Page 47 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

It certainly felt like love to him, but he kept those thoughts and words to himself, and when Ginny asked him about the forthcoming Bluegrass Ranch race, he shared his real life and real feelings with her, something he’d always wanted to do with a woman.

14

Blaine Chappell stood in front of the huge picture window in the master bedroom at the homestead. The wind made the tree limbs outside lash around, and he frowned. The weather in Kentucky at the end of May should be beautiful. Warm, sure, but not insufferably hot like August or September. It did rain sometimes, but a cold snap had been hovering over the state for a day or two now, annoying him and causing his mother to fret.

His heart boomed in his chest, as it had been doing every so often for the past two weeks.Probably more like a month, he thought as he turned from the window.

“The wind hasn’t died down,” he said to Spur, who turned from what he was doing at the dresser.

“It’s going to be fine,” Spur said. “The tents are solid in the ground, and I sent Jules and Peter to set up the wind block.”

“Tam’s not going to be happy.” Heck, Blaine wasn’t happy.

It was his wedding day, and he didn’t want to battle the elements when he was already fighting the urge to get behind the wheel of his truck and go a lot farther than Tennessee this time.

Spur abandoned the cufflinks he’d bought for all eight of the brothers and approached Blaine. “You want to do this, right?”

“Yes,” Blaine said, having a hard time looking at his older brother.

“You love her, right?”

“Yes.” His voice scratched in his dry throat. “Spur, it’s never been about me.”

“She loves you,” Spur said. “You need to start believing that, Blaine. It’s never going to work if you don’t.”

Blaine set his jaw and nodded. He hated this softness inside him, but he hadn’t been able to root it out or turn it into something hard. He could lift weights and run miles and his body turned into steel.

His heart steadfastly refused to toughen up, and so Spur wouldn’t see the emotion on his face, he grabbed him and held him tight.

“Okay,” Spur said with a chuckle. “Everyone’s going to be here in a minute. You better get out of those jeans and into your tux.”

“Right.” Blaine stepped back and stripped down to his boxers. His mother had laid his tux on the bed, and Blaine started getting dressed, taking precious seconds to get every piece in the exact right place, savoring each moment as he thought about the blonde who’d walk down the aisle with her father in only an hour’s time.

He did love Tamara Lennox, even if she drove him to insanity from time to time. She was talented and talkative, and Blaine loved making her laugh and holding her as the sun went down. For so long, he wasn’t sure he’d ever learn how to trust himself again. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to trust another woman. He had no idea how to love someone and believe it was real and not just something he told himself.

Tam had been patient with him, and they’d talked through everything. Literally, everything, from who would cook in the evenings—Blaine—to who’d primarily take care of any children they had—Tam.

He would be in charge of their money, and Tam was going to keep her business incorporated in her name only. She was going to take the Chappell last name, but she wasn’t going to carry it into her business license.

She hadn’t signed a prenuptial agreement, despite Ian’s urgings that she do so. Blaine had talked to Trey for a few hours one afternoon while he helped his brother put in the corn at the ranch down the road where he now lived with his wife, Beth.

“Beth didn’t sign one,” Trey said. “Not before…when things weren’t entirely real, and not now either.” He’d shrugged as if protecting himself was not a big deal. “I trust her.”

Blaine trusted Tam too, and they’d gone back and forth on the topic for what felt like months. In the end, he’d looked her straight in the eye and said, “I trust you. I don’t want or need you to sign a prenup.”

She’d dropped it after that.

The door opened just as Blaine looped the bowtie around his neck. He let it dangle there as Cayden, Lawrence, and Trey entered the room. The three of them were engaged in a conversation that had Lawrence rolling his eyes while Cayden laughed in that smooth, rolling voice of his.

Trey grinned at them both and looked to Blaine first. “Wow, look at you, brother.”

Blaine smiled back, the gesture genuine and sitting perfectly on his face for the first time in weeks. Trey gripped him in a tight hug, and Blaine returned it. So much was changing in their family, after what felt like a few years where nothing had.

Families were definitely dynamic, and while he wasn’t the first brother getting married, Blaine felt like he was stepping way out of his comfort zone. Gratitude filled him that he had older brothers to look to as good examples.

Spur’s bravery inspired Blaine to be strong too. Trey’s fearlessness helped Blaine take steps into the darkness when he wasn’t sure what path he was even on. Cayden’s spirit reminded Blaine to challenge himself physically, mentally, and spiritually.

He waited his turn to hug Blaine, and when Trey stepped back, Cayden took his spot. “I’m so happy for you,” he said, and he sounded like he was.

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