The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,30

one leg bent up, having apparently gotten warm because the covers were off.

"Sleeping like a baby. I'm glad," Adam whispered. When her door was closed again, he mused, "I think I'm going to have some ice cream."

Jace stopped at his own door. "Just as long as none of youse touches the leftover shepherd's pie she made for me, or the slab of German chocolate cake she sent home with me, either."

He might as well have rung the dinner bell, of course. The whole herd of them began to make their way to the kitchen to descend on its contents as if they'd never had a solid meal in their lives, leaving him behind to threaten, "I swear, I will deck anyone who eats my food."

None of them acted as if they'd heard a word he'd said.

It was going to be very interesting having a woman around the house again, however long she stayed, Jace thought.

And it was going to be even more so if things ended up happening like his brothers had surprisingly suggested, although he severely doubted that it would.

Chapter 5

Despite how much she loved the three brothers whom she already knew, Laurie was still amazed to realize how well they all—including her and the younger ones—got along. It had been ridiculously easy for her to fit into their family dynamic, so much so that she was kind of waiting for the other shoe to fall.

Even though she had spent the first few days she was there telling everyone who would listen how much she appreciated that they were letting her stay with them and promising that she would be out of their hair as quickly as she could possibly manage to be, she felt like a part of the family from very early on. Frankly, she made sure she did, by being as helpful and useful around the house as possible, except for the first weekend she was there. She was a bit shell shocked then and not really herself.

Of course, the brothers took excellent—collective—care of her.

Jace graciously made his famous pancakes the next morning, although everyone noticed that she only took one of them and didn't eat anywhere near all of it, unlike the rest of them who ate the plate sized food in stacks of four or more. Then he headed out, because ranching wasn't a nine to five job by any means, and cattle and horses, etcetera waited for no man. He kissed her goodbye at the door as he left, murmuring something to the effect that he could easily get used to doing so.

"I love you, darlin'. I promise you that everything's going to be okay."

"I love you, too, Jace," she responded with an unnatural quietude.

Adam had a shift that evening, so he was spending the day with her, along with Ryan, who didn't work until the next day.

"Of course, the brats don't have real jobs, so they'll be lounging around all day," Adam teased.

Nick rose to the bait, saying, "I am in the middle of setting up my practice, and, yes, business is slow, but it'll pick up."

"Of course, it will," Laurie agreed with a soft smile that had Nick smiling warmly back at her.

Tanner added, a bit less defensively, "And I'm going to work on the ranch's budget for the next year, but I can do that in the family room with everyone around. So, it might not look like I'm working, but I am."

"I'm impressed! I couldn't do that if I tried!" She knew Tanner thought Jace wasn't too happy with him horning into the family business, but she knew it was just that Jace wanted to see if Tanner was going to stick it out.

He blushed slightly at her comment, and it was terribly cute.

She tried to put on a brave face as much as she could—no one wants a house guest who is crying all the time. But occasionally throughout the day, she would just stop cold and remember that she was, in essence, homeless, and then she'd discover that there were tears running down her face.

Then, four enormous men—who all kept a very close eye on her—would immediately surround her in a group bear hug and smother her with affection and nearly smother her in general, too—which would make them all laugh, even her, especially when the brothers got to fighting over who got to be closest to her during the hug.

And they did their best to distract her as much as possible. They played several cutthroat games