humidity, sweat darkened the ends of his blond hair. He wore loose board shorts that showed off his hairy calves, laceless sneakers on his big feet and a T-shirt printed with STILL PLAYS WITH FIRETRUCKS.
Fighting exhaustion, he slouched against a tree, using one thick shoulder as a prop to keep him on his feet as he spoke to her mother, Misty.
Because of a barn fire the night before, he couldn’t have gotten much rest. Noel wouldn’t complain, though. He never did. It went against his man-code, which had helped solidify his friendship with the men in her family, since they were all a bunch of “suffer in silence”-type guys, too.
Continually Noel’s dark brown eyes sought her out with a sort of casual possessiveness that thrilled her.
Noel was quiet and contained, strong and heroic, with a rock-hard body, a gorgeous, expressive face, and Lord help her, she had it bad for him. Of course, she hadn’t told him that, because he hadn’t yet told her. She’d tried every trick in the book to get him to open up on how he felt, but other than presenting himself as her steady date and showing a lot of sexual compatibility, he kept his thoughts to himself.
Her father liked Noel. Her mother adored him. Her cousins all respected him.
Amber frowned as she considered things. Around Noel, she didn’t feel like her usual cocky, take-charge self. Somehow he made her feel...more feminine. Even delicate.
She snorted at that nonsense.
Her daddy hadn’t raised any wimps, never mind how he’d always pampered her.
She and Noel were more on than off, so why did she lose her edge around him?
When Noel laughed, she sighed in confused longing—until Garrett nudged her.
“Plotting his capture?” her brother asked.
Startled, Amber frowned up at him, opened her mouth, drew a blank on anything witty and said only “Shut up.”
Garrett’s brows climbed high. “That’s it? That’s your comeback?”
Lifting her long, loose braid away from her neck, she grumbled a low, indistinct curse.
Garrett whistled. “He must really have you running in circles, sis, because you’re way off your game.”
True. When it came to Noel, she had no game at all. She’d matched up numerous people in Buckhorn, Kentucky, using a knack for machination. But Noel often distracted her enough that she couldn’t think, much less plot.
Around him, all she could do was feel.
Taking in her expression, Garrett drew her close, kissed her forehead and asked, “Want me to stomp on him?”
“Ha.” It wouldn’t be easy to do, given Noel and her brother were equally buff and bullheaded. But that wasn’t the point. “Touch him and you answer to me.”
Garrett’s smile came slowly. “That’s more like it. Just remember, if necessary, I got your back.”
“He works for you, Garrett.”
Her brother ran the fire station, and Noel was the newest firefighter under his command. More important than that, they were friends.
“So?” Garrett said, discounting it all. “You’re my sister. That trumps everything else.” Leaving her to think on that, Garrett headed to his wife. Zoey wore a yellow sundress, her feet bare in the lush grass. She had her brown hair in a high ponytail and a permanent smile on her mouth. After Garrett lifted her high, then kissed her soundly, she looked positively radiant.
Before the two of them could sneak off, Amber quit mooning over Noel and instead climbed up to stand on a picnic-table seat. “Attention, please. I have an announcement to make!”
Slowly the din of conversation faded and everyone faced her. Remaining up on the bench and lacing her fingers together, Amber said, “I’m so glad everyone made it at the same time this year, because I have something very special to share.”
Almost as one, heads swiveled to look at Noel in expectation.
Oops, Amber thought. She hadn’t meant to give the impression that her announcement had to do with Noel. Of course, that was the obvious assumption...except that Noel hadn’t declared himself. Not even close.
Before he could propose, he’d need to tell her that he loved her. Hopefully soon.
With her entire family scrutinizing him, Noel briefly closed his eyes, blew out a breath and, ignoring everyone else, returned his attention to Amber with exaggerated patience.
Others took the hint and followed suit.
Barely keeping her happiness contained, Amber said, “Since it’s Father’s Day, this is especially for you, Dad.”
Morgan Hudson sat a little straighter, and again, his gaze cut to Noel. Her mother nudged him, not that it did much good.
Well used to the teasing of her family, Amber only smiled and then announced, “Dad, you’re going to be a grandpa.”
Several things happened at once.
Noel lost his balance against the tree and hit the ground. Hard.
Morgan Hudson’s chair toppled as he shot to his feet.
And Garrett yelled, “It’s Zoey and me!” Then with a wide grin, he added, “We’re going to have a baby.”
* * *
NOEL WAS STILL RATTLED.
Good God Almighty, Amber had taken a year off his life. She could have been a little more straightforward in the way she’d handled that whole thing. It didn’t surprise him that Amber was the one to make the announcement. In most things, her entire family allowed her to take the lead, and no doubt Garrett and Zoey were happy to let her present the news.
She did so with flair.
But for a flash of an instant, he’d thought the entire family would turn on him, with Morgan Hudson leading the charge.
It didn’t help that her family was so large, so vocal and so protective. Good thing Garrett had interpreted the misunderstanding right off and was more direct than Amber when he shouted the correction.
And why, now that her family knew the truth, did they continue to cast suspicious looks his way? They should know him well enough by now to know he wouldn’t be bullied into doing or saying anything until he was ready to do so.
“Need a drink?”
He glanced behind him and found Lisa, Amber’s cousin who’d recently married Gray Neely, offering him a frosty Coke.
“Sure, thanks.” After Amber’s little stunt, it wasn’t the type of drink he needed, but at least Lisa looked as open and friendly as ever. “The heat is a killer today.”
After falling, he’d stayed down and now only propped his back against the tree.
Lisa sat opposite him on the grass, her
