by Lori Foster
A short, humorless laugh nearly choked her…and drew the three women’s attention. Elizabeth mentally shook her head as she stepped forward with a feigned smile. None of it mattered; she still wanted him, wanted to experience everything he could show her, teach her. She wanted to really truly feel once again. Since her mother’s death and the appearance of the harsh, dragging guilt, it seemed as if she hadn’t really been living, that anything heartfelt or lasting had been blunted by the need to make amends, to understand her weakness.
Her heart hurt, but pride would keep her from showing it. She’d accept Gabriel Kasper on any terms, and he’d never know that she dreamed of more. She’d enjoy herself, without regrets, without demands.
Despite her past, she deserved that much.
The waitress, looking cautious, indicated a chair. “Hey, there, Elizabeth. Remember me?”
Again, Elizabeth smiled. “Ceily, from the boat docks, right? Yes, I remember. I hadn’t realized you worked here.” She carefully lowered herself into her seat and nodded at both sisters. Honey and Misty looked guilty, and Elizabeth tried to reassure them by pretending she hadn’t heard a thing. “I hope I’m not too late?”
“Not at all,” Misty said quickly. Her baby was sitting beside her in the booth on a pumpkin seat. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought Amber along.”
Elizabeth leaned over slightly to peer at the baby. “How could anyone ever object to that darling little angel?”
When she’d been a young girl, still fanciful and filled with daydreams, Elizabeth used to imagine someday having a baby, coddling it as her mother had coddled her, but she’d set those fantasies aside when she’d accepted her shortcomings.
Misty beamed at the compliment. “Strangely enough, she looks just like Morgan.”
Ceily snorted at that outrageous comment. “Come on, Misty. I’ve never seen that little doll manage anything near the nasty scowl Morgan can dredge up without even trying.”
Honey laughed. “That’s true enough. But if Misty is even two minutes late to feed her, she has to contend with scowls and grumblings from both father and daughter. And I have to admit, they do resemble each other then. It sometimes seems to be a competition to see who can complain the loudest.”
Misty slid a gentle finger over her sleeping daughter’s cheek. “Morgan can’t stand it if she even whimpers, much less gives a good howl. I swear, he shakes like a skinny Chihuahua if Amber gets the least upset.”
Ceily made a sound of amused disgust. “I never thought I’d see the day when the brothers started settling down into blissful wedlock.”
Honey nudged Elizabeth, then quipped in a stage whisper, “Not that Ceily’s complaining. I think she’s the only female in Buckhorn County who isn’t pining for our men.”
Being included in that “our men” category made Elizabeth blush, but no one noticed as Ceily broke loose with a raucous laugh. “I know the brothers far too well. We’ve been friends forever and that’s not something I’d ever want to screw up by getting…romantic.”
“A wise woman,” Honey said, between sips of iced tea. “I think they all consider you something of a little sister.”
Ceily bit her lip and mumbled under her breath, “I wouldn’t exactly say that.” But Elizabeth appeared to be the only one who’d heard her.
Ceily took their orders and sauntered off. Elizabeth watched her surreptitiously, wondering just how involved the woman had been with the brothers. She was beautiful, in a very natural way, not bothering much with makeup or a fancy hairdo. She looked…earthy, with her light tan and sandy-brown hair. And Elizabeth remembered from seeing her in her bathing suit at the boat dock that Ceily was built very well, with the type of lush curves that would definitely attract the males.
She was frowning when Honey asked, “How’s the sunburn?”
“Oh.” Elizabeth drew herself together and shrugged. “Much better today. Your husband’s cream worked wonders. Would you thank him again for me?”
Honey waved away her gratitude. “No problem. Sawyer is glad to do it, I’m sure.”
Misty looked at her closely. “You don’t look nearly as pink today. I guess it’s fading fast.”
Forcing a laugh, Elizabeth admitted, “I can even wear my bra today without cringing.”
“Ouch.” Misty looked appalled by that idea. “Are you sure you should? This blasted heat is oppressive.”
