Her smile was like oxygen and sunshine had merged together to give life to the darkest, most barren of existences.

That was all Maddox could think of as he stared at the woman sitting on Lissa's barstool. Her eyes were a deep, expressive brown, framed by long, black eyelashes that seemed to protect the shadows etched in her eyes. There were circles under her eyes, and her face was pale. She looked exhausted, the kind of exhausted from a lifetime of hardship, not from a day or two of inadequate sleep. When he'd first seen her, his initial thought had been that she was like a lost puppy, who needed a hug, a warm bed, and someone to watch over her so she could sleep without fear.

But when she'd smiled at him, all those thoughts had fled. Her smile seemed to plunge right through all the barriers he'd erected over the last thirty years, unleashing a raw, visceral surge of emotion that he hadn't felt since the day he walked in and found his mother dead on the couch. He had shut down after that, a gradual destruction of his humanity, with the final blow being that night when he was seventeen.

He was hard. He made sure he was hard. It was the only way to survive, and it was, quite frankly, all he deserved. But with this woman staring at him with… kindness? Empathy? Concern? It felt as if she saw in him the same humanity that he'd crushed so long ago, and it made him want to suddenly breathe again, as if he'd stopped breathing years ago.

Then, the little girl clinging to her so tightly lifted her head to look at him, too. Her white blonde hair was tangled, her eyes were wide, and she was staring at him as if she'd never seen a human being before. Her face was solemn, much too solemn for a small child. Instinctively, he smiled at her, trying to coax a smile in return.

She stared at him for another moment, her face staying completely serious.

Maddox's smile widened, and he wrinkled his nose at her, just as he did with his brother's baby. He made the same face that made his tiny nephew crack up, and this little girl didn't disappoint. A little dimple appeared in her right cheek, before she ducked her head back against her mom's shoulder.

Satisfaction thrummed through Maddox, and his smile was real as he glanced again at the woman's face. She looked shocked, staring at Maddox as if he were from another planet. His amusement faded, and hardness settled around his heart again. Yeah, that's what he was used to. People looking at him like he was a fucking psychopath, which wasn't far off from the truth.

His jaw hard, he dragged his gaze off her, and settled it on Lissa's face. She was watching him with a small smile lifting the corners of her mouth. Her amusement made him frown even more deeply. "Shouldn't you be home?" he growled at his soon-to-be sister-in-law. "The driving is going to get bad really soon."

"I will, as soon as my pies finish baking. Just another ten minutes or so."

"Pies?" He couldn't keep the disbelief out of his voice. "You're staying around in this weather for pies?"

"Yes, because that way, I can freeze them, and they will be all set for whenever I can open again." Her smile widened. "Have I ever told you how much I appreciate the fact that all you guys watch out for me?"

He nodded. "All the time." He stayed by the door, not wanting to get involved. He just wanted Lissa to get out of there and to get home safely. With his brother Travis out of town, it was his responsibility to make sure his brother's fiancée was safe. "It's time to leave, Lissa. The wind is picking up, and visibility is starting to go down. When it really starts to snow, driving is going to be impossible." As he spoke, his gaze flicked to Lissa's guests again. He'd seen them drive up in the SUV with the U-Haul trailer attached. Where the hell were they planning to go? They weren't going to be able to get too far in the storm. Not that they were his problem. They really weren't. "Where you headed?" he asked them, before his plan not to worry about them had even finished forming in his head.

"The old Anderson place," Lissa answered. "Maddox, this is Hannah Crowley and her daughter, Ava. Hannah, this is Maddox. He's one of my eight future brothers-in-law, although he doesn't live on the Stockton ranch. Yet."

Maddox sighed with irritation. "You know I'm never going to move onto that ranch. You guys need to lay off. It gets annoying."

"Of course it gets annoying. Eventually, you're going to get so tired of us pressuring you to live there, that it's going to be easier for you just to move onto the ranch and build a house there, than it is to deal with our incessant, annoying harassment." Lissa grinned as she said it, looking completely unrepentant.

Maddox couldn't help but grin. He didn't like women. He didn't trust women. But his brothers who had settled down had chosen well. He particularly liked Lissa, because she somehow made him smile when no one else in the world could. Not often, but once in a while. "No chance."

"There's always a chance," Lissa announced cheerfully.

He sighed and glanced back at Hannah. He was getting restless, and had to get this settled so he could get on the road. "The Anderson place? On Ridge Street?"

"You know it?" Hannah's face lit up. "Would you be able to give me directions? I haven't been able to find it, and my GPS doesn't work without cell service. Lissa says it's too complicated and she would have to drive me, but of course I would never let her drive me in the snow. I just need to get there. Maybe you can give me directions?"

Her eyes were incredible. They'd been beautiful when she'd been staring at him warily, exhaustion weighing heavily, but now, they were literally sparkling with energy. Son of a bitch. He suddenly wanted to walk across that café, sit down on the stool next to her, and try to think of everything he could say that would bring that kind of life into her eyes. It felt like she was pouring hope right into the darkest recesses of his damaged, blackened soul. "Your eyes are riveting."

Her eyes widened, and he heard Lissa cough. Swearing, he realized what he'd said. He stepped back, his back brushing against the front door. "You'll never find the Anderson place in this weather," he said gruffly. "You need to crash in town."

"I'm not staying in town," Hannah said. "Ava and I need to get to the house, and get settled in. I can't believe it's that hard to tell me how to get there." She looked back and forth between them. "I just need directions. Please."

There was a desperation in her voice that pricked at him. He fisted his hands. "Don't be stubborn. That place has been abandoned for years. It's probably not even habitable. You can't go there."

