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  “Words are simple,” she said. “But how do you measure the other person’s loyalty?”

  “You don’t need to. At some point the person you’re dating faces a decision, and their true loyalty surfaces.” How many times could his dad have walked away? His dad could’ve headed out on one of his jobs in his 18-wheeler and never returned to his family. But his father had always come back to them, and those had been the times that Zach had lived for. He’d endured until then, marking the days off on a stained calendar.

  “What if the other person never faces a big decision?” she asked. “How do you really know they’ll be loyal to you?”

  Georgie liked proof. He’d picked up on that much already. He smiled. “People are challenged every single day to make a choice. Could be as complicated as defending a friend’s character or as simple as choosing omelets for dinner.”

  “How does choosing omelets for dinner prove a person’s loyalty?” She laughed.

  The lighthearted, carefree sound filled the car and Zach. He wanted to make her laugh more. “Choosing breakfast for dinner proves you’re loyal to the most important meal of the day.”

  “Or it proves you need to go to the grocery store.”

  “That, too.” He chuckled. “Still, you can learn a lot about someone if you pay attention to the small details.”

  “What details have you noticed about me?” She bit into her bottom lip on the same side, in the same corner, as she’d done before.

  The tiniest of actions cornered Zach’s attention, drew him in and made him consider her even more. Was she nervous? Shy? Perhaps rattled. Zach fastened his gaze back on the road. She bit her lip. Nothing unusual about it. Nothing very interesting about such a common quirk. Yet there was something entirely too intriguing about Georgiana Harrison.

  He might have wanted to learn more about her, but their time together ended soon.

  Fortunately, her phone vibrated in the console where she’d put it and rescued him from answering her question.

  She lifted her phone and looked at him. “It’s my sister Amanda.”

  Within minutes, Georgie’s conversation turned into a conference call and then a video chat among the five Harrison sisters. Georgie slipped on a pair of headphones and left Zach decoding a one-sided conversation about Lily’s upcoming wedding.

  He turned up the radio and concentrated on keeping the car at a reasonable speed.

  The next hundred miles included more phone calls, a distinct fidgeting from Georgie until she finally fell asleep and only one wrong turn for Zach. Finally, he drove under the Blackwell Family Guest Ranch sign. Beside him, Georgie woke and became more and more restless, touching her hair, her face, tugging on her sweater, then repeating the process. He parked the car in a wide parking lot.

  Two women bundled from head to boots in snow gear cheered from the sidewalk outside an impressive two-story lodge with a wide wraparound porch. The women rushed the car.

  “These are my sisters Lily and Fiona.” Georgie jumped out and embraced the two women.

  The excited trio hugged and talked at the same time. Words tumbled over each other, making it hard for Zach to follow their conversation. He waited inside the car, unsure of the proper protocol. Did he introduce himself? Give Georgie her shopping bags and leave without an introduction? He waited for guidance from Georgie. This was her family.

  The sisters spun around as if joined and peered at him inside the car. Zach lifted his hand and waved.

  Seconds later, Georgie climbed back into the car and slammed the door. Her words sputtered out like steam from a blown radiator. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to. I mean, I considered it earlier. But not for long. It’s all kinds of wrong. We’d already agreed on that.”

  Zach rubbed his chin. Her face was pale. From the windchill or something else, he wasn’t quite certain. He turned up the heat, aimed the air vent in her direction.

  “Then Lily called you Colin and I laughed.” She clutched her computer bag on her lap and rambled on, “You two would never be confused for each other. Never. But they never met Colin, so how would they know?”

  Zach remained quiet. He’d learned the value of silence as a kid.

  Georgie’s sisters climbed into an ATV and shut the doors of the hard cab enclosure. The ATV reversed and the sisters gave them the thumbs-up sign.

  Nothing inside their rental car was thumbs-up worthy. “Your sisters are signaling to us.”

  “Follow them.” The tension in Georgie’s voice matched her grip on her bag. “I’m sorry.”

