Promise Me Forever (Sweet Beginnings Book 3) Read online

  Promise Me Forever

  Sweet Beginnings #3

  Maggie Dallen

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Fake Dating the Unsuspecting Heiress

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Five years ago...

  James should have been startled to find Alice standing in the doorway of the barn.

  At least, he would have been if he didn’t know her so well. His friend hovered there, looking small and frail.

  But again, he knew better.

  His best friend Dax’s little sister might have been small, but she was hardly frail. She was one of the strongest people he knew. Also, one of the most honest. Which was how he’d known she wouldn’t leave for college in the morning without confronting him head on about whatever this was between them.

  Nothing, he reminded himself. It was nothing. It could only ever be nothing.

  “What are you doing up?” he asked.

  That’s right, talk to her like a child. Maybe if he did, he would remember that she practically was still a kid. Oh, she was technically an adult at eighteen, as she liked to remind him, but that didn’t change the fact that she was still his friend’s little sister.

  She ignored the question, walking fully into the dim lighting of the barn until he could make out her straight, chin-length blonde hair and the soft, sweet features he loved so much.

  He loved her, he could admit that. He’d known her his whole life and he’d always loved her. But these days it was getting harder and harder to remember that he loved her like a friend, nothing more.

  All the more reason it was for the best that Dax was driving her to Bozeman in the morning for school.

  “I leave tomorrow, you know,” she said, coming to stop in front of him. She held on to the door to Edward’s stall. Edward was her horse and when she rode him she was a sight to behold. So graceful and so at ease, as befitting a young woman who’d been raised on a ranch, he supposed.

  He kept brushing his horse. “I know.”

  The silence grew thick with unspoken words. He kept his focus on the horse beneath his hands, not trusting himself to turn around and face her. Not yet. This ache in his chest had grown worse with each passing hour this last week. As time ticked by he knew he’d have to say goodbye, they’d have to end…this.

  And thank goodness. It was for the best, he knew that. It wasn’t like this could last.

  “Aren’t you going to say goodbye?” Her voice sounded off-key, and he knew without looking that she was fighting tears. Or maybe she was crying outright. He didn’t want to know.

  “I’ll see you off in the morning.” He kept his tone light. Normal. He tried not to let her know how much he hated the fact that she was leaving.

  They’d always been close. Always. Even when they were kids he’d looked out for her, and as she’d grown, they’d gotten closer. He was four years older, but after the death of her parents, that age difference had no longer mattered.

  She’d been an immature teenager when the accident occurred, but overnight she’d grown up. After that they’d started to talk as equals. They’d become true friends, no longer Dax’s little sister and his ranch hand friend.

  And then this summer…well, this past summer their relationship had shifted again. Nothing had happened between them, but there was no denying that the nature of their relationship had changed. He blamed himself for that. If not for the actual change, he blamed himself for not stopping it when he should have. Instead he’d let their conversations get too intimate, their talks last too long. And though he might not have acted on the physical attraction between them, he hadn’t done anything to stop their emotional connection from growing…complicated.

  “Is that it?” Alice said.

  He heard the impatience in her voice. So very Alice. She’d never had much patience, especially with him. When she was little she used to tease him by saying that he was the tortoise to her hare. He’d then remind her who won in that fabled race, and his response never failed to make her laugh.

  He stopped brushing down his horse but he didn’t turn around, the sound of whinnies and the smell of hay at once comforting and heartbreaking. This was their place. This was where he’d taught her to mount her horse on her own, and where most of their late-night talks had occurred. She’d come to help him after supper and next thing he knew they’d be sprawled out on some hay talking and laughing like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  But now she was leaving.

  This ranch might belong to her family, but the stables were where he belonged. She couldn’t stay here forever and he wouldn’t want her to. She deserved to go off to college and to chase after all those dreams she’d been telling him about.

  No one deserved it more.

  “There’s nothing to say,” he said.

  He heard her boots crunching on the dirt and straw that covered the ground. She stopped just behind him. “Then don’t say anything.”

  Her voice was pleading and his heart was breaking. He should never have let it go this far. He’d always known she’d leave. This had always been a dead-end relationship. He kept his back to her, not quite ready to face her. “Don’t say anything?” He tried to force a teasing tone and failed. “This from the girl who’s always telling me I don’t talk enough.”

  He’d half expected her to come back with a quip. Alice always gave as good as she got. When she didn’t speak, he finally turned.

  Then he wished he hadn’t. The look in her eyes…oh mercy, he couldn’t see that look and not want to pull her into his arms. Even cast in shadows, he could see the hurt in her expression; she looked so miserable it broke his heart all over again.