It was only then that Elizabeth realized she was trussed up far more than Misty and Honey were. While they both wore comfortably loose T-shirts and cotton shorts with flip-flop sandals, Elizabeth had put a blouse under her long pullover dress and ankle socks with her shoes.
Deciding to be daring, she asked, “Does everyone dress so casually here? I mean, do you think anyone would notice if I wore something like that?” She indicated their clothes with a nod.
Honey laughed out loud. “Heck, yes. Gabe would notice! But then I get the feeling he’d notice you no matter what you wore. Watching him blunder around yesterday like a fish out of water was about the best entertainment we’ve had for awhile.”
Misty bit her bottom lip, trying to stifle a laugh. “Gabe teased both Sawyer and Morgan something terrible when they got involved with us. Now he’s just getting his due.”
“But we’re not involved.” Even as she said it, Elizabeth felt her face heating. She hoped the sisters would attribute it to her sunburn and not embarrassment.
“Maybe not yet, but Gabe’s working on it. I’ve gotten to know him pretty good since Sawyer and I married. He dates all the time, but he never mentions any particular woman. You he’s mentioned several times.”
Elizabeth didn’t dare ask what he’d said. She could just imagine. “I think I’ll buy myself some shorts today.”
“Good idea. This is a vacation lake. Very few people bother to put on anything except casual clothes.”
Ceily sidled up with Elizabeth’s drink and everyone’s food. Misty was having a huge hamburger with fries, but Honey and Elizabeth had settled on salads.
Misty made a face at them. “It’s the breast-feeding, I swear. I never ate like a hog before, but now I stay hungry all the time. Sawyer says I’m burning off calories.”
Honey pursed her lips, as if trying to keep something unsaid, then she appeared to burst. “I wonder if it’ll affect me that way.”
Misty froze with her mouth clamped around the fat burger. Like a sleepwalker she lowered the food and swallowed hard. “Are you…?”
Honey, practically shivering with excitement, nodded. Elizabeth almost jumped out of her seat when the two women squealed loudly and jumped up to hug across the table.
“When?” Misty demanded.
“In about six months. Late February.” Honey leaned forward. “But keep it down. I don’t want anyone else to know until I tell Sawyer.”
“You haven’t told him yet?”
“I just found out for sure this morning.” She turned to Elizabeth. “We hadn’t exactly been trying not to get pregnant, if you know what I mean, so it won’t be a shock. But I still think he’s going to make a big deal of it.”
Wide-eyed, Elizabeth had no idea what to say to that. She was…stunned that the sisters had included her in such a personal, familial announcement. She’d never in her life had close female friends. She’d always been too odd, too alone, to mix in any of the small groups in school.
But as it turned out, Elizabeth didn’t need to reply. Honey and Misty went back to chattering while they ate, and Elizabeth was loath to interrupt.
Finally, they wore down and simply settled back in their seats, smiling. The silence wasn’t an uncomfortable one, and Elizabeth found herself wondering about several things.
Trying to shake off her shyness, she asked, “Do you hope it’s a boy or a girl?”
Honey touched her stomach with a mother’s love. “It doesn’t really matter to me. Amber is so precious—a girl would be nice. But then, Casey is such an outstanding young man that I think a son would be perfect, too.�
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Using that statement to lead into another question, Elizabeth pulled out her paper and pencil. “Do the brothers have any sisters?”
“Not a one. They only have male sperm, to hear them tell it.” Misty had a soft, almost secret smile on her face. “Morgan calls Amber his little miracle.”
Honey sighed. “Sawyer even warned me before we were married that I should resign myself to baby boys. The way they dote on Amber, as if none of them had ever seen a baby girl before, is hysterical. I keep telling them she’s no different from Casey when he was an infant, but they just look at me like I’m nuts.”
Elizabeth grinned at that image. “In a nice sort of way,” she ventured cautiously, so she wouldn’t offend, “they seem a bit sexist.”
