He left his boots by the door and glanced between Angelo and Dylan. “You two been on the rum already?”
“Nope.” Dylan released Angelo from his smouldering stare. “Just making plans. Angelo’s going to accept your job offer, and I’m going to work with Emma in agricultural debt relief, so I’m going to need a pair of those wellies you threatened to buy me yesterday. I’m not ruining any more shoes.”
Harry’s smile was a mile wide. “Seriously? You figured it all out?”
“Joe did, actually,” Dylan said. “He fed me the idea this afternoon.”
“He’s a fucking dark horse,” Harry said with obvious surprise. “He never mentioned it to me.”
“That’s because you’ve been busy planning other sneaky things,” Emma snapped from the hallway that led to the office. “Get in here...now.”
She disappeared as abruptly as she’d arrived. Harry rolled his eyes and ambled after her. At the door, he stopped and turned. “In all seriousness, I’m really happy for you. I get that leaving London behind is a massive wrench, even if things aren’t perfect there, but life’s different down here—it’s for living, not just surviving.”
“He’ll be lucky if he survives the next ten minutes,” Dylan remarked when he was gone. “Emma looked pissed.”
“Yeah, well, you’ve got that to look forward to if you’re going to work with her every day. Her and Joe are fucking wild.”
“It’ll be fine. If we’re as busy as I hope we’ll be, she won’t have time to lose her shit. Now... didn’t you say something about being horny?”
Six
“What the actual fuck?” Rhys growled.
Dylan turned his wide eyes to him, glad it was him who’d broken the stunned silence. After a day of tipping the world upside down, shaking it, and searching for an answer, he hadn’t been entirely sure if he’d imagined what Emma had just said.
“You heard me,” Emma said calmly, though the jitters in her hands gave her away. “My brother and your brother have decided to make honest men out of each other, right here—right now, in actual fact. The registrar will be here in half an hour.”
More silence. Dylan took in the faces around him. Rhys’s expression was hard to gauge, and Angelo was blinking, clearly bemused, but it was Jevon who came to life first. His half smile broadened, and he pounded Rhys on the back. “What about that, eh? Good job I brought my favourite bow tie.”
Rhys glowered at him. “You did not bring a bow tie.”
“You reckon?” Jevon shoved a hand in his pocket and came back with a pink and yellow dickie bow. He fastened it around Rhys’s neck and thumped him again. “Just as well too. Can’t have you showing your brother up.”
Reality crept slowly into Rhys’s stormy gaze. The edgy confusion faded, and real joy seeped in. He tore his eyes from Jevon and looked at Emma. “You’d better not be shitting me.”
Emma beamed. “As if I would. Now come with me... all of you. We’ve got about an hour to make this awesome.”
Dylan pushed his chair back, as stunned as everyone else apparently was. A couple of beers and a double pepperoni pizza had been the only things on his radar, perhaps some lazy fucking if Angelo had been game. A wedding? Damn. He’d have been less surprised if Emma had burst into the kitchen with newly grown horns.
Beside him, Angelo was slower to his feet than everyone else. Dylan broke ranks to look at him, but there was no pain in his face, only a smile that threatened to split it in half. “I knew they were up to something with that barn.”
“What barn?”
“The one with half a roof down by the stream. Harry said something about cleaning it up for summer weddings, and he’s been over there loads the last few months. I figured he was planning some renovations in the spring.”
“You never said.”
“Didn’t I?”
Dylan shook his head. “No, but I didn’t ask either. Joe’s barns have never been high on my list of things to grill you about.”
Angelo started to say something else, but Emma got between them and grabbed their arms. “Come on.” She tugged them towards the door. “We’ve got a derelict barn to make nice, and someone has to convince Joe to do something with his hair.”
Emma was a force to be reckoned with when she took control of her nerves. And as she herded them to a corner of the farm Dylan had never been, he wondered if that was why Joe and Harry had sprung a wedding on the world like this, with little time for anyone to do much more than turn up.
And when they got to the barn, it was clear that whatever was going down tonight had been given more than a few hours’ thought. The broken-down barn had a new roof, new floors, and a bar installed at the back. A warm glow bathed the rustic space, and simple, vintage touches finished an intimate venue any Pinterest board would be proud of.
“Wow.” Dylan spun in a slow circle. “What the fuck is even happening right now?”
