One in a Million

by Susan Mallery

  He returned to the living room. “Very nice,” he said. “Only three bedrooms, though. Will the twins share?”

  “They already do and they love it, so that’s not a problem.”

  Nash watched her work for about thirty seconds. When she stretched up past her reach again, the flash of belly skin hit him like a sucker punch.

  “Go sand something closer to the floor,” he growled and grabbed a piece of sandpaper.

  She spun toward him. “What?”

  “You’re not tall enough. I’ll do that.”

  Her gaze narrowed. “I’m perfectly capable of doing this myself.”

  “Not without a ladder.” He set his hands on her upper arms and gently moved her out of the way. For a brief second he had the impression of curves, heat and feminine scent, then he deliberately turned his back on temptation and went to work on the top of the door frame.

  “I can’t let you do this,” she said.

  “Never turn down the offer of free labor. It may not happen again.”

  “But you’re a guest.”

  “I’m restless and bored. I need something to do.”

  She laughed. “Right. How silly. Of course I’m the one doing you a favor by letting you help me. Why didn’t I see that before?”

  “Beats me.”

  He glanced at her over his shoulder. Her chin jutted out and she had her hands on her hips, as if prepared to do battle.

  “Just say thank-you and let it go,” he told her.

  “But I…” She sighed. “Thank you, Nash. I appreciate the help. As long as that’s what we call it. Your attempt to guilt me into this by pretending I was doing you a favor was pretty pathetic.”

  “I’ve always been told I think fast on my feet.”

  “I’m a mother of three boys. That makes me a professional in the guilt arena. You’re not even close to my league.”

  He chuckled and returned his attention to the sanding. Under the layers of paint was beautiful old wood, still in great shape.

  “Whoever built these houses knew what they were doing,” he said. “Good-quality material and great construction.”

  “Whenever I panic about the mortgage, I remind myself that the B and B will outlast the payments by at least a century. Not that I plan to be around that long.”

  “The boys will appreciate the inheritance.”

  “I hope so. If one of them wants to take over the business, that’s great. If not, I won’t push them. They can sell the house and split the money.”

  “You’re doing some long-term planning.”

  “I’m a detail person. I try to be responsible. My husband used to tell me I was anal. I guess that comes from being an only child.” She knelt on the floor and started sanding the baseboards.

  “Not necessarily. I was the responsible one in our family,” he said. “As my brother and I are fraternal twins, I can’t claim to be the oldest. It’s just the way things worked out. I did the right thing and Kevin was a professional screwup. He used to get grounded about three times a week.”

  Now Nash could smile at the memory, but when it was happening, he used to worry a lot about his brother and how much his mom had to deal with.

  “Did he turn out all right?” Stephanie asked.

  “Yeah. When we were still in high school, Kevin stole a car. He and his buddies were just joyriding, but the owner pressed charges. It was the last straw for my mom. Kevin was packed off to military school. Apparently the experience scared some sense into him. From there he went to college. After that he became a cop. He joined the U.S. Marshals a few years ago. That’s where he is now.”

  “Talk about a turnaround,” she said.

  “He’s done well.” He was pleased by his brother’s success, if a little surprised by his sudden engagement.

  Nash moved to the dining-room side of the door frame and continued sanding. “Kevin and I had lunch with two of my half brothers today. Travis and Kyle Haynes.”

  “How did that go?”

  “Okay. They filled us in on all the brothers and their families. I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep everyone straight. They’re all married and have kids.”

  Stephanie rubbed the sandpaper along the baseboard, while Nash tried to keep his attention on his work and off her fanny. With her kneeling like that, her butt stuck up in the air. He was charmed.

  “I can’t imagine what it would be like to discover a ready-made family,” she said and glanced up at him. “What? Am I doing this all wrong?”

  “No. You’re fine.”

  “You’re looking at me.”

  He couldn’t argue with that. “Want me to work with my eyes closed?”

  She rubbed her cheek with her free hand. “Do I look awful?”

  “That’s not possible.”

  Her eyes widened and color crept up her face. She ducked her head and began sanding with short, intense strokes. “Great compliment,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t mind that one stitched on a pillow for my really bad days.”

  The tension had returned, and with it a longing to do more than just make love. He wanted to touch her and hold her. He wanted to connect.

  Where the hell had that thought come from? Nash frowned and returned his attention to his work. No connecting, remember? No relationships. No messy emotions. No disasters.

  She cleared her throat. “About your family. There are four brothers and a half sister. At least that’s what I’ve heard. Wait, if she’s a half sister, is she still related to you?”

  He appreciated the change in subject. “Apparently. She and the brothers share the same father, as do Kevin and I.”

  “I’d heard that Earl Haynes was something of a ladies’ man. How did he meet your mother?”

  Nash sanded harder. “She was seventeen and working in a concession stand at the convention center in Dallas. Earl Haynes was in town for a few days. They met, he was charming. Next thing she knew, she was pregnant and he was gone.”

