Looking deceivingly at ease in the seat across from Clay and Dani, Grey McLendon peeled off his reading glasses and tossed them onto the coffee table between them. “What do you mean, you’re testing out?” he demanded, his piercing gaze darting to Clay.

Clay slowly withdrew his hand from Dani’s, using his jeans to wick the sweat from his palm before discreetly shielding his balls, a strictly self-preserving reaction to the imaginary—but still very threatening—daggers being lobbed his way, by all three of Dani’s dads.

“This was my idea, Daddy, not Clay’s.” Dani took Clay’s hand back into hers, locking him to her side. “I’m still getting my degree. I just won’t be taking as long to do it or walking in the graduation ceremony.”

“That’s not what you promised,” Mason chimed in, his eyes narrowing at Clay.

Clay shifted in his seat beneath the intensified scrutiny, trying to pry his hand from Dani’s, but she tightened her grip, crushing his fingers between hers.

Of Dani’s three fathers, he’d originally expected Grey to be his biggest challenge. He’d had his stipulations, but to his surprise, Grey’d been fairly cool about everything…so far. Matt hadn’t made any kind of hay about their engagement, only to say he was happy as long as Dani was, which pretty much made them natural allies. Matt’s twin brother, Mason, however, apparently still hadn’t come around to the idea of him marrying their only daughter. Clay was at a loss as to what to do to win him over. The man was a conversational lockbox, avoiding him at every turn, and now he wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t try to kill him in his sleep.

“I promised I’d finish college, Dad, and I’m still doing that,” Dani argued.

“But you’re missing the point,” Mason insisted, shifting his gaze back to Dani. “The graduation ceremony is part of the whole experience, something Matt and I regret never doing.”

“Speak for yourself,” Matt scoffed from his seat beside Mason. “College wouldn’t have changed anything for me, one way or the other.”

Clay caught a breather when Grey and Mason turned their accusing glares to Matt. He pressed his lips together and drew in a deep breath. Staying silent went against every instinct Clay had, but he held his tongue anyway, and let Dani do the talking. If there was one thing he’d learned about the woman he loved, it was that once she set her mind to something, there was little chance of changing it.

As she argued with her dads, he tamped down the urge to check his phone for a reply from the builder he’d contacted earlier that morning. Getting married six months earlier meant he was now five months behind on the house he was planning to surprise Dani with on their wedding day.

The front door swung open, and the arguing stopped as everyone turned to greet Dani’s mother, her arms laden with plastic grocery bags. “Sorry I’m late!”

Grey popped to his feet to retrieve the bags, and Gabby hurried around the end of the sofa to greet Dani with a hug. “What an unexpected surprise,” she said with a genuine smile as she pulled Clay into the hug, too.

“You can say that again,” Mason grumbled.

Gabby cast him a sideways glance before she turned back to Dani. “I thought you weren’t coming home until next weekend. I would’ve gone into town yesterday if I’d known you were coming today.”

Matt pushed to his feet and gave her cheek a peck. “Situation update,” he said, nodding at Dani and Clay. “These two want to get hitched sooner rather than later, and Uptight and Tighter are having their usual meltdown.”

Gabby gasped, then threw her arms around Dani again. “I knew it!”

Clay glanced over at Mason and had to suppress his grin when he caught him rolling his eyes.

“When?” Gabby asked with breathless excitement, taking them both by the hands and leading them toward the kitchen. “I pulled all my wedding planning stuff down from the top of the closet a couple weeks ago. Oh!” She paused in the hallway and turned back to Dani. “Please tell me I have time to special order. I have invitation samples I want to show you, but they take two weeks minimum to ship.”

“We’re hoping for late October,” Dani told her.

Gabby’s brows furrowed, her lips twisting into a pucker. “That’s only two months.”

“I know, Mom, but—”

“We can work with that,” Gabby assured her, drawing her into another hug.

Dani smiled over her shoulder at him. “Told you she’d be fine with it,” she whispered.

Clay tried to be happy about that, but Gabby wasn’t the one he was worried about.

“Don’t you think we should talk about this before you start sending out invitations?” Grey asked Gabby as they filed into the kitchen.

