“OMG.Em is so going to kill me,” Claudia said.
To her surprise, Quade Davis just smiled that extraordinary smile of his, and scooped Em close again—and the little girl Em now held on her own hip.And just kept dancing.With both of them.Tobi was giggling now.
“Wow.I’ll be Em’s in heaven right now.I would be, I so would be.”
When Cadell slammed his glass of soda on the table and stormed away, Claudia looked at Calloway.“Was it something I said?”
“Who knows?I think he got into it with Em again or something.He’s been cranky all night.”
Well, brothers could be that way.Auggie and Junie were right there—and they obviously had their hands full.This was the girls’ first dance.They’d been excited—and nervous—all week.Auggie probably needed another set of hands.Or ten.Those girls could be chaotic.Claudia adored every single one of them.
Claudia headed toward her besties—besties made a lot more sense than brothers.
12
Cal had dancedwith three different women—and he still couldn’t seem to catch the one he wanted.It was a game they’d been playing together all night.
They were both aware of it, too.She’d send him sly little glances and smirks whenever he got too close.She was a wicked, wicked woman.
The woman across from him wasclose,but it was her older sister he’d been hunting across the community hall dance floor.And Auggie was sneaky.He’d asked that wicked woman to danceagainand Auggie had evaded him with a baby in her arms—and nudged him toward the Junie-devil-creature instead.Now, somehow, he’d ended up with one September Tyler.He wasn’t entirely certain how this one had happened, though.He’d almost had Auggie captured.And then…Em morphed into her place.
Well played, Augusta Dawn.Well, Cal was a determined man when he needed to be.But now…thisdevil-creature in front of him was definitely upset about something.
Big, extraordinary blue eyes blinked at him.Em, dressed in a slinky green dress she had no real business wearing around unprepared men, had just plunked down right across from them, Clancy at her side.
No surprise, the two were always side-by-side, and always had been.Clancy, tall and skinny and dark haired, Em short and skinny and pale haired.But…they were besties, through and through.
He remembered when Em would show up at his house off the school bus, as a kid.His father had always driven her home, often hours later.Now…he knew Bruce Tyler had been gone back then—he’d always wondered if his father had known that.If they’d just kept Em at their house to feed her, that kind of thing.
Or if his dad hadknownand just not done a damned thing about it, to help.If his dad had just ignored it, too.
Next time he was at the prison to visit, Cal was going to ask.Demand answers.Why hadn’t his father done anything tohelpthose girls when they’d needed it?His father had always told them to help people in need.That was a lesson Cal wouldn’t ever forget, in spite of what his father had done.Calwould help when he could.
Em had been at his house several times a week back then.Right beside Clancy.As their mother had gotten sicker and sicker—Emhad been there.
He half got the impression Em was like a chihuahua protecting her owner, sometimes.Cal was starting to wonder just how bad it had gotten for his sisters after what his father had done.And why those three little brats had hidden it from him and Cadell.
Cal may just have to go thump some people’s heads on his sisters’ behalves or something.No one would challenge him or Cadell to their faces—they were powerful men in the county.But maybe…that hadn’t been so true for the girls.
Cadell shot Em a challenging look.Cadell liked to get Em riled up and always had.Things had gotten worse since everything their father had done, though.
Now it was if Cadell couldn’t stand any Tyler at all.EspeciallyEm.Cal hadn’t yet figured out why—but Cadell needed to stop being a jerk to her.Or Cal was going to have to kick his brother’s ass on principle.This was Clancy’s best friend, after all.
“What’s the matter with you two now?”Cadell asked.
Em just sighed, then leaned forward a bit.Calloway looked away discretely.He didn’t think she realized a man could see straight down her neckline like that.Emshould not be wearing skimpy black lace beneath green silk, and Cal definitely should not be able toseeit.
His attention caught on his own brother.Who probably had an even better view.
And…who hadn’t looked away.At all.His brother almost seemed frozen right there now.Transfixed—was that a better word?
“Tell us something, why are some men such idiots?”Clancy asked.“You two are men…I think, I mean, single, available, reasonably attractive men, so I’ve heard.We need a reference sample here.And I don’t know who else to ask—except Em’s cousins, and that just is not going to happen.”
“Gee, thanks,” Cadell said.“I haven’t heard any of the women I’ve dated complaining.”
“You just don’t listen very well,” Em shot back at him.Then she turned to Calloway.“You’ll at least tell it to me straight, right?”
“I’ll do my best.”
