She pulled the blanket up to her chin. Her heart knew exactly what she wanted—him. But she’d never followed her heart before. She’d always done what was expected of her. Well, except for when she moved to Montana to work on a ranch. That had been completely out of character. And maybe that’s exactly what she needed; to follow her instinct and find out if Mack could steal herheart.
Chapter12
The next morning,Madison wandered into the kitchen just as the sun rose over the mountains. Light bounced across the glittering snow, giving it the magical feeling of the Christmas season. As she turned on the stove, she couldn’t help but think about how she felt more welcome in Mack’s family than in her own family. The way the brothers cared for each other made her want to be a part of somuchlove.
A soft, feminine voice came from behind her. “Good morning. I was up early so I thought I’d come in andhelpyou.”
“Rachel, right?” Madison had heard about Brady’s whirlwind romance with his old high school love, but she hadn’t met heruntilnow.
“Yep. It’s nice to finally meet you. We’ve been gone a few days. Brady and I wanted to have a winter wedding, so we’ve been in Bozeman looking at dresses. Well, I look at dresses while he tries ontuxes.”
“Congratulations. Weddings are exciting, well... andstressful.”
“I’m ready for it. I’ve been in love with Brady my whole life. We just took a while to figureitout.”
Madison set a frying pan on the stovetop. “When didyouknow?”
“Know that I was going tomarryhim?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s see, it was about ten a.m. in my first class of sophomore biology in high school. He smiled at me and I almost fainted. He was the hottest boy in school, still is if you ask me, and I couldn’t believe he knew I existed. Not that he was a snob, mind you, but I didn’t feel very prettybackthen.”
“You’regorgeous.”
Rachel blushed. “Thankyou.”
Madison cracked eggs into the skillet. “So, you knewrightaway?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
Rachel laughed. “I just knew. Sometimes you meet someone and you instantly know you’re going to be their friend. Or you know they’re meant for you. I don’t know how to explain it, other than youjustknow.”
As Madison flipped the eggs, her heart beat wildly in her chest.Youjustknow.
Rachel said, “I’m curious, why are youasking?”
“I…well…”
“It’s Mack, isn’t it? I don’t blame you, he’s got the same Grant boy genes. This ranch is crawling with hot, singlecowboys.”
Madison smiled. “They don’t make men like that in Seattle. At least not the ones Idated.”
“It’s all the clean mountain air. So tell me everything. How didyoumeet?”
Heat crawled up Madison’s neck as she flashed back to the steamy sex in Mack’s truck outside the bar. “I met him a few days ago. I applied for the manager job andgotit.”
“And?”
Madison set the spatula down. Something about Rachel made her instantly comfortable. Maybe it was because she was also in love with a Grant brother. “This is going to soundcrazy.”
“Tryme.”
“Mack thinks that we’re fated to betogether.”
“That’s notcrazy.”
