Page 62 of Lucky Haven

“Couldn’t risk you refusing to come.” He winks at me. “We can go to bed early.”

I flush at the thought of his whole family knowing we’re going to share a bed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be a gentleman under my mother’s roof.”

I exhale in relief.

He leans over and brushes his lips against my cheek. “Unless you need me to be a bastard.”

“I’m not going to do that!”

He’s still chuckling as he comes around to open my door.

I swallow hard. “So they all know about the emails?”

“I kept it simple. Showed them the note, told them I wasn’t comfortable staying in town. They didn’t ask any questions.”

That’s hard for me to wrap my head around. He’s moving a stranger into their house.

But as we climb the wide porch, the door swings open, and his mother, Luna Kincaid, sticks her head out.

She’s in her early fifties, a tiny little sprite of a human being, with grey-streaked dark brown hair and a ready smile. I’ve met her before, so her Pro Choice Pro Horse Pro Weed t-shirt doesn’t surprise me, exactly, but it’s still startling. In a good way. In a this is different kind of way.

“You’re here,” she says with relief. “Oh, I’m so glad.”

I return her smile. “Hi. Thank you for having me.”

She pushes the door wider. “Come in, come in. Cash, where are her bags?”

“In the truck. I’ll grab them in a bit.”

As we step inside, little footsteps pound against the hardwood floors, and then a tiny blonde whirlwind comes barrelling around the corner. She pulls up short when she sees me.

I kneel. “Hi Bellamy. We met at the library, remember? I’m Haven.”

She goes shy, hiding behind Luna’s leg for a second, but she keeps looking at Cash.

He grins down at her. “You’re not shy, rugrat. What’s this all about?”

She giggles and runs away.

He catches my hand and pulls me along, and we follow her into an oversized kitchen that dominates the north end of the house.

Zane and Hope are next to the island, and we’ve clearly interrupted them mid-embrace.

“Sorry,” she mumbles as he turns away for a second, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “Thought we had a second longer than we did. Hi! Haven, welcome.”

“Thanks for having me.”

She waves her hands. “I’m a newbie here, too. So we’re in this together.”

I know she means that to be welcoming, but all I can hear is Cash’s ominous warning that we have no idea who is threatening us, and the last time that happened for this family, it ended in a deadly clash.

It’s so hard to think of someone wanting to harm this lovely young mother. It’s just as hard to think about someone wanting to hurt me or Cash.

There’s a side door right out of the kitchen to the outside, and that swings open now. In steps the youngest Kincaid brother, Dax.

“Saw your truck,” he says to Cash. And then to me, “Welcome to the ranch. It’s been a long time.”