“So you’ve done what your father asked of you.

“You’ve watched out for me, employed my dad. You can go on with your life now and not worry about me.”

“It’s not that easy,” Gabriel said with reluctance. “Your kids have gotten under my skin.”

Laura looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“See, this is the part I wasn’t expecting,” he said, realizing all of a sudden what he hadn’t been able to put into words before. “I didn’t expect to find myself caring about your children.”

Her face was a blank he couldn’t read. Gabriel knew he had headed into deep water, and there was no going back to shore. “It’s okay,” he said, steeling his heart. “I just find myself thinking about them…and even if I wanted to leave town, I don’t think I could leave them.”

Dear Reader,

We hope you already know that Harlequin American Romance publishes heartwarming stories about the comforts of home and the joys of family. To celebrate our 25th year, we’re pleased to present a special miniseries that sings the praises of the home state of six different authors, and shares the many trials and delights of being a parent.

Welcome to the first book in our THE STATE OF PARENTHOOD miniseries, Texas Lullaby. Tina Leonard lives in Texas and has written an irresistible story about a man who reluctantly returns to his family ranch, and falls in love with a young widow and her two adorable children. While he’s trying to win over a potential wife, he truly learns what it means to be a father!

Watch for five more books in the series, coming out one per month. In July, Lynnette Kent tells the story of a woman who is reunited with a former teacher—and former crush—who is now a widower with a young son. The Smoky Mountains of North Carolina set a magical backdrop to this touching romancein Smoky Mountain Reunion. Watch for more stories by authors Cathy McDavid, Tanya Michaels, Margot Early and Laura Marie Altom.

We hope these romantic stories inspire you to celebrate where you live—because any place you raise a child is home.

Wishing you happy reading,

Kathleen Scheibling

Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

Tina Leonard
Texas Lullaby

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tina Leonard loves to laugh, which is one of the many reasons she loves writing Harlequin American Romance books. In another lifetime, Tina thought she would be single and an East Coast fashion buyer forever. The unexpected happened when Tina met Tim again after many years—she hadn’t seen him since they’d attended school together from first through eighth grade. They married, and now Tina keeps a close eye on her school-age children’s friends! Lisa and Dean keep their mother busy with soccer, gymnastics and horseback riding. They are proud of their mom’s “kissy books” and eagerly help her any way they can. Tina hopes that readers will enjoy the love of family she writes about in her books. A reviewer once wrote, “Leonard had a wonderful sense of the ridiculous,” which Tina loved so much she wants it for her epitaph. Right now, however, she’s focusing on her wonderful life and writing a lot more romance! You can visit her at www.tinaleonard.com.

To my sister, Kimmie, who is simply my star,

and Lisa and Dean-O, my best friends,

and Kathleen Scheibling, who believes in my work,

and my gal pals, who are always there for me.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

What doesn’t kill a man makes him stronger

—Josiah Morgan’s parting advice to his teenage sons when they walked out of his life.

The four Morgan brothers shared an unspoken belief, if nothing else: stubbornness equaled strength. A man who didn’t have “stubborn” etched into his bones hadn’t yet grown into big boots.

Some people used the word jackasses to describe the family of four brothers, but the Morgans preferred to think of themselves as independent loners. It was common for them to be approached by women who wanted to relieve their “loneliness.” The Morgans had no problem breaking with their routine for beautiful women bent on their relief.

Fortunately, most people in Union Junction, Texas, understood that a solitary way of life was a good thing, if it was lived by choice. The Morgan brothers were moving to the area not by choice, but for two different reasons. The first was continued solitude, which had been confirmed by some family acquaintances, the Jeffersons. Men after their own heart, the Jeffersons weren’t loners, but they hadn’t exactly been hanging out in bars every night sobbing about their sad lives before they’d all found the religion of love. They appreciated the need to be left the hell alone.

Yet the need for peace and quiet was just a cover for the real reason Gabriel Morgan had come home. This was about money. He stared at the two-story sprawling farmhouse set amongst native pecan trees and shouldered by farmland. For this house, this land, the Morgans were called to relocate to the Morgan Ranch near Union Junction. The first thing the brothers had all agreed on in years was that none of them was too happy about finding themselves the keeper of a large ranch. Five thousand acres as well as livestock—what the hell were they supposed to do with it? This was Pop’s place. Light-footed Pop and his far-flung dreams, buying houses and land like he was buying up parts of earth to keep him alive and vital.

Pop was the true jackass.

Selling the ranch had been the first thing on Gabriel’s mind, and he was pretty certain his brothers had the same idea. But no, Pop was too wily for that. Knowing full well his four sons weren’t close, he’d come up with a brilliant plan to stick them all under one roof on acres and acres of loneliness where no one could witness the fireworks.

Pop was in Europe right now, in a new stone castle he’d bought in Pzenas, no doubt laughing his ass off at what he’d wrought. Oh, he couldn’t buy just any old French countryside farmhouse—he’d bought an eighteen hundred Templar’s commandery for a cool four million. It wasn’t in the best of shape but just his style, he’d told his sons in the letters they’d each received outlining his wishes. Three floors, ten bedrooms, eight baths, plenty of room should they all ever decide to visit. It even had its own chapel, and he’d be in that chapel praying for them every day.

Gabriel doubted the prayers would help. Pop would be praying for family harmony, and truthfully, some growth in the family tree, some tiny feet to run on the floors of the stone castle, sweet angelic voices to learn how to say Grandpop in French. Grand-père.

Like hell. Family expansion wasn’t on Gabriel’s mind. He was looking for peace and quiet in this rural town, and he was going to get it. He’d live in the house just as his father had decreed, for the year he’d specified, take his part of the bribe money—money was always involved with Pop—and leave no different than he was today. Except he’d be a million dollars richer.

Easy pickings.

Gabriel would take the money. As for the unspoken part of the deal…. The pleasure of putting one over on his father, spitting in his eye, so to speak, would be a roundabout kick from one jackass to another. Pop hadn’t said his sons had to be close-bonded Templar knights; he’d just stated they had to live in the house for a year. Like a family.

He could do that—if for no other reason than to show the old man he hadn’t fazed Gabriel in the least.

“Hi!”

He turned to see a woman waving to him from a car window. She parked, got out and handed him a freshly baked cherry pie.

“Welcome to Union Junction, stranger.” Her blue eyes gleamed at him; her blond hair swung in a braid. “My name’s Mimi Jefferson. I’m from the Double M ranch, once known as Malfunction Junction. I’m Mason’s wife. And also the sheriff.”

“Hello, Mimi.” He’d met Mason months ago through Pop’s business dealings, and Mason’s wonderful wife had often been mentioned. “Thanks for the pie.”

