Page 62 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

“What? Why?” Olli asked.

“Mother found out I’ve been seeing him,” she said. “She took me out of the will, and I’m not sure what her plan is, but when she confronts me, I’ll lose Sweet Rose.”

“No.” Olli pulled in a breath and covered her mouth with her hand.

“Pansies,” Spur said, putting the bowl on the table. “Lavender.”

“Thank you,” Ginny said, her voice as proper and poised as always.

“What’s goin’ on here?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Ginny said at the same time Olli said, “Your brother is going to break up with her.”

“What? Why?”

Ginny smiled, wondering if they noticed their separate reactions had been identical.

“Because he is a stupid, stupid man.” Olli paced way from the table. “Where is he? I need to talk to him.”

“Don’t, Olli,” Ginny said, keeping her head down as she picked up a delicate purple flower and added it to a carrot cake. “Help me finish these so you can get off your feet.”

“I don’t get why Cayden would break up with you,” Spur said. “He’s in love with you.”

Ginny laughed, the sound high-pitched and somewhat cruel. “I can assure you, Mister Chappell, that he is not.” She did throw Spur a glare then, and she poured all of her disdain and annoyance into it.

“I’m Mister Chappell now?”

“You’re not helping,” Olli said.

“Why am I not helping?” he asked. “Wouldn’t she like to know he loves her?”

Olli shook her head as she put a leaf of lavender next to the citrus blossom Ginny had already put on the cake.

“I love how rustic the lavender is,” Ginny said, and she wasn’t sure if it was a beautiful moment to find joy in something so small, or pathetic that she’d chosen to focus on a sprig of lavender when her entire life was crumbling around her.

“He does love you, Ginny,” Spur said.

Ginny stopped working and looked at Spur. Those Chappells had strong genes, and she could see so much of Cayden in him. “He has a terrible way of communicating it then,” she said coolly. “I told him right to his face that I loved him, and do you know what he said to me?”

Spur swallowed and glanced at Olli, who likewise stared at Ginny with wide eyes. “What?”

“No,” Ginny said, barking out the word. “That’s what he said, Mister Chappell.No.” She bent over the cakes again. “So you’ll pardon me if I don’t believe you. Also, yes, right now, you need to be Mister Chappell to me. Otherwise, I actually think my head will explode and my heart will crack right in half.” Her voice broke on the last word, as if proving her point.

She placed a pink flower on a vanilla bean cake. “Please,” she added in a whisper. “I just want to get these cakes perfect for Beth.” She added another pansy, this one in yellow, and Olli put on a blue one, completing the little vanilla cake to perfection.

“Go on, Spur,” she said a moment later. “I’ll stay with her.”

“I’m real sorry, Ginny,” Spur said. “Honestly, I am.”

She could only nod, pick up another citrus blossom, and place it just-so on a chocolate bundt.

Twenty minutes later, she and Olli had all the cakes decorated with edible flowers. They spiraled on a circular table, climbing up a circular staircase Tam had carved out of wood to the very top tier, where Ginny carefully placed a vanilla cake completely drenched in flowers, a little cowgirl bride and cowboy groom poking out of the blooms.

She sighed and stood back, the wedding “cake” the most wonderful thing she’d ever created. “I love it.”

“It’s gorgeous,” Olli agreed, slinging her arm around Ginny’s waist.

“Oh, my goodness,” Beth said as she entered the room. “Look at that.” She took a few hesitant steps toward it. “It’s like the whole table is the wedding cake.” She turned and looked at Olli and Ginny, her bright, brown eyes filling with tears. She engulfed them both in a hug, and Ginny closed her eyes and held Beth, a smile on her face.

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