Chapter 18
“He’s just making points all over the damn place tonight, isn’t he?”
Tamara smiled. Morgan’s words, for her ears alone, somehow tickled her.
The flyboys had each proven themselves to be masters on the dance floor. At the moment the band was playing something slow, which allowed her the opportunity to press herself against Morgan’s firm and deliciously hard body. The evening was still young, and she’d enjoyed a couple more drinks than usual for her. Far from being drunk she instead felt very relaxed and mellow. She’d spent the evening dancing with her two handsome dates, and getting to know their brothers and some of their many, many cousins.
She brought her attention back to her current dance partner. Morgan looked so cute when he grumbled. She didn’t have to ask him who he was grumbling about, either. Instead, she asked, “What’s Mr. Alvarez doing now that’s got your goat?”
“He’s dancing with Kate Benedict.”
Tamara’s smile widened. Morgan had been just as vexed a half hour earlier when Peter had been dancing with his mother, Samantha.
Of course, she’d noticed Adam following the man with a narrowed gaze, too—when he wasn’t trying to coax Ginny Rose out onto the dance floor.
“What is it about Peter that you and Adam don’t like, exactly?”
“I never said I didn’t like him. I do agree with Adam’s assessment, though. It just seems there’s more to the man than meets the eye. And you do have to admit he’s moved pretty fast to ingratiate himself with the families, considering we’ve all just met him this week. Dancing with Mom, then Kate. It’s like he’s figured out who the most powerful members of the family are and is trying to worm his way into their good graces. It’s working, too, damn it.”
Tamara eased back just a little so she could meet Morgan’s gaze. “Or maybe he’s just trying to be sociable…and you didn’t just say that, about his moving fast on such short acquaintance. You, of all people.”
Morgan tilted his head to one side. She saw the exact moment he understood her point. He chuckled and shook his head, then drew her back into his arms, against his chest.
“That was a little hypocritical of me, wasn’t it?”
“Maybe just a little,” she said.
“So bite me. I’m the protective sort.” The words puffed against her hair just before he kissed the top of her head.
“I never would have guessed that about you.” Tamara closed her eyes, trusting Morgan to guide her around the dance floor. Considering that she’d been reluctant at first to attend a family event, it had proven to be wonderful party, the best she’d ever attended. The entire day had been special.
Tamara had never thought of herself as the emotional type, but when first Susan, and then Colt and Ryder, had recited the vows they’d each written, she’d been unashamed of the tears in her eyes.
Most men are fortunate if they have one miracle in their lives. I’ve been gifted with two, and I’ll gladly spend the rest of my life living my gratitude for you, Colt, and you, Susan.
“I wonder what their story is,” she mused, thinking of the words Ryder had spoken earlier.
“Whose story?”
“Colt and Ryder’s. I felt such emotion coming from them both, earlier. I think I can almost understand how brothers could trust each other and care for each other enough to share a wife. But friends?” She’d spent a lot of time this day thinking about the kinds of families that seemed to abound in Lusty, Texas. Everyone appeared so damn happy, and that happiness wasn’t the thin veneer put on for social situations. It was real and genuine and deep.
Standing back and looking at these people, then looking at her own family, she could only come to the conclusion that in order to make such an arrangement work, the people here must be truly extraordinary.
“Sweetheart, not all brothers are born. Some are chosen. My understanding is that Colt and Ryder have been best friends since childhood—that both were street kids who relied upon each other for survival.”
Tamara thought about that for a moment. “I guess as bad as my childhood was, it could have been a lot worse.”
“Yes,” Morgan said. “And just because a past has been fractured doesn’t mean the future can’t be wonderful.”
Tamara followed Morgan’s gaze. Adam had succeeded in his quest to get Ginny to dance, even if she was doing so a little stiffly.
Were Morgan’s words meant for the waitress, or for herself?
When the musicians announced a small break, Tamara and Morgan joined the large table appropriated by the Kendalls. Although most people circulated during the band breaks, so having a seat saved didn’t necessarily mean you had a seat saved. When Henry snagged her around the waist, she laughed as he set her on his lap, claiming a shortage of chairs. Morgan took the chair to the right of them.
Adam brought Ginny over to the table.
“Now, Adam, I don’t think your family wants me sitting here the entire—”
“Sure they do, Ginny.” Adam guided her toward an empty chair.
“Welcome back, Ginny. Please sit with us for a while longer. All of us rough-and-tumble men need more pretty girls to smooth out our rough edges.” Henry’s smile seemed to disarm the other woman as well as it did Tamara.
Ginny shook her head. “Don’t think there’s sandpaper enough in all of Texas for that job,” she said.
“You sit, and I’ll get you a drink for a change,” Adam said.
“I really should see if Kelsey needs any—”
“Kelsey told you to relax and have fun, don’t you remember?” Adam said.
“Boy howdy, Adam Kendall! Do you never let a woman finish a sentence?”
“Not if that sentence is going to be an excuse to retreat. Sit with us a while, Ginny. Please? Enjoy the party with us. You know everyone here.”
Tamara held her breath—with the rest of the table—as she waited to see what Ginny would say. She looked down
