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She had her twin sister. Liberty had never made a bad decision in her life. Every choice she made was the right one. Grocery lines, menu items, treadmills, clothes, makeup, and hairstyles. Flowers, food catering, and wedding venues. If Liberty chose it, it always turned out perfectly.
And Liberty loved choosing things—not only for herself, but also for her twin.
Unfortunately, when Liberty wasn’t around, things went to hell in a handcart.
The current situation was a perfect example.
If Liberty had been around this morning when Belle had decided to ride over to their family’s ranch, she wouldn’t have allowed Belle to choose a horse that happened to be terrified of thunder. In fact, she would have taken one look at the clouds gathering in the sky and decided it would be better to drive to the Holiday Ranch.
But Liberty hadn’t been there. She had been with Jesse. Jesse Cates, a man Belle was thoroughly starting to dislike for taking her sister away from her and leaving Belle to her own bad decision-making.
And he wasn’t just taking Liberty away from her. He was also taking Liberty away from her and Belle’s business.
Holiday Sisters Events was Belle’s life. She loved helping people celebrate the most important events in their lives. She loved fluffing wedding veils, lighting ninety birthday candles, and helping fifty-year-wedding-anniversary couples remember the vows they wrote. She loved making sure the arrangements on the reception tables were correctly placed, the cake wasn’t cut until it was time, and the flower girls didn’t toss all the petals before they walked down the aisle.
What she didn’t love was all the decisions that went along with the perfect event. Decisions were Liberty’s forte. Without her, there would be no Holiday Sisters Events.
Thunder boomed and the horse whinnied and reared. Belle was so busy trying to keep her seat she didn’t notice there was someone in the barn until they spoke.
“What the hell!”
As soon as the horse’s front hoofs landed on the ground, Belle glanced around until she spied the shirtless man standing by the back stalls. It didn’t take more than a second to figure out who he was. Corbin Whitlock was the reason Belle was there. Although he barely resembled the sweet, awkward boy she’d known in high school.
His hair, that had once been a mop of unruly dark blond curls, was now trimmed short on the sides. Even wet, the locks on top fell in expertly cut layers. His face was no longer dotted with acne. It was blemish free, tanned, and clean shaven. The tall, gangly body, which had tripped over its large feet whenever Liberty was around, was not gangly anymore. It was sculpted with hard chest muscles, knotted biceps, and washboard abs.
The only features remotely familiar were the blue eyes that stared back at her. But even those had changed. They no longer held the soft vulnerability that had touched Belle’s heart.
Now, they were hard and cold.
“Bella.”
While everyone else called her Belle or Belly, Corbin had always called her Bella. She never knew why, but being a big Twilight fan, she had liked it.
She didn’t like it so much now. Especially when his voice held no warmth. Although she wasn’t surprised by his cool tone. She knew he hated her and why. But she was surprised that he had recognized her. Few people outside her family could tell the difference between her and Liberty. How had Corbin known the difference? Especially when she was soaking wet and they hadn’t seen each other since high school.
Lady Grantham snorted and restlessly pranced and Corbin took a step back and warily eyeballed the horse. Which surprised her. He had been an awkward teenager, but never a fearful one. His courting of the most popular girl in school had proved it.
“What the hell are you doing?” His voice was deeper than she remembered. Huskier. Angrier.
“I think that should be obvious—coming in out of the rain.”
“Well, you can go right back out in it. I have enough Holidays to deal with. You aren’t welcome here.”
Not welcome here? On a ranch that had belonged to her family for over a hundred years? She knew she had done Corbin wrong. But the stupid, teenage mistake she had made years ago wasn’t justification for thinking he could steal her family’s ranch. But before she could do something really stupid—like lose her temper and tell him off—another loud boom of thunder caused Lady Grantham to rear again.
This time, Belle was too preoccupied to be prepared. She slipped out of the wet saddle and hit the hard-packed ground on her butt with a pain-filled grunt. It wasn’t the first time she had been thrown from a horse. She was country smart enough to roll out of the way as the frightened horse charged back out into the rain.
She was lying there trying to catch her breath and assess her injuries when a warm hand settled on the chilled skin of her arm and gently rolled her over.
“Bella.” This time, Corbin didn’t say her name like a curse as he knelt next to her. The one word was spoken in a soft, concerned voice. She had forgotten how blue his eyes were. They were like the sky at dusk, deep, intense cobalt that could rival any flamboyant display the setting sun offered.
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” He pulled a cellphone from the back pocket of his wet jeans and tapped the screen. “Just stay still. An ambulance will be here shortly.”
She closed her fingers around his wrist. The man had one thick wrist. And an extremely strong heartbeat. His pulse thumped wildly against her fingertips as she spoke unsteadily.
“I-I-I’m—fine.”
“Like hell you are. You just got thrown off a wild-eyed beast from hell and then trampled beneath his hoofs.” He started tapping the screen again, but stopped when a snort of laughter bubbled out of her mouth.
