Colton's Ranch Refuge. Beth Cornelison

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      “I don’t know, Piper,” Sawyer sniped. “Why aren’t you living in the Amazon with all the other giant women?”

      Piper turned to glare at her brother, and Gunnar gritted his teeth as he pulled into traffic. “Cut it out, Sawyer. It was a legitimate question. And I live in the cabin because I want to.” He hesitated, studying the passing farmland and quaint homesteads of Pennsylvania Dutch country, and considered the simple lifestyle of the local Amish population. He wasn’t all that different from the Amish in that respect. “The cabin is all I need. It’s just what I need. I like the quiet, the scenery and the proximity to you two brats.” He smiled to take the sting from his teasing. “I missed you guys while I was overseas.”

      Gunnar glanced in the rearview mirror in time to see Sawyer poke his MP3 player earplugs in his ears and face the window.

      Piper had her arms folded over her chest and a pucker of consternation denting her forehead.

      He reached over to squeeze her knee. “Why the frown?”

      She shrugged and then sighed. “Am I too tall for guys to like me?”

      Gunnar shook his head. “Don’t let Sawyer get to you.”

      She scoffed. “I don’t. It’s just …”

      “Piper, look at me.” Gunnar stopped the Suburban at the double gate to the Colton family ranch, the Double C, and Sawyer hopped out to open the gate without being asked.

      Gunnar drilled his younger sister with a hard gaze. Her cornflower-blue eyes held the vulnerability of youth along with a keen intelligence beyond her years. Gunnar felt a rush of protectiveness for his sister. The Amish girls from Paradise Ridge who’d been kidnapped were about Piper’s age.

      “What?” she asked when he lapsed into silence for too long.

      “You are perfect just as you are. And you are beautiful. I’m going to be busy fighting off all the boys who’ll be beating down your door in the next few years.”

      She gave him a lopsided smile. “You have to say that. You’re my brother.”

      Gunnar drove through the gate Sawyer had opened and shook his head. “I have to say it, because it’s true. You are beautiful, and I’ll bet you a new pair of jeans that Heath Hamilton not only knows who you are but is working up the courage to ask you out.”

      She snorted and laughed. “Yeah, right.”

      Sawyer climbed back in the SUV and leaned over the front seat. “What’s with all the cars and buses and stuff?”

      “Huh?” Gunnar looked through the windshield where Sawyer pointed. Sure enough, the driveway to the main ranch house was full of unfamiliar vehicles, and the side road to Gunnar’s cabin was blocked by a large tour bus. Irritation prickled Gunnar. He hated having his privacy invaded, and from the looks of it, the ranch was under a full-scale assault.

      Piper gasped and rocked forward in her seat. “No way!”

      “What?” Gunnar and Sawyer asked at the same time.

      The teenager pointed to the small cluster of people standing near the front door of the house, talking to their brother Derek. “See the woman in the green dress? The one with short blond hair?”

      Gunnar spotted the woman in question. In a purely visceral reaction to the lady’s feminine curves, a flash of heat swamped him, and his body hummed with lust. Yeowsa.

      “What about her?” Sawyer asked.

      “Don’t you recognize her? That’s Violet Chastain!”

      Gunnar rolled up his palm. “Never heard of her.”

      Sawyer opened his door and jumped out, while Piper goggled at Gunnar. “Are you kidding? She was nominated for an Oscar this year for The Journey Home. People magazine voted her one of their most beautiful people this year. She’s in town to film that new movie called Wrongfully Accused.”

      Gunnar cut the engine and stared through the window at the curvy blonde. “Doesn’t ring a bell.” But he had to agree with the staff of People magazine. Violet Chastain was a stunner.

      “Geez, what rock have you been living under?”

      Gunnar cut his sister a dry look. “An Afghan rock, until six months ago.”

      Piper winced, looking contrite. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”

      “Don’t sweat it, kiddo. So I take it this Violet person is a big deal to the media?”

      “Oh, yeah. The biggest.” Piper turned her gaze to the gathering of people on the lawn and shook her head in wonder. “I can’t believe that Violet Chastain, the hottest star in Hollywood, is at my house!”

      Gunnar grunted and climbed out of the Suburban. “Yeah, and her huge-honking bus is blocking my driveway.”

      The sound of car doors slamming pulled Violet’s attention from her director’s discussion with the Double C’s owner about the scenes the production crew wanted to film at the spacious ranch.

      “Well, there’s some of the family now,” Dr. Derek Colton said. The handsome African American nodded toward the newly arrived SUV and grinned. “Before I sign off on this deal, I’d like their opinions. This is their home, too.”

      Violet turned to greet Derek’s family, and her practiced smile faltered for a moment. The teenage girl crossing the yard was as fair featured as Derek was dark, and Violet blinked her surprise at the incongruity.

      The doctor chuckled. “I see your surprise. They’re my adopted brothers and sister. All of the Colton children were adopted, so we’re something of an eclectic mix.”

      “So you are,” Violet said, putting her meet-the-public smile back in place as the lovely blonde girl and a sandy-haired boy of ten or eleven trotted up with eager grins.

      “OMG! You’re Violet Chastain!” the girl gushed. “I love your movies!”

      “Smooth, Piper,” the boy said. “Try not to drool on her.”

      Derek thumped his younger brother lightly on the shoulder, then introduced the kids to Violet and the rest of the assembled movie crew.

      “Nice to meet you, Sawyer, Piper.” Violet and the other crew members shook their hands.

      “You’re back early,” Derek called to the man who’d been driving the SUV.

      The brawny man bringing up the rear met her gaze, and an unexpected tremor stirred deep inside her. Whether her gut reaction was good or bad, Violet couldn’t say. Derek Colton’s brother could have been responding to a casting call for a nightclub bouncer … if the producers were looking for someone who oozed sex appeal along with his intimidating glower. He stalked toward the assembled group with his stubbled jaw set, his broad shoulders squared and his sexy lips pulled in a taut frown.

      Violet tore her gaze away from the brooding man and gave СКАЧАТЬ