  “You mentioned that.” Zach nodded.

  “I told them you were my wedding date.” Her voice climbed an octave higher. “It just came out. I blurted out—that’s not Colin, that’s Zach, my date.”

  Zach searched for air in the suddenly too-warm car. And everything seemed blurrier than being caught at midnight in snow fog. Everything…except the fact he’d be able to use the leverage of being Georgie’s boyfriend to get full access to Ethan. His horse wouldn’t survive without Ethan’s care. He’d lose Rain Dancer and his rodeo career. But not now, thanks to Georgie’s slipup.

  “What are we supposed to do? We have to tell them the truth.” Her aggravated voice nudged the sudden quiet aside. “This is what happens to people who take shortcuts. I never take shortcuts.”

  He only wanted an introduction to Ethan. The opportunity to plead for his horse in person. Zach followed the sisters’ ATV around the main lodge and down another road, past the stables, several barns and a white farmhouse. He wanted to take the shortcut to Ethan Blackwell. Was that so wrong? “What happens when shortcuts are taken?”

  “Failure happens, that’s what.” Georgie’s fingers drummed a silent, angry beat against her leg. “Then your family really believes you can’t function outside of your research lab. And when you tell them you’re moving to London, they’ll worry and become even more anxious.”

  He followed the ATV into a circular driveway in front of a two-story log home. He parked beside a silver truck and shifted toward Georgie. He’d take it one thing at a time. “We can keep up the pretense.”

  “You can’t be serious,” she said. “I worked with Colin for over a month so he could get all the details straight.”

  “You don’t leave anything to chance, do you?”

  “No, especially not with a risk this big.” She clutched the dashboard and gaped out the window. “This cannot be happening. I cannot stay here.”

  Zach tracked her gaze. An older woman wrapped in a long sweater coat and fur-lined boots stepped off a wide porch framing the log house. She hugged each of Georgie’s sisters, touching their cheeks, her smile kind and gentle. “Who is that?”

  “I think it’s my grandmother.”

  Zach had never met his grandparents. Georgie’s grandmother looked like the kind he’d always wanted as a kid. He scratched his cheek. “What do you want to do?”

  “I’ll give you my sixty-second short.” She inhaled, held her breath. Her words streamed out on her long exhalation. “None of my four sisters will believe we’re dating. We lost our mother earlier this year. Now my father is on a mission to have each of his daughters blissfully settled into married life.”

  “Sorry about your mom.” Zach set his hand on her arm.

  He had no college degree and no family. He lived on the road with his horse, chasing the next eight-second ride. Georgie had a medical degree, a tight-knit family and everything going for her. Of course her sisters would not believe they were together. The doctor and the cowboy. Maybe on TV. But in the real world… “You’re right. We should tell them.”

  She blinked at him. “They won’t believe we’re dating because they know I don’t believe in insta-love, like they do.”

  “It’s your guidelines, isn’t it?” he asked.

  “We don’t have time for this. They’re waiting for us.” She clun
g to the door handle. “Colin and I practiced how we’d fake the relationship. We’ve known each other for years.”

  “Right.” He opened his door. “I’ll tell them I’m just dropping you off. As we agreed.”

  “Fine.” Georgie nodded. “That’s what we should do.”

  A sense of foreboding washed over Zach. “One last question. Is there a problem with your grandparents?”

  “Just one.”

  “Is it a big problem?” Zach pressed.

  “It depends on your definition of big. If you consider the fact that I’ve never met my Blackwell grandparents big, then yes. It’s a very big problem.” Georgie scrambled out of the car. “I only wanted to make a good impression.” She looked away.

  But not before he saw the terror on her face and heard the alarm in her voice. Zach joined Georgie on the shoveled path and took her gloved hand. “It’s going to be okay.”

  The three women huddled together on the sidewalk, each one grinning wider than the next. Plump snowflakes drifted around them, but their attention remained fixed on Zach and Georgie. More exactly, Georgie and Zach’s joined hands. One of her sisters bounced in her snow boots. The other pressed her hands over her mouth as if sighing out her excitement.

