"He and Armand went to pick up Father Dubanowski," Casey said, coming over to give him a hug. "It's so good to see you again. I had such fun in Banff."
Ridge tolerated the hug, stepped back as quickly as he could. He wasn't much of a hugger. "You look great."
"Thank you." Casey blushed and smiled. "I'm so thrilled you were able to make it. First thing Archer said after he asked me to marry him was, 'I can't get married without my best friend. We have to plan the wedding around Ridge's timetable.'"
"Archer is a lucky guy," Ridge said.
"No, I'm the lucky one. Not only am I getting the most wonderful man in the world, but I inherited this amazing family." She swept her hand at the women in the room. "No one could be luckier."
"The Alzates are pretty special," Ridge agreed.
The Alzate and the Lockhart siblings had grown up together on the Silver Feather. Back then, their father, Armand Alzate, had been the Silver Feather Ranch's foreman, and he'd lived with his wife and kids in the original Lockhart farmhouse built in the 1860s.
Bridgette Alzate had served as the ranch cook and housekeeper and she'd often played surrogate mother to Ridge and his brothers after Remington and Rhett's mother, Lucy, had died. Like Ridge, Archer was the oldest child of his family. The nine of them had been pretty close in those years-running wild on the ranch, riding horses, being young and carefree, getting up to all manner of mischief.
Thinking back on it now, it was the most idyllic time of his life. Thanks to the Alzates.
But things changed. Kids grew up. Went off to college. Dad married Vivi, and arthritis forced Armand Alzate to give up ranching and move into town, leaving Archer to take over as foreman.
"This is my sister, Lynne." Casey introduced a slightly older version of herself. Lynne had a toddler on her hip. "And this is her son, Atticus. Atty is our ring bearer."
The boy stared at Ridge owl-eyed, accusatory as if he could see right through him, knew all his secrets and every lie he'd ever told.
Kids made Ridge edgy. He hadn't been around them much. Had no idea what to say to them. Especially kids this age. They were just so damned vulnerable, but clueless as to just how vulnerable they really were.
Not knowing what else to do, he offered up an uneasy smile to the kid and the boy's mother, and quickly moved on to greet Kaia's sisters, mother, and granny.
Now women were another story. Women, Ridge knew how to handle. He charmed and grinned and flattered. Going through well-oiled motions.
Hi. How you doin'. Been too long. Prettier than ever. I've missed seeing you.
Smooth. Easy. Not particularly sincere.
Until at last he turned to Kaia, and everything he'd been thinking and feeling turned upside down.
"Hi!" she chirped, happy as a robin, and she disarmed the hell out of him by enveloping him in a fierce hug right in front of everyone.
His heart slammed into his chest, a train wreck of sensation-bam, bam, bam-twenty-boxcar pileup. Her scent wrapped around him, welcoming as home-baked bread. He froze, unsure of what to do. Alarmed because he was getting aroused right there in front of everyone.
Christ, he hadn't gotten a hard-on this easily since he was a randy teenager.
Quick. Think about something else.
Right. Drilling stats. Think about drilling stats. Except the word drilling put a wholly different picture in his mind than silver mining.
Fine. Forget drilling. Stock quotes. Yesterday's stock quotes. The current trend in silver stocks should put him in a downward mood. PAAS was down 0.31. SSRI down 0.16. TAHO down 0.23.
Finally, thankfully, Kaia released him and stepped back, and Ridge could finally breathe again.
"Hey," he said rather idiotically, as if ten years hadn't passed since the last time she'd hugged him in a parking lot at the University of Texas, his business diploma clutched in his hand. "Hey."
"Welcome home." She smiled and his world slid sideways.
Home.
There was that word again, a twitchy word that usually tied his stomach in knots. But now, standing here, looking down at Kaia's adorable grin, home didn't seem half-bad.
The front door opened, letting in the sound of voices. Seconds later, Father Dubanowski and the rest of the wedding party showed up. It had been a long time since Ridge had been around so many people in a nonwork capacity. He'd forgotten what things were like on the ranch, and with the Alzates. Everywhere they went, people congregated.
There were more greetings and backslapping and lively conversation as they sorted out transportation to the chapel.