The activity was actually serving a much more important purpose for him. Up on a ladder at her house all day, he’d be able to guard the place easily. No subterfuge necessary.

  He’d already decided to slow his pace. And to find other jobs he could do, if necessary, to keep him at Theresa’s all day until the Fitzgerald situation calmed down.

  And if it didn’t calm down before he left?

  Ezra shook his head. He’d learned long ago to take his battles one at a time. He didn’t borrow trouble.

  “And, actually, there is one thing you can do,” he said then, already congratulating himself on his flash of insight. “You can put Aunt Alice on Charlie’s list, for as many visits as he can make. Did you see the way she was petting him?”

  “I noticed the slight smile on her face most,” Theresa said. “I haven’t seen that expression out of her since she came to us.”

  “Family took care of her as long as they could.”

  “Rest assured, she’s on Charlie’s list from now on.”

  Which left them nothing else to discuss. “So, I’ll see you in the morning.” He didn’t want to hang up.

  “We’ll probably be gone by the time you get here,” she told him. “I’ll leave the cookies on the bench in the garage.”

  Unless she was leaving before dawn, he’d be there before she left. Figuring the Fitzgeralds for nighttime sleepers, since their known activities had all happened during the day, he’d assigned himself daily painting shifts, dawn until dusk. He was hoping that, since the grandparents apparently wanted to get the girls without alarming them—their motivation being to save the twins from whatever blast they thought was imminent—they wouldn’t break into Theresa’s home to kidnap them.

  “By the way,” she said, when he’d braced for the goodbye that had to come next, “I saw a patrol car passing by outside when I put the girls to bed. So...thank you. What you’re doing might be small to you, but it’s making a huge difference to me. I just want you to know your efforts are appreciated.”

  His male part went to immediate attention, misunderstanding her appreciation for something much more personal. At first, he felt like a skunk, until he realized that her tone of voice had changed.

  “I’m glad,” he told her, equally soft. And personal.

  And then hung up before he ruined everything.

  * * *

  Ezra, in painter’s pants and a T-shirt that left the remarkable muscles in his upper arms in plain view, was already up on a ladder at the garage side of her house when Theresa pulled out the next morning. She hadn’t even known he was there but noticed him at the same time as the girls did.

  “It’s Mr. Giant!” Neve yelled, drowning out Claire’s more restrained, but equally enthusiastic, “Mr. Colton’s here!”

  The eagerness in their tones was sufficient to keep Theresa from stopping the old vehicle for a quick good morning.

  She waved instead, as did the kids, and tried not to make anything of the man’s smile and lifting of his paintbrush as she drove away. She walked the twins into day camp—another mandatory indoor day for them—and arrived at work. Same thing in reverse that night, except that he was in his truck, just getting ready to drive away, as they got home.

  He waved, she waved, the girls excitedly gesturing, and off he went. The timing of that one was almost meant to be—as though she was supposed to see him there—and she sent up a silent prayer to whatever angels were watching over them. Thinking of him that way, as a gift sent from above to help her and her daughters out of a tight spot, felt...wiser.

  Safer.

  And so, on Saturday afternoon, when Ezra’s Jeep pulled into the drive to collect them not five minutes after they’d returned home from a morning spent at gymnastics and then shopping, she scurried the excited girls along with the thought that the angels watching over them had arranged an afternoon of horseback riding, too.

  The butterflies in her stomach were a little harder to explain.

  Reminding her daughters that Ezra wasn’t a permanent friend, but rather a fleeting companion, she checked their jeans and matching princess T-shirts. She’d handed out the new tops that morning as a reminder of their only lunch with the princess. She’d spared a quick glance down to ensure that her tie-dyed cotton sundress and matching red sandals bore no morning stains, and led her small family out of their home, locking the door behind her, and supervising as Ezra quickly loaded the car seats.

  The friend reminder might or might not have worked on her daughters. But the second she climbed into the passenger seat next to Ezra, smelled his musky scent and saw those arms only partially contained in a short-sleeved polo shirt above faded jeans, she started to quiver from the inside out. More so when he leaned in to quietly let her know he’d dropped off the cookies, but that it could take a while to get results from the analysis. The man was too good to be true.

  So angels, fate, whatever, had an ironic sense of humor, she mused. And ended up with the thought as a mantra as they arrived at the Gemini after ten minutes of nonstop six-year-old chatter on the ride over. Nine of the twelve Colton siblings—Gavin wasn’t in town, Oliver was in Malaysia and Caleb was on his honeymoon—had gathered for the barbecue. From the adult conversation that flowed with almost as much abandon and cacophony as Claire and Neve’s, she was able to ascertain that Ezra’s presence at the event was a near miracle.

  “You haven’t attended this function since you were eighteen?” She leaned over to whisper to him as they walked through too many adults for her to remember all at once, toward the tables and grills set up behind the massive lodge.

  Cheers went up as someone threw a ringer at a game of horseshoes, and she heard a large splash right before Neve cried out, “Look, Mom, a pool!”