  But then she took a step closer and into the light. He groaned at the sight of tears ready to spill over. “Alice, please don’t—”

  Her kiss stunned him completely. He froze even as his body caught on fire in response to her sweet but passionate kiss. She stilled, too, and they were standing there with her lips pressed to his for a heartbeat too long.

  Finally, he pulled away, spinning around to collect his wits.

  “James, I—”

  “Don’t,” he interrupted. He hadn’t meant to sound so harsh but his tight grip on control and willpower was being tested like it had never been before. Her kiss made him want more. So much more. It was a brief taste of what could have been.

  Of what would never be.

  Not just because she was too young. In many ways she was more mature than most thirty-year-olds he knew. Besides, she’d grow up, too. That tended to happen over time. Soon enough it would be perfectly acceptable for them to date. By the town’s standards, at least.

  Her brothers? Not so much.

  The thought of Dax and their eldest brother, Cole, brought him back to his senses, and just in time. The Decklands had brought him into their home when he was little more than a kid himself. Before he’d passed away, their father had given him a part-time job and a roof over his head while he finished up school after his own father abandoned him.

  His mother hadn’t been in the picture for as long as he could remember.

  After high school, they’d kept him on. By that point, he was practically one of the family. />
  Practically.

  Close enough to enjoy their friendships and warmth, but still an outsider.

  He finally turned back to face a stricken Alice.

  Definitely not good enough for their little sister. Not that they would openly say so, but it was understood. Well, he understood it, at least, even if she didn’t.

  But she would. One day she would.

  She blinked up at him now, those big blue eyes of hers filled with such youthful optimism, such hope and such love. Those eyes belied everything he’d just told himself about her maturity. She was still a young girl, who’d never seen anything of the world. She’d hardly left this ranch. Neither had he, but then, he didn’t hope to.

  But she did. She had dreams and ambitions and all those other luxuries that someone with a strong family to support them was allowed.

  “We can’t do this, Alice.” He tried to keep his voice even, his tone gentle, but that didn’t stop her from flinching as though he’d struck her.

  She stumbled back a step. “But I thought—”

  “We’re friends, Al. Just friends.” He used her childhood nickname, more as a reminder to himself than anything else. Because she was too tempting by far with those big, soulful eyes, and that heart that she wore on her sleeve.

  She blinked rapidly and a tear slipped over the edge. His heart clenched in response. He didn’t want to hurt her. He’d never wanted to hurt her. But it would hurt her more if he clung to her and held her back. It would be brutally painful a year or two from now when she realized the inevitable truth—that she could do better than him. That she deserved better than him.

  “But I love you,” she said, her voice soft and shaky in the stillness of the stables, almost like the horses and the critters knew that this was a moment that should not be disturbed.

  Her words were like buckshot scattering throughout his body. His chest took the brunt of the hit, her words opening a wound inside him that had never really healed. But worse than that, her words made him feel something so dangerously close to hope he knew he had to shut this down before he did something inexcusably stupid…like tell her he loved her too.

  There was no future here, not for him and not with her.

  “Alice,” he said, trying his best to keep the pain and the hope and every other emotion out of his voice. “I don’t have those kinds of feelings for you.”

  He watched the blood drain from her face, leaving her pale and making her eyes look hollow with despair. “Y-you don’t love me?”

  Oh, how he hated himself right now. Still, he said what needed to be said, for her sake, if not his own. “I love you, of course I do.” He swallowed down bile as he uttered the words. “I love you as a friend. That’s all.”

  After one long stunned moment she ran away from him, back to the main house. Back to her brothers. Back to her family.

  Back where he didn’t belong, and he could never follow.

  He got back to his chores, hoping that if he ignored the excruciating pain of his heart breaking in his chest, it might diminish and maybe one day go away.

  He’d never been one to lie to himself and right now he couldn’t even pretend that he believed this hurt would ever fully go away.

  And neither would the love that had brought it about.

  Love always brought pain. That was a lesson he should have learned years ago, but apparently he was a sucker for punishment. Maybe after this last lashing he’d stay down for the count.

  That’s what he told himself. That this was the last time he’d let himself get close enough to have his heart broken. He hadn’t been able to protect himself from the heartbreak of losing his mother, or his father, or Alice’s parents who’d taken him in. But he could have stopped this thing with Alice, and he hadn’t.

  Still, as he mucked out the stalls he couldn’t quite bring himself to regret this past summer. Those nights of long talks and happy laughter were worth it. Or they would be once the pain eased to something more tolerable. And he would never regret tonight, despite the misery he’d caused and suffered.

  Because after all these long months of wondering what it would be like to share a kiss with Alice Deckland, his wish had finally been granted.

  He might have been shocked, and he might have been hurt, but he’d also had his world flipped upside down in all the best ways.

  Who could regret that?