“No problem.” She glanced at the farmhouse. “So what do you think of it? Hasn’t changed much since you were last here.”

Pop had made some additions to the house, rendering it more sprawling than Gabriel thought necessary. He’d added more acreage, too, but that was his dad’s agenda. Always the grand visionary. “I haven’t been inside.”

She smiled. “It needs work.”

That he could see from the outside. “I noticed.”

“Should keep you real busy.”

He nodded. “Seems that was my dad’s plan.”

She laughed. “Your father fit in real well here in Union Junction. I’m sure you will, too.”

He didn’t need to, wouldn’t be here long enough to put down deep roots.

“By the way, I believe the ladies will be stopping by with some other goodies. We figured your dad left the fridge pretty empty when he went to France.”

“The ladies?”

“You’ll see.” With a cryptic smile, she got into the truck. “I’ll tell Mason you’ll be by to see him when you’ve settled in.”

That meant it was time to head into the old hacienda of dread and bar the door. He had no desire to be the target of gray-haired, well-meaning church ladies toting fried chicken. “Thanks again for the pie.”

She waved at him and drove off. Gabriel dug into his pocket for the key marked Number Four—he supposed that was because he was the fourth son or maybe because his father had four keys made—and headed toward the wraparound porch. It groaned under his weight, protesting his presence.

Then he heard a sound, like the growing din of a schoolyard at recess. As a code breaker for the Marines, he was tuned to hear the slightest bit of noise, and could even decipher murmured language. But what assaulted his ears wasn’t trying to be secretive in any way. He watched as ten vehicles pulled into the graveled drive. His jaw tensed as approximately twenty women and children hopped out of the cars and trucks, each bearing a sack. Not just a covered dish or salad bowl, but a bag, clearly destined for him.

He was going to go crazy—and get fat in the process.

“We’re the welcoming committee.” A pretty blonde smiled at him as she approached the porch. “Don’t be scared.”

She’d nailed his emotion.

“I’m Laura Adams,” she said. “These ladies—most of us—are from the hair salon, bakery, et cetera, in town. We formed the Union Junction Welcoming Committee some time ago after we received such a warm greeting when we arrived in this town. Many of us weren’t raised in Union Junction. Our turn to do a good deed, you might say.”

Except he didn’t want the deed done to him. She smelled nice, though. Her voice was soft and pleasant and he liked the delicate frosting of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Big blue eyes gazed at him with a warmth he couldn’t return at the moment.

The porch shook under his feet with the sound of more approaching women. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Laura, for reasons he couldn’t quite explain to himself. She opened her pretty pink lips to say more, introduce all her gift-bearing friends, when suddenly something wrapped itself around his thigh.

Glancing down, he saw a tiny towhead comfortably smiling up at him. “Daddy,” she said, hugging his leg for all she was worth. “Daddy.”

For the first time in his life, including the time he’d temporarily lost part of his hearing from an underwater mine explosion near a sub he’d been monitoring, he felt panic. But the women laughed, and Laura didn’t seem embarrassed as she disengaged her daughter from his leg.

“Oh, sweetie, he might be a daddy, or he will be one day. Can you say Mr. Morgan?”

The child smiled at him beatifically, completely convinced that the world was a wonderful, happy place. “Morgan,” she said softly.

So he’d be Morgan, just like Pop. He could remember people yelling his father’s name, cursing his father’s name, cheering his father’s name. It was always something along the lines of either “Morgan, you jackass!” or “Morgan, you old dog!”

It didn’t feel as bad as he thought it might. Gabriel wondered where the child’s father was, and then decided it was none of his business. “I should invite you in,” he said reluctantly to the gathering at large, his gaze on Laura. He could tell by their instant smiles that being invited in was exactly what they wanted. “Too hot in June to keep ladies on the porch. We can all see the new place at the same time and make some introductions.”

“You haven’t been inside your home yet?” Laura asked. “Mimi said she thought you might have arrived later than you planned.”

“Tell me something,” he said as he worked at the lock on the front door. The lock obviously hadn’t been used in a long time and didn’t want to move. “I’d heard Union Junction was great for peace and quiet. Is this one of those places where everybody knows everybody’s business?”

That made everyone laugh. Not him—for Gabriel it was a serious question.

“Yes,” Laura said. “That’s one of the best parts of our town. Everyone cares about everybody.”

Great. The lock finally gave in to his impatient twisting of key Number Four and he swung the door open. The first thing he realized was how hot the house was—like an oven.

The smell was the next thing to register. Musty, unused, closed-up. The ladies peered around his shoulders to the dark interior.

“Girls, we’ve got our work cut out for us,” an older lady pronounced.

“That won’t be necessary,” Gabriel said as they brushed past him. Laura smiled at him, swinging her grocery sack to the opposite hip and taking her daughter’s hand in hers.

“It’s necessary,” she said. “They can clean this place so fast it’ll make your head spin. Besides, we’ve seen worse. Not much worse, of course. But your father’s been gone a long time. Almost six months.” She smiled kindly. “Frankly, we expected you a lot sooner.”

“I wasn’t in a hurry to get here.” Neither were any of his brothers. During their curt e-mail transmissions, exchanged since their father’s letter had been delivered to them, Dane had said he might swing by in January if he’d finished with his Texas Ranger duties by then, Pete said he might make it by February—depending upon the secret agent assignments he couldn’t discuss—and Jack hadn’t answered at all. Jack was the least likely of them all to give a damn about Pop, the ranch, or a million dollars.

His chicken brothers were making excuses, putting off the inevitable—except for Jack, who really was the wild card.

“Well, we’re glad you’re here now.” She didn’t seem to notice his grimness as she set her grocery sack on the counter. “Hope you like chicken, baby peas and rice.”

“You don’t have to do that.” He heard the sound of a vacuum start up somewhere in the house, and windows opening. The fragrance of lemon oil began to waft from one of the rooms. The little girl clung to her mom, her eyes watching Gabriel’s every move. “Really, I’m not hungry, and your little girl probably needs to be at home in bed.” It was six o’clock—what time did children go to bed, anyway? He and his brothers had a strict bedtime of nine o’clock when they were kids, which they’d always ignored. Pop never came up the stairs to check on them, and they used a tree branch outside the house to cheat their curfew. Then one year, Pop sawed off the limb, claiming the old live oak was too close to the roof. They devised a rope ladder which they flung out on grappling hooks whenever they had a yen to meet up with girls or camp in the woods.

Or watch Jack practice at the forbidden rodeo in the fields lit only by the moon.

