
Jules jumped off the large wagon, pulled his fingers away from his work gloves and tossed them aside. He swiped the sweat from his thick brow with a tented hand closed over his forehead. Trying to block the sun didn't work. It only made it more difficult to see the sleek SUV moving toward them. The automobile looked like a black giant inching closer and closer. Maybe they should have taken it as a sign, a real warning.
Brogan felt an odd feeling, a true sense of dread wash over him all at one time. He shook off the sensation and decided it was the heat. As if he saw the whole thing in slow motion, he glanced over at Jules and saw his eyes widen about the time Serena and her father closed their doors simultaneously.
The back door opened and the first thing Brogan saw was a pair of long, slender legs. Golden curls bounced lightly on shapely, bare shoulders as a woman--maybe the most beautiful he'd ever seen--stepped away from the car.
"Shit," Jules said. "That's no kid, Brogan."
"Maybe it's Fiona," he fired back. "It's been two years since we've seen her."
"Fiona never had boobs ... or curves."
"Maybe she grew five inches, lost fifty pounds along with twenty years in there too. Heaven help us if that's Serena's friend."
"Uncle Jules! Uncle Brogan!" Serena waved wildly. "Hurry up. I want you to meet Jenna!"
The men stared at one another. Brogan felt his upper jaw twitch and Jules lost his color. They glared at their little niece like she wasn't just the culprit in planned mischief but she was also the red-haired, freckled-face, favored child of the devil himself.
"Damn it to hell," Brogan said before he reminded Jules, "I seem to recall Heath saying the friend staying with us was, in fact, named Jenna."
"Sweet mercenary," Jules whispered.
Both men started down the hillside and Brogan warned. "Not a word. Heath is counting on us. If he can stand to be around her, we can too. Maybe she has a quirk or two."
"It's not a visible one, if she even possesses a flaw. Besides, you're forgetting Heath is a saint compared to us. Remember, Daddy always said he belonged to the milkman."
"Preacherman is more like it," Brogan muttered under his breath. "But I still remember a time when Heath liked the same things we do. He always liked his women young and willing to train."
"He's married for crying out loud!" Jules walked ahead of him. "And I don't think he's capable of thinking straight if he brought that to us!"
"He may have a ring on his finger, but he ain't blind!"
Jules chuckled. "Remember that old adage. They say love is capable of all sorts of things. Heath must have full blinders on. No man in his right mind would drop that girl off here."
Maybe there was the problem. Why, sure, it explained everything. Heath just wasn't in his right mind.