Lizzie put up a hand.
But Ethan was the one who spoke. “No way. Consider it your wedding present.”
Erin looked stunned. “But I couldn’t possibly … No, that’s not right. It’s too much. I know what a cake like this costs.”
Ethan held firm. “You paid once for your cake. Not again.”
“Ethan, you’re a prince. Really. But it’s way too much work for Lizzie. It’s not fair to ask her to give her time and talent away like that.”
Lizzie spoke up then. “Don’t you worry. As I said, I’m honored to create your cake for you. I’m going to love baking your cake for you, I promise you.”
“And I promise,” said Ethan, with that melting look that broke all the girls’ hearts, “that I’ll pick up the tab. It won’t cost Lizzie a penny.”
Lizzie reached over and put her hand on Erin’s slender arm. “Ethan will take care of me. Count on it. He always does.”
Before the two women left, Erin invited Lizzie to the rehearsal dinner the next night.
“I would love to, but I think I need to stay focused, if you know what I mean.” Actually, she probably could have fit in the dinner, but she wouldn’t have been much of a guest because she’d be totally concentrated on all that would need doing the following day. She’d be up at about 4:00 a.m. Saturday, and baking her butt off. Luckily, the wedding was in the late afternoon, giving her a perfectly acceptable window of time to pull it all together.
If she could get all her equipment tomorrow. Which was another reason she didn’t want to commit to dinner Friday night. She could still be running around madly then, trying to scare up cake boards or the right size pans.
“The three of us, then,” said Erin. “You, me and Erika. We’re taking a girls’ night out as soon as Corey and I get back from our honeymoon.”
Lizzie liked the sound of that. “It’s a date.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” promised Erika. “In case there’s anything you think of that I might be able to help with.”
“Thanks. That would be terrific.”
And then, in a flurry of goodbyes and thank-yous, Corey’s bride and Dillon’s wife were gone.
With a sigh, Lizzie sagged against the front door.
Ethan stood in the arch to the living room. “You’re amazing.” He looked at her with affection and appreciation in those gorgeous dark eyes.
She felt really good, she realized, basking in her boss’s admiration—and excited over the cake she would create. “I like them. Both of them. And this is going to be fun.”
“What can I do?”
“Stick around for about an hour while I make some calls?”
“You got it.”
“Then I’ll let you know what I need from you.”
Dark eyes gleamed. “See? You already love it here.”
She had to confess, “Okay, it’s not as bad as I imagined it.”
“Not as bad?” His voice coaxed her.
“Ethan, for crying out loud, what do you want from me? We’ve only been here half a day.”
“You love it.”
She pushed off the door frame and stood tall on her own two size-ten-and-a-half feet. “It ain’t Texas.”
“Lizzie.” He spoke in that dark, sweet voice he used with his girlfriends. “You love it.”
A strange little shiver went through her. She ignored it and blew a loose strand of hair out of her eyes as she gestured down the central hallway, toward his big, well-appointed home office. “Go … check your email or something. I’ll call you when I need you.”
Lizzie booted up her own computer in her little square of office space off the kitchen and started checking online to see if she could get the equipment she needed overnighted.
No way. Not to Thunder Canyon, Montana.
She spared a wistful thought for the well-stocked shelves in her maman’s bakery. But all that was long gone. And even if she’d managed to keep some of her mother’s pans and utensils, they would be in Texas now, useless to her anyway.
So she called a couple of restaurant and kitchen supply places in nearby Bozeman. Both were just closing, but they would be open at nine tomorrow morning. And between them, they had what she was going to need.
She made a list—not only of equipment, but of all her ingredients. And then she called Erin’s florist and made arrangements to pick up the multicolored daisies Saturday morning. If she was too busy to go, Ethan would do it for her.
He appeared right then, in the doorway to the kitchen, as if she had called for him. “So? Everything under control?”
She hit Save and then Print. “So far, yes.” Faintly, in Ethan’s office, she heard the printer start up. “Tomorrow, if you can manage it, I need you.”
“I’m all yours.”
“Great. You can drive me to Bozeman. The supply stores I found open at nine. I want to be there when they unlock the doors. And we can pick up the perishables before we come back, try and get it all in one trip.”
“I can get you there and help with carrying groceries and equipment. Also, I’ll bring my platinum card.”
“Perfect.” Then she remembered. “Corey’s bachelor party. It’s tonight, right?”
He looked puzzled. “Yeah. So?”
“You’ll be out till all hours.”
“That’s the way a bachelor party tends to work.”
“So never mind. I can make the trip tomorrow on my own. I’ll bring you receipts. Lots of them.”
“Uh-uh. I’ll get up in time. And I’ll take you.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
He was grinning, looking way too handsome, as he took up the challenge. “And you will see it. Just wait.”
He was sweet to want to help. She did appreciate that. And she always enjoyed his company. But it didn’t matter either way. If he wasn’t up by the time she had to go, she’d just take off on her own. No big deal. “Want some dinner? I can throw something together within twenty minutes or so.”
He shook his head. “The party’s at the Hitching Post, a local watering hole. Dillon rented a private room in the back. Dinner included.”
“You guys hire a naked girl to pop out of a cake?”
“Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie. Give us more credit than that.”
“Two naked girls?”
He grunted. “You know the old saying. What happens at a bachelor party stays at a bachelor party.”
She waved a hand at him. “I know, I know. If you told me you’d have to kill me and all that. Better you just keep your secrets. I’m too young to die.”
“Plus, I need you alive to make Erin’s wedding cake.”
“Right. That, too.”
“So … the twins and Rose are staying at Thunder Canyon Resort.” His brothers Jackson and Jason were fraternal twins. At thirty, their sister, Rose, was the baby of the family. “I thought I’d wander on up there, see how they’re doing, maybe have a look around the resort’s main clubhouse a little …”
She