LITMIR.BIZ

       One

      Diego Velasquez felt foolish as he stood in the wings waiting to be announced in the Five Families Country Club bachelor auction. He’d give anything to be with his horses on his ranch, Arbol Verde. He had tried to get out of participating in the annual charity event by making a huge donation, but his mom, a formidable morning newscaster on a Houston station, was on the committee and wanted to see her sons—all four of them—married. So there was no getting out of it, even though every year he and his brothers tried.

      “What do you think, Diego? Got it in you to land a huge bid?” his youngest brother, Inigo, asked.

      Diego was pretty sure Inigo had toyed with the idea of making one of the women who followed him on the F1 racing circuit his temporary bride to avoid the auction. But since their beloved mama was a devout Catholic, a temporary marriage was a no-no, so he’d flown in on his G6 this morning from Japan. Luckily for Inigo the F1 was racing in Austin in two weeks’ time. Or maybe unluckily, because it meant there was no excuse not to be here, he thought as he watched Inigo messing with his bow tie.

      Diego turned to his other two brothers, the twins. Alejandro did some sort of social media management that had made him a millionaire and he wasn’t even thirty. And Mauricio had the golden eye when it came to spotting property in neighborhoods on the cusp of becoming “it” places to live and work.

      Diego was proud of them. They were all the kind of bachelors that the charity auction should be promoting. Sure, it was annoying that Mama was competitive and wanted to see the Velasquez name at the top of the fund-raising leaderboard. But at the end of the day, it was a good cause, wasn’t it?

      “You look like you’re thinking of bolting,” Mo said.

      “I am,” Diego admitted. But before he could make good his escape, there was a commotion on stage.

      “Ethan Caruthers is making a fool of himself over some woman. He just proposed to her,” Inigo said, from his spot near the curtain leading to the stage.

      “Crissanne Moss,” Diego said, coming over to join his youngest brother. “While you were touring the world, this has been the big news in town. Ethan and Crissanne were living together and the Carutherses thought it was leading toward marriage. But then Crissanne’s ex came back from the dead. Literally. People thought he’d died in a plane crash until he showed up in town, very much alive, wanting to know what was going on between his best friend and his ex-girlfriend.”

      “Dios mio, Diego, you sound like the town gossip,” Alejandro said, coming up behind him and slinging his arm over Diego’s shoulders.

      “Don’t remind me. I had dinner with Bi and Derek last night and Ma Caruthers was there spilling the dirt,” Diego said.

      “Ah, well, it looks like they might be getting back together,” Inigo said.

      “Yeah, it does,” Diego said. He’d never met a woman he’d make a fool of himself over. Not like Ethan was doing right now. But as he watched Ethan go to Crissanne and embrace her...well, it made him wonder what it would be like to find one special person to settle down with.

      “You’re next, Diego,” the stage manager said.

      “Damn,” he said. His chance to run was gone.

      He heard Mo chuckling evilly behind him and turned to punch him in the shoulder, only softening it at the last moment because if he started a brawl with his brothers his mom would never forgive them.

      “What are you afraid of?” Mo asked. “It’s just harmless fun.”

      Yeah, it was. But as he got older, it felt like he should be retiring from this auction, not settling in as a permanent fixture. “Nothing. You’re right. It’s fun.”

      All four brothers watched the crowd as Diego’s name was announced. Alejandro elbowed him, pointing to Kinley Caruthers’s nanny, Pippa. She was close to the front of the crowd, a look of anticipation lighting up her heart-shaped face.

      She’d caught his eye before. The cute blonde had come to Cole’s Hill two years ago when Kinley moved here. Her hair was a honey blond and she usually wore it in a ponytail, but tonight it fell to her shoulders in soft waves. Her eyes were gray, but not icy at all. It was sort of a soft gray color that made him want to tell her things that he didn’t even want to admit he thought about. Which made her dangerous. Her lips were full, and normally she wore only lip gloss—yeah, he’d spent a lot of time thinking about that mouth of hers. Tonight she’d used a red lipstick that made it impossible for him to look at anything but her mouth. Which was the last thing he needed because he already thought too much about what it would be like to kiss her.

      She wore a figure-hugging dress in a deep blue jewel tone that made her creamy skin look even smoother than normal. He’d known her legs were long and slim because she tended to wear leggings around town, but tonight with a pair of fancy heels on they seemed longer, endless.

      He groaned.

      “Stop being a baby. I swear, Diego, you are the worst at this. I know they are women and not your beloved horses, but it’s not that bad,” Mo said.

      He glanced at his brother. “I know that. I’m not exactly afraid of women.”

      “Your reputation proves that,” Mo said. “So what’s the deal?”

      Mo leaned toward the curtain with him and followed Diego’s gaze.

      “Oh, it’s like that.”

      “Yeah. But she’s not interested and I’m—”

      “Out of time,” Mo said.

      “Mr. Diego Velasquez,” the emcee repeated.

      And Diego, with a shove from Mo, walked out onto the stage.

      * * *

      Pippa Hamilton-Hoff rarely went out and certainly didn’t get dressed up all that often. But here she was, seated at the Caruthers table for the Five Families bachelor auction. Among the descendants of the original five families who’d founded Cole’s Hill, there was a friendly competition to see which one could raise the most money.

      Given that all of the Caruthers brothers were married except for Ethan—and he now seemed engaged—that family’s chances were slim this year. But Pippa had already had other ideas. It certainly helped that she was twenty-five today and would soon have access to her fortune. She knew exactly who she wanted to spend this birthday with.

      Diego Velasquez—a long, tall Texan who looked as comfortable in his tuxedo as he did on the back of a horse. Though if she were being totally honest, she preferred to see him riding his stallion Iago. She’d been out to visit him twice with Penny, the little girl she nannied. Penny was a horse-crazy four-year-old, the daughter of Nathan Caruthers, and Diego was her de facto uncle now that his sister, Bianca, had married Dr. Derek Caruthers.

      The long road that she’d been on for the last four years was almost up. She no longer had to hide who she was—an English heiress who’d run away from her controlling father and had become a nanny while on the run, trying to figure out what to do next. Now that she was twenty-five her inheritance was hers to claim and do what she wanted with. For this one night she still wanted to be young and free. To be with a man who didn’t know about her fortune, who would be happy enough with Pippa the nanny.

      She’d run into him enough times in town to know that it wasn’t coincidence. The owner of a large ranch on the outskirts of town with an internationally acclaimed breeding program didn’t have to drive into Cole’s Hill at 10:00 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to get coffee, but he did. They always chatted, and she’d been careful

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