The Wedding Party Collection. Кейт Хьюит
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it’s Friday night, I’ll be at Wally’s Place. At least for a little while.” Ryan kept his tone casual and off-hand. “If you’re out you should stop by.”
Betsy made a noncommittal noise and changed the subject. They chatted easily on the way to her house. He hadn’t realized she was such a rodeo fan.
“Do you miss it?” Betsy asked.
“I miss the adrenaline rush,” he admitted. “There’s nothing like being on the back of a two-thousand-pound bull and making it a full eight seconds.”
“Why did you quit?” From the look in her eye, she was truly interested.
“It’s hard on your body,” he conceded. “I was fortunate that I’d never been seriously injured. But it was only a matter of time. Besides, I was ready to move on to something else, to the next phase of my life.”
“You’re a good attorney,” Betsy said. “You care about your clients and about seeing justice served.”
“My professional life is solid.”
“So what’s next?”
“Hopefully marriage and a family,” Ryan said.
“That’s what I want, too.”
“That’s why we’re working together,” he reminded her. “To help each other get that special person.”
“Adrianna.”
“Don’t forget Tripp,” Ryan said. “On that front, I have some good news.”
She glanced out the window.
“I got a text from him while we were looking for a tree. He should be back in Jackson Hole any day. Good news, huh?”
“I guess.”
Was that a sigh? “You don’t sound very excited.”
“I’m realistic,” Betsy said. “He won’t like me.”
Up ahead the light changed to red and Ryan pulled the truck to a stop. “What are you saying? He’s going to love you. You’re the kind of woman any man would want.”
“I’m not that kind of woman,” Betsy said, almost sounding angry. “I’m a buddy. A friend. Someone they can tell their troubles to and then go back to their girlfriend feeling better.”
Ryan thought how enticing she’d looked on that hill with her cheeks red with the cold, her eyes as blue as the sky. He wasn’t even her boyfriend and it had been all he could do to keep from kissing her.
“Trust me,” he said, “Tripp is going to take one look at you...and it’ll be all over.”
And if Tripp couldn’t see what a gem Betsy was, well, he didn’t deserve her.
After ordering at the Perfect Pizza front counter, Betsy and Adrianna found a small table by the window and sat down with their drinks.
“I’m glad it quit snowing.” Adrianna barely glanced at the outdoor winter wonderland that resembled the front of a Christmas card. Snow clung to bare tree branches while strings of brightly colored lights decorated the nearby storefronts. “I don’t like driving when the roads are slick, but I hated the thought of missing our girls’ night out.”
“What did you do all day?” Betsy asked.
“Slept late, did my nails, read a couple issues of Maternal-Fetal Medicine that I hadn’t gotten to yet.”
“Wild day.”
Adrianna’s cherry-red lips tilted upward. “I’m betting yours wasn’t much more exciting.”
“Actually it was.” Betsy took a sip of her soda, then filled Adrianna in on everything that had happened since they’d last spoken.
Her friend’s green eyes widened. “You let him spend the night?”
“He didn’t sleep in my bed, if that’s what you’re intimating.” Betsy had conveniently left out the part when he’d crawled under the covers with her that morning. “What was I to do? Throw him out into a blizzard when I have a perfectly nice sofa bed?”
“I suppose not,” Adrianna grudgingly admitted.
“We played Monopoly.”
“I know that smile. You won, didn’t you?” Her friend leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “You bought a bunch of properties and put hotels on all of them. He landed on them one too many times and went bankrupt.”
Betsy lifted one shoulder and batted her eyelashes. “Perhaps.”
Adrianna chuckled. “I’m surprised he’s still speaking to you.”
“He took it like a gentleman.” Betsy realized with a start that Ryan hadn’t been at all threatened by her success. “In fact I think he admired my business acumen.”
“You need to hold on to him, Bets,” her friend said, suddenly serious. “You should consider making him your boyfriend instead of simply your friend.”
Oh, if it were only that easy. “He’s not interested in me in that way.”
“He wouldn’t be spending so much time with you if that was true. I’ve seen how he looks at you.”
“Well, I’ve seen how he looks at you,” Betsy blurted out.
“Small, thin crust, green and black olives.” The college student who’d appeared out of nowhere held out the pizza.
“That’s ours.” Betsy welcomed the interruption. Hopefully by the time they started eating Adrianna would forget all about their Ryan conversation.
But from the speculative gleam in her friend’s eyes, Betsy had a sinking feeling that was simply wishful thinking.
Adrianna delicately forked off a bite of the pizza. “Are you saying you think Ryan likes me?”
“You’re his type, Anna. You’ve got the look he goes for. Perfect hair. Immaculate makeup. Stylish clothes.” She couldn’t say more without betraying Ryan’s confidence.
“And that’s really gone well for him, hasn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s dated a lot of women since he’s been back in Jackson Hole, but none of them have stuck.” Adrianna swept her hair off her face with the back of her hand. A group of men in a nearby booth cast admiring glances her way, but her friend didn’t appear to notice. “What does that tell you?”
“Um, that he just hasn’t found the one?”
“Or that he’s looking for love in all the wrong places,” Adrianna said.
Betsy couldn’t help but smile. “Do you really have to use the lyrics from a country song to make your point?”
“You have to admit it fits.”
While they ate, Betsy wondered if perhaps Adrianna was right. Was Ryan setting his sights on unattainable women? Not that the handsome cowboy-turned-lawyer wasn’t a worthy catch himself, but it seemed as though the women he chose weren’t a good match for him.
Adrianna was a perfect example. Ryan was an outdoorsy type who loved winter sports. Once snow started flying, Adrianna considered being outdoors as going from a building to her car. Not only that, Ryan was a meat-and-potatoes guy. Adrianna refused to eat anything with a face. The reality was, the two had little in common and Ryan didn’t even know it.
This led Betsy to the logical conclusion that Ryan didn’t love Adrianna but was merely mesmerized by her beauty. Not that her friend wasn’t