Loe raamatut: «Rust Creek Falls Cinderella»

Chapter One

Any minute now, Lily Hunt’s first blind date ever—one of the six gorgeous Crawford brothers—was going to walk through the door of the Maverick Manor hotel. Lily waited in a club chair in the lobby’s bar area by a massive vase of wildflowers, her gaze going from the window to the door every five seconds. She crossed and uncrossed her legs. Folded and unfolded her hands. Slouched and sat up straight, then slouched again. Tried for a pleasant smile.

She also tried to get the better of her nerves, but she still worried that her date would take one look at her, pretend something suddenly came up, like a family emergency or a bad cough, and hightail it out of there.

Oh, stop it, she ordered herself. Even though she really did fear he might do exactly that. Lily, part-time cook, part-time student, twenty-three-year-old tomboy who lived in jeans and sneakers and had more hoodies than most teenage boys, was not the kind of woman who made a man think, Ooh, I want to meet her. That was more her good friend Sarah, who was gorgeous and so nice Lily didn’t think it was fair. A month ago, Sarah had been the single mother of an adorable baby girl until she’d found herself falling for one of the Crawfords, ranchers from Texas who’d moved to Rust Creek Falls in July. Now she and Logan were married. And happily raising little Sophia together.

The Crawford brother Lily was meeting tonight? Knox. Tall, dark and dreamy like his brothers. She’d met some of the Crawford clan last month when they’d come to the Maverick Manor for dinner. Sarah had introduced Lily, and one brother was so drop-dead gorgeous she couldn’t speak, which likely also contributed to why he hadn’t glanced twice at her.

Confidence, girl! she pep-talked herself. Sarah had insisted on it earlier when she’d phoned to tell Lily to have a wonderful time and to call her after the date with every detail. And Vivienne Dalton, a wedding planner who’d been the one to fix up Lily with Knox, had also called to make sure she hadn’t chickened out. (Yes, Lily had taken some serious convincing to accept the date in the first place.) Lily had assured Viv she was getting dressed and would be right on time at 7:00 p.m., classic date hour at the Maverick Manor. Viv had said, Honey, I will give you only one piece of advice. Lily had held her breath, waiting. Viv was gorgeous herself and married to Cole Dalton and ran her own successful business—a walking example of making things happen.

Be yourself, Viv had said.

That old yarn? Being herself hadn’t exactly gotten Lily very far. Granted, she had a great job as a cook at the Maverick Manor, the fanciest hotel in town. And people raved about her food, which had done more for her confidence than any appreciative glance from a guy ever could. Lily dreamed about having her own place—a small restaurant or a catering shop. Someday.

Today—tonight—was about her love life.

Two short-term relationships were all she had in that department.

She eyed the door. It was 7:00 p.m. on the nose. Lily had been there for five minutes, unfashionably early. She’d changed for the date in the women’s locker room, stashing her work clothes in her locker and putting on her one good dress and one pair of heels and one pair of dangling earrings. She never wore makeup, but Sarah had suggested she try some tonight. So Lily had swiped on Maybelline mascara and sheer pinkish-red lipstick and felt like she was playing dress-up, but she supposed she was. She’d left her long red hair down instead of pulling it into a low ponytail the way she did every day.

Now 7:05 p.m. Knox Crawford was now late. Bad sign? Her stomach gave a little flop. The date clearly wasn’t high enough on his priorities for him to be on time. Oh, cripes—now she sounded like her dad! Maybe she was getting antsy too early. Calm down. Go with the flow. Sip your white wine.

She took a sip...7:09 p.m.

Seven twelve. Humph.

Lily might not be Ms. Confidence when it came to men, but she would never let anyone treat her disrespectfully, and being almost fifteen minutes late for a date was bordering on rude. Right? Her last date was six months ago (no interest on either side) so she wasn’t really up on date etiquette.

Seven fifteen.

“Lily!” came a female voice. “How lovely you look! Job interview here at the Manor? Front desk?”

Trying not to sigh as she smiled up at Maren, a woman she’d gone to high school with, Lily glanced down at her royal blue boat-neck, cap-sleeve shift dress, a cotton cardigan tied around her shoulders, and sandals with two-inch stacked heels. It worked for church and weddings, so she figured it would work for tonight.

“Actually, I have a date,” Lily said, taking another sip of wine. Waiter, bring the bottle!