  Dorothy Blackwell introduced herself. She embraced Georgie, then Zach, in a warm, welcoming hug. “Please call me Grandma Dot like the rest of the family. The whole family can’t wait to meet you both.”

  Georgie had never met any of her Blackwell family. None of them. Zach searched for air. A bull had kicked him in the ribs twice years ago and he hadn’t been as winded as he was now. The only clear thing he knew was that he didn’t want to leave Georgie alone, but he’d given his word. He opened his mouth.

  Georgie twisted and set her hand on his chest, stalling his confession. “Grandmother. Dorothy, this is Zach Evans, my boyfriend.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  MY BOYFRIEND. GEORGIE just jumped in with both feet. Never mind that the last time she’d jumped in with both feet had been at summer camp in seventh grade. And she had ended up with a concussion and a broken arm. She strained to find her most convincing smile.

  Beside her, Zach wheezed as if he choked on air. “Pleasure to meet you all.”

  She was going to owe him. Big-time.

  “We’re pleased to welcome you to our home.” Dorothy clasped her hands together. “Let’s get your things inside and get you two settled.”

  “Zach, I’m not sure if Georgie explained that the guest cabins and the main guest lodge have been winterized,” Lily said, unaware that Georgie hadn’t explained anything. “Hadley and Ty Blackwell manage the guest ranch. They like to save on electric and utilities by closing down the guest cabins and rooms while it’s only our family at the ranch.”

  “Simon and I are in Lily’s former one-bedroom cabin. It’s the only one not closed for the winter.” Fiona’s words tumbled out in an excited rush. “But you two will have your own suite, with a bathroom and sitting room, here at Grandma Dot and Big E’s private home.”

  “That’s generous.” Again, Zach sounded winded, like he still hadn’t recovered from his air hiccup. Or Georgie’s outburst.

  Georgie wrapped her arm around Zach’s waist and searched for balance.

  “I’ll show you to your room. Zach can get your things later.” Dorothy led the way into her house. “Then I have to get my sewing supplies together. Georgie, we need to get you fitted for your bridesmaid dress before dinner.”

  “Grandma Dot is our seamstress.” Lily beamed from the entryway. “Fee and I need to run to Hadley’s to pick up the faux fur stoles she found for all of you. We’ll be right back for Georgie’s fitting.”

  “Be careful, you two.” Dorothy closed the thick oak door. “Come in. Come in. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen.”

  Georgie would race in there right now if she thought the pantry held the answers to what she should do next. The truth wound around her, ready to be spilled. Grandmother. Dorothy. It’s not what…

  “We want you to feel right at home.” Dorothy led them into the great room.

  A stone fireplace dominated one wall. Monogrammed stockings hung from the mantel, while lights twinkled in the lush holly-berry garland and wreath above it. Windows extended from the first floor up into the second story toward the vaulted ceiling and framed the snow-covered forest and frozen creek outside.

  A Christmas tree joined the kitchen and great room. A pie and holiday cookies waited on the granite countertops. Candles burned on the island. Vanilla and cinnamon scented the air. Fleece blankets and throw pillows, announcing joy and glad tidings, covered the oversized couch and love seat. The padded bar stools around the island invited guests to sit and stay for a while.

  Georgie felt instantly warm and welcomed inside Dorothy’s home. And ready now to confess. “Thank you for letting us stay here.”

  “You’re family and will always have a place here,” Dorothy said.

  Maybe not. Not once her grandmother learned the truth about their deception. Speak now or forever hold your peace. Zach wasn’t Georgie’s groom, only a fake wedding date.

  “Your room is upstairs.” Dorothy motioned to the curved staircase. “I’ve added extra blankets, pillows and more firewood.”

  Georgie followed Zach into the upstairs guest suite. A smaller stone fireplace, thick plush carpets and a king-sized four-poster bed accented the space.