  He glanced at Stephanie. She sat back on her heels.

  “That’s horrible,” she said.

  “Agreed. She’d been raised in a strict home. She didn’t know much about men or the world. She tried to get in touch with Earl, but couldn’t find him. Her parents made things pretty ugly for her. She gave birth to twins and when she turned eighteen a couple of months later, they threw her out.”

  Stephanie sucked in a breath. “Just like that?”

  “Yeah. By then Earl was back in town for his yearly convention. She went looking for him and found him in the arms of another woman. He told my mom that he didn’t care about her, and never had. As for his kids, they were her problem.”

  He’d been an infant at the time and remembered nothing of what had happened. Yet just thinking about what that bastard had done filled him with fury.

  “She ran down to the hotel lobby, crying her heart out,” Nash continued. “The woman he’d been with realized she’d made a mistake with Earl, as well. Edie Reynolds took her home to Possum Landing and gave all of us a place to stay while my mom got a job and saved money for an apartment. My brother and I grew up there. It turns out that Edie’s two sons were also fathered by Earl Haynes, so Gage is in town, as well, and Quinn, his brother, should be arriving shortly.”

  Stephanie shook her head. “I never could follow soap-opera plot lines, and this is a whole lot more complicated. After moving to Glenwood, I heard a lot about Earl Haynes and his brothers. They were known as local lady-killers. I’d always assumed the talk was just a bunch of rumors, but I guess it was true. What’s so interesting is that his sons are terrific men. I guess they used to be pretty wild, but all of them have settled down. You heard about the wives and kids. Brett is in class with one of their boys. I think the twins
know a couple of their daughters. There are so many, it’s hard to keep them straight. But they’re all good kids.”

  “They have some crazy notion that Haynes men have boys when they’re not in love with the women they’re getting pregnant and that they only have girls when they are.”

  She laughed. “Oh, please. That’s so not possible.”

  “Apparently there are plenty of girls to prove the theory. Neither Kevin nor I have kids to put it to the test.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing. Of course if it’s true, you’re going to have to be prepared not to have any boys.” Her expression turned wistful. “I really love my sons, but I wouldn’t have minded a little girl. Sometimes I miss things like hair ribbons and dresses.”

  “It could still happen.”

  She grinned. “Do you see a star parked over my house? There’s no way I would ever get married again, so the odds of another child seem slim.”

  He felt her words down to his gut. Right up until that moment, he’d been enjoying their conversation, but now he only wanted to walk away. He started sanding again. Slow down, he told himself. Stephanie’s reluctance to marry again didn’t matter to him. Not one bit.

  “You must have loved him very much,” he said into the silence.

  “What? Who?”

  “Your husband. You don’t want to marry again because you loved him so much.”

  She blinked several times, then attacked the baseboards. She used the sandpaper like a scrub brush, then abruptly straightened.

  “Look,” she said. “There are a lot of reasons I don’t want to get married again, but none of them are because I loved Marty too much. I know that sounds horrible, but it’s the truth.”

  Nash didn’t know what to do with the information, nor did he want to understand why the knot in his gut suddenly went away.

  There was a moment of awkward silence, then they both spoke at once.

  “Go ahead,” he told her.

  Stephanie started sanding again, this time with a little less energy. “Fertility-gender legend or not, you’re going to be an uncle several times over. Brace yourself for the onslaught.”

  He hadn’t thought of that. “No wonder the dinner tonight is at a pizza place,” he said.

  She laughed. “You sound as excited as if you were facing a root canal without anesthetic. Are all the family members expected to be there?”

  “Pretty much. Earl is hanging out in Florida with wife number six or seven. He wasn’t invited. But all the brothers, kids, half sister and spouses will be there.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  Maybe to her. Kevin was engaged, as was Gage. Quinn, the only other single guy in the extended family, had yet to show up. Which meant Nash would be the odd man out.

  He’d spent his life like that, he reminded himself. It was how he preferred things. But that didn’t mean it was going to be comfortable.

  “Want to come with me?” he asked. The invitation was impulsive, but he didn’t withdraw it. “You said the boys know a lot of the Haynes kids. They’d have a good time. You could check out the girls and see if the legend is true.”

  Stephanie dropped her piece of sandpaper and wiped her hands on her jeans, all the while considering the invitation. She didn’t object to spending some quality time with the featured player in her erotic fantasies, even if she wasn’t sure why Nash would want her and the boys along.

  “Won’t it just be family?” she asked.

  “Too much family. You could protect me.”

  He spoke lightly, but she thought she saw something dark and lonely in his eyes.

  Get a grip, she told herself. She had to stop reading things into Nash’s expression that just weren’t there. The man wasn’t lonely. He was fine. Most people were fine. The thought of her protecting him was laughable.

  “I’ll let you have the biggest piece of pizza,” he promised.

  She had to admit that she was curious about the Haynes family. And a pizza dinner out would thrill the boys. Then there was the issue of being in the same room as Nash—a way she was starting to enjoy spending her time.

