“I think it's nice. Don't forget, he fixed our very
temperamental washer. The piles of laundry stretch
ing to the ceiling and I are grateful." She touched
Brett's shoulder. "You helped him with that. I
thought you liked him." Her son shrugged.
What was going on? Did Brett feel threatened by
Nash in some way? Stephanie hadn't dated since
Marty's death. Maybe having another guy around
made him feel as though his father was being re
placed.
“Hey, don't sweat it," she said, leaning close and
wrapping her arms around him. "Nash is a guest
here. Which means his home is somewhere else and
he's going to be leaving us in a couple of weeks. In
the meantime, he's nice, he cleans up after himself
and I like having another grown-up to talk to. Noth
ing more. Okay?"
As they were alone, Brett bur
r
owed into her em
brace. He'd reached the stage where he didn't allow
hugs and kisses in front of other people, but when
it was just the two of them, he was still her little
boy. Sort of.
He raised his head and looked at her. "Do you
still miss Dad?"
She studied his dark blue eyes and the mouth
shaped just like Marty's. "Of course I do. I loved
him very much." Brett nodded, as if reassured.
Stephanie told herself that under the circum
stances, the lie didn't matter. Her first responsibility
was to make her children's world as safe and stable
as possible. A dark stain on her conscience was a
small price to pay for that.
The teenaged waitress stared at the four men at
the table. "I'm new in town," she told them, "but
I have to tell you there's something pretty amazing
in the water. You're Haynes brothers, aren't you? I
recognize you from what I've been told. Every one
of you is tall, dark and delicious. You guys all mar
ried? Anyone want my number?"
Nash was less surprised by the unsubtle come-on
than he would have been before meeting Travis and
Kyle Haynes. Kevin had arranged for the four of
them to meet up for lunch. Even if he hadn't known
about the relationship between them all, he would
have guessed something was up the second he saw
them.
The four men were nearly identical in height and
build. Their dark hair was the same shade and the
shapes of their eyes and mouths were similar. Travis
and Kyle were a few years older, but still obviously related.
“
Thanks, but not today," Kyle said as he took
the menus from the young waitress.
“Your loss," she said.
“
Probably, darlin', but you should stick to guys
your own age."
“What about the stuff they say about older men knowing their way around a woman?" Kyle grinned. "All lies."
“
Why don't I believe you?" She gave a sassy
wink, took their drink order and headed off.
Kevin shook his head. "Friendly girl."
Travis Haynes unrolled his paper napkin and set
his flatware on the table. "Our family has something
of a reputation in this town. Four generations of
Haynes men have had their way with a large per
centage of the local female population. The four of
us have tried to change things, but that sort of legend doesn't die easily."
“
Apparently not," Nash said. He looked at his
twin. "We don't have a reputation in Possum Land
ing. We must have been doing something wrong."
“
Or right," Kyle said. "Being good with women
isn't something to be proud of. Now being a good
husband and father—that's a hell of a lot more important."
“
Agreed," Travis said. He looked across the ta
ble at Nash. "Are you settled in?"
“
Yeah. I'm staying at a B&B on the other side
of town."
“
Stephanie Wynne's place," Kyle said. "Her
oldest boy is friends with my oldest son." He smiled. "It's a small town. There aren't many
strangers and even fewer secrets."
Travis passed out the menus. "Everything's good
here. I'd recommend the burgers, but then I'm a man
of simple tastes."
Kevin looked at Nash, then back at Travis.
''We're not exactly sushi eaters ourselves."
Kyle leaned forward. He and his brother wore
identical khaki uniforms. Travis's name badge pro
claimed him sheriff, while Kyle's said he was a dep
uty.
“
Are you two finding this as strange as we are?"
Kyle asked.
“
Discovering family after all this time?" Nash
opened the menu, then closed it. "We had no idea
our father had any other children."
“
It was one thing to find out that our best friends
were actually half brothers," Kevin said. "But when Gage told us about all of you, I was surprised."
The waitress reappeared with their drinks. All the
men had ordered iced tea. She took their orders—
four burgers, hold the onions, and fries, then dis
appeared.
“
There are five of us," Travis said. His dark
brows drew together in a frown. "We have a half
sister----Hannah. She works at the sheriff's office,
too. She's in communications. Her mother is Louise,
who—" He shook his head. "This is going to be
confusing as hell."
“
Talk slow," Kevin said.
Kyle chuckled. "Travis is good at that—what
with being mentally challenged."
Travis turned to his brother. "I can still take
you."
“
With what army?"
Their playful banter reminded Nash of his rela
tionship with Kevin. Warm, affection and constant. "There are four Haynes brothers," Travis said.