Maren eyed her up and down. “Oh. Well, have fun!” she said, tottering on her sexy high heels to the main dining room.

Lily looked around the swanky lobby’s bar area at the women sitting with dates or out for drinks and appetizers with girlfriends. Skinny jeans and strappy high-heeled sandals. Form-fitting dresses. Slinky skirts. Everyone looked great and evening-ready. And here she was in her Sunday best.

Oh, Lily, get a clue already!

Seven eighteen. Her stomach flopped again, her heart heading south. She was being stood up. First time she actually “put herself out there,” like her mom always told her to do, and whammo: humiliated.

She could be plopped on her couch at home with Dobby and Harry, her adorable dachshunds, eating leftover linguini carbonara and garlic bread, and instead, she was about to burst into tears. Whatever, she told herself. She’d just go home, work on a recipe, watch a movie, play with Dobby and Harry.

Just as her pep talk started making her feel better, her cell phone rang.

She didn’t recognize the number but she was sure it was her date—or lack thereof. “Hello?”

“Lily, this is Knox Crawford. I’m so sorry I’m not there.” There was some weird background noise as if he was covering the phone with his hand and talking to someone else beside him or something. Double humph. “Look, um, something came up and—”

Oh, did it? Suuure.

“And I’m really sorry but I can’t make it,” Knox said. “I—”

More weird background noise. Weird ocean-roar in the phone as if someone was definitely holding a hand over the speaker. Maybe he had his own female version of Davy Jones there with him. Selena Gomez or Charlize Theron, maybe.

“Hello?” a different male voice said. “Lily? This is Xander Crawford. My brother can’t make it tonight, but I happen to be free for dinner and I’ll be taking his place. See you in five minutes.”

Uh, what?

“No, that’s okay,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as clogged to him as it did to her. I am not a charity case! The famed ire of the angry redhead? She was about to blow, people! “No worries. Bye!” She clicked End Call and stuffed her phone in her stupid little purse—she hated purses!—stood up, took another long sip of her wine, and stalked back into the kitchen, wondering how a person could feel angry and so sad at the same time.

Xander Crawford. Please. She’d seen him up close and personal and he was too good-looking, too sexy—with a Texas drawl, to boot. She’d clam up and stammer or mumble or ramble, especially because of how weird this all was. And what was she? Someone to pity? The poor stood-up date? No thank you!

She was grateful her fellow cooks and her friend AnnaBeth, a waitress, were all so busy they didn’t see her slip back into the break room. She opened her locker, and a photo of her dogs, one of her beautiful mother, and a restaurant review from the Rust Creek Falls Gazette that had raved about her filet mignon in mushroom peppercorn sauce with roasted rosemary potatoes and sautéed garlic-buttered asparagus reminded her who she was. Lily Hunt. She was meant to be creating magical recipes and figuring out how to get where she wanted to be in a year or two. Not trying to be something she wasn’t: a woman who dated gorgeous, wealthy ranchers the entire town was vying for.

Yes, vying for. There were five Crawford brothers left and, according to Viv, their dad wanted to see them married and settled down, so he’d put the wedding planner on the case to find them the right women. All the single ladies in town had put their names in the hat, and hell, why not Lily, tomboy and all? She was flattered Viv had even asked.

And now some stand-in Crawford was showing up, probably only to save the family name since they were new in town and didn’t want their dating reps to be ruined. Yeah, no thanks.

“Well, Mama,” Lily said, looking at Naomi Hunt’s photo, her red hair all she’d inherited from her sophisticated mother. “I did put myself out there, but it didn’t work this time. Maybe next.” Not that she’d agree to another date anytime soon.

She changed back into her jeans and sneakers with a relieved ahhh, put on her T-shirt and tied her hoodie around her waist. She wiped off the lipstick and put her hair in a low ponytail, closed her locker and headed out the swinging door into the lobby.

Right into the muscular chest of Xander Crawford.

* * *

“I’m so sorry,” Xander said to the young redhead he’d just barreled into. He’d been in such a hurry to catch Lily Hunt that he hadn’t considered that the door into the kitchen might have someone coming through it from the other side. Luckily it hadn’t been a waiter with a tray of entrées. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, but her eyes were like saucers and her cheeks were flushed.

Maybe it was hot in the kitchen? “I’m looking for Lily Hunt. Do you know her? She works here as a cook. Is she still around?”