Lissa clapped her hands. "That's what I told her. I invited her to come back to my place to stay, but she won't. Tell her that she needs to come home with me. It's the only solution that makes sense, but like you said, she's being stubborn—"

"I'm always stubborn. It's part of my charm," Hannah said.

He almost grinned. "Stubbornness isn't charming." But even as he said it, he knew he was lying. She was charming as hell, and he appreciated a woman with enough strength to fight for what she wanted. Weak or vulnerable women terrified him, because they reminded him of his mother.

"Of course stubbornness is adorable," she countered. "I'm completely captivating. So, please, succumb to my manipulative charms and tell me how to get there."

He folded his arms over his chest. "There's no chance in hell that I'm going to send you off to try to find that place in this weather."

Hannah sighed and looked at Lissa. "Is this what you meant when you said they're protective?"

Lissa grinned. "Yep. See? So, you need to come home with me."

Hannah's face fell, and Maddox felt a stab of guilt at the anguish on her face.

"I really don't want to impose upon anybody," she said with a weary sigh. "It's been a long trip, and I just really need to get settled in our place. We need to get started."

Maddox saw the raw vulnerability on her face, and suddenly he understood. She wasn't being stubborn. She was simply trying to create a foundation to hold herself up. He had been that desperate once. He also understood her need not to go home with Lissa. It was the same reason he refused to move onto the ranch with his brothers. He needed his own space, and he needed to be careful to never get too close to anyone again, so that when he snapped and fulfilled the legacy he was destined for, there would be no one close enough for him to destroy.

He met her gaze, and felt himself falling into those brown eyes. So much pain. So much grief. But at the same time there was an indomitable fierceness, the one trait that his mother had never had, which was why she had died. The exhaustion on Hannah's face made it clear that, despite her fierceness, she had so little reserves left. She needed to be home, he knew it. He could see it on every line of her face, and the way she held her daughter so tightly.

Swearing, he glanced outside at the blowing snow. He needed to get the hell on the road, or he would be stranded in Rogue Valley, too. But when he looked back in the café, he saw the two women watching him, both looking at him like he held the key to everything. He clenched his jaw, and then Ava lifted her head off her mom's shoulder and looked at him. Those silent blue eyes stared at him, wrapping around his heart, and he swore, realizing that there was no chance in hell he was going to drive out of town until these three females were safe. He'd come to the café to make sure Lissa was safe, and now Hannah and Ava were also on his list.

He sighed, swearing under his breath as he realized he might as well just accept the truth, that he was sunk. Glaring at them all, he jerked off his coat, tossed it on a chair, and strode into the café. "I'll finish the pies, Lissa. You get the hell back home. Once they're in the freezer, I'll escort Hannah and Ava to the Anderson place. Got it?" But as he spoke to Lissa, he couldn't keep his gaze from sliding over toward Hannah as he approached the counter.

There was no way for him to miss the sheen of tears as they filled Hannah's eyes at his words, and suddenly he knew he'd done the right thing. His life was dirty and gritty, and there wasn't anything pretty about it, but he knew in that moment, that he'd done something that mattered.

"Really?" she whispered. "You will?"

"Yeah," he said gruffly. "It's not a big deal. I was headed that direction anyway." Which was passably true.

She smiled, a smile so genuine that he smiled back. Yeah, that felt good.

Lissa, not surprisingly, frowned at him, however. "What if the heat isn't on? What if the house isn't actually habitable?" She folded her arms over her chest. "There's no way —"

"I'll check it out. If it's not okay, then we'll head to the ranch. Okay?"

Lissa narrowed her eyes at him, then finally nodded. "Okay, but I'll stay and finish the pies, so you can get going with them. It's a much longer drive out to the Anderson place than it is for me to get back to the ranch."

Maddox ducked behind the counter, grabbed her coat from the hook by the kitchen door, and held it out to her. "I've been in your kitchen before. I know what to do. Get out, or I'm going to call Travis and tell him that the woman he loves is taking unnecessary risks with her safety. You want him to worry about you when he's in New York, unable to get back here to help you?"

Mentioning Travis's worry for her did it. Concern flicked in Lissa's eyes, and she inclined her head. "Okay. I'll go. But I want you to text me and let me know whether you're bringing Hannah and Ava to my place or not. And the pies will be ready in ten minutes." She hesitated. "I don't want you to overcook them—"

"I know how to tell if pies are done." He helped her get her coat on, moving her toward the kitchen. "Text me when you get back to the ranch. Get out."

Lissa turned, and gave him a quick hug. Then she winked at Hannah. "Welcome to Rogue Valley, Hannah. The café is open almost every day, so even if you end up staying at the Anderson place tonight, you come see me when the storm is over. You need a friend, and I'm here for you."

Maddox didn't miss the flash of longing on Hannah's face, and he sure as hell noticed the way she stiffened, as if trying to talk herself out of her need to respond to Lissa's overture. Clearly, Hannah was a loner, like him. He felt a flash of regret. Being a loner might be the only way to survive, but sometimes it completely sucked.

He held the door for Lissa, watching until she went out the back door, and the door swung shut behind her, leaving him alone in the café with an oven full of pies, and two females who were going to be in serious trouble if he didn't deliver for them.

He wasn't good for women. He knew he wasn't. He'd learned that lesson a long time ago. Swearing, he closed his eyes. How the hell had he just gotten himself into this situation?

Not that it mattered. He was in it, and now he had to see it through.

Gritting his teeth, he turned around to face the two females counting on him.