wife, Jill, is sitting right here.' He put his hand on her shoulder. 'We have five children, the oldest of which is that tall, good-looking eighteenyear-old. Ben was offered a football scholarship at UCLA.' He continued to introduce his five children, then concluded by saying Jill had the hardest job of all-she kept them in line-while he was just a cop.
Travis went next. He rose and introduced his wife, Elizabeth, and their four children. They went around the table. Every single Haynes brother was a cop, until Jordan stood and proclaimed himself as the only Haynes sensible enough to go into fire fighting rather than law enforcement.
Austin Lucas was next. He had the Haynes basics-tall, dark hair and eyes-that distinguished the brothers, but his hair was much longer and he wore a small gold earring. Austin mentioned that he was a Haynes in spirit and heart, rather than by blood.
Gage was next. He talked about his life in Possum Landing, where he was the local sheriff. He introduced his fiancee, and said that his brother, Quinn, should be arriving any day now.
When a tall, dark-haired woman rose, Nash figured she was the half sister he'd heard about. Her introduction confirmed the fact. She explained that her mother, Louise, was home babysitting their latest daughter who had been born only six weeks before.
When it was Nash's turn, he stood. 'I'm Nash Harmon. Kevin's twin brother. I'm the smart one.' Everyone laughed.
He grinned when Kevin reached around Stephanie and punched his arm. 'I live in Chicago,' Nash continued, 'where I'm a negotiator for the FBI.' As he added a few more details, he glanced down and saw Stephanie looking at him with surprise. Hadn't he told her what he did for a living?
“I figured there would be more of you than Kevin and I could ever hope to take on on our own,' he said lightly, 'So I convinced my temporary landlady to take pity on me and help balance the numbers.
This is Stephanie Wynne. Her three boys are…' He glanced around at the other tables, then spotted Jason and Adam frantically waving. 'Over there.' He sat down. Craig rose again. Just then several servers entered the room. They had large trays covered with pitchers of root beer, iced tea and beer. When everyone had a drink, Craig raised his glass.
“Welcome,' he said.
Chapter Six
Nash lost count of the number of pizzas consumed by the Haynes family. They simply kept on coming. Pitchers of drinks were continually refilled as well. By the time the kids asked to be excused to go play video games and the adults had started moving the chairs around to form small conversational groups, even the servers were looking exhausted.
He'd spent most of dinner talking with Stephanie and Jill, but after the meal, he found himself in the company of his brothers.
He took a drink and surveyed the crowd. He could put a name to the men, but he was still having trouble connecting which spouse belonged with which partner. Hannah was easy. As the only female Haynes, she had many of the physical characteristics of her brothers-she was tall, dark-haired and attractive. Her husband was the only blond male in the room. But after that, things got fuzzy. Was Kyle's wife the average-height brunette with brown eyes or the average-height woman with light brown hair and green eyes?
“Is it making you crazy?' He turned toward the speaker and found a slender woman standing next to him. Her name tag read 'Rebecca-Austin.' Underneath were the words 'Honorary Haynes through love.'
“The guy with the earring,' he said.
She smiled. 'That would be my husband, yes. He's something of a bad boy.' She spoke the words with a smile and Nash saw the affection twinkling in her eyes.
He glanced over to the man in question and saw him with a young child on his hip. As he spoke with Travis, Austin absently brought the child's hand to his mouth and blew on the palm. The little boy laughed loudly.
“You seem to have changed his ways,' he said.
Rebecca shook her head. 'Actually he changed them all on his own. He was always the quiet rebel, but he's mellowed.' Austin looked content, Nash thought. He was a man comfortable and at peace with his world. Two things Nash rarely experienced.
He turned his attention back to the woman in front of him. She was lovely, with classically beautiful features that spoke of a gentler time. Unlike the other wives who were dressed in slacks and blouses, Rebecca wore a long dress edged in lace. Her dark, curly hair came to the middle of her back. She reminded him of a character in one of those British period movies-the kind that made him head directly for ESPN if he ever turned the television to one by accident.
“Are you overwhelmed?' she asked. 'It's a huge family.'
“I'm getting the adults,' he said. 'The kids are going to take longer.'
“We all have trouble with that. At one time or another, each of us has had to stop one of the children and ask who they belong to.' She took a step closer and lowered her voice. 'When Travis told us that there were long-lost Hayneses around, everyone was thrilled. When I heard you were all single, I was doubly delighted.' He raised his eyebrows. There was no way she was asking for herself.
She laughed. 'I have a friend. D.J. doesn't know it yet, but she's ready to settle down. I was planning on fixing her up with one of you. The thing is, you're not all single, are you?'
“Gage and Kevin have had a change in circumstance in the past few months.'
“So I heard.' She grinned. 'I had high hopes for you, Nash, but they've recently been dashed.' She turned and nodded across the room. He followed her gaze and saw Stephanie talking with Jill.
As Stephanie spoke, she moved her hands. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Jill responded and they both laughed. He was standing too far away to hear the sound, but he imagined it and smiled in return.
“Oh, my,' Rebecca said. 'It's worse than I thought.'
“It's not anything.'
“Really?'
“Yes.' He wasn't about to tell her about his no-relationships rule. 'I'm only in town for a couple of weeks.'
“Sometimes plans change.'
“Not mine.'
“Too bad.' She shrugged. 'But if you're leaving that quickly, you wouldn't be right for D.J. even if you were available. Which leaves the mysterious Quinn Reynolds. Maybe I can fix them up.' Nash considered the idea. On the surface Quinn was a charmer, with plenty of stories and a woman on each arm. But underneath…he wasn't like the rest of them. Quinn lived in a world that would break most men. He did things, saw things, no human should endure.
“Quinn's a great guy,' he said. 'But more than a little dangerous.' Rebecca looked intrigued. 'D.J. enjoys a challenge.'
“Quinn would be that. But he's a loner. Women tend to have one purpose in his life, and it's not cooking.' He'd expected Rebecca to be shocked, but instead she grinned. 'How fun. That would make D.J. completely crazy.' Nash wouldn't have used that word to describe Quinn's relationships with his women, but then he didn't know this D.J. person, either.
“You want to torture your friend?' he asked. 'No, but I can't figure out another way to get her happily married.'