  She looked at his dark eyes and the way his mouth curved in a half smile. Maybe if she said yes he would accidentally brush his hand against hers. Maybe they would sit close enough together that she could imagine what it would be like to be in bed and all tangled up with him. Not that she needed much help in that department. He was already the star of her intricately detailed daydreams.

  What did she have to lose?

  “We’d love to join you,” she said. “What time do you want us to be ready?”

  This was not a date, Stephanie told herself that evening as she pulled off her red sweater and grabbed one in teal. It was an evening out at a pizza parlor, so there was no reason for her to sweat what she was wearing. Really.

  She pulled on the teal sweater and studied her reflection. The color made her eyes look bluer, but the thicker knit made her look as though she didn’t have breasts. Complicating the decision of what to wear was the thundering herd of elephants in her stomach and the faint tremor in her fingers. The latter had caused her to nearly put her eye out while applying mascara.

  A knock on the door was followed by Brett calling, “Mom?”

  She gave her reflection one last glance and figured this was as good as it was going to get. She fingered her short hair, briefly wished (for the thousandth time in her life) to be tall, then told her oldest to come in.

  He pushed open the door and stepped into her room.

  “What’s up?” she asked as she crossed to the dresser and studied her small earring collection. There were simple gold hoops, a pair of dangling enameled flowers in light pinks and reds and several inexpensive pairs she’d bought on sale. She picked up the gold hoops.

  “Why are we going out?” Brett asked.

  She glanced up into the mirror and studied her son’s reflection. He stood beside her four-poster bed, both arms wrapped around a post, as he swung back and forth. His shoulders were slumped and his expression was solemn.

  “Whoa—you’re upset because we’re going out for pizza?” she said as she fastened the first earring. “Are you feeling okay?”

  He gave her a halfhearted smile. “The pizza part is fine.”

  “What about hanging out with your friends and playing video games? Is that what has you bummed?”

  The smile broadened. “No.”

  “Hmm, I don’t think it’s because we’re letting your brothers come along. I know we talked about locking them in the closet when you and I want to leave, but I think it would hurt their feelings. The minivan doesn’t have a trunk, so we can’t leave them there.”

  “Mo-om, I don’t want to lock Jason or Adam in a closet.”

  “Good to know.” She finished with the second earring and turned to face him. “That only leaves Nash as the problem.”

  Brett dropped his gaze and stared at her bedspread. While she would admit that the floral print was very pretty, she didn’t think it deserved to be studied with that much intensity.

  She walked over to Brett and put her hand on his back. “He’s a nice guy. What can I say? He invited us to join him tonight. He’s just found out he’s related to the Haynes brothers. You know how many of them there are. Plus their wives and their kids.” She lowered her voice. “Nash didn’t exactly admit this, but I think he wanted us along because he’s a little nervous. I think he wants us to be a noisy distraction. That’s it.”

  Brett looked at her. The concern had faded from his eyes. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  He smiled again. “We’re really good at being noisy.”

  She brushed the hair from his forehead. “I would say you and your brothers are experts.”

 
; Nash held open the door to the large pizza restaurant. When Stephanie and the kids had entered, he walked in and saw the small desk up front. The hostess there gave him a big smile. “How many?” she asked.

  “We’re part of the Haynes party,” he said.

  “Okay. Through to the back. There are two double doors. You can’t miss it. Just follow the noise.”

  The twins raced ahead with Brett trailing behind them. Nash put his hand on the small of Stephanie’s back and urged her forward. As they got closer to the room, the sound of conversation spilled into the main restaurant.

  Stephanie leaned close. “Sounds like little more than controlled chaos,” she said.

  He looked at the dozens of people milling around in the huge room. “I think controlled is stretching it.”

  They stepped inside where they were greeted by Travis and Kyle. He introduced Stephanie and her kids, then met several wives, two more brothers and three kids.

  “This is never going to work,” a pretty woman with light brown hair said. “It’s only been ten minutes and your eyes are already glazed.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a plastic package. “I thought this might happen so I brought name tags.”

  A petite redhead handed over a box of her own. “Great minds, Elizabeth,” she said. “I brought them, too.”

  The redhead turned to Nash. “I’m Jill, Craig’s wife. Craig’s the oldest of the brothers.” She glanced around the room, then pointed to a tall, dark-haired man with gray at his temples. “Craig’s easy to keep track of. He’s the best-looking of the brothers.”

  “He is not,” Elizabeth said, then laughed. “I guess we all have our favorites.”

  “Fortunately that is usually the guy we’re married to. Anything else would make these gatherings awkward.” Jill looked at Nash, then at Stephanie. “Are we terrifying you? I guess this is really strange. We’re such a close-knit family that we don’t even think about it, but I remember when I had to meet everyone. It was a little intimidating.” She frowned slightly. “Actually it was a lot easier for me back then. Only Travis, Kyle and Austin were married. There weren’t as many kids. Did you know that Austin isn’t officially a Haynes? It’s more of a family member by adoption.”