The redhead stared at him, and for a moment he swore she was shooting daggers out of those flashing green eyes. “I’m Lily Hunt. We met last month in the dining room. I was with my friend Sarah, who’s married to your brother Logan.”

Oh hell. Awkward.

“I’m bad with faces,” he said, which was true. “I’ve met so many people since we moved to Montana that my head’s still spinning.”

Not to mention all the women who’d introduced themselves to him over the past month. Everywhere he went there seemed to be a smiling woman, offering her card—some of which smelled like perfume—and letting him know she’d “just love to have coffee or a drink or dinner anytime, hon.” At first he’d wondered if women were that friendly in every town in the state of Montana. Until he’d realized why women were coming at him in droves. They were coming at all the single Crawfords—thanks to his dad. Maximilian Crawford had made a deal with a local wedding planner to get him them all hitched, and that wedding planner had apparently spoken to every single woman in Rust Creek Falls.

Why was that wedding planner so raring to go? Finding all the eligible women in town who might be interested in being set up with a Crawford brother?

Because Max had offered Viv Dalton one million bucks to get them all married.

One. Million. Dollars.

If he and his brother Logan hadn’t witnessed the exchange with their own eyes and ears, Xander never would have believed it.

Anyway, Xander had a drawer full of scented cards and had not made a single call. His father shook his head a lot over it.

Still, he was surprised he didn’t remember meeting Lily. She had the determined face of a young woman who was going places. He liked it. She had freckles, too. He’d always liked freckles.

He was aware he had a smile plastered on his face. Now she did, too.

“Uh, so,” she said, “like I said on the phone, no worries. Let’s just forget this ever happened, okay?”

He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“Your brother got cold feet about our blind date and canceled. You felt bad for whatever reason and took his place. You know who I don’t want to be? The woman sitting across from the guy who gave up his evening to ‘do the right thing.’”

“I always try to do the right thing,” he said. “But trust me, dinner with a lovely woman is hardly a chore, Lily. I’d love to take you out to dinner if you’re up for it.”

Her expression changed from wary and pissed to surprised. She lifted her chin. “Well, when you put it like that.” She flashed him a smile, a genuine smile that lit up her entire face. For a moment he couldn’t pull his gaze off her.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m wearing a hoodie and sneakers on a date,” she said. “I just changed back into my work clothes. I could put the dress on again if you want to wait a few minutes.”

“You look incredibly comfortable,” he said, tugging at the collar of his button-down shirt. “Trust me, I’ll take jeans and a T-shirt over a button-down and tie any day. Luckily, as a rancher, I’m not often forced into a tie.”

She smiled that smile again. “Well, then, guess we’re not eating here. Unwritten dress code. And to be honest, though I love the food at the Manor, I have it all the time.”

“Perk of the job, but I get it,” he said. “Casual always works for me. I’m new around here, but I already know Ace in the Hole and Wings to Go pretty well. Either of those sound good?”

“Ooh, I’m craving chicken wings—in extra tangy barbecue sauce.”

“Woman after my own heart,” he said, gesturing toward the door.

She stared at him for a moment, then rushed outside as if she needed a gulp of air. “Uh, Wings to Go isn’t very far.” They started walking, Lily stopping to pet a tiny dog with huge amber eyes, then to look at a red bird on a branch. He liked that she noticed her environment—and animals in particular. Xander’s mind was always so crammed with this and that he’d walked straight into a fence post the other day. Two of his brothers had a good laugh over that one.

Once inside the small take-out shop, they ordered a heap of wings and four kinds of sauces. Lily got out her wallet, but he told her to put it away, that tonight was on him.

“Well, thank you very much,” she said. “I appreciate that.”

“My pleasure.” He glanced out the window. “Given that it’s such a gorgeous night, want to take our dinner to the park? We have a good hour of sunlight left.”

“Perfect,” she said with a smile. “And good thing my dachshunds aren’t with us. Dobby and Harry would clear out the wings before we could unpack them. They’d even eat the celery on the side because it smells like chicken wings.”

He laughed at the thought of two dachshunds attacking a piece of celery. He held the door open, and they exited into the breezy night air. She sure was easy to talk to, much more than he expected. Not that he’d expected anything since the only thing he’d known about Knox’s date was her name. “I’ve always wanted dogs. Maybe one day.”

