Josh and Nick finally ambled up to the house and into the kitchen, where each of them sampled the various dishes in progress. Anna slapped Nick’s hand as he attempted to snag a radish from the salad, and Josh got “the look” from his mother for trying to distract Paige while she frosted the cake so he could sneak a taste of the icing. Apparently, Anna knew how her husband and son operated, and kept an eye on each.

Josh leaned against the counter next to Paige, glanced over his shoulder to make sure his mother was otherwise occupied, and dragged a finger along the rim of the bowl filled with frosting to come away with a big blob of the confection. He popped it into his mouth and winked at her.

Paige couldn’t help but grin at his mischievous behavior. “Your mom mentioned German chocolate is your favorite.”

“Yep.” He swiped another taste. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Immensely.” She’d been so busy with Anna, she hadn’t had time for any unpleasant thoughts. It was a nice change of pace. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

“No thanks necessary,” he said, his voice low and incredibly gentle. “I’d do anything to keep you smiling, Paige.”

Paige’s heart swelled at the sweet sentiment, and a lump formed in her throat. If only things were that simple, she thought. If only her life wasn’t so complex and she didn’t need things Josh couldn’t offer her, like stability and security.

He leaned close, so his breath caressed her cheek when he spoke. “Stop thinking so much, sweetheart, because it makes you frown, and I won’t allow it this weekend.” He followed up that soft demand with a quick, warm kiss on her lips that lingered long after he’d straightened.

Shocked at his brazen display with his parents in the room, Paige’s gaze darted to Anna and Nick, who stood by the stove. She felt confident neither of them had witnessed the brief, intimate exchange between her and Josh as Anna was busy feeding her husband a spoonful of the spaghetti sauce and asking for his opinion.

Shaking off the tingling sensation coursing along the surface of her skin, Paige attempted to ignore Josh in hopes that he’d go away. No such luck. He stood there, watching her. Feeling the heat of his gaze on her, she forced herself to concentrate on the task of spreading the frosting evenly on top of the cake. Absently, she ran her tongue across her sticky bottom lip, tasting chocolate and the unique, arousing flavor of Josh. Her stomach tumbled and tightened.

“You’ve got a little more, right here at the corner,” he murmured, slowly gliding his thumb across her mouth. Sure enough, he’d wiped away a smudge of frosting, which he promptly sucked off his thumb, his eyes dark as they held hers.

The breath all but whooshed out of her lungs, and she had the irrepressible urge to throw caution to the wind and give in to the desire that tied her so strongly to Josh-consequences be damned. For weeks she’d resisted him-for years, really-and denying something so intrinsic was becoming more difficult with each passing day. Yet wanting him held so many risks, and the thought of loving him inundated her with so many fears.

Or was it already too late?

Her troubling thoughts dispersed when Josh’s younger brother Joel entered the kitchen with a loud, raucous greeting, as was his way. He was tanned a golden brown from the hours he spent outdoors, as good-looking as his two other brothers, and oozed enough sex appeal to charm anyone of the female persuasion.

Paige suspected he’d broken many hearts over the years.

Jovial handshakes and warm hugs went around, and when he came to Paige, his eyes brightened with wicked intent. He swept her dramatically into his embrace, bent her back slightly, and growled playfully into the curve of her neck.

Paige laughed at his outrageous behavior, chalking it all up to Joel’s fun-loving personality. Joel’s antics seemed to amuse everyone, except Josh. There was a smile on Josh’s lips as Joel lifted her back up, his splayed hand supporting the base of her spine, but his eyes blazed with something far more primitive and possessive.

“Watch your hands, little brother.” Josh’s voice was light and teasing, but not enough to disguise the underlying annoyance vibrating in his tone.

Releasing Paige, Joel lifted one brow in a silent query that went unanswered. Josh’s parents shot their older son a speculative look that caused Paige’s face to heat, but they, too, refrained from commenting on his odd remark. It wasn’t hard to imagine the thoughts racing through everyone’s mind.

Shortly thereafter, Audrey, seven months pregnant with her fourth child, arrived with her brood, filling the house with three adorable, energetic little girls ranging in age from four to nine, none of whom had any qualms about clamoring for their uncles’ attention, loudly and enthusiastically. Within minutes, the men had spurred the girls into a wild, rambunctious frenzy. Squeals of laughter reverberated in the kitchen, along with the patter of shoes as Joel and Josh instigated a game of tickle monster around the large oak table.