  Her kiss was inexperienced but infinitely beautiful. He knew without a doubt that he would treasure it always. Not just because it was a tender moment with a woman he cared for, but because it was the first and last time he’d ever be that close to Alice Deckland—the woman of his dreams.

  Chapter One

  Alice leaned back in her seat with a sigh as the last rodeo event came to an end, unclasping her hands, which were clammy despite the August heat. “I hate rodeos,” she told her soon-to-be sister-in-law Katy.

  “I can see why.” Katy was scowling down at the arena in disapproval. “It’s so nerve-wracking.”

  “Thanks for coming with me,” she said.

  Katy shrugged. “I was curious.”

  Dax’s fiancée was new to rural life and was still fascinated by the cultural differences. Dax couldn’t get away from the ranch today but Katy had offered to join her.

  Rodeos really weren’t Alice’s thing either but she always came to support James, who rode in some of the sideline events. Nothing too dangerous, but then again, anything could be dangerous in an unpredictable setting like this where testosterone ran high, along with the urge to show off.

  Not that James let his ego get in the way. He was in it for the love of horses, for the chance to put his skills to the test.

  Alice just came to support her best friend, and of course to make sure he didn’t come to any harm. She wasn’t a nurse or anything so she had no reason to believe she’d actually be able to help if he did get injured… Still, sitting at home and worrying seemed worse.

  She watched him ride back toward the stables and only then did her heart return to a normal rate. She sighed again and Katy caught it. Leaning toward her, she lowered her voice. “Have you told him you’re leaving?”

  Alice straightened. “He knows.”

  She avoided Katy’s stare. Her new friend was far too smart not to notice her non-answer of an answer.

  Did James know she was leaving for Los Angeles the following week? Yes.

  Had she told him? No.

  But considering they lived and worked together on a ranch that only held a half dozen people, word tended to spread quickly. James knew, and Alice knew that he knew. What was more, he knew that she knew that he knew.

  Yet they still hadn’t talked about it.

  It was stupid, really. They talked about everything else. Everything. He was her best friend, the closest person in the world to her. They didn’t keep secrets. But the fact that she’d accepted Katy’s offer to live at her apartment in Los Angeles and help run her event planning business?

  She just couldn’t do it.

  Her mouth grew dry and her heart went into overdrive at the mere thought of talking to James about the fact that for the second time in her life she was going to leave Twilight Ranch.

  The thing was, this conversation just hit too close to home. It was so similar to that last time she’d left. Every time she thought about bringing it up, her stupid memory called up that night five years ago when she’d humiliated herself, throwing herself at James, only to have her love rejected.

  She shook her head, shaking off the old pain as she always did when it crept into her thoughts. He’d been right to reject her. She’d been an idiot, reading more into their friendship than was there. Blah blah blah.

  She’d been giving herself the same lecture for years now. Quite frankly, she was starting to bore herself. It had all worked out for the best. They’d both moved on from it and they were back to being the best of friends as if nothing had ever happened.

  When she finally glanced over at an abnormally silent Katy, sh
e saw her friend giving her a knowing look. One that was gently probing even as it said she knew exactly what was happening here.

  But the thing was, Katy didn’t know. She couldn’t. No one outside of Alice and James understood their relationship. And sometimes, Alice wasn’t even sure she understood herself.

  She sure hoped James knew what was going on because someone on that ranch ought to have their head on straight.

  I love you as a friend. That’s all.

  Oh yeah. James knew the score. He’d always known. Alice was the only one who’d gotten confused.

  “Alice,” Katy said, her tone far more serious than their surroundings would suggest. She didn’t seem to notice the man with the corn dogs behind them or the two guys arguing loudly about who was going to buy the next round.

  Alice mimicked her friend’s serious tone. “Katy.”

  Katy arched a brow. “You should talk to him.”

  Alice sighed. Despite the fact that Alice had never talked to Katy about James, it didn’t stop Katy from trying. Her persistence was admirable...and a little terrifying. “There’s nothing to talk about. We’re friends. Just friends.”

  Forever friends.

  Katy widened her eyes. “Are you sure he knows that?”

  Katy’s voice was filled with laughter but Alice had to force a normal smile in return. Katy kept making comments like that, as if she truly believed that James felt more for her. Once upon a time, Alice would have leapt on those comments. They would have been music to her ears and further confirmation that she and James were destined to be together forever.

  But she was older, wiser, and no longer believed in fairy tales or destiny.

  “It’s not like that.” She’d said that countless times now. She loved Katy and she knew her friend meant well, but every time she brought that topic up, it opened an old wound that she was hoping to ignore. Forever, preferably, which was how long the scar of humiliation and the pain of rejection would last. She had a feeling it would always be there beneath the surface, memories of that night coming back to haunt her until her dying day.