<\/div>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t let the General see you do that,\u201d Jack Sanders said in a voice as monotone as a robot\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Logan didn\u2019t care; it had taken him weeks to wear the man down enough to make him say his line. He\u2019d started this gag the first day he\u2019d arrived at USSOCOM. First Connor O\u2019Riley had played his straight man, then Hunter Powell had taken over when Connor headed to Two Willows. Jack Sanders had hated every damn day of it, so when Hunter had left just over a month ago, Logan made it his mission to force the man to play his part.<\/p>\n

Luckily, relentless was Logan\u2019s middle name. It had taken persistence, though. One day he\u2019d said, \u201cHello, baby girl\u201d over a hundred times before Sanders broke down and answered correctly. These days, Sanders resorted to the monotone voice to register his protest over the whole thing, but as long as he said the words, Logan was satisfied. Doubly so, since usually Sanders\u2014a soldier with the Special Forces\u2014was as cagey as a ferret.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t let him see me eat?\u201d he said, with as much innocence as he had that very first time all those months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t let him see you slap the woman you\u2019re supposed to marry.\u201d Jack looked up for the first time. Pointed toward Lena\u2019s photograph. \u201cHaven\u2019t you left yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot without saying goodbye. And eating breakfast.\u201d Logan made short work of the sandwich and took the framed photograph of Lena Reed off the wall, unzipped his bag and shoved it in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe General will notice that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet him. He\u2019s giving me his daughter, isn\u2019t he? He can\u2019t be pissed if I take her photo, too. Now, if I took Alice\u2019s\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

He ducked when Jack snatched a stapler from his desk and hurled it at him. The stapler bounced off Logan\u2019s shoulder and fell to the ground.<\/p>\n

Jack went back to work, but Logan knew his words had hit their target with as much accuracy as Jack had pegged him with the stapler. Jack was supposed to marry Alice, but the man would have to wait until Logan fulfilled his mission and married Lena before he could try to make that happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, you\u2019re going to miss me. Admit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack snorted.<\/p>\n

Logan picked up the stapler and put it on his desk, suddenly reluctant to leave. He had no idea why the General had picked him to marry Lena. From everything he\u2019d learned about the woman, she was going to hate him on sight. She\u2019d hate any man the General sent on sight. And if he failed\u2014<\/p>\n

The consequences wouldn\u2019t be pretty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, keep up the good work here at the Joint Task Force.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time Jack swiveled around in his chair. They both knew the task force was a waste of time\u2014desk work conjured up by the General to bore them so silly that traveling to Chance Creek and marrying his daughters came as a relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cWant to know what I\u2019m wondering?\u201d Jack asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d Logan was surprised. He didn\u2019t know Jack wondered about anything. The man made it his business to know everything there was to know.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree men sent to Two Willows. Three marriages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the odds?\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan sat back. What were the odds? Shouldn\u2019t one of the General\u2019s daughters have balked by now? \u201cThat\u2019s a damn good question,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked it up online. Matchmaking services have a horrible record as far as success is concerned. You might as well toss names around in a paper bag and draw them two by two\u2014it would work as well. So how is the General\u2014General Augustus Reed, who wouldn\u2019t know a thing about romance if it bit him on the ass\u2014scoring a hundred percent?\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan had a feeling the General knew more about romance than Jack was giving him credit for. There were photographs of his late wife everywhere you looked here at USSOCOM. Still, he understood what Jack was trying to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. Divine order?\u201d Logan supposed those successes made his failure with Lena all the more likely.<\/p>\n

Statistically speaking.<\/p>\n

Or maybe not. Was it like flipping a coin? Each new coin toss still had a 50 percent chance of coming up heads\u2014no matter how many other coins had been tossed previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cDivine order?\u201d Jack repeated incredulously. \u201cWho the hell believes in divine order?\u201d<\/p>\n

His parents did, with a conviction that made it hard for him to follow a path of his own. So did his brothers, who were both in the priesthood. Logan had spent a lifetime trying to escape the calling his family saw for him. He\u2019d thought he\u2019d done that when he joined the Marines\u2014trading a religious calling for a patriotic one.<\/p>\n

Then he\u2019d screwed up.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes the General have some kind of predictive technology we don\u2019t know about yet?\u201d Jack mused.<\/p>\n