  Dorothy finished the tour, pointing out the bathroom and attached reading nook. “I’m off to gather my sewing basket. I’ll let you two get situated.”

  A soft click of the bedroom door and Georgie was alone with Zach.

  Zach scrubbed his hands over his face. “What just happened?”

  “I met my grandmother for the first time.” Georgie flopped back on the center of the bed and dropped her arm over her face. “And introduced you as my boyfriend.”

  “I got that part,” he said. “How is it that you only just met your grandmother?”

  “We don’t have time for that story now.” She lifted her arm and eyed him. “But the short version is my sister Lily found her birth certificate with Thomas Blackwell listed as her father, not Rudy Harrison. Our dad confirmed the truth and here we are.”

  Currently the man Georgie called Dad, Rudy Harrison, and Georgie’s new Blackwell grandfather, Big E, were on a road trip to locate the girls’ biological father, Thomas Blackwell. An impossible mission.

  If Thomas Blackwell had wanted to be found, he’d have returned to his family long before now. If a wife and five young daughters hadn’t been enough for Thomas to stay, what could Rudy and Big E offer Thomas now to come back to the family he’d abandoned?

  He set his hands on his hips and stared down at her. “What now?”

  She worked her voice into optimistic. “I get to introduce you to my cousin Ethan.”

  His eyebrows lowered and his gaze narrowed. “What do you get?”

  A reprieve from her father’s disappointment. Georgiana, I promised your mother. Georgiana, you can’t marry your job. Georgiana, you’ll never find a partner inside the lab, so let me introduce you to… “A wedding date.” And a potential supporter of her London Project.

  “If we’re going to do this, you have to tell me everything,” he said. “Colin was more than a simple wedding date, wasn’t he?”

  “Colin was my security.” She sat up, crossed her legs on the bed and hugged one of the fluffy pillows. “I’ve accepted a new job in the UK at a medical research lab. Colin is a colleague and longtime friend. He’ll also be working at the same lab.”

  Zach rested his arm on the wooden fireplace mantel and watched her, his face unreadable.

  “Colin was going to help convince my family that London was a good career move,” she continued.

  “You can’t convince your family of that yourself?” he asked.

 
; “They think I get lost in the lab and forget to enjoy life,” she said. “My dad constantly lectures me on work–life balance, specifically that I don’t have any. It’s work, work, work, all the time. If they thought I was going to London with my boyfriend, then…”

  “They wouldn’t worry so much,” he filled in.

  “Exactly,” she said. “After the year we’ve had, losing our mom and Lily canceling one wedding and planning another, I don’t want them to worry.”

  “So, you need me to reassure them you’re perfectly capable, so they won’t be concerned,” he said.

  “It won’t work now,” she said.

  “Why not?” he asked. “I can be persuasive if I need to.”

  “They won’t believe you,” she said. “You’re a cowboy, nationally ranked in the rodeo. They won’t believe you’d give all that up to move to London with me.”

  “Maybe I want a change,” he suggested.

  She arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you retiring from the rodeo sometime soon?”

  “It’s not in my immediate plans.” He paused. His gaze narrowed as if he were looking into a future he didn’t want to see. “Not unless…”

  “Unless…” she said. He’d wanted her to tell him everything. She wanted the same.

  “I have a sick horse.” He wiped his palm over his mouth as if he’d like to retract his confession.

  “And your horse is the reason you need Ethan’s help.” Her cousin was a veterinarian and well-known for not turning his back when other veterinarians walked away. She’d heard stories about Ethan and his animal healing skills. Georgie didn’t know much about those kinds of skills and patients, opting to spend most of her time in the lab.

  Zach moved to the window, set his hands on his hips and kept his back to her. If she was good with people, she’d know the right thing to do right now. The right thing to do for Zach. “Do you ride your own horse in your events?”

  “Only in the calf roping,” he said. “The broncs are drawn from the stock.”