On the way to the park, they chatted about dog breeds and Lily told him a funny story about a Great Dane named Queenie who’d fallen in love with Dobby but ignored Harry, who was jealous. He told her about the two hamsters his dad had finally let him get when he was nine, and how they were so in love with each other they ignored him. She cracked up for a good minute and he had to say, she had a great laugh.

Rust Creek Falls Park was just a few blocks away and not crowded, but there were plenty of people walking and biking and enjoying the beautiful night. Since they didn’t have a blanket, they chose a picnic table and she sat across from him. For a moment they watched a little kid try to untangle the string of his kite. He looked like he might start bawling, but his mom came over and in moments the green turtle was aloft again. Xander swallowed, the tug of emotion always socking him in the stomach when he saw little kids with their moms. Big kids, too. He was always surprised at how the sight affected him. After all these years.

He turned his attention back to Lily and started opening the bags containing their wings. “My brothers and I love the food at the Maverick Manor. We’re there for lunch and dinner pretty often. I’ll bet you have something to do with that.”

She popped open the containers of sauces. “Well, thanks. I hope so. I love cooking. And I love working at the Manor. I can try all kinds of interesting specials and the executive chef always says yes. Lamb tagine was last night’s special and it was such a hit. Nothing makes me feel like a million bucks more than when someone compliments my food.”

“I love how passionate you are about your work,” he said. “Everyone should be that lucky.”

“Are you?” she asked.

He dunked a wing in barbecue sauce. “Yes, ma’am. One hundred percent cowboy. A horse, endless acres, cattle, the workings of a ranch—it’s what I was born to do.”

She stared at him, her green eyes shining. “That’s exactly how I feel—about cooking! That I was born to be in the kitchen, with my ingredients and a stove.”

He held out his chicken wing and she clinked hers to his in a toast, and they both laughed.

Huh. Whodathought this night would work out so well? When he’d heard his brother Knox arguing with his dad earlier and then calling his date and canceling, he’d been livid. Not so much at his brother for not just sucking it up and going on the date, but at his father for being such a busybody. Knox might have gone on the blind date if he hadn’t learned his dad had been responsible for it in the first place. Xander and Logan had told the other four brothers what their father was up to and to hide behind all large tumbleweeds if they saw Viv Dalton coming with her phone and notebook and clipboard, but Knox had thought the whole thing was a joke. Until Viv had apparently cornered him into going on a blind date with one Lily Hunt. He’d agreed and had apparently meant to cancel, then had put the whole thing out of his mind. Until his dad had said, “Knox, shouldn’t you be getting ready for your date tonight?”

Knox’s face: priceless. A combination of Oh crud and Now what the hell am I gonna do?

“What’s so terrible about you going on a date?” Maximilian Crawford had said so innocently. “Some dinner, a glass of wine. Maybe a kiss if you like each other.” The famous smile slid into place.

Knox had been fuming. “I always meant to politely cancel. I’ve been working so hard on the fence line the last couple days that I totally forgot about calling Viv to say forget it.”

“Guess you’re going then,” Max had said with too much confidence.

Knox had shaken his head. “Every single woman in town is after us. Who wouldn’t want to marry into a family with a patriarch who has a million dollars to throw around? No thanks.”

“Well, it is a numbers game,” their dad had said.

Knox had been exasperated. “I don’t want to hurt my date’s feelings, but I’m not a puppet. I’m canceling. Even at the eleventh hour. She’ll just have to understand.”

Would she, though? Getting canceled on when she was likely already waiting for Knox to show up?

So Xander had stepped in—surprising himself. He’d avoided Viv Dalton, the wedding planner behind the woman deluge, like the plague whenever he saw her headed toward him in town with that “ooh, there’s a Crawford” look on her face. But c’mon. He couldn’t just let Knox’s date get stood up because his brother was so...stubborn.

And anyway, what was an hour and a half of his life on a date with a stranger? Some conversation, even stilted and awkward, was still always interesting, a study in people, of how things worked. Xander had been trying to figure out how people worked for as long as he could remember. So he could apply it to his own family history.

“Best. Wings. Ever!” Lily said, chomping on one liberally slathered in maple-chipotle sauce.

“Mmm, didn’t try that sauce yet,” he said, dabbing a wing in the little container. He took a bite. “Are we in Texas? These rival the best wings in Dallas.”