Logan cocked his head, glad for the distraction. He didn\u2019t want to think about the past he\u2019d run from. \u201cAre you worried you\u2019re out of the loop on some new kind of spook software, Sanders?\u201d It had been a running joke among the rest of them in the task force that the soldier might be Intelligence.<\/p>\n

Jack sighed. \u201cJust trying to make sense of something that doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve stopped trying to make sense of anything.\u201d Logan got to his feet. Unlike his parents and brothers, he\u2019d rebelled against the idea you could be directed toward your fate by something outside yourself. He\u2019d left home. Joined the Marines. Escaped any divine order that might be leveled at him.<\/p>\n

And then the dreams had started.<\/p>\n

He touched the medallion he wore on a cord around his neck, then shook his head at the gesture. He wasn\u2019t going to be a priest, no matter what his parents wanted. Not even if St. Michael himself kept charging into his dreams at night.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019d messed up, he\u2019d thought he was on a one-way ticket back to Idaho. Back to the pressure to conform to a calling he\u2019d never had. Now he\u2019d been saved again by the General. Here he was, on his way to Chance Creek to get married. To hell with the dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something else,\u201d Jack said, interrupting his thoughts. He pulled a document out of a file folder and handed it to Logan. A photograph, but of what Logan couldn\u2019t make it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDrone footage. Of Two Willows. I finally got one there this morning to do a flyover. See, here\u2019s the house and the carriage house.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yeah. There are the outbuildings.\u201d Logan could see it now. Everything lined up with the maps on the walls of their office. It had taken them a while to realize why the General had surrounded them with intelligence about his own ranch.<\/p>\n

He wondered who Jack had in Montana to put the drone in the air. Was he working with one of the other men already at the ranch?<\/p>\n

Somehow, Logan doubted it. Jack liked to keep secrets. Logan leaned in for a closer look. \u201cBut what\u2019s this smudgy part in the middle?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNear as I can figure out, that\u2019s the hedge maze. Thing is, I can\u2019t get a clear image of it. I tried several times. See?\u201d Jack handed him more photographs, and Logan examined them. From what he\u2019d heard, the maze was one of Two Willows\u2019s most distinctive attractions. Planted by the General\u2019s wife when she was a girl, it had grown so high you couldn\u2019t see into it from the ground\u2014or from the second-story windows of the house. Brian, Connor and Hunter had all reported back that there was something uncanny about the huge standing stone at its center. He couldn\u2019t pretend he wasn\u2019t as curious about it as Jack seemed to be. Which made it interesting that Jack was right; the maze was blurry in each of the photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you explain that?\u201d Logan asked. \u201cAnd who have you got on the ground at Two Willows? Brian?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack shrugged. \u201cI can\u2019t explain it; that\u2019s the problem. How the hell are those women scrambling my drone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d Logan noticed Jack had evaded his question. Just like he thought; it wasn\u2019t Brian\u2014or any of the others, he\u2019d bet. He didn\u2019t have time to stand here and grill Jack, though. He gave his desk a last once-over, then lifted his bag. \u201cI\u2019ve got to go. See you on the other side, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack got up and faced him. Held out a hand.<\/p>\n

Logan, surprised again, shook it.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck. I think you\u2019re going to need it,\u201d Jack said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks a lot,\u201d Logan said wryly.<\/p>\n

But Jack was right, and therein lay the problem. He needed to get married and settle his future once and for all, but like the General had hinted, Lena was a capable, independent woman\u2014a fighter in her own right. Uninterested in marriage. How the hell could someone like him change her mind?<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

As Lena surveyed the tables and chairs set up on the back lawn for Jo\u2019s wedding reception, she couldn\u2019t help thinking she and her sisters should stop renting the damn things and just buy a set of their own. They seemed to host a wedding every other month here at Two Willows. First Cass had married, then Sadie, now Jo.<\/p>\n

The ranch weddings would have to stop, though. Colder weather was drawing in. Jo was lucky it looked like the rain would hold off for a day or two. And besides, no one else in this family was getting married.<\/p>\n

