Page 89 of The Troublemaker

“Congratulations,” Elsie said, beaming.

Alaina flung her arms around her.

“Thank you,” she said, trying to force a smile.

“I had no idea,” Nelly said. “None at all.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Me either, to be honest.”

And Nelly laughed. “Oh. Well. I know all about that.”

“Same,” Elsie said.

“Same, to be honest,” Alaina said.

“Not me,” Elizabeth said. “It was Brody the minute I laid eyes on him. And Iknew. It was very inconvenient. Extremely off-putting.”

“Why?” Charity asked, genuinely interested.

“I had sworn off men.”

She couldn’t quite imagine that. But then, she knew Elizabeth had a very different life experience than she did.

“I thought I hated Tag,” Nelly said.

“I thought Gus was old.”

Elsie shrugged. “I just thought Hunter was an asshole.”

“In fairness,” Alaina said, “Gus is still old, and Hunter is an asshole.”

Elsie nodded. “True.”

She knew that Elsie and Alaina had been best friends for a long time, until they had nearly imploded over an incident with a guy who worked on the ranch, but it all worked out. The guy in question was a loser, and they had both ended up with the far superior McCloud boys.

That was the thing. The McClouds... They were good men. Good people. They had been through so much, and they had come out of it just the best.

Really, no one could fault them.

And here they were, all married and happy. Having children. Now she and Lachlan were doing the same.

She felt compelled then to look around the knot of women and find Lachlan.

As soon as she saw him, her anxiety ebbed. Her heart turned over and expanded in her chest. He was beautiful. And she let herself be hit with the full impact of that beauty. She wasn’t trying to deny it anymore. Wasn’t trying to ignore it. She let it hit her. Fully and absolutely.

“Hey,” he said.

He rushed across the space over to her, and she found herself moving to him. He pulled her into his arms and he kissed her. Right in front of everybody.

Everyonecheered.

“Yeah,” Hunter said. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

“It’s about damn time,” Tag said.

“No kidding,” Brody commented.

“You know,” Charity said. “Men and women reallycanjust be friends.”

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