Claiming The Rancher's Heir (Gold Valley Vineyards #2) - Maisey Yates Page 0,16

That had to say something about her mental state.

But her physical state had enjoyed it quite a lot, and it was difficult for her to accept it as a one-off. Especially when she kept having sweaty dreams about it.

“Well,” she said, looking him up and down. “Don’t you clean up nice.”

“You, too,” he said.

She was very aware that the eyes of every member of his family were on her.

In fact, she was so certain, it took her a while to absorb it since the fact was vaguely embarrassing. But when she did catch his father’s eyes, she did not see the speculation she had expected. Instead, he had a strange, wistful look on his face.

“Wren,” he said. “Right?”

“Yes,” she said.

“You look very much like your mother.”

She blinked, feeling a strange sensation at the comment. Her mother was beautiful. But Wren didn’t have a lot in common with her. At least, she’d never felt like she had.

Over the years her mother had become more and more quiet. More withdrawn.

And Wren could understand why now. Because clearly not all had been well in her parents’ marriage. Her mother must’ve had a sense that her husband was unfaithful at the very least. A predator at worst.

“Do you know my mother?” she asked.

“A long time ago,” he said.

“Let’s go find you a place to sit,” Honey said, grabbing hold of her father’s arm. “Nice to see you.”

The youngest Cooper clearly didn’t think it was all that nice to see Wren. Jericho and Jackson, on the other hand, were perfectly pleasant. They were both stunningly handsome men, Jackson as tall as his brother, and a bit broader, his eyes the same green. Jericho was even taller, with darker skin and brown eyes, and wide shoulders that looked capable of carrying any number of burdens upon them.

She found them both aesthetically pleasing. But her reaction wasn’t the same as what Creed made her feel.

Which was a shame, really, because Jericho and Jackson were so much more pleasant.

“Good to officially meet you,” Jericho said, extending his hand. She shook it, then Jackson’s.

“It’s a great event,” Jackson said. “A great idea.”

“Well, it’s my sister Emerson’s doing. Actually, a whole lot of this new direction is.”

“I hear her marriage started the tidal wave.”

Wren laughed. “The blackmail did.”

“Was the blackmail related to the marriage?” Jericho asked.

“Oh, yes,” Wren said. “Well, not now. I mean, in the sense that Emerson and Holden are totally fine and no one is being blackmailed to stay in the marriage. It’s complicated.”

At least, it had been. But now Holden and Emerson just loved each other.

Jackson and Jericho left, which put Wren and Creed far too close to each other.

“Nice to see you. In fact, I was beginning to think you had vaporized.”

“No,” he said. “Just getting my head on straight. Figured it would be best to focus on the planning of all of this.”

“I suppose so,” she said.

“Looks amazing.”

“You were right about the barbecue. People love it.”

“Now, I’m surprised you didn’t burst into flame.”

“You know, I might have, but recent events left me somewhat inoculated.”

“Good to know. I thought they might have left you...”

“Oh, now you’re concerned? You certainly didn’t show any concern when you decided to pretend nothing happened.”

“Is that what you want to fight about now?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet. There’s such a huge array of things we could fight about. Considering we haven’t seen each other in a couple of weeks and a whole lot has happened. Though, I do think the obvious thing to fight about would be the sex that we had, which you’re still trying to pretend didn’t happen.”

She had not intended to open with that. She hadn’t intended to be talking about this with him with guests all around them, and members of their family in close proximity. But it just kind of poured out of her. Maybe it was him. But maybe it was her, too. Maybe it was everything that she was.

Everything that she had become in the last couple of months.

This creature she was trying to remake herself into, in her own image, and not that of her father.

And really... What was the point of watching what she said around Creed? Everything was already as horrifying as it could ever be. Everything was already ruined. There was no dignity left to be had.

She had climbed him like a tree and had an earth-shattering orgasm seconds after he had thrust into her. She was sure she’d left him bleeding from digging her nails into