Certainly not her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look stunning,\u201d Brian Lake said, joining her on the back porch and trying to take the stack of tablecloths out of Lena\u2019s arms. Cass\u2019s husband had been at Two Willows for months now, and Lena had gotten used to him, but she wasn\u2019t used to compliments and she shrugged this one off. Jo had insisted they all go to a beauty salon in town that morning and have their hair\u2014and their nails\u2014done for the wedding. In shifts, of course, since they all couldn\u2019t leave the ranch at once. At least one Reed had to be on Two Willows land at all times. Amelia had made that promise when the General first left Two Willows to serve his country\u2014not because he asked her to, but because she somehow thought it would guarantee his safety\u2014and now that she was gone, they\u2019d fulfill it for her.<\/p>\n

Lena swore Jo had paid the hairdresser off to make her look as girly as possible. Her dark, straight locks had been pulled back and twisted into a complicated updo, and her angular face was framed by tendrils the woman had curled into corkscrews. Lena had nearly gagged when she looked in the mirror afterward. But then things got even worse. Jo had decided they\u2019d all get makeovers, too. Lena had to submit to being plucked, moisturized, buffed and made up like a beauty queen, rather than the rancher she was.
\nThe final indignity was the fake nails and the layers of polish another worker at the salon had shellacked onto her. She couldn\u2019t do a lick of work like this, and how was she going to tackle the evening chores when the time came? She\u2019d spent an hour walking around with her fingers fanned out, afraid to touch anything, before exasperation overcame her caution. If only she could rip the fake nails off\u2014<\/p>\n

But Lena suspected they\u2019d been glued into place with an industrial-strength substance that required an equally industrial-strength solvent to dissolve.<\/p>\n

Worst of all, she couldn\u2019t carry her pistol, and these days she preferred to be armed. Her sleek shoulder-holster was normally easy to hide under a loose shirt or light jacket, but this darn dress didn\u2019t come with one. Cass, her older sister, told her she didn\u2019t need a firearm today, but to Lena\u2019s way of thinking that was a reckless assumption. Three times Two Willows had been attacked by drug dealers who wanted to establish a foothold in Montana. Three times they\u2019d fought them off\u2014with weapons of one sort or another.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got this,\u201d she said to Brian, refusing to give up the tablecloths. This much she could do, at least. She walked down the steps and began to spread them on the tables, grateful it was a day without wind.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, Lena\u2014you\u2019re beautiful.\u201d Brian followed her and reached for the rest of them. \u201cYou\u2019ll be fending off suitors left and right at the reception.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want suitors, and I don\u2019t need any help,\u201d she snapped. Why was it the minute she put on a dress, guys like Brian thought she became helpless? She spread another cloth on a long rectangular table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat won\u2019t stop men from trying,\u201d he told her. \u201cThey\u2019ll be falling all over themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was he laughing at her? She\u2019d have punched him if she wasn\u2019t afraid of breaking one of these damn nails.<\/p>\n

She spread the final tablecloth and turned on her heel, her ankle-length, spring green bridesmaid dress swishing around her legs in an annoying way as she walked up the steps to the back porch. Inside, she found Sadie and Connor organizing the tableware.<\/p>\n

When Sadie approached with a stack of plates, Lena quickly lifted a tray of glasses to move it to the other end of the large plank table. Just as quickly, Connor moved to try to take it from her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got this,\u201d she said and set it down in a better position.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t help wanting to ease the way for a lovely lass like you,\u201d Connor said brightly. \u201cNever seen you in finer form, Lena.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lena rolled her eyes. Connor wasn\u2019t nearly as Irish as he liked to pretend sometimes, and she wasn\u2019t in the mood for his theatrics today. \u201cEverything ready in here?\u201d she asked\u2014as if she was running this show. Which she wasn\u2019t; weddings weren\u2019t her thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re ready,\u201d Sadie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, lass. Give a man a little twirl,\u201d Connor continued with his overblown Irish accent. He reached out, took her hand and spun her around before she could stop him. \u201cLovely sight. You should dress up more often.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lena snatched her hand away.<\/p>\n

Sadie nudged her husband, but she was grinning. \u201cStop riling up my sister. He\u2019s right, though, Lena. You should let your girly side out once in a while. It\u2019s fun, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d Lena stalked out of the room, her anger building. Being girly wasn\u2019t fun. It was dangerous. She\u2019d learned that the hard way. Once she\u2019d let her guard down around a man. Once\u2014<\/p>\n

The memories crashed over her, and Lena, in the front hall now, braced herself against the staircase railing, fighting to push them back. She\u2019d never forget the way Scott had drawn his arm back. The way he\u2019d smashed his fist into her face so hard she\u2019d nearly blacked out. She\u2019d always thought herself an equal to any man.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d proved her wrong.<\/p>\n

