“You are a horrible liar,”Jaxon said, his hands on his hips.
“What are you talking about?” Landon didn’t meet his brother’s gaze. He’d come into the den to go through the filing cabinet for his social security card, and Jaxon had followed him.
Jaxon looked him over. “You just showered, shaved, and doused yourself with aftershave. You expect me to believe you’re about to run some mysterious half-a-day errands when we both know you only wear aftershave to see Kitty.”
Landon flipped through the file of family records. “It’s not a crime to wear aftershave.”
“You put your suit in your truck.”
“One of my errands is dropping it off at the dry cleaners.”
Jaxon wagged a finger at him. “See, if you’d admitted right off that you and Kitty were going somewhere, I wouldn’t have been suspicious, but the fact that you went with vague, lengthy errands means you’re hiding whatever you’re doing.”
The problem was that Landon didn’t like lying. It rubbed him the wrong way, so he’d tried for ambiguous omission when he’d told Jaxon he’d be gone for the rest of the day. “I don’t have to report everything I do to my brothers.” Landon found his social security card and plucked it from the folder. “I’m allowed to have a private life.”
Jaxon straightened. “Your social security card? Why would you need that sort of ID for a date with Kitty?”
Landon should’ve waited until Jaxon had left the room to go through the file. “One of my errands is getting my passport renewed.”
“In a suit? Right. Besides, you and I got passports at the same time, which means yours doesn’t expire for another three years. Don’t try to BS on this. I’m too good at lying not to be able to spot it.”
Jaxon’s gaze landed on the top of the desk where Landon had left their mother’s black velvet jewel case. “What’s the emerald necklace doing…” His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. “Wait. Are you eloping?”
Landon held up his hands in a motion of surrender. He really couldn’t keep up the lie anymore. “Okay. You’re right. Kitty and I are eloping. We aren’t telling anyone because we don’t want her parents to find out. After I inherit Coyote Glen, we’ll let them know we’re dating, then eventually announce our engagement and have a regular wedding ceremony. That way they’ll know my motives are sincere and they won’t freak out—or at least they won’t freak out as much.”
Jaxon nodded. “It’s sort of convoluted, but okay.”
“After I inherit, I think we should still give Kitty’s parents a modest payment as compensation for the land. You know, just to be fair.”
“And to buy their approval.”
“Exactly. Glad you understand.” Landon slipped his social security card into his wallet. “I’ll need you to keep this all a secret.”
Jaxon tilted his head back to call down the hallway. “Preston, Audrey, get your shoes on! We’re going to see Landon and Kitty get married!” He turned back to Landon with mock innocence. “What? I never claimed to be good at keeping secrets, just at lying. Besides, you need witnesses. Might as well be us.” He pulled out his phone. “I better get Dillon out of work. He’s not going to want to miss this.”
Landon blinked at him. “You expect Audrey to be able to keep this to herself?”
“Yes, because when the two of you were dating, she never told anyone about it. And after your breakup, we had a long talk about her not saying anything relating to you and Kitty. You don’t know how bad she felt about that. Now she’ll finally stop worrying you’ll die alone.”
“Audrey was worried about that?”
“Well, maybe that was just the rest of us.” Jaxon tapped his finger against his phone screen. “Too bad there isn’t time to fly Ethan in.”
Yeah, Landon had always expected his older brother to be at his wedding and now that the rest of the family was coming, he felt a pang that Ethan would be missing. But then missing had been Ethan’s new normal since he’d moved out. He would come home for the formal ceremony. That would have to do.
Jax started down the hallway, calling to his daughter. “You can’t wear your evil villainess gown to a wedding. Go put on a regular dress!”
Well, the elopement was already not going as planned. Kitty probably wouldn’t be too upset. She realized what sort of family she was marrying into: pushy, bossy, and sometimes villainous, but always loyal.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Kate expecteda wave of nerves to hit her on the drive to the courthouse. It didn’t happen. Instead she and Landon discussed the details of their life, and she felt a soaring sense of happiness and relief. Landon loved her. She had absolute proof of that now. If he’d just been after Coyote Glen, he would’ve dumped her once it became clear she wouldn’t inherit the ranch. But instead, he was marrying her. Staying with him in Arizona seemed like such a lovely future.
They’d already decided that after the will was settled, they would combine the ranches, and since she no longer had to worry about keeping Coyote Glen in the black, she could hire help immediately instead of trying to do everything on her own.
Her parents couldn’t even be mad at her for losing the ranch. They’d been the ones who’d doomed her efforts when they’d employed Gary.
“Once we combine the ranches,” Landon said, “you can help out when you want, but you should think about starting your own design business.”