Her face fell. She turned and let Mack take her intohisarms.
Drew looked away. It must be nice to have someone to hold onto. He’d be lying if he didn’t think about cuddling up with a woman from time to time. But he wasn’t going to force something that wasn’t meant to be. If fate had someone in store for him, then it had better serve his mate up on a silverplatter.
A car’s engine rumbled in the distance. Muffler problems for sure. He cocked his head to one side. The thud of a loose exhaust pipe carried across the distance. The sound grew louder until an old, beat-up 1987 Buick Regal rolled to a stop between the barn and the house. A puff of bluish smoke blasted out of the back as the engine died. What a pieceofcrap.
“That must be her,” Madison saidsoftly.
Drew opened his mouth to tell her to deal with it, but closed it the second he got a good look at the occupant. A tall woman stepped out of the car. A bulky sweater and loose jeans did nothing to hide her stunning curves. Good God, she was all breastsandass.
A tumble of black hair cascaded over her shoulders. It stood out in stark contrast to the pale peach hue of her skin. As she moved closer, he caught a glimpse of her haunting gray eyes. He couldn’t stopstaring.
“Hello, I’m Sharon. I’m here to meet Drew,”shesaid.
His bear took one whiff of her floral perfume and lost his mind. The creature flailed and clawed at his chest in an attempt to escape. Drew was so caught off guard that he gasped inresponse.
“That’s Drew.” Mack flashed a shit-eating grin. “I’m sure he’ll be able to talk in amoment.”
“I know I don’t look exactly like my pictures,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind thechange.”
“Your hair looks great,” Madison said. “I like the darker color. Red only works with certaincomplexions.”
Drew silently cursed at his bear.Calm down, dammit. She’s going to think you’re a freak.Not that he cared. He was about to send her away, so what she thought of him didn’t reallymatter.
“Um, I need to get back inside,” Madison said. “I’mgettingcold.”
“I’ll go with you, honey,”Macksaid.
Drew glared at their backs as they retreated to the house. He turned to find Sharon striding toward him. Before he could move out of the way, she threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into atighthug.
“I’m so excited to finally meet you,” she said. “I can’t wait to see the ranch and go on that trip into Yellowstone that we talked aboutlastweek.”
“What?”
“You know, up to Minerva Terraces. I’ve always thought it looked like an alien landscape. Something you’d find in a distantgalaxy.”
“Oh, man. This is going to suck,” hemumbled.
His bear scraped a claw across his ribcage as if warning him to find a way tokeepher.
His bearsnarled,Mine!
No matter how much he wanted to ask her to stay, he couldn’t. The sooner he explained the situation, the faster he could get back to his life. Entertaining thoughts about this sexy, completely unexpected woman was out of the question. He didn’t know anything about her, and she didn’t know him at all. Maybe she was perfect for the man Madison thought he was, but how well did his soon-to-be sister-in-law know himanyway?
“I’m sorry,” he said. “There’s been a hugemistake.”
“What do you mean?” she asked in a shakyvoice.
“I’m not the person you’ve been talking to for the last…well, however longit’sbeen.”
“What? What do you mean?” sheasked.
“You’ve been talking to my sister-in-law, not me. You and I have never had a singleconversation."
“But that’s impossible,”shesaid.
“It’s the truth,” he said. “I’m sorry, but the man you thought you were coming to marry doesn’texist.”
Chapter2
