“Who’s Velma?”
“Velma is the McFarland housekeeper who’s been with them since all the brothers were young. Liam’s worried she’ll go with his mom once she marries Clint and moves out. Then we’ll have to find someone else. Or starve.”
Once the sugar was dissolved Val turned off the burner and told her to let it sit. She sat at the table and Sierra took the seat across from her. Val wore a loose top, but Sierra wouldn’t have known she was pregnant if Connor hadn’t told her.
“When is your baby due?”
“Mid-June. But to hear Liam talk it’s any day now.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “Oh, he’s being overprotective?”
Val nodded. “Yes and driving me insane. I mean, the man’s a rancher. He raises horses. You’d think he’d be used to pregnant females.”
“I guess it’s different when it’s his wife.”
She laughed. “Yes, as he’s told me several times, I’m not a horse or a dog.”
Sierra laughed. “It must be nice to have a man be so crazy about you.”
Val got up to mix the ingredients for the lemonade. “You should know. I’ve never seen Connor look at any woman the way he looks at you.”
“Oh, we’re not—We’re not serious.”
“Uh-huh. Does Connor know that?”
Did he? There had been no confessions of love. And though they’d spent a lot of time together both at work and away from work, their relationship was still casual. Wasn’t it? Sierra realized she hadn’t answered Val. “Yes, of course. We’re just having a good time.”
Yes, a good time with amazing sex. Yet she couldn’t stop thinking of the times the sex had turned tender. Still exciting, still hot as fireworks, but with an underlying feeling of what she realized now was tenderness. Or love?
What was she going to do if Connor really was in love with her? What if she fell in love with him? What if she already had but couldn’t admit it?
*
A few daysafter helping out at the ranch, Connor asked his brothers to meet him at Grey’s Saloon for a beer. But he hadn’t seen them come in, only realizing they were there when they showed up at his booth in the back, each holding a draft beer.
“Okay, we’re here,” Logan said, sliding into the booth. “What’s so damn important?”
Connor drank some beer and set down his glass. “Don’t be an ass. I remember listening to you two blabber about your issues with women God knows how many times.”
“That’s what this is about? Women?” Liam asked, sliding in beside his brother. “Are you and Sierra having trouble?”
“I don’t know.” He rubbed a hand over his forehead. “Maybe.”
“What’s the problem?” Logan asked. “Other than she’s the first woman you’ve ever been serious about.”
Connor looked at his brothers and sucked in a breath. He’d never wanted to tell them this story. Hell, he’d never wanted to tell anyone. Ryan knew part of it, of course, but they never talked about it. About her. Neither had Connor. Until now.
“She’s not. The first, I mean.” They both stared at him like he was crazy. “I was involved with someone when I was stationed in Afghanistan.” Involved, meaning crazy in love with.
“No shit?” Logan asked. “First I’ve heard about it.”
Liam added, “Me too.”
Connor drank some beer. “Unlike you two I don’t blab everything that’s ever happened to me. Especially not this. It happened while I was in Afghanistan.”
They waited but when he didn’t continue Liam spoke. “You never talk about your service, about Afghanistan. It’s almost like you were never over there. If it wasn’t for the time you spent in the States becoming a medic, it would seem like you were never in the army at all. Sure as hell not in Afghanistan.”
“I don’t like to talk about it.” Or think about it.
