Page 50 of Let Me Be the One

“So then why?” Holding out her arms, Glory asked, “Why all this fuss?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your parents sent me along to ‘talk some sense into you,’ as if I’ve ever had sway over you. They insist, constantly, that I need to do my duty and bring you back. Even when I told them it was useless, that I wanted to come home—”

Glory had wanted to leave her?

“—they said Ihadto stay. They said…” Her voice broke, but Glory rallied. “They said if I didn’t bring you back with me, I might as well not return either.”

Of all the nerve! “What the hell does that mean?” Glory had lived with them forever. She was, or should have been, like a daughter to them.

Playing it off with a sad smile, Glory lifted her hands.“Pretty sure it means I won’t have a job, or family, if there isn’t a wedding.”

Fury lit a fire through Callie’s veins. “I’ll take care of it.” The words emerged calmly enough, but they were forged with steel. Glorywasher sister.Betterthan a sister. No one, not even her own parents, could treat her like that.

“Don’t you see, Callie? Your parents are frantic and acting out of character, and Sutter, I swear, is nearly apoplectic with the need to get you back. To all of them, it’s critical or something. I mean, I know it was going to be a big society to-do and all that, and uniting the families was a big deal for the business. But is there something I don’t know?”

Callie was starting to wonder the same thing. Just then they both heard voices coming fromherhouse. Male voices that didn’t sound like Tanner or Kam.

Glory huddled closer. “Who is that?” she whispered.

“No idea. Come on.” Together, they inched along the driveway until Callie could see her front porch. Two men were there, and one was peering through a window. With Tanner’s many warnings ringing in her ears, she wasn’t sure what to do.

Getting out her phone, she pulled up Addie’s number but didn’t yet hit the call sign. Hoping to make a strong stance instead of appearing as a wary woman, she took a hard step closer and immediately drew their attention. “Gentlemen, can I help you?”

Both men slowly turned to fully face her. They were not ogres. Opposite of ogres, even.Almostas gorgeous as Tanner and Kam.

“Holy shit,” Glory whispered in a veryuncharacteristic loss of decorum. Then even lower, she murmured, “They’re growing some really fine guys around here.”

No lie. “Must be the country air.” These two men weren’t as tall as Tanner, and they weren’t as shredded with muscle, but they were lean. Almost too lean. The taller of the two at maybe five-nine, or five-ten, visibly sized her up. Bracing his hands on her porch railing, he replied, “And who are you, darlin’?”

“I live here.” That’s all she’d tell him at the moment.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “Try again. This here’s Reggie’s place.”

Surely this wasn’t one of the Garmet brothers. “It was, yes. Reggie passed away.”

“I’m aware. But the house never went up for sale.”

“Naturally, since he left it to me and I’m not selling.”

One man looked at the other, and they both grinned.

“You find that amusing?”

“Very.” His gaze shifted to Glory. “You both livin’ here?”

Glory surprised her by hefting her chin and saying succinctly, “We are.”

“Well now. Reggie only had one bedroom. The other was piled high, from what I remember.”

“So?” If Reggie had something of theirs, she’d get it for them and end this awkward visit.

Wearing a lecherous grin and sliding his gaze over Glory, the second guy came forward. “So since there’s only one bed, does that mean you two will be sleeping…together?”

Of all the… Infuriated, Callie stepped in front of Glory. “She’s mycousin.”

He lifted both hands in mock surrender. “Hey,don’t say it like that. Can’t fault a man for the way his thoughts go.”

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