Page 31 of Come Home to the Cowboys

Her brows rose and she walked away.

Oh, yes, she knew and there would be hell to pay later.

Colby snickered. “You should have been here last night.”

“Yeah,” he said. “But I was distracted.”

He reached down and squeezed Kalie’s ass. “God, I can’t think at all knowing you’re naked beneath that dress.”

“Let’s go eat,” Colby said. “I need to keep up my strength for later.”

"What’s later?” Kalie asked.

“He’s riding in the rodeo,” Preston answered.

Kalie turned and placed her hand on Colby’s chest. “No. It’s too dangerous.”

Colby glanced down at her hand and then he gazed at her. “The very reason I love it, darling.”

“Don’t worry, he’s too mean to get hurt,” Preston said.

Each man took an elbow and led her toward the barn. Preston watched as Kalie took in the sights and sounds of the wedding. After everyone went through the buffet, they found a table with his long-lost brother Luis.

“We missed you, man,” he said as they sat.

His brother who looked a lot like himself, nodded. A Navy SEAL, he was recently honorably discharged from the military. His time away had changed him.

“It’s been a tough year,” Luis said. “Who is she?”

“Kalie Parker,” Preston said. “She’s Lillian and Will Parker’s granddaughter.”

The man nodded. “Sorry to hear they’re gone. They were good people.”

Luis frowned at Colby. “And who are you?”

“I’m just a guy who works on the Parker’s ranch. I came through here on my motorcycle and decided to stay,” he said.

“It’s a good place,” Luis said.

The military had made him even quieter and more reserved, and the muscles on his arms were bigger than many bodybuilders. No wonder he was a retired SEAL.

His sister Jane came to the table. At eighteen years of age, she was just starting to become beautiful, and he worried about her and the boys she was dating.

“Mom wants us to take a group photo,” she told Preston and Luis.

“No,” Luis said.

“Come on, we don’t know when we’ll all be together like this again. Ask Kalie. Her father never came back to Blessing. She didn’t even know her grandparents existed.”

The man stared at Kalie. “That true?”

“Yes,” she replied.

He sat there finishing his lunch. The SEALs stripped his brother of emotions. Preston hoped that while his brother was home, he would regain some of his old self. Right now, he was cold.

Luis took a drink of ice tea, glanced at Kalie, and then back to Preston.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s make this quick.”

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