“Oh, Penny’s fine. Don’t worry about her. You’re always happy, aren’t you, Penny?”

Penny beamed at Gabriel. “Morgan,” she murmured in a small child’s breathy recitation. He felt his heart flip over in his chest as he returned the child’s gaze. Heartburn. I’m getting heartburn at the age of twenty-six.

“I have a smaller version of Penny who is being watched for me right now.” Laura smiled proudly as she unloaded the grocery sacks the ladies had loaded onto the kitchen counter. “Perrin is nine months old, and looks just like his father. You love your baby brother, don’t you, Penny?” She looked down at her child, who nodded, though she didn’t break her stare from Gabriel.

Gabriel felt his heart sink strangely in his chest. This woman was married, apparently happily so.

He was an idiot, and probably horny. The house was swarming with women and he had to get the preliminary hots for a married mom.

Good thing his yen was in the early stages—one pretty face could replace another easily enough. “Listen, I don’t want to be rude, but I just got in. I appreciate you and your friends trying to help, but—”

“But you would rather be alone.”

He nodded.

“I understand.” She flicked the oven on warm and slid the casserole inside. “I would, too, if I was you.”

She knew nothing about him. He decided a reply wasn’t needed.

“You know, I really liked your father,” she said, hesitating. She stared at him with eyes he felt tugging at his desire. “I hated to see Mr. Morgan go.”

“Josiah,” he murmured.

“I didn’t call him by his first name.”

He shrugged. “You didn’t know him too well, then.”

“Because I didn’t call him by his name or because I liked him?”

He looked at her, thinking both, lady.

“Mr. Morgan was fond of my children.”

His radar went on alert. Here came the your-father-wants-you-to-settle-down chorus. He steeled himself.

She ran a gentle hand through Penny’s long fine hair. “Of course, he dreamed of having his own grandchildren.”

Gabriel frowned. That topic was none of her business. His family was too raw a subject for him to discuss with a stranger.

“You’re going to hear this sooner or later.” She gazed at him suddenly with clear, determined focus. “I’d rather you hear it from me.”

He shrugged. “I’m listening.” He reminded himself that whatever she had to say didn’t matter to him. What Pop had meant to the town of Union Junction was not his concern.

“Your father put a hundred thousand dollars into a trust for my children.”

She’d caught his attention. Not because of the amount, but because Pop had to have lost his mind to have gone that soft. Pop was as miserly as he was stubborn, even complaining over church donations. All he was interested in was himself.

Or at least that had been the Pop of Gabriel’s youth.

Truthfully, it astonished him that this tiny woman had the nerve to tell him she’d managed to wheedle money out of his father. Maybe Pop had finally begun to crack, all the years of selfishness taking their toll. More importantly, Laura was obviously the kind of woman with whom Gabriel should exercise great distance and caution. “Congratulations,” he finally said, trying not to smirk. “A hundred grand is a nice chunk of change.”

“Each.”

He stared at her. “Each?”

“Each child got their own trust. Penny and Perrin both received a hundred thousand dollars. Your father said it wasn’t a lot, but he wanted them to have something later in their lives. He doesn’t want them to know about his gift, though, not until they’re grown up.” She smiled, and it seemed to Gabriel that her expression was sad. “They won’t even remember him, then.”

He had no idea what the hell to say to this woman. He was suspicious. He was dumbstruck. Perhaps he was even a little envious that she’d gained some type of affection in his father’s heart, when he and his brothers had struggled for years and had received none.

She picked up Penny. “I just thought you should know.”

He watched as she turned, heading for the front door. Over her mother’s shoulder, Penny watched him with wistful eyes. What had been the relationship between Pop and Laura that such an astonishing gift would be given to her kids?

He could remember a cold, wet night in Poland, hunched behind a snowbank, listening to a radio he’d held with frozen fingers to pick up conversation in a bedroom in Gdańsk. He’d retrieved the information he’d needed, turned it in and got cleared to return home. Chilled, he’d called his father, thinking maybe his soul could use a good thawing and their relationship a delayed shot of warmth. He was young, idealistic, mostly broke, lonely. Damned cold in every area of his life.

He needed a bus ticket from the base, he’d told his father. The military would get him stateside, but he only had a few zloty in his pocket.

Pop had told him not to come crying to him for money. He said the greatest gift he could ever give him was the knowledge of how to stand on his own two feet.

That was ten years ago, and he could still hear the sound of the receiver slamming in his ear. He followed behind Laura, catching up to open the front door for her. “You must have meant a lot to my father.”

She turned, slowly, her gaze meeting his, questioning. In a split second, she got the gist of his unspoken assumption. “Your reputation preceded you,” she said softly. “You really are a jackass.”

The door slammed behind her. Gabriel nodded to himself, silently agreeing with her assessment. Then he went to shoo his well-meaning friends out of the house he didn’t want.

Chapter Two

Laura returned to her house, steaming. She put Penny down on the sofa and went to find Mimi, whom she could hear quietly singing to Perrin in the back of the house. “Thank you for watching my little man, Mimi.” She looked down into the crib at her baby, and all the tension flowed from her.

Together they walked from the nursery. “So what did you think of Gabriel Morgan?” Mimi asked.

“Not much. He thinks I sucked up to his father to weasel money out of him.” Laura shrugged her shoulders. “He’s everything Mr. Morgan said he was. Cocky, brash, annoying.”

Mimi laughed. “Not a man’s best qualities. Wasn’t he nice at all? He just seemed sort of shy to me.”

Laura went to fix them both an iced tea. “I suppose I compare every man to my husband.” Her gaze was reluctantly drawn to the framed, fingerprint-covered photo of Dave. Penny liked to look at the picture of her father, enjoyed hearing stories about him.

Dave had been such a kind man. Warm. Funny. Easy to talk to. Nothing like the man she’d met today. Laura wrinkled her nose and tried not to think so tears wouldn’t spring into her eyes. Heaven only knew Dave had his moments; he was no angel. They’d had their spats. But he’d been her first love and that counted for so much. It had been such a shock to lose him.

At least she had his children.

“I suppose it would be hard for me not to compare every man to Mason.” Mimi smiled. “No one would measure up.”

Laura nodded, appreciating her friend’s understanding.

“Some would say there never was a tougher nut to crack than Mason Jefferson.”

“Really?” Laura found that hard to believe. Mason loved his wife, loved his kids. Was always looking at Mimi, or holding her hand.

“Suffice it to say he was really difficult to get to the altar. Sometimes I even wondered why I wanted him there.” Mimi laughed. “Talk about stubborn and hard to get along with.”

