“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Maggie picked a piece of imaginary lint off of her dress. Talk about mining the back of a closet looking for the perfect outfit. She hadn’t worn this dress since the dinner where the parents, teachers, and school board members had welcomed her officially as the new guidance counselor. Maggie had been so worried about meeting a bunch of high society parents that she had emptied her savings account on the slinky black dress in the hopes of fitting in.

Darren raked her from head to toe with his gaze. “You look amazing, by the way. Did I tell you that? I keep forgetting. I think it’s because you’re so hot in that dress that my mind is blown every time I look at you.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” she giggled. Leave it to Darren to lighten the mood with some silly comments that were so off the wall that she couldn’t help but smile. “And yes. I’m ready. I have a degree in dealing with crazy. Remember?”

“Yes.” Darren sighed as he looped her right arm through his left and led her up the front steps of the Parkside Manor. “But are you sure you can handle rich and crazy? Because I feel like rich and crazy is way crazier than regular crazy.”

“Right.” Maggie was completely swept up in their repartee, which made it easy to enter one of Denver’s most expensive party venues without batting an eyelash at the elegant opulence of the restored mansion. “Because socioeconomic status has everything to do with how people relate to one another.”

“It really does.” Darren’s tone was grave. “Trust me.”

They stepped through the front room with its leaded windows, elegant columns, and enormous fireplace. The spring night was cool, and there was a small fire blazing in the brick structure although with every door and window open there was no way to feel any heat from the flames.

Of course, it would have been difficult to feel heat from anything other than the total crush of bodies in the room anyway. It was almost impossible to enjoy the warm-toned wood floors because there were so many pairs of high heels and boots scuffing it up. Maggie tried not to gape, but she had never been to a party like this.

“You said this is a birthday party?” Maggie whispered to Darren over the din in the room. “For who?”

“That lady right there.”

Darren turned Maggie halfway around on his arm in order to spot a woman who had to be pushing ninety. She was wearing an actual peacock feather in her hair, and her frock looked like it had come from the set of a play about the Regency era.

Not wasting a single moment, Darren sashayed right up to the old woman and gave her the charming grin that had become his trademark amongst society. “Mrs. McGinnity! It is amazing to see you looking so young and gorgeous!” Darren took her hand and kissed it.

She actually swatted him with a fan. Maggie had to bite her lip to keep herself from bursting into laughter. The old woman was blushing like a schoolgirl. “Oh you! Darren Hernandez! You Hernandez men were always such rogues!”

Rogues? Who used that word anymore? Maggie could not help but smile at the woman. It was obvious that even at—well, whatever her age was—she was still as spry and sharp-witted as ever.

“I’d like to introduce you to my fiancée,” Darren told Mrs. McGinnity. “This is Miss Margaret Brown.”

“Do you have family here in town, Ms. Brown?” Mrs. McGinnity was peering at Maggie as though she were a heifer on display to be auctioned off. Maggie wondered if she should show the woman her teeth or something equally strange.

“Actually, my parents have both passed on,” Maggie told the elderly birthday girl. “They were both professors at the university.”

“Oh, how lovely!” This seemed to placate Mrs. McGinnity. “Well, you two young people have a wonderful time this evening!” Then the woman leaned in closer. “I chose to hold my birthday celebration in a house that used to belong to a distant relative, you know. Great fun!”

Maggie wanted to nod, but she was too busy wondering how she was supposed to fit in with these people. Was this really what Darren’s family was like? Maybe he was right. Maybe rich people were a whole other breed that Maggie didn’t need to get mixed up with.

“Ah, there they are,” Darren muttered. “And that’s pretty much exactly where I figured I would find them too. Isn’t this great? You’ll get to meet Ma, Pa, and three of my brothers too.”

“I know Laredo already,” Maggie reminded him. “He doesn’t count.”

“Yeah? Well, neither do the rest of them at the moment. This is why rich people don’t want anyone outside their little cliques to see them at a party.”

“I don’t get it.” Maggie kept hold of Darren’s arm as he led her toward the bar where his family appeared to be engaged in a drinking contest of some kind.

“People are just people, Maggie.” Darren stopped walking. “That’s the big secret. No matter how much money they have. They are just people. Now, are you sure you want to meet my family?”

“We’re going to get married,” she reminded him. “Yes. I need to meet your family. Besides, I’ve met Laredo. He’s about as polite and civilized as a pissed-off bear. I can’t imagine the others are any more shocking than that.”

Okay. So, that’s what she said, but the reality was a little different. It wasn’t hard to spot Laredo Hernandez up at the bar. He was distinctive because he looked like a ruder version of Darren. But what she also noticed was that there were two additional versions of Darren, one a good head shorter, and the other actually taller. Then there was a much older version that could only be Joe Hernandez—patriarch of the whole bunch. Perhaps Maggie would have changed her mind about the whole thing if it weren’t for the blond woman sitting primly on a barstool chatting with another older woman. Both ladies had on pastel gowns and plenty of jewelry, but the one that Maggie guessed to be Avery Hernandez also wore a beautiful smile.

