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Realization dawned and she blinked before opening her mouth to form a perfect “O”. “Oh shit, I forgot about that. I tried to give it back to your mom.”

“I know.”

“She said to keep it.”

A trickle of dread flowed down his spine. “What did you do with it?”

The ring had been in the family since his great-great-grandmother Lucille Hamilton. If Tori had sold it, pawned it or destroyed it, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. If she said it was gone, he’d have to high-tail it out of the coffee shop, otherwise he would strangle her. Prison didn’t sound so bad, however, when considering having to deal with his father’s reaction if he found out.

Tori bit her bottom lip. “I’ll look for it and send it to your mom.”

“No,” he gritted the word out. “You’ll get it now and give it to me.”

She huffed. “Give me my laptop.”

“Not until you give me the ring.”

“What do you want it for?”

Once again, he had to lower his voice so not to cuss in front of the eager beavers who continued to watch with fascination. “You know what I want the damned thing for. Stop screwing with me.”

“I’m not sure I want to do anything for your rude ass.” She yanked the computer from under his hand and marched out the door.

“What the hell!” Tobias yelled and got to his feet.

“Hey, Cuz,” Eric Hamilton, the local cop and Mindy’s new love interest, slid to block him from following Tori. “Calm down. Best not to go after her. Let me talk to her.”

Frustrated to the point of the inability to form words, Tobias raked his fingers through his hair. “That woman will give me an ulcer. She is so damned annoying.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Eric’s gaze moved from his face to Tori who’d crossed the street and half-jogged to her house. “I’ll have to ask her to join my team for the Laurel Creek Memorial Day fun run.”

Tobias snapped his fingers in Eric’s face. “Go talk to her and get her to give you the damned engagement ring before Dad finds out it’s lost and has a coronary.”

“I will, but I’ve got a cup of coffee and a muffin with my name on them.” Eric walked around him and went to the counter. Mindy smiled sweetly at his cousin, her cheeks coloring. Those two were annoying too, Tobias decided and stalked out.

Mimi was leaning on her silver Mustang. She waved at him, her eyes darting in the direction Tori had gone. “Hey, there. I was about to walk into the café, but heard a commotion and decided to wait out here for you.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. She makes me lose my temper.”

“About that.” Mimi gave him a pointed look. “I’m getting a bit tired that every time I turn around you and Victoria are in each other’s faces.”

Tobias decided it was best not to say anything. He was in a sour mood and it wasn’t Mimi’s fault. Instead, he nodded.

“I mean it. This is not how I want to spend our married life together. We have to talk.”

The silent path wasn’t going to work. So he took her arm and directed her to Allison’s flower shop. They were supposed to pick flowers or arrangements or something. He’d come early in hopes of catching Tori and getting the ring back.

“Mimi, I promise to do my best to give her a wide berth. Avoid her at all costs from now on.”

His fiancée wasn’t about to be deterred from the conversation, and pulled her arm from his grasp. “It’s impossible. This town is way too small for the both of you. We have to move to Billings. The sooner, the better. I think it’s for the best. Think of our marriage, our future together, sweetness.” She pressed her generous breasts against him and lifted to her toes to kiss him, her arms snaking around his neck. “Think about it,” she insisted between kisses.

He didn’t want to think. If Mimi knew him, she’d understand he was an overthinker and then ended up making the worst decision. So instead, he decided to make a spur of the moment decision. “Fine, yeah, it may be best for us to move away. My parents will be glad to have us closer. I’ll start working on it.”

“Yay,” she exclaimed. “You can let Luke oversee the ranch, hire people to take care of the cows.” Obviously, she didn’t understand or care how much of a burden it would be on Luke.

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she urged him to walk to the flower shop. They made an awkward entrance through the door as Mimi didn’t release his waist and they had to thread through the door one first and then the other.

Allison narrowed her eyes just for an instant. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Of course, she was firmly settled into the Anti-Mimi camp, but he didn’t give a damn. Mimi was beautiful, sensual and he would never fall in love with her. It was enough that she aroused him and was great in bed. That was all he needed.