Page 51 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

She ducked her head and tucked her loose hair behind her ear.

Tam appeared at the end of the aisle, and even Lawrence’s breath caught in his throat. He switched his gaze to Blaine, who’d moved to stand right in front of the saddle altar. He waited perfectly still, and Lawrence could only imagine the smile on his face.

Tam wore one on her face, and she stepped the same way down the aisle, her father at her side. When they reached Blaine, she kissed her father’s cheek and leapt into Blaine’s arms, which caused the crowd to laugh.

Blaine kissed her, and the pastor said, “We usually save the kissing for the end.”

“Right,” Blaine said, and the two of them positioned themselves in front of the altar, facing each other, their hands joined and hanging in front of them. “Right.”

He grinned at Tam, and Lawrence could see enough of her face to taste her joy too.

Lawrence let a sigh move through his whole body. He hadn’t dated a lot, but he was ready to change that. His gaze moved back to the crowd as they sat, and he lost sight of Mariah, as he couldn’t see her past all the cowboy hats in the crowd.

“We gather here today for one of the most wonderful reasons in the world,” Pastor Clements said. “Weddings are always beautiful, but especially when I see two young people in front of me who obviously love each other more than the sky loves the moon.”

Lawrence grinned again, because he loved that imagery. He wanted a love affair as fierce as the sky loving the moon, and he determined to ask Mariah to dinner as soon as he possibly could.

16

Mariah loved weddings. The spirit of happiness and joy and love was unlike anything else, and there was something special about this particular event. She’d worked dozens of events, and none—even the anniversary parties and business grand openings—held the same magic as this wedding.

She suspected it had something to do with the hoard of men crowding around the most gorgeous altar she’d ever laid eyes on. They all had one hand in the air, gripping a cowboy hat as they surrounded Blaine Chappell, who’d just married Tamara Lennox.

The cheering, applause, and whooping died down, and people started moving out into the aisle to go give their congratulations too.

Mariah hung back, because she didn’t really know Tam or Blaine all that well. She knew Cayden and Lawrence Chappell just fine, but she’d come to the wedding with her father, who’d been friends with the Lennox’s for about eight years now.

“You go ahead,” she said to him, and Daddy inched his way up to Shirley and Kenneth Lennox.

Mariah got out of the way, something she was extraordinarily gifted at doing. She knew how to be in charge of an event and then fade into the background once it began. She’d watched many of her plans execute themselves at that point, and she couldn’t remember the last time something she’d been in charge of hadn’t gone off without a hitch.

This wedding had a very good planner behind it, because everything had been seamless so far.

After several minutes, Julie Chappell stepped up to the mic and said, “We’re moving over to the wedding pavilion for dinner, dancing, and drinks. If you’ll start making your way over there, you’ll find a name tag on the front table. Take that and place it at a spot of your choosing. You should find the meal you selected on the underside of the tag. Please do let Hillary here know if y’all have any questions.”

She beamed out at the group of people, some of whom were actually listening, and a tall brunette with perfectly curled hair lowered her hand as she realized no one was looking at her anyway. If there was a problem, Hillary would handle it, but people would likely go to Julie first.

Mariah scanned the dispersing crowd, looking for two people: Daddy and Lawrence Chappell.

When his eyes had met hers, that electric tether that had bound them together months ago had roared back to life. She hadn’t forgotten his kindness, but her embarrassment and professionalism had prevented her from ever bringing up what he’d said to her at their first face-to-face meeting.

I could be your boyfriend so you can go to the party.

She’d missed three more shindigs that Dr. Biggers had thrown, and there was a summer kick-off bash coming up in three weeks. He’d once again bypassed her for a new assignment for June, citing her busyness with the race here at Bluegrass ranch.

Mariah was busy getting everything finalized, contracts signed in a timely manner, and dealing with what felt like constant changes.Not so busy you can’t take on another client, especially in the early phases of planning, she thought.

She hadn’t gotten the clients, though. Suzy Mays had, and she had two big-name clients having events in July and August already. Suzy was also recently married, blonde, and about twenty pounds lighter than Mariah.

Familiar bitterness coated her throat, along with the complete and utter helplessness. She wasn’t sure what she could do about her situation, short of quitting. Everyone outside of the Favorites talked in low tones about what happened at The Gemini Group. No one actually did anything.

Mariah wanted to find the grenade that would blow the whole thing up, pull the pin, and toss it in Dr. Biggers’ office. She simply didn’t know what that was yet.

Her dad gestured to her that he was going to head over to the tent by exiting near the front instead of coming back down the aisle. She lifted her hand in acknowledgement, wondering if she could make up a work emergency and get out of there. She did like weddings, but she didn’t really know anyone here she wanted to spend the next three hours with.

Her couch, Diet Coke, and bottle of coconut-flavored syrup sounded so much more enticing than the promised prime rib, and Mariah couldn’t believe she’d rather drink soda than eat red meat.

“Hey.”

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