Page 228 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

CHAPTER 13

Go ahead and call him the biggest fool alive. Nash didn't care.

Today, he was back on cloud nine, ready to tell Ellie the good news: his answer was yes.

He could hardly believe he’d thought there was so much to consider. It was a no-brainer. Ellie wanted to get out of her contract and live a normal life outside of Hollywood. Nash wanted that for her, too.

The fact that he could actually help her achieve that freedom only made the deal sweeter.

Normally, Nash wouldn’t make a decision like this without mulling it over with his brothers or Uncle Lloyd. At the very least, he’d run it past Thatcher, but under the circumstances, he couldn't speak about Ellie’s whereabouts without breaking the NDA. However, by signing this new contract, Nash could introduce her to all of them.

Of course, he could've spoken to Tucker about the whole thing, but since Tucker was Ellie's counselor, it wouldn’t be right to divulge such private matters. Besides, hadn't Tucker already told Nash to give this everything he had and not hold back?

An inner voice suggested that he could be in denial. It said that Nash only refused to get anyone else's opinion because he feared they might talk them out of it.

That was most definitely not the case, but even if it was, was that really such a bad thing? Why trust somebody who wasn’t as close to the situation as Nash was? Nash knew more about it than anyone, aside from Ellie herself, and something in his gut told him this was the right choice to make. It had to be because Nash felt like a massive weight had been lifted off him as soon as he’d made it.

And the timing couldn't be more perfect because tonight, they were celebrating Rosie's birthday with a big family party. What better way to break Ellie in?

Sure, Wes and Thatcher might give him a hard time for doing such a thing, but did they really have room to talk? Wes had fallen in love with Taja while he was harboring her and Rosie. And Thatcher—he’d taken Abbie back after she’d broken his heart five years prior. Love made people do crazy things.

Not that Nash was in love yet, but things were definitely headed in that direction.

So it was all laid out before him—step one: tell Ellie yes. Step two: sign the contract. Step three: take Ellie to Copeland Brothers Ranch and introduce her to his family.Yes,he was making the right decision, no doubt. Besides, what was some silly contract compared to what Thatcher and Wes went through with their women—life-threatening events that could have killed them.

If things with him and Ellie went how he hoped they might, Nash would be the first Copeland to score his wife without risking his life. Heck, even Belle got wrapped in a whirlwind of danger when she fell in love with Cash.

The dominoes had been set in motion, but Nash had no interest in taking the next fall. Perhaps he’d be the first to break the curse and keep the Copelands out of harm’s way for good.

CHAPTER 14

Acocktail of anticipation and guilt whirled through Ellie's insides as she watched Nash sign on the dotted line in front of the notary.

The words,he's doing this for me,ran through her mind, filling her with gratitude. But it was more than that; since this was a romantic gesture, it also fanned Ellie’s feelings for the gentle, caring cowboy who'd sauntered his way into her heart.

"Well, Nash," Ellie’s dad said from the Zoom call Geneva had set up on her laptop. "I know this is a rather unconventional way to meet the old man of the gal you like, but I’m extremely grateful to you for taking good care of my baby girl while she's away. I hope next time I can meet you face-to-face."

Nash rested the pen on the table and stepped away from the document, pinching the brim of his hat with a nod toward the screen. "Sure, sir, I'd like that as well."

Ellie volunteered to see the notary specialist out the door while Geneva closed up the Zoom call with Ellie's dad. Since Ellie's arrival at Wild Buck’s Ranch, she'd had only brief, surface conversations with Dad. She hoped someday to be able to forgive him, but she couldn't help but think that all hinged on how this new deal would come through.

Would Ellie really be free from the obligations she'd sought to escape all these years? Another question came to mind as Ellie remembered throwing the purple flowers into the trash. Would this mysterious Wolf really leave Ellie alone once it was all said and done, or would she receive the haunting flower arrangement at poignant times in the years ahead?

It all just seemed too good to be true, and Ellie had to wonder if it really was.

For now, she decided, as Nash joined her in the foyer, Ellie would simply take it a day at a time and attempt to keep her worries at bay.

"Well, we did it," Nash said, a wide, excited grin on his handsome face.

"We did. It still doesn't seem real." She reached up to accept his kiss.

Nash hitched a thumb over his shoulder. "Now, you ready to party with the Copelands?”

The party. She’d almost forgotten about that. Ellie was looking forward to meeting Nash’s family, but she was apprehensive too. Had he mentioned the contract to them? They weren’t supposed to divulge the details of their agreement, but he’d only now discovered that stipulation. Besides, Ellie really didn't expect Nash to keep those details from his family.

Still, if they knew about the contract, they might think Ellie was only pretending to like Nash, which was the furthest thing from the truth. Perhaps the best thing she could do was to be herself. Ellie was crazy about Nash, and she hoped that would be evident to a family that loved him, too.

Since she started spending time with Nash, Ellie had heard quite a bit about his family. Now, it was time to test her memory. On the way to his niece’s birthday party, Ellie recited the names and some of the stories behind each family member to make sure that she had them straight.