“So, Daddy, anything interesting going on around here?” Luke inquired after Maritza had served a prime rib big enough to feed an expected crowd, but far too big to pass off as something she’d prepared just for one. Not even his impudent housekeeper was brazen enough to suggest she was having to stretch the lavish spread of food to accommodate unexpected guests.

“Other than the lot of you showing up to beg a meal?” he retorted. “Not a thing.”

“Have you met the new lawyer in town?” Jordan inquired with a perfectly straight face. “What’s her name? Janet Runningbear? I’ve spotted her a couple of times myself. She’s gorgeous. You thought so, too, didn’t you, Cody?”

Harlan scowled at Cody and Melissa, who were looking about as innocent as a couple of tattletales could. If he’d had any doubts about his youngest son having the biggest mouth in the family, his proof was sitting around his dining room table right now.

It was obvious Luke and Jessie and Jordan and Kelly knew every last detail of his fledgling fascination with Janet Runningbear. They’d probably been told the second Cody had finished listening to all of his confessions about that night in Janet’s kitchen. That poker game at Rosa’s hadn’t helped. What Cody hadn’t blabbed himself, Rosa had.

“We’ve met,” he admitted tersely, trying hard to avoid making the kind of revelations that would invite more taunting.

Cody chuckled, then covered his face with a napkin to hide his smile.

“Damn your hide, boy,” Harlan said to his youn-gest. “You got any control whatsoever over that mouth of yours?”

“I can’t imagine what you mean,” Cody declared, feigning a hurt expression that was about as believable as the ones he’d worn on his chocolate-streaked face when he’d sworn he’d never been near the cookie jar.

“If anyone’s to blame, it’s you,” Cody added, trying to pass on the guilt. “You’re the one who made a spectacle of yourself at Rosa’s. It was the hottest story on the Los Piños grapevine for a solid week. Mule filled in any gap Rosa left in the story. Seemed to enjoy it, too. All I did was confirm a few facts, when asked directly.”

“It was a poker game, not a spectacle,” Harlan retorted defensively. “Playing cards wasn’t a crime last time I checked.”

“From what I heard, poker wasn’t exactly the only game being played that afternoon,” Jordan chimed in with a wicked grin.

Harlan resigned himself to sitting back and taking whatever they were of a mind to dish out. To his surprise, though, he found an unexpected ally in Jessie. She reached over and patted his hand.