Christy Jeffries - The Maverick's Bridal Bargain

“Four?” Vivienne gulped, blinking a few times to keep her eyes from bugging out. There was more than one handsome cowboy like this out there somewhere?

Zach pulled a picture from his wallet and handed it across the desk as though to prove it. She attempted to study the photo with as much professionalism as she could muster. There were two pairs of cowboys sitting on the top slat of a wooden corral, bookending a fifth cowboy who was standing in the middle. Zach was probably one of the sitters, but, honestly, Vivienne barely gave those guys a passing glance. She quickly narrowed in on the one in the center, though only because his central position and straight posture drew all of her attention. It had nothing to do with his sexy smirk or alert blue eyes. And it certainly wasn’t because of the way his jeans fit perfectly on his—

“Is it a problem if we’re uneven?” Lydia asked, yanking Vivienne out of her inappropriate thoughts. The bride-to-be was wearing jeans, a retro T-shirt advertising the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and had a mess of brown curls piled into a ponytail. She definitely didn’t strike Vivienne as the type to be bothered by unconventional appearances.

“No problem at all,” she assured Lydia, smiling as she clung to the picture she wasn’t quite ready to return. “It’s your big day. There is no right way or wrong way to do things.”

She snuck another peek at her watch, knowing the uproar Estelle would make if she overheard Vivienne saying that to a client. As a Junior Wedding Planner, Vivienne’s so-called office actually doubled as the conference room and was currently open to the reception area so she could pull double duty as the receptionist. It also meant Vivienne could easily be overheard whenever she was talking to her clients, which was why she always tried to conduct these initial appointments when her boss wasn’t around.

“So, with that many brothers, are you willing to pick just one to be the best man?” Vivienne asked, needing to move this meeting along but not wanting to rush Zach with what could be an important decision.

Judging by the happily casual way they were all posing in the picture, it was easy to make the assumption that the Dalton brothers were close. But as an only child, her experience in dealing with sibling rivalry had been limited to what she’d witnessed during prior weddings. She’d had her share of brides who didn’t want a prettier sister upstaging them on their big day. There’d even once been an usher who decided that the start of his brother’s ceremony would be the perfect time to propose to his own girlfriend. In short, nobody liked having their thunder stolen.

Zach held his cowboy hat in his lap, tapping the brim as he considered his options. Vivienne cleared her throat. “Or you could pick a friend or a cousin or even skip having a best man altogether.”

He looked at Lydia, who simply shrugged. “It’s up to you.”

“I should go with Booker because he’s the oldest,” the groom began. “But Cole can have a bit of a hero complex and will think he’s the only one—”

The front door creaked open, interrupting Zach and forcing all three of their heads to swivel down the short hall in that direction. Vivienne held her breath, praying it was only a delivery person and that Estelle hadn’t decided to come in early.

But before she could stand up and intercept whoever it was, the middle cowboy from the picture strode across the reception area toward them, his boot heels clicking on the hardwood floor, his jeans well-worn and snug on his long, muscular legs. An electrical current shot through Vivienne and it took a few attempts for her to get her wobbly legs steady enough to rise to her feet.

How was it possible that the man was even better looking in person?

“Speak of the devil,” Zach said to her and then also stood up and turned to the newcomer. “What are you doing here, Cole?”

“Did you even look at your left rear tire before driving all the way to Kalispell this morning?” the newcomer said to Zach. Then, as if suddenly realizing that his brother wasn’t the only one in the room, the man removed his off-white cowboy hat and addressed his soon-to-be sister-in-law. “Hey, Lydia.”

“Hi, Cole. This is our wedding planner, Vivienne Shuster,” Lydia responded. “Vivienne, this is Cole Dalton, one of Zach’s brothers.”

Thankfully, Vivienne had braced one hand on the edge of the table when she leaned across it to shake his, because the warmth of Cole’s palm enveloped her and she would’ve found herself moving in closer to him if there hadn’t been three feet of heavily polished antique walnut separating them.

“Sorry to barge in on you like this, ma’am.” His words drew her in even closer until her hips pressed against the table.

Growing up in Montana, despite having lived only in the bigger cities, Vivienne was accustomed to the occasional cowboy calling her ma’am . But there was something about Cole’s voice that was both honey filled yet crisp at the same time. She cleared her throat and replied, “It’s no problem.”

“What’s wrong with my left rear tire?” Zach’s words penetrated Vivienne’s improper fascination and, thankfully, reminded her to pull her hand back.

Her cheeks stung with heat as she looked down to straighten her still-empty binder, then took a swig of her iced coffee nearby. The last thing her overactive imagination needed was caffeine, but there were only so many things she could focus on besides the good-looking man with the sexy voice and mesmerizing handshake.

“When I went out to the stables this morning, I noticed the pressure was low,” Cole told his brother, and Vivienne sank slowly into her chair, relieved that nobody else in the room was paying any attention to how her body had just responded to a complete stranger. “I was going to get the compressor out of the shed and fill it up for you after I got done changing the poultice on Zorro’s foreleg. But you’d hightailed it out of there before I got back. Aunt Rita told me about your appointment, and the whole way here I had to keep my eyes peeled to make sure you weren’t stranded on the side of the road with a flat.”

Zach looked over his shoulder and mouthed the words hero complex to Vivienne and Lydia before turning back to his brother. “Why didn’t you just call?”

“I did. You didn’t answer. I also called the bridal shop here, but all I got was an answering service.”

Vivienne was about to explain that they weren’t just a bridal shop as well as the fact that, technically, they weren’t open yet. But the concern on Cole’s face seemed genuine, and his indignation about his brother’s safety made the guy even more attractive, if that was possible.

Zach rolled his eyes, pulling his cell from his pocket. “Sorry, man. I must’ve accidentally set it on sleep mode.”

“You know the family rule about phones.” Cole crossed his arms over his broad chest, and his brother’s expression turned from playful annoyance to humble remorse.

“You’re right.” Zach reached out and squeezed Cole’s shoulder. “Why don’t we go outside and look at my tire?”

The men excused themselves and the front door had just clicked shut behind them when Vivienne asked Lydia, “What’s the family rule about cell phones?”

She wanted to kick herself for asking a client such a personal question that was absolutely none of her business. But Lydia was an assistant manager and sort of reporter-at-large for a small-town newspaper and would, hopefully, understand Vivienne’s blatant curiosity.

“Do you remember hearing about that horrible wildfire in Hardin last year?” At Vivienne’s nod, Lydia continued. “Well, their ranch and the family house caught fire.”