“Dave was easy,” Laura murmured. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking to replace Dave in my life at all. But I was hoping for a connection with Gabriel, something like the one I’d had with his father. I miss the old gentleman.” She smiled sadly at Mimi. “I can’t understand why his boys don’t want to be close with him.”

“Mr. Morgan was a different person with us than he was with his sons. They say people show themselves differently to everyone, and we probably saw his best side. He was a good man.”

“Obviously his sons believe they understand him better, and they probably do.” She and Mimi moved to the kitchen table. Penny came into the kitchen and crawled into her mother’s lap. Laura handed her a vanilla wafer from a box left out on the table since yesterday. “I swear I do keep house. We don’t always have food left out from the day before.” She glanced at the sink where the pots were piled up from making the welcome meal for Gabriel.

“Try living in a house where grown men come and go all the time. They make a bigger mess than the kids.” Mimi sipped her tea. “I’ll help you clean it up in a bit.”

Laura shook her head, appreciating the offer but not wanting the help. She didn’t mind washing dishes. It was soothing to have her hands in warm dishwater, and somehow comforting to submerge dirty dishes in suds and then pull them gleaming from the water. “I didn’t want him to misunderstand my relationship with his father.”

Mimi nodded. “Men don’t always temper their thoughts before they speak. Anyway, nobody tells Josiah Morgan what to do. Gabriel knows that.”

Gabriel, too, struck Laura as the kind of man willing to fight any battle life threw at him.

“Besides, it’s really none of Gabriel’s business.”

That was also true. She’d only told him about his father’s gift to her children because she wanted him to know up front. “Okay, I give up on being mad. It’s a waste of time.”

Mimi got up from the table. “Let’s wash these dishes.”

“No, you go on home to your family. You’ve done enough for me, Mimi. I really appreciate you watching Perrin so he could nap.”

“Did the doctor say how long it would take for the medicine to do some good?”

Perrin had colic, long bouts at night that worried Laura. Someone had suggested that the colic was stress-induced, and that Perrin was sensing his mother’s sadness. It had been a shock when Dave had died, and she certainly had grieved—was still grieving—but it was an additional guilt that she was causing her son’s pain. “The doctor said babies sometimes go through colic. The medicine might help, and putting him on a different formula. Or he could grow out of it.”

Mimi patted her hand. “I’ll come by to see you later at the school.”

Laura nodded. “I’d like that.”

She closed the door behind Mimi. Penny handed her a vanilla wafer, and for the first time that day, Laura felt content.

ON FRIDAY NIGHT, THREE days later, Gabriel finally drove into the small town of Union Junction. He could see what had drawn his father to this place. For one thing, it looked like a melding of the old West and a Norman Rockwell card. There was a main street where families were enjoying a warm June stroll, ice-cream cones or sodas in hand. A kissing booth sat in front of a bakery. Other booths lined the street in front of various shops.

He glanced at the kissing booth again, caught by a glimpse of blond hair and the long line outside the booth. All the booths had lines, but none as long as the kissing booth, which Gabriel figured was probably appropriate. If he was offered the choice of getting a kiss or throwing rings over a bottle, he’d definitely take the kiss.

“What’s going on?” he asked a young cowboy at the back of the line.

“Town fair.” The young man grinned at him. “You’re Morgan, aren’t you?”

He looked at him. “Aren’t you too young to be buying kisses?”

He got a laugh for that. “Get in line and spend a buck, Mr. Morgan.”

“Why?” He wasn’t inclined to participate in the fun of a town fair. He’d just been looking around, trying to figure out why Pop had settled near here, trying to stave off some boredom.

“We’re raising money for the elementary school. Need more desks. The town is certainly growing.”

“Shouldn’t the town be paying for that from taxes or something?”

“We like to do some recreational fund-raising, too.”

Gabriel reluctantly fell into line. “So who are we kissing?”

“Laura Adams.”

“We can’t kiss her!” He had to admit the idea was inviting, but he also wanted to jerk the young man out of line—and every other man, too.

The line kept growing behind him.

“Why not?” His companion appeared puzzled.

Gabriel frowned. “She’s married. And she’s a mom.”

The young man laughed. “Mimi Jefferson was working the booth an hour ago. It’s the only time any of us can get near Mimi without getting our tails kicked by Mason, so most of us went through twice.”

Gabriel’s frown deepened.

“It’s for a good cause,” his new friend said. “Besides which, Laura’s not married anymore.”

Gabriel’s mood lifted slightly. He felt his boots shuffling closer to the booth behind his talkative friend. “She’s not?”

“Nah. Her husband died shortly after she gave birth to Perrin.” His friend looked at him with surprise. “You should know all this. Your dad loved Laura’s kids. Said they were probably the only—”

“I know. I know. Jeez.” Gabriel rubbed at his chin, trying to decide if he liked how quickly the line was moving. And the young man was right. The gentlemen were leaving the line to catcalls and whistles and hurrying to the back of the line for another kiss. It was a never-ending kiss line of rascals. “I’m pretty sure I don’t belong here.”

“No better way to get to know people,” his friend said cheerfully. “My name’s Buck, by the way.”

“Hi, Buck.” He absently shook his hand. “I guess kissing’s as good a way as any to get to know someone.” He supposed he should get to know Laura better since they sort of had a connection.

Buck stared at him. “Hanging out at the town fair being sociable is the way to get to know people.”

“That’s what I meant.” Gabriel noticed there were only five people in front of him now. His heart rate sped up. Should he kiss a woman his father had such a close relationship with? Clearly Pop had depended upon Laura for the sense of family he was lacking. It almost felt like Laura could be a sister.

He heard cheers as Buck laid a smooch on Laura. To Gabriel’s relief, it was mercifully short and definitely respectful. Just good clean fun.

He found himself standing in front of her booth, staring down at her like a nervous schoolboy. Her blue eyes lit on him with curiosity and nothing else, no lingering resentment over their initial meeting. He noted a distressing jump in his jeans, a problem he hadn’t anticipated. But he’d always been a sucker for full lips and fine cheekbones. He could smell a sweet perfume, something like flowers in summer.

Laura was nothing like a sister to him.

He laid a twenty-dollar bill on the booth ledge and walked away.

GABRIEL FOUND A BETTER way to support the local elementary school: drinking keg beer some thoughtful and enterprising young man had set up far away from the kissing booth. Here he was safe. No one bothered him while he sat on a hay bale and people-watched, which was good because he really needed to think. He hadn’t expected his father to have a family connection in Union Junction.

He sat up. Surely his father hadn’t been trying to build his own family here? With a ready-made mom and grandchildren? All it would take was one out of the four brothers to meet the lady and her children, to whom some of the Morgan money had been put in trust, and maybe, just maybe, Pop might get that family he’d been itching for?