“Is that your mother?” Maggie grabbed Darren’s arm to slow his walk as she whispered in his ear.

“Yep. That’s my ma.” He sounded flippant. “Why? She doesn’t appear too scary. Does she? You know, from a potential mother-in-law perspective.”

“Gee, thanks,” Maggie muttered. “I hadn’t even thought of it in those terms yet. But no. She actually looks really nice. How in the heck did she survive all of you?”

“She had Jesse,” Darren admitted. “Finally having a girl, even a tomboy version, seemed to make all the difference for my mother.”

“I can certainly understand that.” Actually, Maggie was surprised the woman hadn’t died of exhaustion years ago. Just watching her grown offspring slam down shot glasses and pint glasses full of liquors while pointing and howling at each other was daunting.

The family dynamic was incredibly strange. As they drew closer and closer, Maggie could not help but notice that Laredo played games with his brothers with a grudging sort of superiority that made him seem like a total snob. The younger ones were oblivious in a way that suggested they did not give a rat’s ass about anything but the free food and liquor. And all three of them were turned just slightly away from their father in a way that suggested they didn’t want anything to do with him and yet were simultaneously too chicken to say that outright.

“Holy crap,” Maggie muttered. “They’re going to eat me alive. I can feel it.”

Darren put his arm around her shoulders and gently pressed a kiss to her cheek. Just the warmth and security of having him near made everything manageable. She loved this man. She loved him more than anyone else, and that meant she wanted to be a part of everything about him. Even his snooty, completely dysfunctional family.

“Mom, hi.” Darren leaned in and brushed a kiss over Avery’s cheek.

His mother beamed at him. Then she turned that smile right to Maggie. “This must be Maggie Brown. We’ve already heard so much about you from Laredo.”

Maggie felt as though her smile was now frozen on her face. From Laredo? Great. They probably thought she had fur and a tail that appeared once a month on the full moon right before she ran around howling and eating children.

“Don’t worry.” Avery Hernandez seemed to guess the direction of Maggie’s thoughts. “Laredo was very complimentary, which of course means that we all know you’re an absolute saint! He told us what you did for poor Bella.”

Finally, a topic Maggie felt comfortable with! “Bella is a really wonderful little girl. You wouldn’t know she’s just nine years old from speaking with her.”

Avery cast a dark look at Laredo. “That’s because her father is such an idiot and a hard-ass.”

Maggie was trying to decide if she had really just heard a woman in a pastel blue gown with diamond bobs on her ears use the words “hard-ass.” Fortunately for her, Joe Hernandez chose that second to turn around and give Maggie a very thorough once-over from head to toe. There it was again! Those feelings of being evaluated like a heifer at auction. What was it with these rancher types?

“So, you’re Maggie Brown,” Joe Hernandez muttered. Then he turned and glared at Darren. “And I can’t imagine why you are showing your face at a function like this. You’re no good here. You don’t even work for the office. I hear you got a job at a school or some such nonsense.”

Maggie could not stand it. “You know, I sometimes wonder where the Hernandez brothers get their bad attitudes and mood swings from. Laredo is practically an emotional cripple. But now that I’ve actually met you”—Maggie curled her lip, put her hands on her hips, and glared at Joe—“I absolutely know where they got their crappy attitudes from! It has to be because of the complete lack of validation and anything approaching warmth and support from their family. Your son just got a new job! He’s using his college degree, starting a family, and he’s going to be getting married very soon. How can you not be happy for that? Plenty of men in your position would be ecstatic! What is wrong with you?”

There was a pause. In fact, there was a pause in more than just the tiny crowd of Hernandez family members surrounding them. Maggie could feel the eyes of the whole room boring holes into her back. Everyone was waiting to see what Joe Hernandez was going to do with this woman who had just gotten in his face to tell him he was wrong.

He laughed.

For a moment, Maggie thought she had lost her mind, but it was true. Joe Hernandez was laughing at her. Not just a few chuckles either. The man was practically bent over guffawing like some silly goofball at a comedy show.

“Oh, I like her, Darren!” Joe blustered. “You’re all forgiven. I still think you’re an idiot for leaving our company to become a teacher, but if this is what makes you happy, then it’s what you need to do. And what’s this I hear about you getting your kid back?” Joe’s expression shifted to something hard that made Maggie want to take a hasty step back. “Are you actually taking that Carly woman to court?”

Darren pursed his lips. Maggie looped her arm through his and tried to stay out of this. It was for Darren to tell. Not her. “I have custody of my son right now.”

“That’s what the boys said.” Joe jerked his head toward his other sons. The two younger ones were still challenging each other to some idiot drinking game. Laredo was now nursing a drink at the bar in one of his broody silences. “But you are going to court?”

“Yes.” Darren looked tense. “We have to try to get him away from his mother. She’s not a fit parent. His grandmother has been caring for him, but she’s very sick and has been hospitalized.”