“Oh, they’re sexist all right! And very old-fashioned, but as you said, in a nice way. They insist on helping a woman whenever they can, but they’d refuse to admit it if they needed help.”
“Not that they ever do,” Honey added. “They’re the most self-reliant men I’ve ever seen. Their mother made sure they could cook and clean and fend for themselves.”
Misty leaned forward to speak in a whisper. “Morgan says all he needs me for is to keep him happy.” Her eyebrows bobbed. “You know what I mean.” Then she settled back with a blissful sigh. “But then he’ll show me it’s so much more than that. We talk about everything and share everything. He unloads his worries at night over dinner and he says he misses me all day when he’s working.”
“Do you still work here in the diner?”
“Part-time, just for the fun of it. It keeps Morgan on his toes. He has this absurd notion that every guy in town comes here to eat just to ogle his wife.” She laughed. “In truth, there’s not a guy around who would look for more than two seconds for fear of incurring Morgan’s wrath.”
“He has a temper?”
“No, not really.”
Honey choked, accidentally spraying iced tea across the table. Alarmed, Elizabeth quickly handed her a napkin. Biting back a laugh, Honey mumbled, “Sorry.”
But Misty wasn’t offended. “You should talk,” she said primly. “Morgan is still bragging about that fight Sawyer had over you.”
“What about Gabe?” Elizabeth asked. “Is he a hell-raiser?”
“Gabe? Heck, no, Gabe’s a lover, not a fighter. Not that I doubt he could handle himself in any situation.”
Elizabeth tried to sound only mildly curious as she pursued that topic. “He has himself something of a reputation, doesn’t he?”
Misty shrugged. “I suppose, but it’s not a bad one. Folks around here just love him, that’s all.”
“You know,” Elizabeth said thoughtfully as she set aside her pencil and propped her elbows on the table, “I think it’s amazing that he did something so heroic and yet he shrugs it off as nothing.”
Honey waved her fork dismissively. “They’re all like that. They’re strong and capable and well-respected and they don’t really think a thing of it. To them, it’s just how things are—they’re nothing special. But I know not a one of them would sit on the sidelines if someone needed help. That’s just the way they are.”
For over an hour, the women talked, and Elizabeth took page after page of background notes on the brothers, Gabe specifically. If some of her questions had nothing to do with her thesis…well, that was no one’s concern but her own.
When the lunch ended and she was ready to go, Elizabeth thanked both women. Misty had her wide-awake daughter cradled in her arms, cooing to her, so it was Honey who touched Elizabeth’s arm and said, “I hope we’ve been some help.”
Elizabeth could read the look in Honey’s eyes and understood her meaning. She smiled in acknowledgment. “You don’t have to worry. I know Gabe is still sowing his wild oats, so while I’m enjoying interviewing him, I’m not going to expect undying love. I’m a little more grounded in reality than that.”
Honey bit her lip then shared a look with her sister. Misty sighed. “He really is a doll, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is. But he’s a rascal too, and I’m well aware of just how serious he is, which isn’t very. Besides, I’m only here for the summer. I have another semester of college to go and then job hunting before I can ever think of getting attached to anyone. Gabe is fun and exciting, but I know that’s where it ends.”
Misty slid out of the booth to stand before Elizabeth, her brow drawn into a thoughtful frown. “Now, I’m not sure you should rule everything out.”
Honey agreed. “He is acting darned strange about all this.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Elizabeth knew they wanted to be kind, to spare her. “I’m not letting anything or anyone get in the way of my goals.”
“What are your goals? I know you said you’re doing your thesis on the mystique of heroes, but why?”
“I’m hoping to go into counseling. Too often the ordinary person tries to compare herself to the true heroes of the world and only comes up lacking, which is damaging to self-esteem. I’d like to be able to prove that there are real, tangible differences to account for the heroes.”