Lena pushed off from the railing, straightened and stalked down the central hall to the front door. Yanking it open, she stepped outside to where the ceremony would be held and pushed the memory to the back of her mind, where it belonged. Scott was gone, and she wouldn\u2019t replace him with any other man. She\u2019d keep her distance from them from now on.<\/p>\n

Out front, Hunter Powell was setting up chairs in rows. Jo, her youngest sister, was already upstairs getting ready for her big day.<\/p>\n

Her husband-to-be looked nervous to Lena. She grabbed several chairs and lugged them over to add to the rows, happy to finally have found something to do.<\/p>\n

Hunter hurried over to her, his hand outstretched to grab the chairs from her. \u201cWell, look at you,\u201d he said in his honey-smooth Southern drawl, pausing to look her up and down. \u201cYou\u2019re a knockout, Lena. Didn\u2019t know you had it in you. Those Chance Creek cowboys aren\u2019t going to know what hit them tonight. Let me help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got it.\u201d Lena was past all patience. She turned her back on the former Navy SEAL sniper and began to unfold the chairs one by one. Hunter grabbed them to line them up, and she bit back a frustrated groan. \u201cI said I didn\u2019t need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDarling, you\u2019re too beautiful to lug chairs around. You\u2019ll ruin your dress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lena let out a frustrated groan and gave up. She stalked off around the house, heading toward the barn, ignoring Hunter when he called after her. They could all make fun of her if they wanted to. She wasn\u2019t beautiful. She wasn\u2019t feminine. She didn\u2019t care at all about dressing up\u2014<\/p>\n

And she didn\u2019t care about men.<\/p>\n

Bunch of idiots, if you asked her. Assholes. Got in your way. Slowed you down. Shot at you once in a while.<\/p>\n

Knocked your lights out if you let them.<\/p>\n

Lena stumbled on the uneven ground, caught herself and picked up her pace.<\/p>\n

Now they were invading her ranch, wooing her sisters\u2014and marrying them.<\/p>\n

So far, they hadn\u2019t wrestled control of the cattle operation from her. Brian, Connor and Hunter listened to her when she told them how things should be done, but how long would that last? When would they join forces against her? Overrule her?<\/p>\n

If she couldn\u2019t take on one man, how could she take on three?<\/p>\n

She kept walking, her throat aching with the vicious unfairness of life. She should have been six feet tall. She should have had muscles and strength, and the cutthroat personality Scott had. The kind of personality that let you tell a woman you loved her\u2014just before ramming your fist into her face.<\/p>\n

Lena balled her hands to stop their trembling, her fake nails digging hard into the flesh of her palms. She didn\u2019t want to think about Scott. And she didn\u2019t want to think about Brian, Connor and Hunter, either. She had dreamed for years of finally getting to run Two Willows\u2014her way. But that dream was fading fast.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t know where that left her. She\u2019d never given thought to a life that didn\u2019t include living on this ranch, tending these cattle\u2014protecting this land. She\u2019d fought the General tooth and nail for years for the control of it.<\/p>\n

Now he was winning by sending husbands.<\/p>\n

It had to stop.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

When Logan pulled into the long lane that led to Two Willows, he found it lined with cars and trucks, and had to park almost out at the street. He grabbed his bag from the passenger seat, and the small box the General had sent along with him, and walked the rest of the way, taking in the lovely old white-clapboard house the General’s wife had grown up in and made the family home. It was a large, generous old Victorian that immediately tugged at Logan\u2019s imagination. He\u2019d grown up in Idaho in a town with plenty of houses like this.<\/p>\n

His childhood home had been of much newer construction, though, built during an era that didn\u2019t prize grace and architecture. A four-bedroom, two-bath structure without much to recommend it except its location on his uncle\u2019s large spread. His uncle\u2019s place had been the original home on the ranch, of course, and it was old and charming, like Two Willows was. He\u2019d always felt a sense of relief when he\u2019d entered it. His aunt and uncle, while Catholic, weren\u2019t as devout as his parents were. They worked hard but didn\u2019t take things so seriously. He\u2019d grown up in a loving home, but the difference between his parents\u2019 expectations and his own dreams was so large he never felt quite as at ease there.<\/p>\n

