The Texan's Tennessee Romance

Casey waited until the door had closed behind Natalie before he spoke. “Seriously?” he demanded. “You’ve really come here to nag me about going back to Dallas? Don’t you two have lives of your own?”

“Before you start chewing on us, you might ask yourself if you’d rather your mother had come instead,” Andrew said evenly.

“My mother?”

Looking up from scratching Buddy’s ears, Aaron nodded. “She was threatening. Your dad keeps telling her you’re fine, but Aunt Lauren is convinced you’re having some sort of breakdown and you need help. When Andrew and I volunteered to come in her place, she agreed to stay behind.”

“Oh.” Suddenly it didn’t seem so bad to have his cousins there. “Well…thanks, I guess. But really, I’m okay.”

“Looked like you’re more than okay to me,” Aaron murmured, glancing at the door through which Natalie had disappeared. “She’s pretty.”

“Listen, it’s almost dark. If you guys really came up here to help, grab some of this stuff and throw it in the back of my truck. I’m sticking the extra pieces of wood in this box, and then I’ve got to sweep up.”

The twins exchanged a look. “You actually want us to work?” Aaron asked.

Casey punched his cousin’s arm. “Pick up the toolbox.”

“Ow.” But Aaron sighed and picked up the toolbox while Andrew started throwing wood into the box of scraps.

Natalie had known who the twins were the minute they’d rounded the corner of the cabin looking for Casey. She had seen from Casey’s expression that he hadn’t been expecting them. Remembering Aaron’s announcement that they were here to bring Casey home, she sighed, figuring her time with Casey was coming to an end. Which had been inevitable from the start, she reminded herself…but it still felt too soon.Mentally replaying her first sight of the twins, she shook her head in bemusement. With their almost black hair and equally dark eyes, they were striking in both their similarities and their stunning good looks. Casey was a very good-looking man, but those two were freaking gorgeous. The fact that she still found Casey the more appealing of the three was an indication of how mesmerized she was by him. And maybe how badly she was going to miss him after he left.

She didn’t want to think about that right now.

Though she’d used it as an excuse to escape the curious looks from Casey’s cousins, she really had been doing laundry that afternoon. She had left a load of jeans in the aging dryer and since she no longer heard the machine running, she assumed the timer had buzzed while she was outside with Casey. She opened the door, only to be met by the sight of a mound of wet jeans.

Sighing in exasperation, she decided she must have forgotten to turn on the machine, though she would have sworn she remembered doing so. Closing the door again, she set the timer and pushed the start button. The dryer made a humming noise, but without the rhythmic thumping that would indicate that the drum was turning.

“Well, darn,” she muttered.

She glanced toward the back door and sighe

d again. She would have to tell Casey about the problem. Whether he could fix it was another question.

She opened the door to find Andrew sweeping up the last of the sawdust from the deck. “Um—where’s Casey?” she asked.

Leaning casually on the broom, Andrew replied, “He and Aaron carried some stuff to the truck. He should be—oh, here he is.”

With Buddy right at his heels, Casey rounded the side of the house and started up the steps to the deck. “Are you looking for me?” he asked Natalie.

“Yes. I—Something’s wrong with the clothes dryer. The drum isn’t turning.”

“Yeah? Okay, I’ll come in and look at it.”

Aaron laughed. “You think looking at it is going to make it work again? What do you know about fixing a clothes dryer?”

Casey lifted his chin and replied with aggrieved dignity, “There’s a chance I can figure out what’s wrong with it.”

“A very slim chance,” Aaron murmured.

Andrew stepped in before his cousin and brother could exchange any further barbs. “Actually, I helped dad work on mom’s dryer once. Maybe I can help you figure it out.”

Casey nodded. “Yeah, okay. Thanks for the offer.”

“I’ll help, too,” Aaron said, following them toward the open doorway where Natalie still stood.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure you’ll be tons of help,” Casey drawled sarcastically, as Natalie backed up to let the men in.

“I’ll provide comic relief,” Aaron quipped, winking at Natalie. “Although I imagine watching you guys pretending to be handymen will be funny enough.”