The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,27

you get her a dry blanket, please? Ryan, would you go turn my car on to warm it back up?"

They both did exactly as he said, coming back to find her standing in his arms. Each of them cleared their throats at the same time, and he transferred her to Adam, who walked her slowly to the passenger's side of the ranch's staid, sedate station wagon, where Ryan hugged her gently, telling her he'd be right behind them in his car.

Adam put her in the passenger's side and did up her seatbelt for her, making sure the dry blanket was wrapped around her before getting into the back seat behind her.

Jace got behind the wheel and pulled out. On the drive to the ranch, he held her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of her much more delicate one. And Laurie reached back along the door to find Adam's leg to grasp his pants tightly, until he reached down and took her hand, squeezing it gently occasionally to remind her that he was there.

Adam noticed that she was shivering and nudged Jace to blast the heat at her, which he did gladly, even though the two of them felt as if they were roasting. They would put up with anything to take good care of her.

When they got to the ranch, Nick and Tanner—who had heard the news about her at the same time Jace had—came out to greet them. Even they hugged her, in the family's bent-kneed, full on tradition—although she barely knew them. Both of them asked if she was all right and if there was anything they could do to help.

Laurie didn't think she'd ever felt so loved and cared for in her life, and her parents had doted on her and her sister, but that was nothing to being the object of attention of all five of the Rule brothers.

"Tanner," Ryan asked as she got into the house, "would you go turn on the shower in Mom's guest room, please, and make sure there's soap and shampoo and towels and toilet paper in there, too?"

And Adam followed with, "And would you and Nick make sure the bed's got fresh linen on it, please, too?"

They left to go do their tasks without a word as the remaining brothers all hugged her again.

"You'll have a nice, long, hot shower and that'll make you feel better," Adam promised.

Laurie hadn't cried yet, but the time was drawing very near. "I don't even have any clothes to change into!" She laughed but not humorously.

"Well, I would bet that Tanner would be willing to donate some stuff to you. He probably still has some old stuff that you won't drown too badly in. That boy holds onto everything." Ryan shook his head. "Someday, we're all going to appear on an episode of Hoarders about his bedroom."

"Well, you never know when you'll need it," the man in question said. "What can I do?"

Adam looked at him. "Got any old t-shirts and sweats? Maybe a hoodie?" He looked down at Laurie. "Are you cold, Laur?"

"Yes, please," she replied wanly.

Ryan gently corralled her down the hallway to the guest room where their mother's friends used to stay. It was done up with a lot of feminine frills, which the rest of the house lacked. It was as if their mother had dumped all of her girlie taste into this room. It was pink overload, and her friends always stayed there when they came down from Boston to visit.

There was another guest room, but it was more utilitarian and also further away from their rooms—off the kitchen—which none of them wanted.

Ryan reappeared a few minutes later.

"Poor baby. She's in shock."

"Yeah, I'm glad you brought her back here," Nick said, causing his other brothers to look at him in surprise. "What? She's really nice, from what I know about her, and I like her. You guys did the right thing, for once."

Everyone smacked him for that, of course. They were just standing around trying to think of things they could do for her to make this whole horrible event as easy on her as possible, when the subject of their discussions reappeared, wearing baggy sweats, an even baggier shirt, and a hoodie that had sleeves longer than her arms.

"Thank you for the clothes," she said quietly to Tanner.

"You're very welcome, sweetie." She looked and sounded so forlorn that he hugged her again on impulse, and then Nick demanded that that wasn't fair, so he hugged her