Page 5 of Stormswept Colorado

I couldn’t even tell you how many granddaughters and nieces had been foisted on me.

Rosie held up her hands. “I can’t help it if I’m in the mood for love with the wedding almost here, and now my favorite singer in our midst. Even you can’t be immune to that excitement, right?”

I shrugged. For some reason, my heart rate kicked up as I imagined seeing Ayla Maxwell again.

Ayla was Ashford’s sister-in-law, and she’d visited Silver Ridge a few times in the last couple years or so. For a while, our local population had kept its calm about her celebrity status.

But withThe Weddingjust on the horizon, excitement had streaked back up into high gear. And the popularity of our local ski resort had drawn more and more tourists.

My department had been planning for Ayla’s presence in town. Her arrival in Silver Ridge could mean traffic jams on our two-lane highways. Gawkers forming crowds on Main, pushing and shoving to get a glimpse of her. Even paparazzi and reporters from out-of-state. A bunch of disruptions that would take department resources to sort out.

A much bigger problem than a few feet of snow.

“There’s that sexy love song of hers. Listen to that sultrybeat.” Rosie lifted her arms and shimmied her hips. “It always gets Jimmy in the mood. Know what I mean?”

I coughed. Oh, please no. “I’d better be going.” I rapped my knuckles against the customer-service desk. “I’ll see you at the wedding, if not before.”

As I left, the song playing from the speakers wedged into my brain, refusing to let go. Ayla’s smoky voice and the suggestive lyrics.

Fine, it was sexy. Rosie had that right.

Ayla Maxwell was a beautiful woman. Nobody could deny that.

But something about her just…raked across my nerves. Setting me on alert whenever she was near.

She was a diva who was used to getting her way. Probably explained why I’d gotten testy with her the first time we met. I was protective of my constituents, and her sudden presence had drawn all the wrong kinds of attention to our town.

But in the spirit of community peace, I could try to make a better impression during this visit. Could even be friendly. Everyone in town knew me as straight-laced and serious, but I wasn’t an ogre. I would be professional and courteous next time I saw her. Nothing more and nothing less. Like she was any other visitor to Silver Ridge.

If I could just get that song out of my head.

TWO

Ayla

I had just arrivedin Silver Ridge last night for the big wedding weekend, and things were a little…chaotic.

We were working on the wedding favors in Ashford and Emma’s dining room. The space looked like a hurricane of craft supplies had blown through, leaving destruction in its wake.

Yet the familiar scents of the O’Neal residence filled the air, like always. Maisie’s strawberry shampoo, Emma’s herbal tea, Ashford’s cologne. Things that, in the last year and a half, had come to feel likehome.

I grabbed a cellophane bag to fill with Jordan almonds. “Is Ashford okay? He looked pretty stressed when I saw him earlier.”

At least Maisie was occupied with her toys in her room instead of bouncing off the walls.

Emma groaned. “I love my fiancé, but he has been getting on my last nerve. He thinks this storm will interfere with the wedding.”

“I checked the forecast before I left LA. I thought it wasn’t that bad.”

“It’s not,” Grace said soothingly, reaching for the spool of ribbon. “The storm will bring just enough snow to make all thetrees around the Last Refuge Inn look beautiful. The wedding will be perfect. Ashford is just a worry wart.”

That was definitely true.

“How about you go relax for a while,” I said to Emma. “Let Grace and me take care of the rest of the favors. And later, I can take Maisie outside to burn off some energy.”

“I don’t want to leave you with all the work.” Emma glanced at the messy table. “This is a step down from your usual scene, Ayla. You were at a movie premiere two days ago.”

“I promise, that waswaymore boring than anything this weekend will be. Treat me like a normal person. I’m just Aunt Ayla. Did you forget I grew up on Army bases?”

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