The Texas Ranger's Twins. Tina Leonard

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      TWO HOURS LATER, DANE was pretty sure hot chocolate was going to be his undoing. Pete flirted outrageously with both women—he apparently saw no reason to acknowledge his brother—and Suzy and Cricket seemed to eat up the attention. Nor could Dane make any strides with the toddlers, Nicole and Sandra, because there was Pete, making suck-up points by helping them cool their hot cocoa, or carrying the girls on his shoulders so that they could better see into shop windows as the group walked down the main street of Union Junction.

      Dane didn’t even know why he was out of sorts. Something suspiciously like jealousy ate at his insides, which felt uncomfortably like worms crawling around inside him, fat and cold and slithery.

      He wanted to be mad at Pete, but he knew he was really mad at himself. Having gotten off on the wrong foot with Suzy in the very beginning, he didn’t appreciate further distance being made between them, and particularly by his older brother.

      Competition had never been his downfall before. But he had to admit that his relationships with men were lacking in the trust area. He didn’t trust Pop, and he’d made the mistake of trusting his former partner, Kenny, and lost his shirt for that. Worst of all, Jack was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he needed a good example of how a man should act around a woman with two children, but to Dane’s mind, the chivalrous thing to do was to keep distance between them. They had no future because he was retiring young to Mexico where it was warm all year round, not like Union Junction. He was certain a bad example to follow was Pete’s, acting as if he was some kind of woman magnet, irresistible to the opposite sex.

      What really dug at him was how much all four girls seemed to enjoy the attention. I’m sulking, he realized. An old habit of being the third son. No wonder I hate Texas. I really hate being third in a family of dysfunctional freaks.

      Okay, that was harsh. The Morgans weren’t freaks; they just had more than their share of cautionary tales. So what? A man bucked up and took it.

      He could take it. Couldn’t he?

      And besides, it was all none of his business. Pete could do what he liked, and so could Suzy. He sighed to himself, deciding he was as much fun as a holey sock. Pete, with his older, hard-won maturity, would seem more impressive to a woman who craved some sort of adventure in her life.

      Of course, if Suzy wanted adventure, then he was Mr. Adventure in the amazing flesh. “Before I went into law enforcement,” he said, “I thought I’d probably have to stay in the military forever to stay out of trouble.”

      Suzy and Cricket paused in their walking to look at him. Pete frowned, not liking the limelight being off him all of a sudden.

      “We were an indulgent group of boys,” Dane said. “I wanted to be just like Jack when I grew up. I couldn’t, so I did crazy stuff like canoeing through Mexico and parachuting out in California until I realized I had to grow up. The military changed me, and then being a Ranger gave me purpose in life.”

      Suzy smiled at him. “No wonder you seem so ready to settle down.”

      Dane felt his bravado slip. “Settle down?”

      Cricket nodded. “Suzy and I have decided we’ve never seen a man so ready to marry and start a family.”

      Pete was grinning like mad. Dane perked up under the women’s admiring eyes, though his courage wanted to take a major hike. “I plan on settling down in Mexico next year, as a matter of fact.”

      “Oh. Mexico?” Suzy said, sounding surprised, and maybe unpleasantly so.

      “Cost of living’s great,” he explained. “I figure if Pop can live in France and all over the world, I should at least be able to park my boots in a border country.”

      “I guess so,” Suzy said.

      Cricket nodded. “It makes sense.”

      They turned their attention back to Pete, who was grinning at him like a stupid hyena. The three of them, along with the tiny toddlers, one of which was held by Pete and one by Cricket, continued walking along the sidewalk. There wasn’t enough room for him, unless he wanted to walk in the street, which he didn’t, because that would feel as if he wasn’t part of the group—a mere hanger-on pedestrian. Didn’t Pete have some secret agent-spy stuff he needed to attend to? Dane wondered sourly.

      Some chaperone Cricket was turning out to be—more like the fairy matchmaker. Suzy was supposed to be his responsibility, according to Pop’s СКАЧАТЬ