“Daddy, I’ve made up my mind.”

“How are you going to study for your tests and plan a wedding?” Mason asked.

Clay flinched, not realizing Mason had sneaked up behind him.

“What tests?” Gabby asked, emptying the grocery bags on the counter.

Dani glared up at Clay, her eyes urging him to contribute, and he answered with a quick shake of his head. Was she nuts? Despite sharing Mason’s concern, it was apparent neither he or Grey would appreciate that fact, or anything else he had to say for that matter.

Gabby continued to clear the counters as Dani told her about testing out of her classes early, hoping to leave all the planning to her mother while she studied for her finals.

Clay jolted when his cellphone buzzed in his pocket. Damn nerves. “I need to take this,” he said when he saw his contractor’s number, politely excusing himself from the ongoing debate.

“Ken, hey. Thanks for calling me back,” he answered when he was out the front door, checking over his shoulder to make sure Dani hadn’t followed him.

“You bet,” the contractor replied. “Sorry it took a bit to get back to ya. Had to finish up a final inspection down in the Big Bend area. That place is like Swiss cheese for cellphone coverage.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Clay unlatched the tailgate on Dani’s truck and pulled himself up to sit. “Listen, you know those blueprints I sent you last month?”

“Sure do. You ready to break ground?”

“Yeah, but there’s been a development.” The late summer sun beat down on his shoulders and he flipped his hat off to wipe away the beads of sweat already forming. “I need it built by the end of October.” He squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for Ken’s reply, hoping the man didn’t laugh him off the phone. He was a talented builder, but Clay knew good and well what he was asking for was damn near impossible.

For ten years, he’d worked on designing the perfect house, making notes and upgrades, drawing stick figures on paper napkins until he had enough money to have professional blueprints drawn up. Until he’d met Dani, building it had been little more than a pipedream, but when she’d agreed to marry him, he took the plans to Ken and started the process of making that dream a reality. He’d said a hundred silent hell-yes’s since she’d suggested they move the wedding date up, but getting their home built before the wedding was a big ask.

Ken let out a long whistle. “That’s a lot of square footage and not a lot of time, Sterling.”

Clay released a helpless sigh. “I know.”

“Even if I can move some things around and get the inspections prescheduled, I’d need a second crew to pull this off,” Ken continued. “That’s going to cost you.”

“I figured.” Clay squinted against the sun, bracing himself for the answer to the inevitable next question. “How much?”

Ken hemmed and hawed and finally gave him a not-so-cheap estimate. Clay sighed. He didn’t have that kind of reserve cash, but he’d make it work. Whatever it took. Hell, he hated to even think it, but he’d sell his plane if he had to, because he wasn’t about to move his new wife into his dad’s house. “Can it be done?”

Ken grunted, the sound followed by rustling papers before the contractor finally gave him a maybe. “I’ll do everything I can to help you out, man,” he added, “but I’m only promising a roof, four walls, and working plumbing. The rest will be up to the inspectors. You know how it goes.”

“Perfect!” Clay rushed to assure him.

“And only if I get your deposit by noon tomorrow,” Ken added.

“I’ve got it.” Excitement propelled Clay from the tailgate. “I’ll call the bank and have them wire it to you now.”

“I’ll call in the crew, then, and get the material ordered.”

Clay swiped his palm over his forehead, relief and excitement racing through his veins. “I owe you one, man.”

“You owe me thousands,” Ken laughed. “Hundreds of them.”

“Yeah-yeah. I’m on it. Call me if there’s any problems.”

“Will do, and congrats on the wedding.”

“Thanks.”

Clay hung up and called the bank, then flipped through his contacts, pausing before he dialed the next number. Images of his mother flashed through his mind as he stared at his phone. She’d loved flying as much as he did. He could still remember the day she’d taken him up for his first flying lesson. Pop had won the Cessna in a friendly bet with a neighboring rancher and given it to her on their tenth wedding anniversary. Seven years later, he took his first solo flight in that plane, tears blurring the instruments as he scattered his mother’s ashes over Sterling Eagle Ranch.

