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To her absolute shock, he walked right up to the hot guy standing next to Meadow and hooked an arm around his enormous set of shoulders in a bro hug. The sound of them thumping each other on the back might as well be boulders falling off one of the mountains surrounding the ranch.
Ivy stepped away from Meadow and gave the men a pointed look.
Meadow scooted close to the tall, chiseled man with dark hair and even darker eyes. “Ivy, you remember Colton—Forest’s friend? And my boyfriend…”
At the sound of her brother’s name spoken so casually, a sharp lance pierced her heart.
Colton fixed his attention on Ivy. In a single flash, she saw the pain of Forest’s loss in his eyes too. It was only a quick glimmer—gone in a wink—but it was there.
To cover the moment, she sputtered, “Did you say boyfriend?”
Colton’s lips quirked upward at one corner.
Oh, damn. She could see what her sister saw in this one. Besides being a complete hottie badass, Colton seemed to possess a range of emotions.
Unlike the caveman beside him.
Meadow beamed and slipped her arm around Colton’s back. “I did say boyfriend.”
Colton slipped an arm around her and pulled her close.
Ivy slowly swung her attention to the other guy standing there. McGrunty.
“And you are?”
He centered those steely gray eyes on her face. An improvement from before when he stared at her ass. “I’m Hunter. Forest was my friend too.”
Luckily, this time when she heard Forest’s name, she didn’t experience the same stab to her heart.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me for more than an international flight, Princess Ivy.”
Rolling her eyes, she swung away from Hunter and stalked over to the baggage claim. She stood there tapping her foot, watching the luggage slowly trickle into the carousel.
Putting up with the guy on the flight was irritating enough, but she must have committed a big sin to be saddled with him as an acquaintance of Forest’s.
She reached for her bag as it came around the carousel, but before she could snag the handle, a long arm reached past her and latched on to her suitcase.
She sucked in a gasp of annoyance as Hunter, aka McGrunty, lifted her bag as though it weighed only ounces rather than the forty-five pounds she knew it did after lugging it all over a continent for most of a year.
When she met his gaze, he gave her that same cocky lift of his brow he had on the plane.
A burning itch zapped down her thighs. She battled an urge to stomp her foot.
Dammit. She was going to have to thank Hunter—again.
He was probably performing these kindnesses just to get his ego stroked.
She opened her mouth to ask if he was on some kind of ego trip but slammed it shut. She was much better than this. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of speaking to him.
Yanking the suitcase out of his hand, she set it on its wheels. It started to tip, and she caught it before it fell over. Then with her head held high, she hurried toward the exit without a backward glance at the rest of her party.
Hopefully, this guy was not joining them on the ranch, but what else could he be doing in Montana? It wasn’t as though the local town held any attractions.
In the parking lot, Meadow caught up to her. “The truck is this way.”
Without a response, Ivy crossed the parking lot to the truck with the Gracey Ranch logo on the side. The letters G and R making up the cattle brand were linked with the crossbar of the G morphing into the rounded portion of the R.
For some reason, the sight of that brand brought tears swimming into Ivy’s eyes.