Avery Hernandez reached out and gave Darren a warm squeeze. “You’ve got our support, sweetheart. You know that. Even your big dumb father.”

“I support all of my kids,” Joe grunted. “I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m such a mean father.”

“Maybe because of the way you treat Jesse,” Darren said suddenly.

Maggie held her breath. The change that came over Joe Hernandez’s face at the mention of Jesse Collins was shocking. Maggie had never seen anything like it. The amount of mingled remorse, regret, shame, and yet the thread of hope that was harbored on that man’s face told a story that nobody else seemed to see.

“You don’t know a thing about me and Jesse,” Joe said harshly. “And don’t think you do.”

“I know that Jesse is twenty-one. I know that she gets control of her ranch. I know you don’t like it.” Darren’s words weren’t hard, but they were to the point. “I know that every time you press Jesse to give us something that belongs to her, it’s like giving her a little cut. And there have been about a million tiny cuts that just bleed and bleed.”

“I love that girl,” Joe told Darren. “You don’t understand what it’s like to watch your best friend die and then be told that you’re going to raise his only child as your own. Then you have this kid and you try like hell to make things work. You give her everything she has, and you try to protect her.”

“From what?” Darren asked bitterly.

Maggie watched Joe’s expression. There was something that none of them were seeing here. There was something else. She nodded to Joe. “What was that just now?”

“What was what?” Joe snapped.

“The thought you had just now,” Maggie continued. “What was that thought? I can see from your expression that it was a big deal.”

“Thought?” Joe actually took a mincing sort of step back from Maggie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes. You do,” Maggie pressed. Sometimes confrontation was the only way to affect progress. Funny. She had never done very well with this in school. But right now, with Darren by her side, confrontation did not seem so scary. “What were you thinking about?”

“John and Katie,” Joe grunted. “I was thinking about John and Katie Collins.”

Avery sucked in a quick breath of surprise. “Jesse’s aunt and uncle?”

“Yes.” Joe gave a hard nod. Then he pointed at Darren. “You never knew how badly those two tried to jerk her around when she was young. None of you knew.”

“Cal knew.” Darren’s words were obviously on the mark although they were equally obviously a guess.

Maggie didn’t want to lose the momentum. “What about John and Katie?”

“They tried to take her ranch from her,” Joe told Darren. Suddenly, Laredo was listening instead of nursing that drink. Everybody was. “We had to file a restraining order against them. They kept coming after Jesse and trying to guilt her into giving them her trust fund.”

“And now?”

Avery sighed. She touched her husband’s arm, and he visibly flinched. It was so interesting to see the weird dynamic between them. Were all Hernandez men this strange about their relationships with women? Maybe it was just a genetic or learned trait.

But Avery wasn’t done giving away a little more insight. “Joe is afraid they’re going to try and contact Jesse again. He hasn’t heard from them in years, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still out there waiting.”

Darren looked as though he were having a tough time swallowing this. “So, you’ve been nagging her to give you the land because you think she’s not capable of seeing through her own relations’ attempts to steal from her?”

“I don’t want her to lose that place now!” Joe was back to growling. His armor was fully restored, and he was in control of himself. “Do you know how much I’ve invested in it over the years?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Maggie said quietly. “It never does when you’re talking about your child. Think about it. When they grow up, they’re going to become their own people. They will make their own mistakes and have their own successes, and that’s just part of raising children to be adults. You wouldn’t want her to stay a kid forever, would you?”

To Maggie’s horror, Joe actually looked as though he were contemplating that idea. Finally, he ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. Maggie could see that his hand was shaking. Whatever this man knew—whatever he was unwilling to share—it cut him very deeply.

“No,” Joe said quietly. “I don’t want Jesse to stay a kid forever. Her mother and father wouldn’t have wanted that either.”

“So, let her grow up and do her own thing,” Maggie suggested. “She’s a part of this family too, right? Don’t make her feel like you aren’t supporting her as she’s going out on her own.”

Joe pointed at Darren. “Are you marrying Dr. Ruth or something? What the hell? A man can’t even be a belligerent ass anymore without someone getting in his face and saying he needs to get in touch with his feelings? I don’t like it.”

Darren put his arm around Maggie and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “You don’t like it because it’s uncomfortable, Dad. I get it. Maggie has a way of not letting you get by with pretending you don’t know you’re being an idiot. It’s part of her charm.”

Maggie had no idea if that was a compliment or not, but she was willing to take it. She’d just made it through her first meeting with the giants of the Hernandez Land & Cattle Company, and now she could finally relax and boast that she had met her future husband’s family. Was that actually a good thing? Maggie could not be sure. In fact, the only thing she was absolutely sure about was that Darren Hernandez was the right guy for her. It didn’t matter how crazy his family was or how strange their history and their habits could seem. Maggie loved Darren. Darren loved Maggie. And that was all that mattered.