He drew in a deep breath and said a silent thank you for the amazing gift she’d given him. Selling her plane was a last resort, but if he couldn’t find another way to come up with the extra cash to pay Ken, then he’d need to have a buyer lined up for a quick sale. He was about to dial the number when he heard footsteps close behind him.

“Hey.” Clay pocketed his phone. “Sorry, I had to take that call.”

Matt held up a staying hand as he walked to the back of Dani’s truck and pulled himself up to sit on the tailgate. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on ya.”

Clay sighed in relief and took a seat next to him. Matt had been surprisingly accepting, but an awkward silence still hung between them as the seconds ticked into minutes.

“I never was one to beat around the bush, so I’m just gonna give it to you straight,” Matt finally said. “That okay with you?”

“Sure.” Clay’s stomach tightened as Matt turned, his eyes narrowing as their gazes locked.

“My brothers are being giant asshats about this whole damn thing.”

The air rushed out of Clay’s lungs so fast he choked.

Matt chuckled and slapped him on the back a few times. “You okay?”

“Yeah, uh—” Clay cleared his throat. “Just wasn’t expecting that.”

Matt sighed, plucking off his hat. “I used to call ’em fucktards until Gabby put her foot down. Said it wasn’t politically correct, and you know, the kids were getting in trouble at school.”

Clay laughed. “I feel ya. Me and my brothers have to be careful around my nephew, too.”

Matt scrubbed his hand over his mussed hair then plopped his hat back on. “Well, whatever you want to call ’em is fine by me. But try not to take their meltdown personally, especially Mason.”

Clay nodded silently, not knowing exactly what to say.

“Listen.” Matt propped the heel of his boot on the edge of the tailgate and stared down the long gravel driveway. “Let me help you out a bit here.”

Clay raised a cautious brow, waiting for Matt to enlighten him.

“Though I can be a bit hot tempered at times, I don’t sweat the small stuff. If my family’s happy, then I’m happy, and Dani’s clearly happy, so I’m cool with this little wedding schedule update. Feel me?”

Clay chuckled. “Yeah, I think.”

“Good,” Matt snickered. “Now, Grey, on the other hand, is a classic worrier. If there’s a worst-case scenario for anything, he’ll lose his shit over it, and someone—usually Gabby—will soothe his feathers and everything’s back to normal. But Mason? Mason is a different kind of bird altogether. He’s got this sixth sense about things.”

Matt looked at him like he was supposed to know what that meant.

“Like when he’s workin’ with a new horse,” he went on to explain, his hands animating his words. “Mason can feel what the horse is thinkin’. He knows exactly what it’s gonna do long before the horse even knows. And he’s the same way with people. It’s a rare occasion when somethin’ sneaks up on him.” He paused and looked up at Clay. “But you snuck up on him,” he said with a sly grin. “He no more saw you comin’ than a Mack truck with no headlights on a dark highway, and he’s still tryin’ to find his footing.”

Understanding mixed with relief, and Clay drew in a deep breath. “That…actually helps,” he breathed out. “Thanks.” It made a lot more sense than anything he’d been able to come up with.

“Give Mason some time,” Matt urged, then hopped off the tailgate. “When he finds his balance again, he’ll come around. You’ll see.”

Clay slid to the ground and closed the tailgate, dusting his hand over his jeans before he offered it to Matt. “Thanks, really. I was dyin’ in there,” he said with a sheepish grin.

Matt took his hand and pulled him into a back-slapping hug. “Anytime.” He nodded toward the barn. “C’mon. We’ll grab a couple of fishing poles and head down to the creek.”

Clay shoved his hands into his pockets and looked up at the house. “I should probably get back in there. See if Dani needs anything.”

Matt scrunched up his nose and gave his head a quick shake. “That whole ‘Grey losing his shit’ thing I told you about? I wasn’t kiddin’. You don’t want to be in there right now.”

Clay glanced back up at the house, then back at Matt, not sure what he should do. He didn’t want to leave Dani hanging.

“Trust me,” Matt said and shouldered him toward the barn. “Let’s go wet a line and give Gabby time to work her magic.”

Clay hesitated, before he followed Matt down the hill. A little male-bonding time with at least one of his future fathers-in-law wasn’t such a bad idea, was it?