He wouldn’t put it past Pop. Throw in a scheme that required all four brothers to be on the premises for a year, and Pop had a one in four chance of seeing that dream come true.

Gabriel resolved not to fall for it. In fact, he congratulated himself for staying one step ahead of the wily old man. He didn’t know for sure that was what Pop had been up to, but with Pop there was always an angle.

He’d be very cautious.

“Hi.” Someone soft and warm slid onto the hay bale beside him. Laura didn’t smile at him, but her lips were full and plump from being kissed. “Guess you changed your mind about kissing me.”

He hung between fear and self-loathing for being a coward. “Seems we should keep our relationship professional.”

“Awkward.”

“That, too.”

“Fine by me.”

He slid her a glance. She had nice breasts under her blue-flowered dress—very feminine. A breast man by nature, he was shocked he hadn’t taken note of her physical charms before. He’d been completely preoccupied by the swarm of women descending upon him. Although he had to admit that after just thirty minutes of being in his house, it looked and smelled more welcoming than it was ever going to be under his watch. But now he was checking out Laura’s attributes, a subconscious flick of his gaze that dismayed him. God, they really were gorgeous. And he hadn’t noticed her small, graceful hands before, either.

He felt his temperature rise uncomfortably. “Where are the kids?” Not that he was really interested, but it was best to remind himself that this woman was a mother, not someone to be ogled as if she were single and available for some casual fun.

Which was all he was interested in, for now and for always. Damn Pop for throwing temptation my way.

“Penny and Perrin are being held by some ladies from the church. They’re spoiled rotten by them.” She pointed to an outdoor play area that had been set up. Lots of older ladies were inside, holding infants and playing games with toddlers.

He could see Penny’s light hair, just like her mother’s, as she sat in a woman’s lap and colored in a book. It wasn’t difficult to see what had drawn Pop to this gentle fatherless trio.

Who would have thought Pop would have had a protective bone in his body?

“You know, we’re not swindlers. Nor did we lure your father into feeling like we were his family.”

He turned to Laura. “I shouldn’t have implied that there was anything unusual about my father leaving someone outside the family money. I apologize for that.”

“Thank you.” She raised her chin. “I knew you could be a difficult person. I choose to ignore that for your father’s sake.”

He frowned. “I don’t want anything for my father’s sake.”

She shrugged. “He was a nice old man.”

“You didn’t know him.”

“Maybe not as well as you. But maybe better in some ways.”

He couldn’t argue that. Didn’t even want to. “Why?”

“When my husband got sick with cancer, and then died, your father said the least he could do was make certain my kids had college educations. There was a fundraiser here in town to help us…because Dave had no insurance. He was a self-employed carpenter, a dreamer, really.” Her voice got soft remembering. “He loved to build homes. The bigger, the better, the more intricate, the better. He did lots of work on your father’s place.”

This was all beginning to make sense. “Listen, none of this is my business. What my father wants to do with his time and his life is his concern.”

She nodded. “I’ve got to go back to the booth. I’ve got one more half-hour shift.”

He could see the line queuing from here; could count at least twenty men waiting their turn. It looked as if Union Junction had no lack of horny males. “Do you have to kiss all of them?”

“Most of them just kiss my cheek.” She smiled. “Only the younger ones try for something more, and a few of the bachelors.”

That’s what he was afraid of. He thought about his father, and what a jackass he was. He looked at the line, and the men grinning back toward Laura, obviously impatient for her break to be over.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Penny, who’d spotted her mother. Mom and daughter waved at each other, and he could see the longing in Laura’s eyes to be with her daughter.

What the hell. He lived to be a jackass. He was just keeping the family name alive.

“All right,” he announced loudly, ambling to the front of the line, “I’m buying out Ms. Adams’s thirty minutes of time.” He placed five one hundred-dollar bills—all he had on him at the moment besides some stray ones and a couple of twenties—on the booth ledge where everyone could see his money. Grumbling erupted, but also some applause for the donation. He grunted. “Move along, fellows. The booth is closed for this lady.”

Chapter Three

Gabriel’s buyout of Laura’s time in the kissing booth won him lots of winks from the guys and smiles from the ladies as he walked toward his truck. He hadn’t said anything to a shocked Laura—just figured he’d introduced himself to the town in the most obvious way he could have for a man who preferred being a loner.

He didn’t even know why he’d done it.

Maybe it was Pop, egging him on to be a gentleman, which was a real stinker of a reason. Mason met him at his truck.

“Have a good time?”

Gabriel checked Mason’s eyes for laughter but the question seemed sincere. “Seems like everyone is enjoying themselves.”

“Good to see you around. We’ve been wondering what you’re going to do with yourself out there if you stay holed up at the ranch.”

“I imagine I’ll figure out something.”

Mason handed him an envelope. “Mimi said to give you this.”

“Mimi?” Gabriel scanned the envelope. It had his name written in his father’s handwriting, and no postmark.

“Mimi’s the law around here.” Mason winked at him.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Your father left that with her. She asked me to deliver it to you. I’ve been meaning to get out to your place, but here you are, getting to know the good folks of Union Junction.”

Again Gabriel studied him for sarcasm. There appeared to be nothing more to the man’s intentions than good old friendliness.

“Why didn’t Pop just mail this to me? Or courier it like he did before?”

Mason shrugged. “He said something to Mimi along the lines of when and if any of his sons ever got here, they were to have that. Josiah figured you’d be the first, though. In fact, we wagered on it. I owe your father a twenty.” He handed Gabriel a twenty-dollar bill.

Gabriel shook his head. “Put it toward the school fund.” He looked at the envelope, wondering why his father would have wagered he’d be the first brother to the ranch. “Who’d you bet on?”

Mason laughed. “Jack. He’s the unpredictable one. I always go with the dark horse.”

“Cost you this time, buddy.”

Mason slapped him on the back. “Sure did. Come on out to the Double M when you have time. We’ll introduce you to the kids.”

“Maybe I will,” Gabriel said, knowing he probably wouldn’t.

“Congratulations, by the way,” Mason said as he walked away.

“For what?”

“For spending that much money for a kiss and then not getting it. Nerves of steel.” Mason waved goodbye. Gabriel glanced back down at the envelope, aware that Mason was now giving him a gentle ribbing. “Jackass,” he muttered under his breath and got into his truck.

But it was kind of funny coming from Mason, and even Gabriel had to wonder why he’d passed up the chance to kiss Laura after he’d so obviously put his mark on her.

Not that he was going to think about it too hard.

