Rachel Reardon tried not to run over the woman who had come tearing out of the large ranch house, jumped over the cow lying in the front yard and skidded to a stop a mere breath from the Silver Bullet’s bumper. Before Rachel could get her car shifted into park, her best friend since kindergarten, Alyssa, was yanking open her door and jumping up and down like a crazy person.

“You’re finally here!” her friend shrieked.

“Good lord, Alyssa. You’re going to scare every animal within a hundred miles.” She laughed, as she unhooked her seat belt and clambered out of her car. “Besides, it’s only been four days since your big announcement. It takes two to drive here.”

Alyssa grabbed her and hugged the stuffing out of her. Rachel held on tight, she’d missed Alyssa while she had been here in Colorado getting her degree, and especially now since Alyssa wasn’t coming back to their small home town in eastern Washington. She would be staying in Colorado and getting married.

Alyssa pulled back and shook her finger at Rachel. “Then you could have been here two days ago.”

Rachel grinned, Alyssa had always been the leader in their relationship. Rachel enjoyed letting her lead the charge, while she held back and took pictures documenting their adventures. “Maybe with a little warning, I could have been, but you did not indicate—in any way—when we talked, that you would be getting engaged the very next day.”

“I didn’t know then.” Alyssa widened her eyes. “It was quite a surprise to me, too.” She giggled. “Oh, I have so much to tell you, let’s grab your crap and I’ll show you to the guest room.”

Rachel put her hands on her hips. “You better not be calling my camera equipment crap, young lady. It took me nearly a whole day to get it all together. Engagement pictures and graduation pictures need completely different supplies. Staying here for three months to help you plan your wedding took some major finagling and I had to bring all kinds of stuff with me. Plus, your step-mom decided to send half your closet, in case you wanted your pictures in something you hadn’t taken with you to college. So, some of the crap—as you call it—is yours.”

Alyssa laughed and shook her head sadly. “Believe me I know. I think I spent at least six hours on the phone with her, as she went through every single thing in my closet. And my guess is their car will be more than half-filled with more of my stuff when they drive down for graduation.”

“You are going to live here. So, I totally agree.” Rachel put her hands on her hips. “In fact, I think every time someone drives that distance they’ll be bringing a carload, or even a truckload of your crap. Let’s start carrying. All this stuff is going to take us several trips.”

“No, it won’t.” Alyssa turned towards the house and waved. “I made them wait until I had a chance to hug you.”

Out of the house streamed a half dozen of the hottest men Rachel had ever seen. They’d been in on the conference call proposal, but they’d been sitting down around the table and the camera had been primarily on Beau and Alyssa, so Rachel hadn’t really gotten a good look at any of them. But up close and personal, they all had amazing good looks from the grandfather and father down to the youngest. Even four-year-old Tony was going to be a lady killer when he grew up.

Apparently, the cow was not the least bit interested in being in the path of the unloading route, since she got up and wandered off. Rachel would have to remember to ask Alyssa if that was Dolly, the pet cow of Alyssa’s fiancé, since no one seemed the least bit surprised to have a cow chilling in the front yard.

Alyssa started introducing her to everyone and Rachel could hardly keep up. She got Grandpa K easily and his son and daughter-in-law, Travis and Meg Kipling, were obvious. Little Tony and his mom were good too, but once she got to all the guys she was lost. Alyssa had talked about all of them, so she knew their names—but putting faces to those names—was so not happening right now.

“Whoa, I’m going to need name tags.”

One of the twins laughed. “I’m Cade, the good looking one of the family. The rest aren’t important.” He took her hand and placed it on his arm, then picked up a suitcase in the other hand.

The oldest brother, Adam, she thought, wacked his brother on the back of the head and frowned at her. “Don’t be an ass, Cade.” Then he marched over and took some of her camera equipment out of the car.

Fearing he would not be careful with her equipment, she disengaged from Cade with an apologetic smile, and went over to Adam. “Some of that’s very delicate equipment, you need to be careful with it.”

He rolled his eyes and drawled, “Yes ma’am, I’ll be sure not to break anything. Don’t you worry your little head about it, missy. I have seen a camera before.” Then he turned on his heel and headed for the house, ignoring her completely.

She looked at Alyssa, who was directing the family, and caught her eye. Alyssa gave her the I’ll-explain-later look and went back to unloading the car.

Rachel thought about going back to Cade and letting him escort her in, but decided she was more concerned with her equipment than she was about flirting. Which sadly enough, always seemed to be the case in her life. She handed him a bag with her tripods and told him she’d catch him later.

* * *

Adam Kipling carried the cameras into the house and to the guest bedroom that—in his opinion—Alyssa should still be using. But once the engagement had been announced she’d moved down the hall to Beau’s room. Adam shook his head, maybe he was a prude or something, but he just flat thought it was kind of tacky for the two of them to be tearing up the sheets together in full knowledge of the family. No one else seemed to have a problem with it, so why it chapped him so badly he couldn’t tell. If truth be told it was probably still the age difference between them. A seven-year gap still seemed like a lot, but again no one else seemed to think anything about it.

He supposed his stupid brothers were going to be falling all over Rachel, as Cade had already glommed onto her. She was another sexy woman, just like Alyssa, so he couldn’t really blame Cade. Rachel was average height for a woman with a petite build and long, wavy, brown hair. She had huge hazel eyes and a great smile that turned up at the corners. A beautiful package. He wasn’t sure he wanted to watch a second brother make an ass out of himself. Not his call, though.

