Texas Lullaby. Tina Leonard
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