Page 41 of Roping Her In

“I think paralegaling is a lot of reading and writing as a general rule,” Smiles said. He wasn’t sure why Clover needed to work at all, and he wasn’t exactly sure if her end-goal was a job or not. Perhaps she simply wanted to keep her mind sharp. Smiles knew and loved Clover, but he didn’t have deep conversations with her about her goals and dreams.

He simply knew that she loved Rock, and that Rock loved her with everything he had. Smiles had always looked up to his younger brother, whether Rock knew it—or believed it—or not.

Rock turned and headed down the aisle, as Smiles had entered on the end of the building. The stables opened up to the room where they kept tack and feed, where a table also folded down from the wall. Seeing as Rock managed and cared for all the horses here at Shiloh Ridge, this space functioned as his office of sorts, though he kept one of those in the barn behind the Edge Cabin, where he and Clover lived.

“Howdy, brother.” Link grinned at Smiles and pulled him in for a hug too. Smiles loved Link with his whole heart, and when he got too lonely, he went to Link and Misty’s house—the Top Cottage—across the ranch. They lived up in the trees, almost to the southern border of the ranch before Hidden Hills Ranch, which the Rhinehart family owned, started.

He also had a home there too, should he need it, because his aunt Arizona had married a Rhinehart, and Aunt Zona had established an open-door policy at her house. Any Glover, or anyone who worked at Shiloh Ridge or Hidden Hills, could show up at her house, and she’d feed them, give them something cold or hot to drink, and provide them a bed.

She was the only girl—his daddy’s only sister—in her branch of the Glover Family, and she didn’t want anyone to ever feel as isolated as she once had.

Smiles loved his aunt Zona too, and his momma had often told him that God had given him a heart that knew how to expand and love everything and everyone he came in contact with. He believed her too, because after he hugged Link, he went around and hugged Wilder, asking, “How are your girls?”

“Amazing,” Wilder said, but as he stepped back, he exchanged a glance with Gun, and then Rock. That wasn’t good, but Smiles didn’t call him on it.

He hugged Gun instead, saying, “I know your family is great. Thanks for coming over for dinner last night.”

“You can feed me and Cami any time you want.” Gun grinned at him, though he lived in his parents’ big house here on the ranch, and coming to a cowboy cabin surely hadn’t been that fun for him.

“Howdy, Robbie,” Smiles said as he moved into his cousin for his last hug before his brains would be needed. “I saw that look Wilder just gave Gun, and maybe you can tell me about it.”

Robbie laughed and stepped back. He sobered quickly and sent a look around to the other men in the stable.

Smiles hated this—hate-d-it—because he didn’t need his best friends in the whole world to treat him like he was broken because he didn’t have a wife or girlfriend.

“He asked Gina to marry him last night,” Rock said, and Smiles swept his attention to his brother. “She said yes.”

Smiles smiled, because he was very good at doing so. “That’s great, man.” He grabbed onto Robbie again and hugged him tightly. When he’d found his footing again, he faced everyone. “You guys, I know you’re dating and all that. I’m fine.”

“We just know you….” Rock cleared his throat, his midnight eyes firing at Smiles.

“Yeah, I want to get married too,” Smiles said, hearing the high-pitched quality his voice had just taken on. “But I’m really okay—I want you guys to find the person that makes you happier than anything and marry her. Honestly.”

He grinned at Robbie. “So congrats, my friend. When are you two going to get married? Where’s it happening?”

“She’s talking to her mother,” Robbie said, his face flushing as he dropped his chin. “But she’s thinking August maybe.” He shrugged and raised his eyes back to everyone else. “She wants to get married somewhere outside, but she hasn’t decided—but not here at the ranch.”

Smiles nodded, though he didn’t really care where Robbie and Gina tied the knot. “And now the most important question…is she going to make cinnamon rolls for the reception?”

Robbie burst out laughing, and Smiles joined him. That lightened the mood in the stable, especially as the others chuckled too.

“Fawn thinks Stuart is going to ask her to marry him this weekend,” Wilder said. “That was what my look was about.”

Smiles focused on Wild, whom he loved like his own soul. “You guys—” He cut off, because he didn’t know how to continue.

They love you and are worried about you.

The words ran through Smiles, and tears pricked his eyes. “Thank you for thinking of me.” He opened his arms and tried to engulf them all into one group embrace, but of course, with the Glover genes that produced wide shoulders, he couldn’t quite get them all.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, once again thinking of Bev. “But I do appreciate the heads-up, then I can be happy for Fawn and Stu when I see them.” He pulled in a breath. “I mean—of course I am happy for them. I⁠—”

“We know,” Wilder said, and he wore a resigned, almost sad expression. Smiles didn’t want that, and he grinned at his cousin.

“Anyway, this has nothing to do with why we asked you out here,” Link said.

Smiles took a deep breath in. “Yeah, Rock said you needed my brains—which I don’t believe, by the way.”

“We do,” his brother insisted. He tapped a stack of papers on the table. “We’ve got five animals across three pastures, corrals, or stables walking like the ground hurts, and none of us can find the same injury twice.”