Kevin Beck greeted him at the front door, taking Isaac from Marc’s arms. There weren’t a whole lot of older men in Isaac’s life and the little boy had attached himself to Kevin shortly after they’d first met. It was no surprise, Kevin was already a doting grandfather. He’d just made room for Marc’s kids in his family without hesitating.

Marcus greatly appreciated it. He’d always respected Kevin; the man had been his uncle’s closest friend for all of Marc’s childhood.

“Your mother is already inside. With Jillian and Ariella.” Kevin hugged Isaac and sent him and Katie off, Horace bounding around in front of them, and Marc’s guard Donovan following the children closely. Warner stayed with the car. Kevin waited until the kids had shot through the open back door to the fenced yard before looking back at Marc. “Travis is running late, Rafe is bringing Lacy with him from the hospital. Brynna and the rest are coming from Mel’s shortly. Your mother greeted my daughter with the question: are you the one who rocks all the time or the one who can’t read? Jillian controlled herself, though. Your mother doesn’t know about her and Rafe, yet, does she?”

“Or even Lacy. Travis feels that if Mother can’t acknowledge Rafe as her son, then she can’t acknowledge us, either.” Marc didn’t feel all that differently. She had inserted herself into the public light during his first run at governor. And she’d been there ever since.

He tolerated her. But he made a point of keeping her leashed.

Tonight was not going to go well at all.

“Then things are about to get interesting. Because Rafe just pulled in next door. You have about thirty seconds to deal with your mother.”

* * *

Ari normally had a pretty even temper. Rarely did she ever actually get spitting mad at someone. But this woman who had forced her way into the Beck family home was taking the cake. She had delivered insults nonstop to both Ari and Jillian.

And she didn’t even know them.

Mrs. Deane should at least wait until she knew them before spilling forth her vitriol. Jillian shot a look at Ari. One that told her that her best friend was holding on to her fire-breathing-Jillian temper by a tiny thread.

Not good. This was Jillian—and Lacy’s—future mother-in-law, after all. Someone had to do something and fast.

Before Jillian made her own life difficult. At least where Rafe’s adoptive mother was concerned.

“Kevin has a wonderful home, and it’s always welcoming to friends,” Ari said to the woman, biting back what she really wanted to say. This woman had not been invited, and was not welcome. Period.

Ari turned away from the woman before she said something that made things worse for Jillian just as a tall, dark-haired man entered the kitchen. She smiled, a sense of relief filling her.

Marc would surely be enough of a distraction for his own mother.

Lacy had told her that the older woman focused all of her attention on the governor now and ignored the younger sons.

Because she liked his political status.

Ari would never understand a mother like that.

She studied him for a moment, noting the changes that a month or so had brought. Marc looked tired. Worried. He’d trimmed some of the curls out of his hair and grown a neat beard.

Normally, didn’t find bearded men all that attractive. But it looked good on the governor. Made him look all distinguished—and disguised some of his youthful dimples. She liked it. Of course, she liked the dimples, too. Marc had that classically handsome charm that made him look so perfect on the television.

He was dressed more casually than he usually was, in a gray FCU tee shirt and worn jeans. He didn’t look like the politician she usually saw on TV. He looked young, strong, fit and very handsome.

She had to admit, in the last few weeks she’d been making a point of following his television appearances when she could. Surprisingly, she’d found she agreed with a good deal of his political standpoints. She hadn’t voted for him the last election, but she would the next. If he ran. No one knew if he would and he hadn’t said in her hearing that he was planning to. He’d been extremely busy, especially on drug reform.

So had she. They’d had another dozen clients at W4HAV come through their temporary headquarters—and she was trying to get their new building ready as quickly as possible. It had taken months of delays to get to this point.

It was going slower than she’d expected. She and Margo just might have to dip into the budget to hire workers to finish it on time.

“Marcus! I did not know you and the children were in town,” a strident voice broke into Ari’s thoughts and had her wincing. And getting out of the way.

“We arrived yesterday. Hello, Mother.”

Ari and Jillian shared a look. Ari had never heard Marc sound so cold to someone. Usually, he was kind and calm and considerate. He stepped up to Ariella’s shoulder and touched her arm lightly.

“Ariella, Jillian, you’re both looking as beautiful as always.” He usually said something kind whenever he first saw her. Ari had always appreciated that. Even if she somehow doubted he meant it.

He surprised her by brushing a kiss across her cheek, then leaning around her to hug and kiss the shorter woman on her right. Jillian hugged him back.

Ari was close enough to hear his whispered warning.

Rafe is coming.

Things were about to get really ugly.

Ari did the best thing she possibly could—she opened the cabinet, grabbed the stack of plates and hurried out of the way.

Her father hadn’t raised a fool, after all.

Just a wimp.