“NOTHING,” LAURA TOLD the girls at the Union Junction Beauty Salon. “I’m telling you, there’s nothing between us. He didn’t kiss me. Gabriel’s barely civil to me.”

The girls oohed and then giggled. Laura had received a fair bit of teasing and she expected the kissing booth incident had been thoroughly dissected. Privately, Laura wondered what it would have been like to have Gabriel’s lips on hers. It had been so long since she’d kissed a man—well, kissed a man as she had Dave. She didn’t count those chaste, predictable pecks in the kissing booth. Even the old ladies and the elderly librarian got their turn in the kissing booth, and the men lined up for them just as quickly. The older ladies—particularly teachers—received grandmotherly busses on the cheek from favorite students.

Everyone was anxious to see the elementary school succeed. There was so much goodwill in this town. Laura was never going to regret moving here with Dave those five years ago. He’d said Union Junction was a growing town, he’d have lots of work, they’d make a family and be happy out away from the big city….

It had worked out just that way for just over five years. Five perfect years.

So she shouldn’t really be thinking about what it would have felt like to kiss Gabriel. She was twenty-six, too old for dreamy longings; she was a mom and a widow.

“I bet he kisses great,” one of the stylists said to another, and Laura blushed.

“Aren’t you curious?” someone asked her.

Laura ran her hand through Penny’s hair as she often did. The feel of the corn-silk softness comforted her, as did the powdery smell of Perrin. “No,” she murmured, easy with the lie. “Gabriel is not my kind of man.”

They all fell quiet, silenced by the uncomfortable position they had put her in.

“She doesn’t need to tiptoe around Dave forever,” someone finally spoke up bravely. “Honey, we know you loved him, but you’re alive and he wouldn’t want you being sad forever.”

Tears jumped into Laura’s eyes. Several ladies came over to hug her. She felt Penny press closer to her leg. “I know.”

“All right, then.” They all patted her, then went back to their places. “So next time you get a chance to kiss a hunk like Gabriel Morgan, you just grin and bear it if you want to, okay?”

“Maybe,” Laura said, smiling as she wiped away the unwanted tears.

“Wish he’d buy out my booth,” someone said, and everyone laughed, even Laura, although she really didn’t think it was funny. What they didn’t realize is that Gabriel hadn’t wanted to kiss her, hadn’t even looked tempted. He’d sort of picked up his father’s responsibility—and then he’d headed off.

A woman knew when a man was interested in her. All fairy tales included a kiss—a man knew how to get what he wanted, even in books. Dave had been a gentle pursuer, slow and careful as if she were a fine porcelain doll.

Gabriel owned no such gentle genes. If he wanted a woman, she figured the indication of his desire would be swift, like a roiling wave breaking over a boat at sea, claiming it with powerful intent.

Gabriel pretty much turned to stone every time he laid eyes on her.

Dear Gabriel,

By now you are at the house and are beginning a year of time you no doubt resent like hell. But money talks and though it might not talk very loud to you, I know you’ll stick out the year just to prove yourself. This need of yours to be a tough guy living on the edge is exactly what I now need to lean on.

Remember when I bought that extra acreage and added on to my own hacienda out here? I bought it from a man who was down on his luck, and partly down on his luck thanks to me, which he has discovered. Now don’t go getting all high and mighty like I cheated this man out of his birthright, because the man is a scoundrel. And anyway, he needed the money.

The problem is, I bought the land suspecting there was an underground oil source. I had it surveyed without his knowledge. He has since found out I paid for a geological survey of his property and feels cheated.

Fact is, maybe he was and maybe he wasn’t. He could have paid for his own damn survey.

The trouble in this is that the man is Laura Adams’s father, with whom she has no contact due to the fact that he didn’t approve of her marrying a carpenter. Didn’t like her husband, felt he wasn’t good enough for his only child, which didn’t set well with Laura. He needed her to marry big to save his sorry ass.

You see my predicament. I could sell the man back his land but the price would include a terrific profit which he cannot afford. I gave Laura’s children a tiny portion of what is rightfully theirs, since it would have been anyhow, I suppose, though I believe her father would have drunk up the estate. You might say I just hijacked Penny’s and Perrin’s inheritance, robbing from the poor to give to the poorer.

Unfortunately, the jackanapes took to threatening me. He really feels cheated by life, and I suppose he has been, but the big dog runs off the little dog and that’s life, isn’t it? But for the grace of God go I.

Anyway, you’ll be seeing him as he lives to create trouble. But I have faith that you’ll smooth everything over in due time, as you were always the responsible one in the family, even though it really chaps your ass that I say that. It just happens to be true.

Pop

“IT DOES CHAP MY ASS.” Gabriel forced himself not to shred his father’s letter. “It does indeed chap me like you can’t even imagine, Pop.”

He did not appreciate being appointed the protector of the family fortunes, but even less so the knight of Laura Adams’s little brood. He couldn’t even make himself kiss her; how the hell was he going to start thinking of her as part and parcel of the Morgan family?

And yet, according to Pop, they owed her something.

What exactly that was, Gabriel wasn’t certain.

THE STORM THAT SWEPT Union Junction and the outlying countryside that night kept Gabriel inside and feeling caged. He paced the house, watching lightning crack through the windows of the two-story house. The TV had gone out; the phone lines were dead. He could hear water dripping frenzied and fast into the overgrown gardens.

There wasn’t a lot to do in a house one didn’t call home. So far he’d mainly confined himself to his room on the second floor, and the den. He passed through the kitchen occasionally to forage from the goodies the ladies had left for him. The house, he estimated, was around six thousand square feet. Eventually, he’d have to investigate the rest of Pop’s place.

Actually, there was no better time than the present, he decided. The sound of something not quite right caught his ear; instantly he listened intently, all the old survival skills surging into action. Someone was at the front door; someone with a key that wouldn’t fit easily. Gabriel considered flinging the door open and confronting whoever was out there, some idiot so dumb they didn’t know it was storming like hell outside, then relented. Let the water drown them. If they made it inside, then he’d deal with them.

He thought about Laura’s father’s threats against Pop and figured he couldn’t kill the man in cold blood. So he selected one of his father’s many travel guides he had in the den—the heaviest one, something about the South Seas—and waited behind the door.

It suddenly blew open with a gust of wind and rain and vituperative cursing. Gabriel raised the eight-hundred-page tourist guide high over his head, preparing to crack it over his visitor’s skull.

“Damn it, I hate Texas with a passion!” he heard, and lowered his arms.

“Dane?”

His brother swung to look at him. “What the hell are you hiding back there for? And with a book on the South Seas?”

“Preparing to coldcock you.” Gabriel closed the door.

