Montana Reunion by Soraya Lane Page A

but
not caring anyway. He liked that she was flustered, especially when she had her
hands on her hips trying to look all bossy.
    “I’ll be expecting a lot more than
breakfast in exchange for marriage,” he teased.
    “Oh yeah?”
    “Yeah,” he murmured, leaning in for
another kiss, grabbing hold of her arms to stop her from running away.
    “You’re bad, Jack,’ she whispered,
escaping him and pointing to the bathroom. “Now go have a shower before we both
end up in trouble again.”
    Right now he liked the sound of trouble.
Because it was keeping him from thinking about the ranch, how close he’d come
to losing it, and how the hell he was going to stop himself from falling head
over heels in love for the woman who was about to become his wife. Because no matter what he said about just loving her like a friend,
it was bullshit. Maddison meant a lot to him,
and it was about time he at least admitted it to himself.
    Maddison sat in the kitchen and watched her dad. He was being bossed around by her mom
in the garden, and the look on his face told her that he wasn’t impressed. She
was guessing it was her mom’s way of keeping him busy, but away from anything
too strenuous, and it wasn’t exactly going down well.
    She stared at her phone and wished
it would go away – wished everything from her normal life would just disappear
for a while so she could get her head around everything that was happening. Her dad, her apartment, her
job. Jack.
    At least the last thing on her list
was putting a smile on her face. Everything else was more likely to give her
permanent frown lines.
    But
she was doing the right thing . Marrying Jack would mean her dad would have
the chance to walk her down the aisle, it would mean he could feel assured
about the future of the ranch he loved. Charley was doing a great job, but she
was still so young, and their dad wanted her to take time before deciding to
spend the rest of her life at the helm. And her brother was making them all
proud working another ranch, a project that their father was equally as
passionate about.
    This land was about more than
business, it was about love and memories. Family . And
with Jack as part of their family? Her dad would know there was someone
there to help them, someone who loved this land the same way they did as a
family.
    She stood and walked outside,
leaving her phone on the counter. She should have followed her instincts and
kept it turned off, ignored it, but she hadn’t and now she had to deal with the
consequences.
    “I have some bad news.”
    Her dad leaned on his pitchfork
while her mom just looked up, on her knees in front of her flowerbed.
    “What’s happened?” her mom asked.
    Maddison sighed and sat down on the lawn, stretching her sore ankle out in front of her.
She’d managed to almost forget all about it the night before with Jack, but now
it was starting to ache again. Maybe it was more of a reaction to what she had
to leave behind than the pain of her fall.
    “My boss has booked the next flight
out of Billings to L.A. It leaves tomorrow afternoon. I’m so sorry.”
    She took a shaky breath as she
looked at her dad. He didn’t look particularly worried, but she’d come back
here to see him and now she was leaving without even spending a whole week in
his company. Without anywhere near to
a week back at home.
    “ Maddison ,
can I ask you something?” Her mom put down her tools and plucked off her
gloves, turning to face her.
    Maddison nodded.
    “Is this job really worth it? Maddison , I can see how tired you are, what a strain this
job puts on you.”
    Trust her mom to say exactly what
was playing through her mind. Yes, she
was tired of it all, but she wasn’t the kind of girl to give up. When she made a commitment she didn’t back down, no matter what.
    “I’ve been working on this project
a long time, Mom. But you’re right, I need to make
some tough decisions.” She smiled, bottom lip tucked between her teeth in an
effort