  “Crap, I didn’t think to tell you to bring their suits,” Ezra said, a frown on his face. Wondering how he handled being disappointed in himself, she almost didn’t have the wherewithal to comment.

  But that same look drew words from within her. “Are you kidding?” she said, wanting only to let the man know that rather than being a disappointment of any kind, he was a miracle worker. “The girls swim all the time at day camp. You’re giving them a chance to be close to horses. To actually sit on one, which neither of them have ever done, by the way. Their outfits are perfect for what their little hearts desire today.”

  It was all the chance they had for any kind of private conversation before they were swarmed by another gaggle of Colton siblings and some significant others, too. Some in bathing attire with cover-ups. Others in shorts.

  And then she saw Isa Colton, who had been a great support during Mark’s passing.

  “You finally get to meet my crew,” Isa said with a smile as Theresa and Ezra approached the table behind which Isa was standing, arranging covered dishes. The woman came around the table, dressed elegantly in white close-fitting pants and a colorful, formfitting top that showed how lovely her hourglass figure remained, even at seventy-two. The lovely blonde didn’t try to hide her age. She just looked fantastic in it. “Though I have to say,” Isa continued before Theresa could respond, “Ezra is the last person I’d have expected to bring you to us...” She was grinning, gazing so adoringly up at her son that Theresa almost felt envious.

  To be loved to that extent, that someone didn’t care you’d missed eighteen years of parties, because they were so happy you’d come to one...

  Isa took over the girls then, taking them first to see baby Iris, who was sleeping, and then showing them a kids’ hut on the other side of the large grassy area where the picnic tables had been set up.

  An hour later, Theresa still hadn’t had her girls back at her side or had a chance to speak with either one of them. Nor had she had a chance for any private conversation with Ezra. The first made her a tad bit uncomfortable. The latter she knew was for the best.

  “You think we should take Claire and Neve to ride before or after we eat?” The man in her thoughts spoke into her ear, leaning from just behind her. They’d just finished listening to Naomi talking about her plans for the show she’d be filming at the ranch soon, and Theresa figured they had about five seconds or so before someone else came up to join them.

  “That’s entirely your call,” she said, and then took the rare private chance to tell him, “You can go play horseshoes or cornhole or whatever with your family. You don’t have to stand here and babysit me.”

  She needed him to go. Give her a breather. She loved having him there, too much. Loved listening to him banter with his siblings almost as much as she loved the serious answers he gave to a couple of sincere questions Dom had asked about Ezra’s last assignment in Afghanistan.

  A very strongly needed reminder to her that Ezra Colton had a real life.

  And how very far away it was from anything she could live with.

  “Are you kidding?” he asked, leaning toward her again, as though anyone else could hear him in the chaos going on around them. “You’re my excuse not to have to whup their butts or pretend that I’m not letting them win.”

  The bravado was only more of what she’d been hearing from the brothers and sisters for the past hour, but in Ezra’s case, she had a feeling he was speaking the truth. At least somewhat.

  Mostly, she had a feeling the man really did prefer standing with her rather than hanging out with his siblings en masse. He’d seemed to relax when Dom had joined them for a few minutes, but the man had been so clearly besotted with Sami—a landscaper who Theresa had thoroughly enjoyed speaking with—and had been eager to show her around.

  Get her alone was more like it, though Theresa kept that thought to herself.

  “I had no idea the girls would be the only kids here besides the baby,” she said, as they had another minute with no one approaching. “Everyone is spoiling them so much I’ll never be able to get them to sleep tonight. I was expecting a slew of kids running around.”

  “Nope, Iris is it,” he said with a shrug. “Who’d have thought—twelve kids, the oldest two being thirty-nine, and only one grandchild.” Who was still sleeping. Or maybe sleeping again. It wasn’t like she’d been privy to the baby’s activities all afternoon. The girls had come out of the kids’ hut with a couple of horses painted with watercolors, running to show them to her, and then had been called over to play cornhole. One on each team. They were laughing, hollering encouragements and having the time of their lives.

  And they hadn’t even been on the horses yet...

  “It looks like Dom could be providing a grandchild in the not-so-distant future,” she said, happy for her daughters, and worried, too. Disney World was halfway across the country. Gemini Ranch was right there in town.

  “I’d never have thought Dom would ever settle down or want a family, but it does appear like he’s on his way there,” Ezra allowed, frowning as he looked over the grounds at clusters of siblings and others they’d invited. “Caleb’s married now, too. And Aubrey, Rachel and Gideon have all found happiness...”

  “You don’t like the people they’re with?” she asked.

  “Yeah!” He glanced at her then. “I do, actually.”

  And she felt stupid for thinking she knew him well enough to read his expressions. “Sorry... I just thought you sounded...not happy about it...”

  His shrug brought her attention to those massive shoulders, but only until she saw the troubled look in the blue eyes trained completely on her.

  A woman could happily melt right there...

  “I don’t like the change,” he said then. “Or maybe, better put, I don’t like that things can change so drastically in such a short time.” The words seemed to make him more uneasy.

  And Theresa went into immediate nurturing mode. It was what she did best. What she was born to do. “And yet you know that they can,” she said softly. “Your experience with your dad taught you that.”

