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Summer’s father turned to him then, and Raeg wondered why he hadn’t just obeyed his first impulse and stayed at the house. “You got an answer there, young man?”
“He’s a young man and I’m a boy?” Falcon protested then, obviously desperate now to change the subject.
Raeg and Cal both ignored him.
He wouldn’t lie, but he didn’t have to tell the other man the truth either. He was the senator’s chief of staff for a reason. And he was damned good at his job.
“I have no claim on Summer,” Raeg answered carefully, his voice low. “And to my knowledge, neither does Falcon.”
Summer’s father was quiet for long tense moments.
“Summer?” he said quietly then.
“Yes, Daddy?” Her quiet response wasn’t hiding the hurt he thought he could hear in it.
Damn her father. The son of a bitch.
Raeg’s gaze jerked to the screen door. She stood there, simply staring at him, her eyes like wounded violets. He’d hurt her, just as he hadn’t wanted to do. Just as her father had fucking led him into doing.
“Could we get some coffee, since you’re prone to eavesdroppin’ this mornin’?” her father ordered more than asked.
“Yes, Daddy. But I wasn’t eavesdroppin’. Breakfast is going on the table. Momma just put your coffee there,” she said, her voice low, the hurt in her eyes causing his chest to tighten at the sight of it.
Her father smiled then, his gaze meeting Raeg’s.
The bastard had known Summer was standing there when he’d asked if they thought they could claim her, had known she’d hear Raeg’s answer and it would hurt her.
He needed alcohol, not coffee, Raeg decided, though he was sure they’d consider it too early here for whisky.
Surely it was five o’clock somewhere?
“Come on, boys.” Cal lifted himself from the rocker, his voice far more jovial than the look he gave her. “My Leasa is a hell of a cook. You don’t want to be late to the table, those boys of hers are like human vacuums when it comes to food. They consume it afore you even know it’s there.”
Following the older man into the house, Raeg caught Summer before she reached the table, his fingers curling around her upper arm.
“Summer…?” he began.
She shook her head and pulled her arm out of his grip. “Not now. Please don’t embarrass me, Raeg.”
She moved away from him, taking her seat as Raeg turned and caught her father watching them broodingly.
The son of a bitch. Damn him.
* * *
Breakfast was as crazy and loud as any elementary school lunchroom, Summer thought as she sat between Raeg and Falcon. The fact that she’d ended up there hadn’t been lost on Momma and Daddy, or on brother Caleb.
Her other brothers Bowe and Brody were there alone, a rare enough occurrence, just as Aunjenue had evidently dissuaded any friends from showing up that morning. Besides Falcon and Raeg, only Clay, her brother’s farm foreman, wasn’t family—but he’d been there long enough that her momma and daddy considered him family.
The fact that Falcon and Raeg were simply not used to a family-style breakfast, with steaming bowls of food displayed in the center of the table, then passed around, was evident. Falcon caught on quickly. Raeg, despite his cool, confident appearance, wasn’t nearly so certain about jumping right in. The paltry amount of eggs and the few pieces of bacon he put on his plate were going to hurt her momma’s feelings.
When he went to pass the bowl of silky sausage gravy to her brother without taking any himself, she quickly pinched his thigh.
His gaze jerked to her.
“My momma worked all mornin’,” she muttered, her voice low. “Don’t you dare hurt her feelings by not eatin’.”
He glanced at her plate, lips thinning, then spooned a small amount on the half pieces of his biscuit.