“That’s a mighty compliment. Do you miss home?”

“This is home now,” he said, more gruffly than he’d meant. “We bought the Ambling A ranch and are fixing it up. We’ve done a lot of work already. It’s coming along.”

“So you and your five brothers moved here, right?” she asked, taking a drink of her lemonade.

“Yup. With our dad. The seven Crawford men. Been that way a long time.”

Her eyes darted to his. “My father’s a widow, too. I lost my mom when I was eight. God, I miss her.”

Oh hell, she’d misunderstood about his mother and he didn’t want to get into the correction. “Sorry to hear that.”

“I’m sorry about your mom,” she said.

Well, now he had to. “Don’t be. She’s not dead, just gone. She took off on my dad and six little boys—my youngest brother, Wilder, was just a baby. When I let myself think about it, I can hardly believe it. Six young sons. And you just walk away.”

He shook his head, then grabbed another wing before his thoughts could steal his appetite. These wings were too good to let that happen.

Change the subject, Xander. “So what else do we have in common?” he asked, swiping a wing in pineapple-teriyaki sauce. “You have five brothers, too?”

She smiled. “Three, actually. All older. So you can guess how they treat me. We all live together in the house I grew up in—the four of us and my dad.”

“Protective older brothers. That’s nice. Princess for a day for life, am I right?”

She snorted, which he didn’t expect. “Exsqueeze me? Princess? My brothers treat me like I’m one of them. I don’t think they know I’m a girl, actually. I’m like the youngest brother.”

He laughed, imagining the four Hunts racing around the woods, playing tag, trying to catch frogs, swinging off ropes into rivers.

“They do appreciate that I cook for them, though,” she said. “And I do so because they’re hopeless. I told my brother Ryan that I was teaching him to cook and that he should heat up a can of stewed tomatoes, and I swear on the Bible that he put an unopened can of tomatoes in a pot and turned on the burner and asked, ‘How long should it cook?’”

Xander cracked up. “That’s bad.”

“Oh, yeah. He’s better now. He can even crack an egg into a bowl without sloshing half on the counter or floor. It’s all great practice for me for one day owning my own business—either a restaurant or a catering shop. I’m also studying for a business degree online—just part-time. But I want to learn how to start and run a successful business. I’m covering all the bases.”

“Wow, impressive!” he said. “You’re what, twenty-two?” She looked young. Very young. Too young for him, certainly.

“Twenty-three.”

“I’ve got seven years on you, kid,” he said. “And I’ll tell you, following your passion is where it’s at. I’m a big believer in that.”

She sobered for a moment; he wasn’t sure why, but then those green eyes of hers lit up again. “Me, too.”

They spent the next twenty minutes talking about everything from the differences between Texas and Montana cattle and terrain, where to get the best coffee in Rust Creek Falls (she was partial to Daisy’s Donuts but he loved the strong brew at the Gold Rush Diner), the wonders and pitfalls of having many brothers, and her favorite foods for each meal (omelet, chicken salad sandwich on a very fresh baguette, any kind of pasta with any kind of sauce). They talked about steak for ten minutes and then steak fries, thick and crispy, seasoned just right and dipped in quality ketchup.

The wings were suddenly gone but he could talk to her for hours more. They laughed, traded stories, watched the dog walkers, and she told him funny stories about Dobby and Harry. He loved the way the waning sun lit up her red hair and he felt so close to her that he leaned across the table, about to take both her hands to give them a squeeze. He truly felt as if he’d made a real friend here tonight.

But when he leaned, Lily leaned.

Her face—toward his.

He darted back.

She’d thought he was going to kiss her?

He cleared his throat, glancing at his watch. “It’s almost nine? How did that happen?” He tried for a good-natured smile, but who the hell knew what his expression really looked like. Xander had never been able to hide how he felt. And how he felt right now was seriously awkward.

He liked Lily. A lot. But did he like her that way? He didn’t think so. She was a kid! Twenty-three to his thirty. Just starting out. And she was the furthest thing from the women he usually dated. Perfume. Long red nails. Slinky outfits and high heels. Sleek hair. And okay, big breasts and lush hips. He liked a woman with curves. Lily was...cute but not exactly his usual type. Not that he could really tell under her loose jeans and the hoodie around her waist obscuring much of her body.