  A tragic course of events that, at sixteen, could mar a man for life. Ezra clearly liked order. His military haircut might be mandatory, but everything else about the man was in place as well.

  Even the way he seemed to need a solid explainable reason for every single thing that he did.

  Something that drew her to him in a very dangerous way.

  “Just as it taught you that it doesn’t take away your own ability to make choices for yourself,” she added. “If Dom didn’t want to give up undercover work, I’m guessing he wouldn’t be doing it.”

  “True, that...”

  Whatever else Ezra had been about to say was interrupted as another attractive, dark-haired woman joined them. Ezra introduced her as Morgan. Twin to the Caleb who just got married. An attorney like her twin, in partnership with him at their own firm. They were the firstborn Colton heirs.

  And had made the news a number of times as they ran The Truth Foundation, an organization they initially spearheaded to help free the innocents their father had wrongfully put away. Last she’d heard, they’d taken care of almost all of them.

  Morgan’s welcome of Theresa sounded sincere. She praised Claire and Neve. Was polite, kind, and seemed to be heading somewhere, a purpose for coming over to them with no one else around. But when the pleasantries were done, she just turned to Ezra and said, “So, how were things at The Corner Pocket the other night?”

  His night out with Dom and Oliver. The night he’d texted Theresa, and then called late...

  “Same as usual. I beat the crap out of them. They said I cheated.”

  “They let you win. You know that, right?”

  “Ha! That’s what they want you to think.” Ezra didn’t seem the least bit concerned one way or the other.

  “I’m guessing Roman comped your beers,” she said then. Roman DiMera, owner of The Corner Pocket. Theresa knew who he was, of course. The man owned the entire waterfront building that housed the pub, but lived in a little apartment above his eatery and bar. But she’d never met him personally, let alone had him offer to comp as much as a French fry.

  “No clue,” Ezra told her. “I wasn’t buying.” She asked a big-sister question confirming that they’d had two apiece, to stay within legal driving limits, and walked off when Isa called out to her, leaving Theresa to wonder why on earth she’d brought up the bar at all.

  Figured it was probably just Morgan’s way of engaging her recalcitrant soldier brother in conversation, but she took the whole episode as a needed reminder that she was way outside her league at a Colton barbecue.

  But so it went for most of the afternoon. Introductions. Kindness. Great food. Conversations that gave her insights into Ezra.

  The Colton siblings enthusiastically taking turns entertaining the six-year-old twins their brother had invited into their midst.

  And she and Ezra, side by side.

  It took all of Theresa’s great well of strength to keep herself from falling for the moment.

  Chapter 7

  Who’d have thought that seeing the glow on the faces of two little kids could bring such pleasure? Glancing up at Claire and Neve as Jasper and Aubrey helped the girls into their saddles and then asked if they were ready, Ezra felt the jolt like lightning shooting through him.

  As though he had some ownership in the joy and happiness of anyone’s kid.

  He was so not a family man. All it took was an outing with all of the Coltons, a reminder of a lifetime of cacophony, and he knew that, unlike Dom, he wasn’t open to a major life change.

  He was a normal guy who noticed an incredible woman when he met her, though. From the way Theresa held court with his siblings, engaging with them so naturally, keeping track of who was who, to the way her long dark hair—free from the bun for once—flowed around her upper body...she’d snagged his attention.

  In a huge way.

  And the beauty was, he could enjoy the moment, without having to fret about any of the rest of it. Theresa wasn’t at all interested in, or probably even capable of, falling for any guy. Not while she was still a young widow grieving for the husband she’d lost.

  Having her at his side for the entire afternoon, someone whose conversation was an immediate draw, not a potential threat, with a body that tantalized in a hands-off kind of way... The combination distracted him from his constant need to put up walls where his family was concerned. Not once, in all the hours they were at the Gemini, did he think about lands far away.

  Or long for escape.

  In the Jeep on the way home, while the girls took turns reading from a new horse book Aubrey had given them from the kids’ hut, Ezra couldn’t remember ever being so relaxed—and so alive at the same time.

  As he glanced at Theresa, a curious desire to unburden himself came over him. He fought it. Made it most of the way home. But when he turned a couple of blocks from Theresa’s place, he glanced at her again and said, “You thought you didn’t have any way to pay me back for what you perceive to be huge favors on my part, and I just have to tell you, the favors you do might not seem like much to you, but back there, the afternoon we just spent... I owe you.”

  She frowned. But wasn’t looking at him. He was turning the corner onto her street and she was staring down the road.

  Following her gaze, he understood immediately. The mint-condition old blue truck would have stood out on any street. In front of her house...

  Slowing, with a quick glance in the rearview mirror to ensure that the girls were still engrossed in their story, with Claire correcting Neve on a sentence she was sounding out, he asked, “You want me to turn around?”

  His instincts insisted that was what he should do. Immediately.

  Theresa shook her head. “They have an end goal that I can’t allow, but they aren’t violent people,” she said softly. Always the nurturer.

  He admired the hell out of her. And wanted to shake her, too.