“I’m supposed to be here.” Dane glared at him, his coat dripping water all over the floor.

“Your e-mail said you were coming in January.”

“And I’ve since changed my mind. You got a problem with that?” Dane asked as he threw his bags in a corner.

Gabriel sighed. “Calm down, Sam Houston. Food’s in the fridge.”

“Don’t call me that. I detest Texas.”

In the kitchen, Gabriel settled into a chair. “Are you starting your year of duty early?”

“Figured I might as well get it over with.” Dane stuck his head inside the refrigerator door, ending the conversation for the moment. “Fried chicken! Watermelon!”

Gabriel shook his head and began to read the travel guide to the South Seas, which was starting to sound appealing.

“You get your letter from Pop?” Dane asked while he emptied the contents of the fridge on to the kitchen counter.

“What letter?”

“The one with the sob story about watching over this woman and her twins who have no man in the house.”

“Twins?” Gabriel sat up. Laura only had a toddler and a baby—didn’t she?

“I despise kids almost as much as I hate Texas,” Dane said.

Gabriel couldn’t think for the shock of adding more kids to Laura’s equation. “You’re a Texas Ranger. Get over it.”

“I’m done. I retired from active duty.”

“Congratulations. So back to the family of four—”

“Yeah. I’m supposed to look out for this little mom because of some mess Pop made.”

Gabriel frowned. He was supposed to be the reluctant knight in shining armor. Possessive emotions and a sense of I saw her first crowded his skull.

Dane shuddered. “Her name is Suzy something.”

“Suzy? Not Laura?”

Dane sat down across from him with a beer and a plate of fried chicken. “How do you get Laura from Suzy?”

Gabriel shook his head. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“Tell me about it. I nearly took off for New York, never to be seen or heard from again. But in the end, I knew I had to do this, or I’d really never be free of Pop. He’ll try to rule us from the grave if we don’t prove to him that nothing he does can screw up our lives anymore.”

“And then there’s the million bucks.”

“A small price for putting up with Pop,” Dane said glumly. “You know it’s going to get ugly. Suzy.” He shuddered.

At least it wasn’t Laura Pop had sent Dane to rescue. It didn’t really matter, Gabriel reminded himself. One year and he was gone. Outta here.

But now apparently there was a family of four in the mix, and an additional problem to be solved. Gabriel stared out the window at the pelting rain.

It was indeed beginning to get ugly.

Chapter Four

“So who’s Laura, anyway? Girlfriend?”

Gabriel stared at his elder brother, elder being twenty-eight to his own twenty-six. “Hell, no. I just met her. Pop left her children a trust. It’s complicated.”

“Isn’t everything Pop touches complicated?”

Gabriel nodded. “This as much as anything. So what’s the deal with Suzy?”

“Don’t really know. The letter just said that he owed her something and he’d like me to see to it.”

“Pop’s matchmaking by making disasters for us to fix.”

Dane quit chewing. “You think?”

“Sure. He wants grandkids. He’s been busy finding himself some ready-made families.”

“Man,” Dane said, “that’s not fair. I’m glad you figured that out because I might’ve stepped right into the snare.”

Gabriel nodded. “Pop never does anything without a reason.”

“But still…family-making?” Dane shook his head. “That’s so underhanded.”

Gabriel returned to staring out the window.

“So is Laura at least somewhat easy on the eyes?”

Gabriel shrugged. “She is. But she’s not my type.”

“That would be pretty hard to identify.”

He frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Dane looked at him. “Pop’s not a sphinx. He can choose all he wants for us, but he can’t figure out who’d be that special girl, which personally, I believe is a fairy tale spun to young boys by parents who want grandkids. So we’re safe.”

“Oh.” Gabriel relaxed a little now that he understood his brother wasn’t saying he was tough to please. Then he tensed all over again. Pop had selected someone Gabriel was attracted to, in a breath-stealing, jaw-tightening way he hadn’t anticipated. “I’d still be careful,” he warned. “Suzy might be just your thing.”

“Nah.” Dane shuddered. “I could never hear myself saying ‘Suzy, make me breakfast, baby.’”

Gabriel stared at his brother. “You wouldn’t say that to a woman without getting a frying pan upside the head.”

Dane sipped his beer. “I like girls who can cook.”

Gabriel considered that. If the chicken and rice and peas were any forewarning, Laura could definitely cook.

“Great cooking, great sex. Very important qualities in a woman, if I was looking for one. I’d say Pop’s run into a brick wall with me. Now you might not be as safe.”

Gabriel stood. “I’m going to bed. Make yourself at home, such as it is.” He wasn’t going to think about sex and Laura; he wasn’t going to even kiss her. Or imagine what she tasted like.

“You realize if Pop cooked up a mess for me and one for you, the other two probably have assigned families as well,” Dane pointed out.

“Yeah, well, good luck with Jack. We haven’t seen him in ten years. And Pete, almost as long.” He shrugged. “What’s a secret agent going to do with a family?”

“I see Jack’s scores every once in a while. He posts a few wins, breaks a few bones. Got stomped in Amarillo.”

Gabriel looked at his brother. “Stomped?”

“Not bad. Slight concussion.”

He sat again in spite of himself. “You’ve seen Jack.”

“I was a Ranger. I have connections. People tell me things, let me know what’s happening on the rodeo circuit.” Dane finished the chicken and started on some watermelon. “Sure. When he got stomped, I checked in on him at the hospital. Don’t think he knew I was there. He was out of it for a while, but I did see him pat the nurse’s ass. And he didn’t get his hand slapped.”

“I didn’t know about Jack being in the hospital.”

“You weren’t stateside much.”

That was true. But even if he had been home, he wouldn’t have known much anyway. “So since you hear things, fill me in on Pete.”

“He slipped into my house in Watauga about a year ago. I thought I was going to have cardiac arrest when he sat down at my breakfast table with me. I hate that spy crap secret agent voodoo thing he’s got going on.”

Gabriel grunted. “Thought Rangers had sonar hearing and X-ray vision.”

Dane laughed. “We’re not quite superhuman, jarhead.”

He wasn’t a jarhead anymore. Since he’d gotten his discharge, his dark hair had grown out some. He’d expected a bit of gray, and saw a few strands mixed in. No bald spot or thinning hair, though, which made him think he might just keep growing the stuff. It felt strange long. Old habits died hard. “So what did Pete have on his mind?”

“Just checking in. He was on his way somewhere. Didn’t say. Said he was getting tired.”

They were all getting older. Even Gabriel felt the gradual march of time slowing his body down, his need for action yet speeding up. Not military action. Something else he hadn’t quite put his finger on.