He set the camera and equipment cases on the dresser since the desk was about the size of a postage stamp. Why they had such a tiny desk in here he wasn’t sure, maybe he should look around and see if they had something larger. Since Rachel was going to be taking and processing a lot of photos over the next couple of months, she would need somewhere to put a laptop, all her camera equipment, memory cards, and other paraphernalia.

Cade came into the room with a suitcase and a tripod bag and started to dump it all on the bed.

Adam shook his head. “No, don’t put everything on the bed. Put the suitcase over by the closet and the tripod bag next to the dresser. We need to get Rachel a table or decent sized desk, that one’s ridiculous.”

Cade looked at the desk and barked out a laugh. “Yeah, you’re right, I never noticed. No wonder Alyssa moved in with Beau. He has a nice desk she’ll actually be able to use for her final report before graduation.”

That sealed it, Rachel needed a decent desk. Immediately. He didn’t want her to move in with one of his brothers just so she would have a decent workspace. He stayed in the room and directed the rest of the family on where to put all of Rachel’s stuff while he looked on his phone for a place to purchase a better desk. He was the money guy in the family, so he knew they could buy one easily enough.

When Rachel and Alyssa came in with the last few things, he had already found a desk that could be here in three days. He frowned at the girls. “I ordered you a bigger desk, so you’ll have something to use besides that ridiculous thing under the window. It will be here in three days.”

Rachel looked at the desk, then back at him and crossed her arms. “While I will need something larger and I appreciate you getting me one, that ridiculous thing under the window is an antique. It looks like mahogany and it’s clearly from the Victorian era, a lady’s writing desk, even though the chair doesn’t match. How this lovely little desk ended up in the middle of the Colorado mountains would likely be a great tale.” She walked over to the tiny table and ran her hands lovingly over the top. Looking around the room she said, “There’s enough space in here for both—I think—if you don’t mind me keeping it.”

He nodded. “Not at all, saves me from having to find somewhere else to stick it.” He turned to walk out the door and then remembered his manners, so he tipped his hat at them. “Ladies.”

He didn’t understand women, he was trying to be helpful and she’d treated him like he was a moron. Well, he probably was when it came to frou-frou antique desks, but still, showing a little appreciation wouldn’t hurt her.

* * *

Rachel was happy to see all her things so neatly organized, she’d thought it would all be piled on the bed. “Wow, look how nicely they put all my stuff.”

Alyssa put her hands on her hips. “Must be Adam’s doing. All my belongings were in a huge pile on that bed and I didn’t have nearly as much as you do. Adam didn’t help with the carrying in when I came, he was busy with Meg and Travis.”

Rachel walked over and shut the door then rounded on her friend. “So, what’s the deal with him anyway? He seems kind of pissed off that I’m here.”

Alyssa sighed and flopped down on the bed. “It’s not you, it’s me. He thinks I’m too young for Beau or Beau is too old for me. He’s been kind of grumpy about it since day one and even told Beau he was making a mistake.”

“Well who died and made him sheriff? Beau and you are both adults and seven years isn’t all that much. I guess it is while still in public school, but once everyone hits twenty-one it becomes a moot point. What a jerk. Did you guys tell him to butt out and mind his own damn business?” She was so pissed that anyone would rain on her best friend’s romance, she wanted to go tell Mr. High and Mighty to back the hell off.

“Beau did, but Adam’s still the oldest brother so I think it bothers Beau. He tries not to let it show but—”

“Adam is obviously an asshole, and everyone should just ignore him. Everyone else in the family seems thrilled to have you and Beau together.”

Alyssa smiled so big, Rachel thought her face might crack. “They are. Everyone has welcomed me into the family with open arms. Meg is calling me her daughter-in-love.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet.” Rachel really liked that sentiment. It was so much better than daughter in law, like you didn’t really have any choice, it was the law, and you just had to suck it up and deal with it.

“Little Tony started calling me Aunt Lyssa the moment he understood he wasn’t really calling me an insect. Emma had to write it down and show him the different spellings, he’s only four, so it’s a wonder that he understands spelling already. He first started calling me Aunt-with-a-U Lyssa. But Beau explained that he didn’t need to point out that the word had a U in it because he was using it with my name, so no one would be confused and think he was calling me an insect. Tony thought about it for a while and then I guess he decided to believe Beau. It was adorable.”

“He’s a little cutie, that’s for sure. I love that he wanted to help carry in my things. It’s a good thing I had that snack bag, and it was mostly empty from the two-day drive, it was perfect for him.”

“It was, he loves to help. You should see the mess he makes in the kitchen. His first time ‘smashing potatoes’ I almost got hit with a flying spud. They were barely edible, but everyone had two helpings and raved about how good they were.” Alyssa laughed. “Now let’s get you all settled in. I’ll unpack your clothes while you futz around with your camera equipment. Although you will have a new desk in three days, instead of that ‘silly thing under the window’.”

“Ridiculous thing under the window. Get it right, Alyssa.” They both laughed like loons and started unpacking what needed to be hung up or put away. While Alyssa chattered on about all the things she wanted them to do in the next few weeks, Rachel wondered if Adam would eventually come around or if she was going to have to slap some sense into him.