Neither of his parents worked the ranch; his mother had been a librarian and his father worked at a hardware store. They\u2019d taken the house on his uncle\u2019s spread because family was important to the Hughes\u2014and because the price was right. His father pitched in during the busiest seasons, but once Logan had grown able to do a man\u2019s work and could take his place, he\u2019d stepped back from even that.<\/p>\n

Logan had spent most of his time helping his uncle and the hands. By the time he\u2019d left for the Marines, he\u2019d known just about everything there was to know about working with cattle, which was part of the reason the General had chosen him for this role.
\nWhen his phone buzzed in his pocket, Logan stopped, pulled it out and took the call. It was his brother. \u201cHey, Anthony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, yourself. Mom said you hadn\u2019t gotten in touch in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeen busy.\u201d Busy hiding the mess he\u2019d gotten himself into. He didn\u2019t want to give his parents any ideas that he might come home.<\/p>\n

He still couldn\u2019t believe how stupid he\u2019d been, rushing into the Sergeant Major\u2019s house\u2014busting down his door\u2014like an avenging angel ready to save a damsel in distress.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusy, huh? Too busy to call your mother? She worries, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStop playing parish priest with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother chuckled. \u201cSorry. It\u2019s hard to step out of character, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan did know. He\u2019d worked hard to break out of the character his parents had wanted to cloak him with and become a Marine, instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll call her\u2014soon as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCall her today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have time. I\u2019m\u2026 busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are you? Can you at least tell me that? Still in Florida?\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan always found it hard to lie to Anthony. Ten years older than him, Anthony had always held the upper hand in their relationship and was a man of the cloth now, like their much older brother, James. James was a missionary in Ethiopia. No one expected him to call home all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u2014I\u2019m in\u2026 Montana.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMontana? What kind of mission are the Marines running in Montana?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t believe it if I told you. And I can\u2019t tell you, so don\u2019t ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlready did,\u201d Anthony pointed out. \u201cYou know, if you had to join the military, the least you could\u2019ve done was be a chaplain. It would have eased Mom\u2019s heart to know\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wasn\u2019t my path,\u201d Logan snapped. They\u2019d gone over this a thousand times. His mother had two priests for sons. Wasn\u2019t that enough? Why harp on the one that got away? \u201cYou can tell her that next time you two talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you don\u2019t think you have a calling\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Seriously? They were going to do this again? Logan shoved his free hand in his pocket. \u201cI know I don\u2019t have a calling.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had no desire to be a priest. Didn\u2019t think God would have him after so many years in the service, anyway. Surely he\u2019d broken far too many commandments to make that even possible, if he\u2019d ever had an inkling that way.<\/p>\n

Which he hadn\u2019t. Not ever.<\/p>\n

So how to explain his dreams?<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t a priest in them, either, he reminded himself. Normally he wasn\u2019t one for dreaming much at all.<\/p>\n

Which made them even more\u2014<\/p>\n

Weird.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ever think about St. Michael?\u201d he asked Anthony as casually as he could.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Michael? What about St. Michael?\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan couldn\u2019t tell his brother he\u2019d been dreaming about the saint. Anthony would have him home and in a collar before he could finish the sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Michael carries a sword.\u201d He touched the medallion again. His middle name was Michael\u2014for the saint. His first name represented a touch of whimsy his mother seemingly hadn\u2019t had before or since. \u201cHe\u2019s supposed to be a protector. Like me,\u201d he asserted, unsure why it seemed so important to clarify the connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot exactly like you. He was a saint. You\u2019re a Marine,\u201d Anthony said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI protect people, just like he\u2019s supposed to.\u201d That\u2019s what the dreams had to mean, right? In them, St. Michael descended from the heavens and handed him that radiant sword he was always depicted with. In the dreams, Logan took the sword, held it firmly and wielded it like he knew what it was for.<\/p>\n

He always woke with the sense he was supposed to protect\u2014someone.<\/p>\n

Which was why, when he\u2019d heard the Sergeant Major\u2019s wife yelling, he\u2019d gone charging in like a white knight.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, she wasn\u2019t the damsel he was looking for.<\/p>\n