“I don’t know if I can live out here for a year,” Dane said. “Watauga seemed like hell to me, but this would be worse.”

Gabriel took Dane’s plate to the sink. “Do any of us really have a choice?” He walked back to the fridge and tossed Dane a beer. “Look. We have to do this. For the sake of our own futures. Pop’s crazy, no doubt, but crazy like a fox. Remember? He was always working a deal.”

Dane cracked his beer and focused on the label. “I know you’re right but it still stinks. I resent Pop for controlling our lives with a snap of his thin fingers.”

“Look,” Gabriel said, “what if the old man died?” He looked at Dane with a serious expression. “He’d get the last laugh, man. We’d be holding the whole damn bag of emotional dirt.”

Dane shook his head. “That’s too ‘tortured soul’ for me.”

“Well, think it over because it’s true.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair, not wanting the conversation, not really wanting the beer, not wanting anything but a flight to Tokyo, maybe. Away from here. “So we’re going to do this. And what about Suzy?”

“Now that isn’t anything I have to deal with. Whatever mess Pop made, I just have to make certain some money changes hands, some responsibilities are seen to and that’s it. I live here for a year, a paltry three hundred and sixty-five days, and then my time is done.”

He thought about Laura. “So cut-and-dried.”

“So cut-and-dried.” Dane nodded. “You got that right.”

“Good game plan. I’m turning in.”

Gabriel rose, poured the beer into the sink and headed upstairs, mulling over Dane’s game plan. It was fairly detached, and Gabriel liked detached and unemotional.

It just might work for him.

LAURA FROWNED AT THE NOTE that had been stuck to the front door of her small house. Hey, baby, be by to see you later.

Chills ran through her. Nobody baby’d her—no one except her father. She didn’t want to see him. Didn’t want him near her children. The fact that he’d found out where she lived made her want to move far away, as fast as she could.

He was her father by blood, but Mr. Morgan had acted more fatherly toward her. There was something wrong with the man whose genes she bore—Ben had problems with thinking the world owed him something. A chip on his shoulder kept him from being the responsible human he might have been.

Laura wanted no part of him.

She took her children inside and locked the door. Penny went straight to her stuffed animals, so Laura put Perrin in his playpen before she sank into a chair at the kitchen table to think.

There was a reason Ben had chosen this moment to filter back into her life. Months ago, Ben had claimed Mr. Morgan had done him a disservice, which the old man had denied. Ben had told her that Mr. Morgan had cheated him out of money. She didn’t think Mr. Morgan was the cheating type but after Dave died, he had put that money into trust for her kids. Was it guilt money? At the time, tired and grief-stricken, she’d assumed it was exactly what he’d said it was, a gift of college education for kids whose company he’d enjoyed. As a teacher, she’d certainly appreciated the gesture. A lot of people had been very generous after the funeral. In fact, the Jeffersons had helped pay down the mortgage on this house so that Laura wouldn’t have to struggle so much. It was just the type of caring thing Laura had seen done many times over in this town.

She hadn’t thought about guilt money. And Ben had always been the kind of man who whined. It was part of the reason she was determined to shoulder her burdens without complaining, without relying on other people. She wanted independence and that didn’t come by whining and blaming.

She thought about Gabriel. He seemed very independent, too. He wouldn’t blame other people for any misery he incurred. She’d heard from Mr. Morgan that none of their family was close, a fact that disheartened him. In his twilight years—he’d started to say he was feeling his age—he had hoped to knit his family back together.

He’d never said exactly what the problem had been.

Laura wanted a family for her children, though. If she ever remarried, she would want a man who was close to his kin. Penny and Perrin deserved a father who didn’t have skeletons rattling in his closet; they had enough bones with Ben. Although they’d never met him, it was only a matter of time before that family skeleton made a nuisance of itself with some whiny rattling.

She tore up the note and threw it into the trash, pushing it down deep before closing the shutters and checking the locks on the doors.

TWO HOURS LATER, LAURA had the kids in bed. She’d been spending some time making plans for the upcoming school year; it would be her second year teaching seventh-grade science. Laura had plans for setting up some conservation composts and doing a rocket launch. If the students were ready, she planned to jump right into some in-class science projects that they could record data over the course of the whole year.

She’d completely put Ben out of her mind.

Someone knocked at the door, and the dreaded prickles ran up her back. She closed her eyes, reminding herself that Ben was her father, that he had never been violent. He just hadn’t liked Dave and had been disagreeable and opinionated about him.

It was Mr. Morgan he’d really been at odds with. Maybe she’d been influenced by those stories.

Yet there was the money. Funny that Ben would be showing up in her life when he knew that her children had been the recipients of various gifts of goodwill from the town. Ben wasn’t a coincidental kind of man; he planned everything almost down to an obsession. Then again, she’d heard through the grapevine that Ben had picked up heavy drinking in the town that bordered Union Junction.

The knock sounded again. Now was as good a time as any to face her father. Then again, it could be Mimi.

Mimi would call first.

“Who is it?”

“Gabriel Morgan.”

She put a hand to her chest to still her thundering heart, then realized he made her just as nervous—in an unexpected, different way.

She turned on the porch light and opened the door. “Hello.”

There he was, wearing a Western hat and jeans. He wasn’t smiling, but he hadn’t smiled the other times she’d met him, either. He had bought out her kissing booth—and then disappeared. She’d expected to hear something from him…she hadn’t been sure what.

“I would have called, but I didn’t have your number. Guess it’s unlisted.”

She nodded. “It is.”

“Would have called Mason for it, but…hope you don’t mind me stopping by.”

He seemed uncomfortable and Laura didn’t blame him. Apparently he was only in the area because of his duty to his father. She held the door open so Gabriel could come inside. “If you’d called Mason, he would have asked why you needed to see me. I can ask you myself.” Laura pointed to a sofa so he could sit down. He did, gingerly hovering on the flowered sofa.

“Just seems we got off on the wrong foot.”

She nodded. “Maybe. What other foot is there, though?”

He hesitated. “I think I was surprised my father left me instructions about you.”

“He did?” That wasn’t welcome news. She didn’t want Gabriel to feel obligated to her in any way.

“Yeah. Apparently you have some issues with your father, who may or may not have your best interests at heart.”

She thought about the note on the door. “It’s not something I really want to talk about.”

“I fully understand. I don’t want to talk about my dad, either.”

“So don’t.” She felt more awkward by the second. “Look, Gabriel, despite whatever your father told you, I can take care of myself. I have lots of friends. I have a great job. I love my kids. I don’t need a protector or anything like that.”

He glanced down at his hands for a moment before looking back at her. “You’re sure you’re all right?”

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