Mesaquickly wrote down Joel’s description of his older brother along with a fewnotes on the woman who would turn out to be someone he could live the rest ofhis life with. As a romance author, she grinned. The hero didn’t always fall inlove with the woman he thought he would. She giggled a little.

“Jacksonis the second eldest. He does what he has to do around here, but sometimes Ithink he hates playing the cowboy. He rides a motorcycle more than he does ahorse. He has several tattoos, gets a bit rowdy when he drinks, but overallhe’s a great guy and good friend. He’s saved my ass more than once in a barfight.”

“Doyou fight often?”

“No.I try to be the peacekeeper more than anything. Jackson likes the ladies, too.”

“Don’tyou all?”

Joelgrinned. “Yeah, I guess so. The women seem really attracted to his bad boypersona, though. I think it’s the tats.”

“Couldbe.”

“He’sreally a big teddy bear, though. I think he got more of Dad’s personalitywhereas some of the rest of us are more like Mom. Jacob is third. He’s thirtythis year and is feeling every bit of it, I think. He’s been drinking a lotlately. I’m not sure if he’s debating his life—. Not that he would ever hurthimself or anything, but I wonder sometimes if he knows where his life isgoing. He’s kind of quiet. More so than the rest of us.He just does his work around here and spends a lot of time in his room. Doingwhat, I’m not sure. He didn’t do sports in school like most of us did. He’smore the creative, artsy type.”

“Hesounds sweet.”

Joelsmile and shrugged. “Fourth is us triplets. Me, Jason, andJosh. You know about me. Josh, we’re a little worried about. He’s beendrinking a lot lately, too I think he got his heartbroken recently. He won’t talk about it though. I’ve tried. We are very similarin looks, but our personalities are very different. At least to me, they are.”

“Joshis a ladies’ man, definitely.”

“Yeah,but he’s been down in the dumps lately. I hope whoever broke his heart wasworth the pain he’s going through now. I hate to see him like this. He’strying, but you can see the pain in his eyes if you look hard enough.”

“It’snever easy breaking up with someone you’ve been with for a long time even ifit’s a mutual breakup.”

“True.I haven’t been in a long-term relationship really, so I wouldn’t know that kindof pain. I hope I never do.”

Shedropped her gaze to her paper for a moment and let his words sink in. Whydidn’t she feel pain over her breakup with her ex? She loved him, didn’t she?Maybe not like she should have. The pain didn’t seem to be there.

“Andthen there is Jason.”

“Youalmost sound exasperated by him.”

“He’san exasperating individual.”

“Howso?”

“Helikes the ladies. Definitely. I think he’s got several women on the string atthe moment and I’m just waiting for the bubble to burst. If they found outabout each other, it could sure make for some interesting fireworks in theneighborhood.”

“Ah.”

Joelscraped the toe of his boot in the dirt, digging up a small rock in theprocess. “This isn’t the first time he’s done this type of thing either. He’sbeen caught before and almost got himself shot by one girl’s father. He found Jason’sass hanging out the window of the daughter’s room a few years ago. His truckstill bears the bullet hole.”

“Wow.”

“Ithink my parents wish he would go in the military or something to straightenhis ass out, but then they’d be totally worried he’d be in some combat zone andget his butt killed or something.”

“Ithink your parents could handle it.”

“Ithink my dad could, but I’m not sure about Mom. She loves having her sonsaround here.”

“I’msure she does. She’s a very strong lady, though.” Mesa tucked a stray piece ofhair behind her ear.

“Yes,she is. I doubt Jason will do anything of the sort. Military lifestyle doesn’tsuit him, I don’t think. He likes sleeping late, getting into trouble, andstaying out all hours of the night. The discipline would do him good, but Idoubt he’d do it.”

“Troublewith a capital T.”

Joelchuckled. “The fifth of us is Jonathan. He tries to be the cowboy Dad wanted inall of us, but he’s not so much cut out for the life. He rides, but he’s not ascomfortable on a horse as the rest of us. He’s more at home in front of a computer.He’s a gamer.”

“Nothingwrong with that. Computer programmers make good money.”

“Yeah,but he doesn’t get to do it much. I think Dad should let him take over thewebsite and marketing for the ranch, but he hires out to someone else. Daddoesn’t see the potential in Jonathan doing it. I do. I think he’d been greatat it. If they send Jonathan to school so he could get some formal training,he’d be kick-ass at it. I don’t think Jonathan has ever had a girlfriend. He’sreally shy.”

Shelaughed. “I didn’t think any of you were shy.”

Joelgrinned. “He really isn’t when you get to know him. I think he feeds off therest of us with our personalities. He kind of goes along with the bunch.”

“Ibet he’s got a deeper personality than you give him credit for.”

“Maybe.”He lifted his gaze and glanced across the fire to where Jeremiah sat talkingwith a couple of the young women who were guests. “Jeremiah is the sixth in thebunch.” Joel shrugged as he shifted on the seat. “How do I describe him? Hmm.He tends bar at the local club when he’s not working the ranch. I don’t thinkhe cares so much for the ranch work. He likes doing financial stuff. He playsthe stock market a lot. He’s a very personable guy and gets along with justabout everyone. See how he’s talking to those girls?”

“Yeah.”

“Mostwould think he’s flirt. Trying to get one of them in bed with him, but he’snot.”

“No?”

“Nope.He just likes to talk to people. The numbers thing is really what he likes. Iconstantly see him with his nose buried in the newspaper or on the computer.Someday I expect him to be rich beyond all of us the way he plays with numbers.I’m not sure why he’s here at the ranch except that he doesn’t want to leaveMom and Dad. He’d be better off in New York or somewhere.”

“Wow.Such a diverse group you have here.” The notes on the group were getting longerand longer. How much more could she possibly need to develop the hero in herbook? Maybe there needed to be an entire family.

“Thenthere is Joey or Joe. He’s the baby of the family and boy do we all know it. Hegets away with murder. I swear. Mom and Dad think he can do no wrong. Well, itlooks like it from the rest of us boys’ perspective anyway. He’s the one incharge of the horses. He helps Dad buy and sell those for the Remuda and keeps us in a good supply of gentle to a littlemore rowdy for the experienced riders. We have a wide range of horses we keepon the property. Joe breaks most of the newer horses and he competes in bronc riding at the rodeo. I think he does some bull ridingon the side, too although he doesn’t want Mom to know about it and it’s notprofessionally. One of these days, he’s gonna break his neck, but it’s what heloves. He’s got the adrenaline junkie personality. Definitely attracts thebuckle bunnies with his happy-go-lucky attitude. Woman in every town.”

“Wow.You’ve got such a wide variety of personalities in your brothers. I’ve got fivepages of notes on them.”

“Good.I hope you get some great information while you’re here.”

“Thisis going to be awesome, Joel. Thank you for giving me the lowdown on everyone.”She reached over and kissed him on the cheek.

“Wouldyou like to go for a walk?”

“Inthe dark?”

“Igrabbed a small flashlight while we were in the barn.”

“Okay,”she said, sliding her pen and notebook into her purse. She wasn’t sure how muchthey could see in the dark, but she didn’t want to call it a night quite yet.Being close to Joel ramped up the heat between them. Her body felt on fire asshe shivered in the night air. It wasn’t from being cold.