And now he\u2019d skunked his career.<\/p>\n

He knew Anthony\u2014and his parents\u2014would interpret the dream very differently. \u201cIt\u2019s symbolic,\u201d his mother would say. \u201cThe sword is the word of God. You\u2019re meant to protect your parish. Come home and take up your calling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan fought the urge to rip the medallion from his neck and toss it away. \u201cLook, I\u2019ve got to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCall Mom\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan hung up. He\u2019d call his mother.<\/p>\n

Just as soon as he caught himself a wife.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Kitchen duty. Lena hated nothing more than kitchen duty, but it was better than simpering around among the guests in this travesty of a dress. Like Brian had predicted, she\u2019d been fending off male attention ever since the reception had started. Jo\u2019s wedding had been beautiful, and now her sister was glowing like she\u2019d reached some stage of nirvana. Lena was happy for her. Really. But all this romantic love stuff was pissing her off.<\/p>\n

As were her fake nails. Maybe if she scrubbed some dishes, they\u2019d fall off.<\/p>\n

Lena slammed a pile of dishes into the sink and ran water over them. Outside, people danced, music and laughter sliding in the open windows to fill the kitchen.<\/p>\n

The night was cooling down, however, and already some men were building a bonfire to keep folks warm. Soon autumn would really make its presence known and they\u2019d be in for another hard Montana winter.<\/p>\n

Lena didn\u2019t mind. She loved every season at Two Willows. Coming home from the barns on a cold, crystal winter evening, every star a bright pinprick in the sky\u2014<\/p>\n

Those were moments to live for.<\/p>\n

She could almost enjoy herself if there weren\u2019t so many damn men around the place these days. She\u2019d come across Brian, Connor and Hunter having a chat about security on the ranch while Hunter was gone with Jo on their honeymoon. They hadn\u2019t even bothered to add her to their little conference, although she\u2019d always guarded this property with her life. When she\u2019d burst in to add her two cents, they\u2019d all looked guilty, like they\u2019d been caught doing something wrong.<\/p>\n

Which they had.<\/p>\n

Underestimating her again. Just because Scott had gotten the drop on her didn\u2019t make her useless. She\u2019d been caught off guard once and only once. It would never happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to bother you\u2014it\u2019s your sister\u2019s wedding,\u201d Hunter had said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s your wedding!\u201d she\u2019d cried back at him. He\u2019d exchanged glances with the others, as if he hadn\u2019t understood the distinction.<\/p>\n

Apparently, men were supposed to handle things like security. Women were supposed to slither around looking sexy. She would bullwhip the lot of them if she could get away with it without upsetting her sisters.<\/p>\n

Instead, she\u2019d given them a piece of her mind and left them to it. They could make all the plans they wanted; she was the one who knew Two Willows like the back of her hand. She could keep it secure. When her mother died eleven years ago, and the General refused to come home, she\u2019d pledged to keep her sisters safe.<\/p>\n

Although lately she\u2019d been failing on every front.<\/p>\n

But that was the past, she told herself sternly. She\u2019d learned her lesson.<\/p>\n

Someone knocked on the front door, and Lena dried her hands, relieved to get away from the dishes\u2014and her ugly thoughts. She had to get things back in hand. No more self-defeating thoughts. No backing down from the job she\u2019d worked toward her whole life.<\/p>\n

This was her ranch. Hers. Not Brian\u2019s or Connor\u2019s\u2014or Hunter\u2019s, for that matter.<\/p>\n

Her cattle operation.<\/p>\n

She hoped they understood that.<\/p>\n

The knock sounded again.<\/p>\n

She hoped the General understood that, too. Two Willows wasn\u2019t Reed land\u2014it had belonged to the Griffiths\u2014her mother\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t get to call the shots here. Much as he thought he did. He\u2019d sent three men, and her sisters had married them. He\u2019d better not think he could\u2014<\/p>\n

She had almost reached the door when the knocking became a thunderous pounding.<\/p>\n

Irritated, Lena yanked the door open\u2014saw a tall man, with the shoulders of a fullback and biceps of an MMA superstar, his blue eyes flashing with humor, his mouth tugging into a smile as he took her in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, baby girl. My name\u2019s\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, hell no!\u201d Lena slammed the door shut.<\/p>\n

And locked it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only one more day until the release of Issued to the Bride: One Marine. Here’s a sneak peek of book 4 in the Brides of Chance Creek series. If you’d like to preorder the book, you can find it at the following…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[324],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brides-of-chance-creek","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.lalaprojects.com\/coraseton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}