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“The only De La Fuente I wish to handle is you.”
“Eww. That’s too much information,” Emelia winced.
Dante coughed and hid his grin behind his hand.
Sylvia rolled her eyes and asked, “So remind me again on whom everyone is?”
“Our brothers, Aiden, Mateo who you’ve met, Kasey and Diego. Then you have our father, Emiliano, and his wife, Lucia, and finally the brat over there, Emelia.” Eric grinned at his sister, and continued, “My dad lives outside of Great Falls, Montana and there’s nothing as beautiful as seeing his house and land with snow covering the ground. The winters can be harsh, but it’s home and it has been to them for a long time.”
“Then I can’t wait to see it on Thanksgiving. But you know what that means?”
He had no clue and his expression said as much.
“You have to go to visit with her family,” Dante added. “Brother, sometimes you need to use the head above the waist.”
“Coming from a priest, that doesn’t sound right.”
“I’m not going there. But tell him I’m right, Sylvia.” Dante grinned at her and Eric felt a little stab of jealousy over his woman.
“Dante always has to be right,” Emelia added, “as do all my brothers.”
Emelia made his heart heavy with worry. It was clear to see that she was really unhappy, and he guessed as long as she was close to Dante, she always would be. She needed to visit someone else and leave their older brother in peace. Perhaps the distance, over time would heal old wounds; at least he hoped it would.
With that in mind, he asked, “You want to come back to Lexington with us, sis?” He’d find a way to make it work with Emelia being underfoot when he wanted to spend his time with Sylvia, but he couldn’t do nothing when it was obvious they both hurt.
“I was there not too long ago,” she hedged. “I like Colorado.” Emelia met Dante’s gaze before he turned away to stare out toward the mountains. “Thanks,” her attention back on Eric, “but I’ll hang around here for a while and then head to Montana for Thanksgiving.” She offered a small smile. “Dante won’t kick me out, so please don’t worry about me.”
“I can’t promise not to.” Eric stared into her eyes with worry as he squeezed her hand and realized his brother was still distracted elsewhere.
“I’ll go and start dinner.”
“I’ll help,” Sylvia volunteered, and followed Emelia inside after she placed a lingering kiss to his lips.
Once the door was closed, Eric turned to his brother. “What was that?”
“What?”
“You’re intelligent, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Dante stayed silent, his jaw tense with the anger that simmered just under the surface. Out of all his siblings, Dante was the one with the longest fuse. He was obviously at the end.
“Look, Thanksgiving is practically around the corner so bring her to Montana with you and leave her there. You know that has to happen, right?”
He nodded.
“I’m going to go and let Emelia know not to make anything for Sylvia and me. I want to take her out somewhere tonight.”
“You’ve chosen a good woman. I hope you realize that.”
“I do. Don’t stay outside too long, it’ll freeze your balls off.”
With those last words to his tormented brother, he went to find the girls.
Chapter Eighteen
Sylvia felt alive with excitement being in Denver for the evening with Eric. It had been a surprise when he’d found them in the kitchen back at Dante’s cabin as she’d been planning that night’s dinner with Emelia. Their sister was certainly troubled, and the tension in the air had been stifling.
With a sigh of contentment, she stepped closer to Eric and slipped her hand into his while they waited to be seated. He was her man and she wanted to claim him in front of the group of women she could see at one of the tables close to were she stood with Eric. They looked and whispered as though Eric was a piece of meat. She couldn’t hear what was being said, but the looks spoke volumes.
