A Buckhorn Baby

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 feet tucked to the side of her. Trying not to smile, she asked, “You okay?”

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Late night, that’s all. The fire—”

“I meant that mild heart attack you had at the mention of a baby.”

Noel choked on his cola.

Rising to her knees, Lisa thwacked him on the back. “You did realize right off that she was talking about a baby, right?”

Yeah, he’d known—and he really wished everyone would quit throwing around that word. He wanted no part of it, not in conversation, not in reality. He coughed several times, cleared his throat and nodded.

“Such a reaction,” Adam said, coming up to join his sister...and heckle Noel.

“Not enough sleep,” Noel explained again, hoping that lame excuse would suffice. Just as Adam sat, Noel pushed to his feet. “In fact, I think I’ll—”

He turned to flee and almost ran into Amber.

She stood there, hands on her slim hips, that dark, thick braid over her shoulder, curved around one lush breast. Her beautiful blue eyes dared him.

Noel couldn’t help but grin. No one affected him the way Amber did. She left him in a heightened state of sexual awareness—and he liked it. Her ballsy attitude, as much as her sensual appearance, appealed to him. For such a slender, feminine woman, she had the air of an Amazon.