“
Craig's the oldest. He lives in Fern Hill with his
wife, Jill, and their five children."
Nash had taken a drink of his iced tea and nearly choked. "Five?"
Travis grinned. "We have a lot of kids. I'm mar
ried to
Elizabeth
. We have four girls. Next is
Jordan
. He's married to Holly. They have three girls."
“
I'm the youngest boy in the family," Kyle said.
"I'm
married to
Sandy
. We have five kids, too. Four girls, one boy. Hannah's our half sister, through our
father, so she's your half sister, as well. She's mar
ried to Nick. They have two girls." He turned to
- Kevin. "You and Haley are staying at the B&B
Nick owns with Louise, Hannah's mother."
Nash set down his glass. "I'm never going to
keep this straight."
“
It'll get easier with time," Travis said. "There's
also Austin Lucas, who isn't officially one of the
Haynes men. He's sort of an adopted member of the
family. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four kids,
three boys and a girl."
“
Wait until we start telling you which kids are
from a previous marriage," Kyle said.
Kevin held up his hands. "I don't think I want to know." Nash tried to do the math to figure out how many
people could show up at the dinner that night, but
lost count somewhere after twenty.
“
That's a lot of family members," he said.
"Kevin told me your father doesn't live around
here." He shook his head. "I guess he's our father,
too. I don't think of him that way yet."
Kyle and Travis glanced at each other. "He's in
Florida
with wife number six or seven," Travis said.
“
I've lost count. None of us stay in touch with
him."
“Why?" Kevin asked.
“
He's..." Travis hesitated. "He wasn't a great
father to us."
Nash leaned forward. "Don't worry about offend
ing us with anything you say about him. As far as
Kevin and I are concerned, Earl Haynes is just a guy
who got a seventeen-year-old virgin pregnant and
then walked out on her."
“
That was Dad's style," Kyle said quietly. "He
was chronically unfaithful. He and his brothers believed that if they slept in their own beds at night,
that was about as good as it had to get. They didn't
worry about details like being true to one woman or giving a damn about their kids."
“
We wanted to be different," Travis told them.
"Each of my brothers and I knew how unhappy
we'd been and we were determined to keep history
from repeating itself. After three generations of bastards, we wanted to make something of our lives, to
get involved with our wives and kids. To be good
men." Kyle chuckled. "To have daughters."
“Why would that matter?" Nash asked.
The waitress arrived with their burgers. Once they
were served, Kyle reached for the mustard in the
center of the table.
“
Until Travis and Elizabeth got married," Kyle
said, "there hadn't been a girl born to a Haynes man
in four generations."
“
Not counting Hannah," Travis said. "We didn't
know about her." He glanced at Nash.
“Right. Okay, no girls except for Hannah."
“
Travis and Elizabeth had a daughter. Then
Sandy and me, then Craig and Jill," Kyle said.
"Holly and Jordan were next. He's the one who
came up with the theory."
“Which is?" Kevin asked.
“
Haynes men can only have girls when they're
in love with the woman."
“That's crazy," Nash said.
“
There's a lot of female Hayneses running
around," Travis pointed out. He nodded at Kevin.
"Just you wait until you and Haley are having
kids." Kevin grinned. "I look forward to our children, whatever their gender."
“
Good," Kyle said, "Because you're probably
going to have a lot of them."
Chapter Five
Nash left the diner after lunch and headed back for
the B&B. He'd enjoyed meeting his half brothers, although he found the thought of their large families overwhelming. Five kids. That seemed like a lot.
He'd never much thought about having or not
having kids of his own. After marrying Tina, he'd
wanted to wait for a while before they started a fam
ily. She'd pressured him, but he'd refused to agree.
Not until things were more stable between them.
He'd assumed there would be children in his future,
but when he thought about them they were vague
shadows playing on the field at some sporting event. Not real people. Not like Stephanie's kids.
Thinking about Brett, Adam and Jason reminded
him of the previous evening. He'd enjoyed helping
with homework and staying for dinner. The boys
were a lot of fun, each with a distinct personality.
Brett was still waiting to accept him, but Nash re
spected that. Jason was ready to charm the world
while Adam was shyer. As for Stephanie...
Better not to go there, he told himself. As it was,
he'd had a restless night filled with erotic dreams of
his hostess. He couldn't remember the last time he'd
awakened so damn hard. Not since he was a teen
ager and in the throes of adolescent hormones. Back
then he'd had lots of desire but little knowledge
about what was supposed to happen between a man
and a woman. Now he knew exactly what he wanted
to do to and with Stephanie, should he ever get her
in his bed.