The madness was deafening, crazy and wonderfully distracting.

Anna propped her hands on her slim hips and raised her voice a few decibels to be heard over the noise in her kitchen. “Girls, no running in the house!” Then she turned to her sons. “And since you boys can’t behave yourselves either, and seem to be just as bad as the kids, out you go.” She hitched a finger toward the back door.

Joel slung an arm over his mother’s shoulders, dwarfing her beneath his six-foot-plus height. “Aw, Mom, we’re just getting warmed up.”

Her mouth pursed and she slanted him a strict look. “Don’t ‘aw, Mom’ me, Joel. You may be able to wrap every other woman around that finger of yours with your sweet-talking charm, but you forget that I’ve been immune since the day you were born.”

He chuckled, but didn’t refute that remark.

Josh grinned and headed toward the back door as ordered. “Come on, girls. Let’s go feed the horses. I know where Grandpa stashes the sugar cubes.”

Three pairs of eyes lit up, and they all scrambled from the kitchen and raced down to the stables as fast as their sneakered feet could carry them. Paige watched from the kitchen window as Joel, Josh and Nick followed at a leisurely pace behind the girls, their male comradery evident in their smiling expressions, deep chuckles and occasional slaps on the back.

“Ah, finally, blessed silence,” Audrey said, amusement and relief mingling in her lilting voice. “Now, if I’m real lucky, this little guy will settle down, too.” She rubbed her rounded tummy lovingly.

Paige smiled. “So, it’s going to be a boy this time?” she asked.

The other woman beamed with happiness and hope. “That’s what the sonogram showed, so we’ve got our fingers crossed. I’m not going through this again, not even if we end up with four girls.” Blowing out a weary breath, she met Anna’s gaze. “Joel isn’t the only one good at sweet-talking. He must have taken lessons from Vince.”

“It’s a Marchiano male attribute, I’m afraid.” Anna gave a long-suffering sigh, though the sound was tinged with affection. “Any one of them could cajole candy from a baby.”

Paige didn’t doubt it-Josh had charm aplenty, as well as a sensual allure that stirred her in ways no other man ever had. Irresistible and persistent were apt descriptions for the Marchiano men.

“Why don’t the two of you go out on the porch and relax?” Anna suggested in a way that left little room for either of them to protest. “Everything’s done here in the kitchen except the cleanup, and I can get it done faster on my own.”

Paige and Audrey made their way outside. Settling into the wicker chairs on the porch, they enjoyed the light spring breeze and the sound of children’s laughter floating in the air. It was a wonderful sound, Paige thought. So innocent. So trusting. So guileless. It struck a maternal chord in her she found difficult to ignore.

Josh had taken his sports jacket off, along with his shoulder holster and gun-which she assumed he’d put away somewhere safe in the house so the girls wouldn’t find the weapon. Gone was the stubborn detective who’d been her bodyguard for the past three weeks, and in his place was a physically fit, gorgeous man who looked carefree and unencumbered by the events of recent weeks.

With a wistful pang near the vicinity of her heart, she watched Josh play ball with his middle niece, Holly, encouraging her when she missed a catch and lavishing praise when she managed to land the ball. In between, he chased after Beth, the youngest, and tossed her into the air until she was breathless with delight. He even managed to tease his oldest niece, Amanda, and tug gently on her pigtails as she fed Desirée, one of the mares in the nearby corral. He clearly adored his nieces, and the feeling appeared mutual. And there was no shortage of attention from Joel, either, who mercilessly tormented the girls with tickling. Both men were totally at ease with children, which brought to Paige’s mind how impatient Anthony had been with little ones, how unwilling to interact with them. At the time, she’d written off his remoteness to lack of experience with toddlers, but now understood that children hadn’t been a part of Anthony’s plan.

Josh, however, was a natural-born nurturer. Loving. Kind. Patient. He exhibited those qualities with his nieces, and he’d displayed them with her, too. Josh was everything Anthony hadn’t been-a tender, giving lover, a faithful friend, and someone with the potential to be a caring, loving father.

Her throat closed up, and she blamed the rush of emotion on the hormonal imbalance that seemed to have had her in its grip for the past week. She’d been on an emotional roller coaster and wasn’t surprised that something as simple as witnessing Josh’s ease with children would reduce her to a melancholic state.