the screen door that Mr. Miller had left open when he departed, and entered the kitchen. Mrs. Morgan was sitting at the table reading the local newspaper, her glasses perched on her nose.
“You couldn’t ever call Jeff Miller a patient man. He was off up those stairs like a rat up a drain pipe before you’d reached Ben’s room.”
“It’s okay.” Silver took a seat at the table. “He wasn’t very nice to Ben. He basically told him not to be a wimp.”
“Jeff brought those boys up hard.” Mrs. Morgan sighed. “After Leanne left him, he lost what little softness he had and treated his sons like they were in military school. I always felt sorry for them.”
“At least they had Auntie Rae....” Silver mused. “That was something.”
“Ben told you about her?” Mrs. Morgan’s bright blue eyes fastened on Silver.
Silver felt her cheeks heat. “He might have mentioned it at some point.”
“Did he also give you that hickey?”
Silver slapped a hand to her throat. “What? He didn’t, did he? I—” She stopped and stared at Mrs. Morgan. “Oh crap.”
“It’s all right, dear. It’s barely noticeable now, and I’m not going to mention it to anyone.” Mrs. Morgan set her newspaper aside. “That’s between you and Ben. I haven’t brought up four grandsons without learning to keep their secrets, you know.”
“It’s not—we’re not...” Silver waved her hands around wildly. “We’re just friends, and that’s the end of it.”
“I have no idea what constitutes courting these days, my dear, so I’m sure you’re right. The only thing I would say is that Ben isn’t the kind of man to run out on a woman, so I do hope you’ve sorted it out with him.”
“I have.” Silver nodded like an idiot. “He’s good with it. We both are.”
“Then that’s all anyone needs to know.” Mrs. Morgan rose from her seat. “I expect Ben will be wanting some breakfast. Will you take him up a tray?”
* * *
Later that afternoon when Silver was sitting reading in Ben’s room, the door opened and two men came in.
“Hey, bro, what have you been doing to yourself?” the dark-haired one said. “I know you’d do anything to avoid work, but this seems a little extreme even for you.”
The taller, older, sterner one frowned as he studied Ben. “Dad said you got hurt.”
Ben looked over at Silver, one eyebrow raised. “Would you like to be introduced to these two idiots, or would you prefer to pretend they don’t exist?”
She put down her book. “Hi, I’m Silver.”
“The miserable-faced one is Adam, and the way-too-happy one is Kaiden,” Ben said. “The one you think should be called Caleb.”
Kaiden grinned at her. “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, right?”
Ben frowned. “You know about that?”
“Everyone knows about that.” Kaiden sat in the chair next to Ben’s bed. “It’s a great movie. It was Mom’s favorite. That’s why we all have these stupid-ass names, although luckily, Dad balked at a couple of them.” He touched Ben’s arm. “What did you do to yourself?”
“Calder and I nearly fell off the ridge path in the far canyon. Calder righted himself. I didn’t, and a tree broke my fall.”
Both brothers made identical faces of horror.
“Shit,” Kaiden said fervently. “How did you get out of that?”
“With a bit of help from Silver, a rope, and Calder pulling me up the side of the canyon like a champ.” Ben nodded at her.
“What’s the damage?” Adam asked. He hadn’t sat down, but stood looming over them all by the window.
“Broken ribs, broken wrist, and a concussion.” Ben’s expression was resigned. “I’ll be good to go in a few days.”
Adam’s gray gaze settled on Silver. “I’m glad you were there to help get him out of trouble.”
Silver shrugged. For someone who was supposed to be incognito she was meeting a heck of a lot of people. “He got himself out. I just hung around getting in the way.”
“She helped haul me up the slope, half carried me to the camp, and looked after me and all the livestock until the medics arrived,” Ben said. “Hardly nothing.”
“Thank you.” Adam smiled at her properly for the first time, which was quite a revelation. “Really.”
Kaiden grinned. “If you’d just left him in the tree I wouldn’t have to keep sharing a bathroom with him, but I suppose it’s all good. He’s a hard worker, and if he wasn’t at the ranch, Dad would probably make me do all his shit.”
Ben’s smile was still guarded and Silver wondered why. Did he ever relax around his siblings