around the kids. As three-year-old Willie grabbed the ball and tried to run with it while the family cheered, Zach joined in, laughing at the child clutching the football as if it were a lifeline.
Zach glanced at Emma on the playing field. She had leaves in her hair. She had shed the bulky sweatshirt and wore a bright pink T-shirt with her jeans. She was watching him, laughing with him over the kids, and desire stabbed him. That electrifying tension flared to life, as unwanted and unexpected as it had been the first time she had walked into his home. He wished they were alone. Someone stepped between them and the tension eased, but it did not vanish.
The kids provided constant laughs with their antics and he saw why she liked to come home for the weekend. They were all happy with each other, having great fun. He had known fun with his brothers, but life had been tense if both his parents were present unless they were entertaining a house filled with their friends. Even then, it had never held this relaxed closeness. He realized he was enjoying a whole family of people who loved each other and exhibited a joy in being together. He had this now with his brothers, but they seldom were all together and until Caroline, there had been no small children around.
He could see why Emma thought he was missing something and why she had hated to leave him alone. He looked at her parents, thinking how different they were from his own. The love they shared showed constantly even though they were across the field from each other, or at opposite ends of the long table earlier. He realized he had never seen that kind of warmth between his parents. He looked at Emma, laughing with a small niece. Maybe Emma was the wealthy one after all.
Breaking into his thoughts, he looked down into big brown eyes as a little boy walked up to him. “Did you give my team a point?”
He wasn’t certain which child stood before him, guessing it was Jake. “Yes, I did give your team a very big point,” he answered, amused that the little kid was checking on him.
The child nodded. “Thank you.” He turned to his great-grandmother. “Did you give my team a point, Gran-Gran?”
“Yes, I did,” she said, leaning forward to hug him. “You’re playing a good game,” she said.
“Thank you.” Smiling broadly, he ran off, half skipped to his dad, who asked him a question, glancing over his head at Zach. The child told his dad something and his dad smiled at Zach and turned back to play.
Zach was unaccustomed to sitting out anything active. During the time-out, he motioned Emma over.
“I hate sitting on the sidelines. If three-year-old Willie can play, so can I.”
“Zach, you have to stay off your foot.”
“This shoe protects my foot. I am not accustomed to being a spectator. I’ll stop if my foot hurts. It’s only tag football.”
“You’ll be on my team then, so I can keep up with you.”
“Don’t hover. Your family will really think we have something going.”
Zach got into the game, enjoying himself even though he knew he was being foolish and risking more injury, but he hated doing nothing except keeping score. He had never been one to sit on the sidelines and he didn’t want to miss out now. He hobbled around and it was easy to keep up when they had geared down to a three-year-old level.
Before dinner they gathered wood to build a fire in a stone fireplace. When Zach started to help, Emma stopped him.
“This isn’t a chore you have to do. Go sit and we’ll get the wood.”
“I’m not doing much,” he said, brushing past her. Minutes later as he picked up a dead branch and turned, Connor blocked his way.
“Thought you were supposed to stay off your foot.”
“A few branches and I’ll quit. I still can’t get accustomed to sitting around.”
“Which is why Emma works on your ranch?”
“Right,” Zach said. He could feel anger from Connor and see curiosity in his expression.
“You’ve been all over the world, so you’re pretty sophisticated and experienced. Emma’s not. Did she tell you she’s never brought anyone home before?”
“We work together. I don’t know what she’s told the family, but I think I’m here because she feels sorry for me.”
“Yeah. We heard you were alone. I just don’t want to see my sister hurt.”
“I wouldn’t want her hurt either.”
“Zach,” Emma called, hurrying to join them. “Give those sticks to Connor and come sit. You shouldn’t be on your foot. Just watch everyone.”
All the time she talked, Zach looked at Connor who gazed at him with a flat stare that held a silent warning. When Emma tugged on his arm to take the wood from him, Zach turned away.
“I think Connor was being a big brother and jumping to ridiculous ideas. Pay no attention to him,” she said.
“Your older brother is a little difficult to ignore since he’s five inches over six feet tall and probably weighs in at 250.”
“Come on. They’re getting the fire started and we’ll cook dinner and then sit and sing and later, tell stories.”
Amused, he went with her, hobbling along.
As they got dinner on the tables, Emma carried a hot dish and set it on the table, then turned to find Connor beside her.
“Emma.” He glanced over her head and she realized they were the only two standing at the end of the long table. “Be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I hope, Connor, you didn’t threaten him. He’s my boss.”
“If that’s all he is, that’s fine. Guys like Zach Delaney do not marry into families like the Hillmans.”
“I brought him home for the weekend because I didn’t want him to spend Thanksgiving alone. We’ve always invited people who might be alone on holidays. I felt sorry for him. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
“It looks like more,” Connor said, frowning.
“This is a temporary job that is on the verge of ending. When it does end, I’ll never see him again. Most of the time he works abroad. There’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“I hope not. Take care of yourself.”
She smiled. “I will. Stop worrying.”
He jammed his hands into his pockets and walked away. She watched him and shook her head. Connor was forever the big brother.
As she got more dishes of food on the table, Mary Kate approached with more delicious looking food.
“Is Connor being big brother?” she asked.
“Ever so,” Emma replied, rolling her eyes.
“Emma, should Connor be big brother?”
“No.
