Page 94 of Burnin' For You

He took her hand. “I want you to meet Gilly. My…girlfriend.”

Gilly dumbly held out the cupcake box, which his mother neatly ignored. She wrapped Gilly in a hug. She smelled of chili spices.

“Call me Gerri,” she said, letting go.

Gilly found a smile.

Gerri took the box. “Your sisters are helping me in the kitchen. But the boys are in the barn,” she said to Reuben. “Go tell them it’s time for lunch.”

Gilly might have only imagined Reuben’s slight flinch.

She took his hand, squeezed, meaning her words earlier. “Really, I’ll protect you.”

He gave a slight grin, but held on as he led her off the porch to the barn.

She didn’t know what she expected, especially after his story of the fight. A bunch of hooligans, perhaps, wrestling in the barn or maybe armed with pitchforks.

Instead, they were huddled over the engine of a very ancient, green tractor, the hood open. All four of them. She hadn’t a clue how to guess their ages—they all looked nearly as big as Reuben, the oldest, although two had sandy-brown hair, one with Reuben’s dark features, and the final one, the one crouching in front of the engine, was a dark redhead.

“Did you check the spark plugs?” Reuben asked casually as he walked in.

The redhead looked up, and for a second his expression drained, his shoulders tensing.

Then the look vanished as he got up, wiped his hands on a rag. “Rube. Uh—”

“I can’t believe it!” This from one of the other brothers, the one with the scruff of copper beard. “Mom didn’t say anything!”

“Wyatt,” Ruben said and dropped Gilly’s hand to give him a hug.

“And you brought a friend,” said the darker one, the spittin’ image of Reuben.

“Yeah, and she’s taken, Tate,” Reuben said, meeting his hand. But he grinned.

The other one, with the long tawny brown hair held back with a baseball cap like Reuben’s, came over to her. “Ford Marshall, ma’am.”

He reminded her of the rookies, wide-eyed, eager to please. She shook his hand. “Gilly Priest.”

The redhead holding the rag glanced at Reuben with dark green eyes. If she wasn’t mistaken, she saw a hesitation in them. Then he extended his hand. “Knox.”

“Hey, Knox,” she said, injecting warmth into her tone as she took his hand.

Knox glanced at Reuben, and she ached for them, the rift that had torn them apart. And from Reuben’s expression, he was replaying it, a tiny tick in his eye.

And then, suddenly, the memories seemed to break away, and Reuben smiled. “Bro.”

He reached out and Knox met his hand.

Reuben pulled him in for a one-armed hug.

She could almost feel the brothers exhale as Reuben let him go.

Gilly took a look at the tractor’s engine. “So what seems to be the problem?”

Knox glanced at Reuben, who lifted a shoulder. “She knows what she’s doing.”

And see that’s why she loved…okay, yes. Loved him. Because although he protected her, he also trusted her.

“Engine just seized this morning.”