“Not a thing. I want you and Camille to stay out of the kitchen. Katherine and Vivian are helping with the food and Isabelle and Roslyn, bless their hearts, have volunteered to keep all the little ones upstairs and occupied. So everything is under control, I think.” She looked at Camille. “I need to get back to the kitchen. Be sure and introduce Emily-Ann to the folks she hasn’t met.”
Maureen hurried away just as a group of men sauntered over to the bar, where Jazelle, the Hollisters’ housekeeper, was mixing drinks. Spotting them, Camille grabbed Emily-Ann’s arm and tugged her in the direction of the men.
“Come on, I want you to say hi to my brothers.”
Emily-Ann had never been a bashful person and she loved meeting people, which was the main reason she loved her job at the coffee shop. But for some reason tonight, she felt hesitant about joining the group of men to say hello.
“I honestly don’t think they want to waste their time with me, Camille,” Emily-Ann suggested. “Let’s just get a drink and go back to the glider.”
Camille frowned at her. “Since when have you turned into a wallflower? Now quit being ridiculous and come on.”
Camille tugged her forward and Emily-Ann had no choice but to follow her friend over to the group of men, all of whom were dressed casually in jeans and boots and various shades and styles of cowboy hats.
“Hi, guys,” Camille greeted. “I thought you all might want to say hello to Emily-Ann.”
Holt, the middle sibling of the Hollister clan, stepped forward with a wide grin. “I want to do more than say hi. I want a hug from Little Red.”
Laughing at the nickname Holt had given her years ago, Emily-Ann hugged the tall, good-looking cowboy, who’d often been considered the wild playboy of the bunch. Now the horseman was settled down with a wife and new baby son.
“Hello, Holt.” Stepping back from his affectionate hug, she smiled at him. “How does it feel to be a new father?”
The twinkle in his eyes was the same sort of joy Emily-Ann saw on Camille’s face. Yes, the Hollister siblings were all happily married with children and babies now. The reality left Emily-Ann feeling as though she was standing on the porch in the cold rain, while everyone inside the house was cheery and warm and together.
“Having a son is just incredible,” Holt responded to her question. “Even if I have to get up in the night to change diapers.”
“Hah!” Blake, the eldest of the Hollister brothers and manager of Three Rivers Ranch, reacted with a short laugh. “I think I’ll ask Isabelle just how many diapers you’ve changed in the wee hours of the morning.”
“Not nearly as many as me,” Chandler, the veterinarian of the group, boasted.
Chuckling, Joseph, the deputy and youngest Hollister, gouged an elbow in Chandler’s ribs. “That’s what you think, brother. Blake has us all beat. He has twins.”
“Thank you, Joe,” Blake said with an appreciative grin.
Camille pulled a playful face at her brothers. “I didn’t bring Emily-Ann over here to listen to you four boast about your diaper changing. You’re supposed to be saying hello to her.”
“Hello, Emily-Ann!” they all said in loud unison.
Emily-Ann could feel a blush stinging her cheeks. It was true she’d known the wealthy Hollister family for years, but since Camille had moved away, she’d not been here to the ranch for any reason and she felt a little awkward about showing up tonight. In spite of Camille being a dear friend, that didn’t put Emily-Ann on their social calendar.
Just as that self-deprecating thought went through her mind, Blake stepped forward and gathered her up in a hug. “I see you at Conchita’s fairly often, but it’s nice to have you here on the ranch. Jazelle is mixing drinks. Tell me what you’d like and I’ll get it.”
“Not yet,” Camille told him, her gaze searching the ever-growing crowd. “I thought Matthew and Tag might be over here with you guys. Where—oh, I see them coming now.”
Grabbing her by the upper arm, Camille tugged her forward and Emily-Ann followed, albeit reluctantly. She was fairly acquainted with Matthew, Camille’s husband, but the tall cowboy with him was a total stranger to her. A wide-brimmed cowboy hat, the color of dark coffee, shaded a tanned face with roughly honed features. His eyes were hooded beneath a pair of dark brows, while his chin jutted forward just enough to give him a dash of arrogance. Or it could be the way he was looking at her, as though she was a geek, or worse, that made him seem arrogant. Either way, Emily-Ann would’ve been happy to avoid the man entirely. But she couldn’t escape the tight hold Camille had on her arm. Not without making a scene.
“So you two finally made it to the party?” Camille teased, directing the question mostly to her husband.
Matthew’s grin was a bit guilty. “Sorry, honey, I’ve been showing Tag some of the more important things down at the ranch yard.”
“Uh-huh,” she said with a perceptive smile, “like the saddles and tack and training arena and cow barn and—”
Matthew stopped her with a laugh. “We didn’t get that far,” he said, then inclined his head toward Emily-Ann. “Nice to see you again, Emily-Ann. Glad you could make it to the party.”
“Thank you, Matthew,” Emily-Ann replied, while trying not to pay extra notice to the tall, hard-looking cowboy standing next to him. From this distance, she could see his eyes were warm brown and his hair a mixture of rust and chocolate. “It’s wonderful having you and Camille back at Three Rivers. Even if it’s just for a short while.”
She felt Camille’s hand urging her to take a step toward the foreman, and though she wanted to glower at her friend, Emily-Ann purposely
