o’clock tonight and a menu for room service. Is your coffee decent? Never mind. I’ll try it and find out.” I gave the woman working behind the counter my best you-are-boring-the-fuck-out-of-me expression as I slid my credit card across the counter. “How’s your internet speed out here?”
“Top notch. They added additional towers two years ago. Would you like a standard room or an empire suite, sir?”
“Suite.”
Her smile beamed, unaffected by my temperament. “Perfect.” She tapped away at her computer a few minutes before her printer whirred. “Chez Sebastian is our most popular restaurant on-site.” She waved a hand, gesturing to the one I’d been examining. “I should let you know, we have a rehearsal dinner scheduled for seven tonight as well. It may be busier and noisier than usual.”
I lived and worked in the city. This woman had no concept of busy and noisy. “Your point?”
Her smile faltered. “I just like to keep guests informed. Your reservation is set for seven, Mr. Montgomery. Here is your room key and a full menu for all our restaurants.”
“You have an indoor pool, correct?”
“Yes, sir. The hours are eight in the morning until ten at night. It’s located—”
“I’ll find it. Thank you.” I snatched the information and key from the woman and was gone before she could respond with any more useless information.
The first order of business was getting a hold of Erwin Campbell at the stables and setting up a meeting for the following day.
Until then, I needed more coffee.
Chapter Two
Easton
“No way. Turn your ass around and go find something else to wear. You aren’t wearing those ratty old Levi’s to the rehearsal dinner. Elaina will have my head.”
Examining my reflection in the hallway mirror, I frowned. “What’s wrong with ’em. They’re my newer ones.”
“What?”
“I said, they’re my newer ones. What’s wrong with ’em?”
“Are you gonna talk like that when you give your speech at the wedding?”
I scowled at my future brother in law’s reflection. “Talk like what?”
He leaned in, mimicking me. “Like this. All quiet-like with your words mumbled together.”
I shouldered him out of my space, laughing. “Piss off, ya jerk. I don’t talk like that.”
“Like hell you don’t. For real, change your pants. Don’t you own trousers or slacks or something that isn’t denim?”
Smoothing a hand down the front of my blue checkered button-down, I sighed. “Yeah. Got me a pair somewhere in the back of my closet. Hope you ain’t askin’ me to iron ’em.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
Turning from the mirror, I faced Austin, whose eyes shimmered with humor. He was dressed in black dress pants with a green shirt and a darker tie. His auburn hair was freshly cut and styled to my sister’s specifications.
“I promised I’d dress up for one day. One. The wedding. Now I’ve been roped into a second day. This hardly seems fair. Did Elaina tell you not to let me wear jeans, or are you just being a pain in my ass?”
“Elaina ordered me to ensure you didn’t leave the house unless you looked appropriate.”
“Appropriate is a matter of opinion.”
We both knew Elaina’s opinion was the only one that mattered.
Austin remained quiet, but his smug expression had me submitting. “Fine. I’ll change. Go check on Dad and see if he’s ready to go.”
My cowboy boots clipped on the hardwood floor as I climbed the back stairs to my room.
“And lose the boots, East. She asked you to wear proper footwear.”
“Always tellin’ me what to do,” I muttered.
“What was that?”
“Never mind.”
Austin chuckled. “One more thing. Don’t shoot the messenger. She said no hat.”
I slammed my bedroom door, making the pictures on the walls rattle.
No jeans, no boots, no hat. Elaina was stripping me of my identity, all for a stupid rehearsal dinner.
I tossed my Stetson on the bed and scratched a hand over my mess of dark blond hair. It was long past overdue for a cut. It fell past my ears and curled on the ends. The soft waves framed my face. Finger-combing it, working it back to life so it didn’t look like I’d worn a hat for the past thirty-five years, I declared it good enough. If she thought I was using that gunk that made it stay put, she was wrong.
Sitting on the edge of my queen-sized bed, I tugged my boots off and set them on the floor. I unbuckled my thick leather belt and stripped from my jeans, leaving them over a rustic chair I kept in the corner by the window. In the back of my closet, I