little tighter and shot him a sideways glance.

  This man was all Texan and all cowboy, from the dirty boots and jeans right down to the can of chewing tobacco she’d noticed tucked away beneath the dashboard in the center console. Which was what made it even stranger that she couldn’t stop looking at him.

  Maybe it was the sun-kissed light brown hair. Or the green-blue eyes. Or just the fact that he was so completely the opposite of almost every guy she came across in Austin.

  Austin was in Texas, but it seemed more like an artistic island set adrift in a sea of ranches.

  The population of the city was probably made up of as many transplants as locals.

  The cultural scene was unique unto itself. Austin was a Mecca for music lovers and musicians alike. It was the kind of city where you could not only find a vegan bakery but the business did so well they were thinking of expanding into a second location. And in Austin you were as likely to see a fuel-efficient hybrid as a good ol’ boy diesel truck.

  She suspected here, not too far outside of the city, Tanner Black’s life was the complete opposite.

  The top one hundred country songs played on the preset radio stations in his oversized, fuel-guzzling pickup truck. She’d bet he ate meat and potatoes for every meal. Accompanied by a good old American Budweiser. No micro brewed local beer for this man.

  After having met him just an hour ago, Erin had a strong sense of who he was already. What she couldn’t figure out was why she felt a tiny bit of disappointment every time he gave her one of his one-word answers.

  “So Brady’s friend owns the church as well as the dude ranch?” she asked in an attempt to spur conversation.

  “Chapel. And, yup, she does.”

  At least that was more than one word, but the response hadn’t given Erin any more satisfaction than his previous ones had.

  He hit another bump that jostled her nearly out of her seat. She gripped the seat belt cutting into her chest with one hand and clung harder to the ceiling handle with the other.

  “Have we considered how the guests are going to drive out here? It’s kind of rough going.” The way Tanner’s truck was bouncing on this rough terrain, she didn’t think a normal car would be able to navigate it.

  “Don’t know. That’s not my responsibility.”

  This was a real issue, and that the bride and groom hadn’t thought of it was a big problem for her. Make that another problem in an already challenging event.

  With a huff of frustration, she asked, “What is your responsibility?”

  For the first time during the drive, he turned to look directly at her. A crooked smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “Right now, babysitting you.”

  The cocky grin confused her. He slammed on the brakes and threw the truck into park before she could decide whether he was angry about his babysitting duty or not.

  Erin frowned. “Why are we stopping?”

  They appeared to be in the middle of nowhere.

  “We’re here.” He tipped a chin in the direction of something past the passenger side of the truck. When she could wrestle her eyes off the dark shadow of the stubble covering his chin and stop wondering if it would feel as tantalizing against her skin as it looked, she twisted in the seat to follow his gaze.

  There, in the middle of the field, was a building. Smaller than she’d envisioned, it was obviously the chapel.

  He was right. It was definitely not a church in the conventional sense. Nothing like the big, modern structures you’d find in a city. Nor like the imposing old churches modeled after Gothic cathedrals.

  This was so quaint and so picturesque she wouldn’t be at all surprised to find a row of artists lined up with easels and canvases attempting to capture its charm.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  Surprised, she swung her eyes to look at Tanner. That he had an opinion and had agreed with her was more than she’d expected.

  “Does anyone use it?” she asked.

  “You worried it’s full of mice and spiderwebs?”

  She hadn’t considered that before, but now . . . “A little. But I’m curious, too. It’s so charming, but it really is off the beaten path.”

  “Meg uses it for the guests at the ranch. But nah, there’s not a weekly Sunday service, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Can we go inside?”

  “Sure. That’s why we’re here.” He turned off the ignition and reached for the driver’s side door handle.

  Erin was just pulling her cell phone out of her bag so she could snap a few pictures when the passenger door opened, startling her. She spun to find Tanner standing with one hand out.

  Damn him. Just when she’d made up her mind that he was a jerk, he was acting the perfect gentleman by opening her door and offering a hand to help her out of the high truck.

  She turned in her seat and his gaze dropped to her shoes. “Those heels aren’t gonna be your friend in this dirt.”

  “I’m afraid you’re right.” She cringed and glanced at how far down the ground looked from here. Climbing up had been challenging enough, but climbing—or maybe jumping down—was scary. Especially in four-inch spikes. She laughed. “Any suggestions for my dismount?”

  He smiled. “Don’t worry. I gotcha.”

  Before she knew what he had in mind, big, strong hands encompassed her waist and she was flying through the air only to land softly on the ground. He continued to hold her as she grabbed for his biceps when she felt her heels sink into the grass and soft dirt.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  Still gripping muscles that felt much harder beneath her hands than they’d looked peeking from beneath the short sleeves of his T-shirt, she managed to nod. “I think so. You’re right. These are impractical shoes. Lesson learned.”

  “They’re nice though.”

  A compliment from the man of few words threw her. “Thanks.”

  She realized she probably should let go of him now. Or at least soon.

  The fact that his hands remained on her waist didn’t help her nervous reaction to this man.

  What was it about him? She’d met with powerful CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as demanding fathers of brides who wanted to dictate where every penny of their money was going. She’d never felt quite like this. Not like the way she was feeling in front of one working cowboy who’d already told her the only thing he was responsible for regarding this wedding was babysitting her.

  But oh how good his hands felt on her.

  Work. That would help her get her head back on straight and hopefully make her stop thinking about how good those big, strong hands would feel on the rest of her body.

  While she was naked.

  In bed.

  With him.

  Erin cleared her throat. “Impractical shoes or not, I guess I should try to make it to the building. If I can’t do it, the guests certainly won’t be able to.”

  “A’ight.” He released his hold on her, forcing her to do the same. Dropping her hands from his massive arms, she reached back into the truck and grabbed her cell while he
continued, “It’s actually not as bad as it seems.”

  “It’s not?” she asked, not quite believing him.

  Her skepticism had him chuckling. “The grass is high now, but the crew will come out and brush hog it the day before the wedding.”

  What the hell was brush hogging? Whatever it was, he seemed to think it would help, and judging by the context of his comment it would make this nearly knee-high grass less of an obstacle.

  “Ah. Good. Perfect. The brush hogging, I mean.”

  “You know what brush hogging is?” He cocked up one brow.

  “Not really,” she admitted.

  He grinned and offered her his arm. “Come on. There’s a path over here laid out with fieldstones. I should be able to find it for you. It’ll be easy to see once they knock down the grass for the ceremony.”

  “A path sounds good.” A bit wobbly, she held on to his arm and tried not to fall down and embarrass herself.

  Keeping a slow pace, he didn’t rush her. Once they found the path, it was easier going but still challenging. “I hope the bride wears practical shoes.”

  “Cowboy boots.” He let out a snort. “The fact I actually know what kind of shoes Ellie is gonna wear tells me this wedding has pretty much taken over everything at the Cutwright place.”

  “No doubt.”

  She cut him a sideways glance as she gripped his arm. She probably could have let go of him once they’d reached the path but better safe than sorry.

  Yeah right.

  Silently, she admitted she just liked holding on to him. And he was willing, so she certainly was.

  “The good news for you is that it’ll all be over soon.”

  “Which I’m guessing is bad news for you because you gotta plan it,” he said.

  “You’re right. Not that I’d ever complain.”

  “No, I’m sure you wouldn’t.”

  She was deciding whether that comment had been an insult or a compliment when he disengaged himself from her grasp.

  “Here we are. Let me get the door.” Tanner wrestled for a moment with the solid aged wooden door of the chapel until it finally gave way to his efforts.