Page 51 of A Match Made in Montana

“There you are,” Vivian said. She was sitting at the table, sipping her coffee. “I was wondering whether you were hiding from us.”

Annie walked toward the coffee machine. “Why would I be hiding?”

Vivian chuckled. “I don’t know. It may have something to do with the all the sounds coming from your office last night?”

“Sounds?”

“Oh, come on, Annie. It’s me. Your sister. You’ve been with Craig?”

With a sigh, Annie took a seat at the table. “Yes, okay, I was with Craig. But it was a one-time only thing. I won’t be seeing him again before he leaves. Well, except on your wedding day, of course. But that’s more than a week away.”

“You won’t be seeing him again? Mmm, that would explain it.” Vivian chuckled.

“Explain what?”

“The stiches he needed early this morning. Right here,” Vivian said pointing to her chin.

Trying to process what Vivian’s words meant, Annie put her mug down slowly. “Stiches? You mean Craig…” She couldn’t even say the words. Inhaling deeply, she tried to focus on her sister, but everything around her seemed to be tilting.

Vivian nodded as she jumped up. “Yep, four or five if I remember correctly. Annie, are you okay? You’re white as a sheet.” She quickly got a bottle of water from the fridge and gave it to Annie.

Annie pressed the cold bottle against her face. “Why did he need stitches? What happened?”

“Apparently a fight broke out at the Wolf Den early this morning. It was a rough morning in the ER stitching up half the cowboys in town. Oh, and Ted Harris also staggered in.”

“Ted? I didn’t know he was still in town?” Nothing Vivian was saying made any sense.

“I have an idea he’s finally realized he’s not welcome here. Can’t tell you how I enjoyed stitching him up. He looked the worse of the two, by the way.”

“Craig—is he okay?”

Vivian grinned. “Don’t worry, he’ll live. At least now I understand how a grown man ended up in a fight in the seediest bar in town. If you told him you don’t want to see him again, I’m starting to have a little sympathy for the man.”

“Sympathy for what man?” Mitch asked as he entered the kitchen.

“Annie’s Craig ended up in the ER this morning.”

“Oh, the fight at the Wolf Den early this morning?” Mitch snickered. “Heard about it at school. Serves him right. Strutting in here, flirting with my sister.”

Vivian chuckled. “Just please don’t you also go and throw punches again. You’ve already been the talk of the town when you hit poor Aiden.”

“He made you cry, or have you forgotten about that?”

Smiling, Vivian hugged Mitch. “I remember. What you should remember, brother dear, is that you’re a lover, not a fighter. Be nice with Craig. Even though he doesn’t know it yet, he’s fallen for our Annie. She, on the other hand, knows she loves him, but she’s still determined never to marry because of that idiot Ted Harris, who by the way, was part of the fight. If you want to do something, talk to Annie, tell her she can’t throw away a happy future because of silly person who doesn’t know her worth.”

Still dumbfounded, Annie watched as Vivian left the kitchen. Craig had been in the Wolf Den. He’d been in a fight right after he’d left her early this morning. With Ted. Like two little schoolboys. For heaven’s sake—what had he been thinking?

Inhaling deeply, she pressed her fingers against her temples where the vague headache she’d been aware of all morning was now pounding away. Craig was okay. For a minute there she’d thought she was going to faint.

“Is it true?” Mitch asked as he pulled out a chair, mug of coffee in his one hand.

“Is what true?”

“That you love O’Sullivan?”

Sighing, Annie took a sip of the cold water. “Yes, Mitch, I do. I didn’t know it was possible to love someone so, so… completely. Corny, I know, but that’s how it is.”

“Have you told him?”

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