Before either sister could remark on that, Elizabeth asked for directions to Jordan’s veterinary office. He was the only brother she hadn’t spoken to yet. From what she’d heard, this particular brother was vastly different in many ways, but still enough to melt a woman’s heart.
She looked forward to grilling him.
* * *
GABE WRAPPED HIS ARM around Ceily from behind, then gave her a loud smooch on her nape. “Hey, doll,” he growled in a mock-hungry voice.
Jumping, Ceily almost dropped the tray of dirty dishes loading her down, and would have if Gabe hadn’t caught it in time.
Rounding on him, Ceily yelled, “Don’t do that, damn it! You about gave me a heart attack.”
“Shh.” Gabe grinned at her. “I don’t want anyone to know I’m here.”
Ceily seemed to think that was very funny, judging by her crooked grin. “If you’re looking for your newest girlfriend, she already left.”
Disappointment struck him, and he muttered a low curse that made Ceily’s grin widen. “Do you know where she went?”
She took the tray from him and set it in the sink. “Maybe.”
“Ceily…”
With a calculating look, she said over her shoulder, “I need a leaking faucet fixed. I can talk while you repair.”
Gabe didn’t want to waste that much time, but he reluctantly agreed. Ceily was one of his best friends, and she made one hell of a spy. Though she didn’t gossip, she always seemed to know anything and everything that was said in her diner. “All right. Show me the sink.”
Five minutes later Gabe was on his back, shirtless to keep from getting too dirty, trying to tighten a valve. The job was simple, but Ceily needed new plumbing in a bad way. “I can fix it for now, hon, but we’re going to need to make major repairs soon. When’s good for you?”
Ceily was at his side on a stool, taking a quick break while business was slow. “You just give me the word and I’ll make the time.”
Seconds later, Gabe shoved himself out from under the sink and sat up. “All done. So start talking.”
Ceily checked the sink first, saw it was dry and nodded. “She went to see your brother Jordan, but she said she’s also going to do some shopping.” Ceily gave an impish smile. “She wants to dress more casual, like Misty and Honey.”
Gabe groaned. Misty and Honey had chic comfort down to a fine art. The women could wear cutoffs and T-shirts and look like sex personified. “I’ll never live through it.”
Ceily thought that was about the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Gabe used her knee for unnecessary leverage and came to his feet. “You care to share the joke?”
“You don’t think it’s amusing that the mighty Gabe Kasper, womanizer and renowned playboy, is being struck down by a prim little red-haired wallflower?”
Anger tightened his gut for an instant before Gabe hid it. He didn’t like anyone making
fun of Lizzy, but he knew Ceily hadn’t meant to be nasty. She, like him, was merely surprised at his interest in a woman who was so different from his usual girlfriends.
But then, that was precisely why he felt so drawn to her.
He began lathering his hands in the sink while he gathered his thoughts. Ceily tilted her head at his silence, then let out a whistle.
“Well, I’ll be. You really are smitten, aren’t you?”
“Smitten is a stupid word, Ceily,” he groused. “Let’s just call it intrigued, okay?”
“Intrigued, smitten…doesn’t matter what you call it, Gabe, you’ve still got it bad.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “Care to tell me why?”
Gabe lifted one shoulder in a shrug as he dried his hands on a frayed dish towel. “Lizzy is different.”
“You’re telling me!”
Gabe snapped her with the towel. “You are feeling sassy today, aren’t you?”
She yelped, then rubbed her well-rounded hip. There was a time when Gabe would have helped her with that, but he had no real interest in touching any woman, even playfully, except Lizzy. She had invaded his brain, and it was taking a lot of getting used to.
Ceily was still frowning when she said, “It’s not every day I get to witness the fall of the mighty Gabe.”
Lifting one brow, Gabe announced, “I didn’t fall, I jumped.”
“So it’s like that, huh?”
Gabe propped one hip on the side of the sink and watched Ceily. She was his friend and he’d always been able to talk with her. He loved his brothers dearly, but he could just imagine how they’d react if he started confessing to them. He’d never hear the end of it.