CHAPTER 1
A sher Diamond glanced through the front screen door on his way to the kitchen, but caught the doorjamb and leaned back for a double-take when he saw a man down on one knee in the yard across the street. Ah…the mysterious new owner to go with the SOLD sign. Just in time for summer. The house had been on the market for six months with no more than an occasional looker.
Truth be told, it had been nice and quiet since the Zimmermans moved to California in December with their three boys, twin toddler girls, and two dogs—all of them Tasmanian Devils in disguise.
He squinted through the screen. What the heck was the guy doing, testing the texture of the grass? He rolled his eyes and resumed his mission for a second cup of coffee—until she strolled into view.
Whoa—hold the hell up.
He halted and leaned back. Hmm. Caffeine could wait.
Moving to the screen door to lean against the frame, he took his time scanning tanned legs topped by jean cut-offs and a white baby doll tee working overtime. God bless the warm May sunshine. This new scenery would be a helluva nice addition to the neighborhood, and that was going off only a long-distance-through-the-screen appraisal that hadn’t reached her face yet.
He lifted his gaze when she halted in front of the kneeling man. And suddenly the man’s position made perfect sense. Well, that, and the box he’d extended to the red-haired beauty before him.
Asher almost retreated from spying, but decided if the guy didn’t want the whole world to know his business—well, this one street in Lakewood, Colorado, anyway—then he shouldn’t propose to his girlfriend on the front lawn while the neighbors salivated for a glimpse of the new residents of 129 Hopewell Lane.
And, what if she said no out there? How humiliating.
As if on cue, the woman’s smile dimmed and disappeared, leaving her looking altogether too serious. Very beautiful in an intense sort of way, but not a good sign for her would-be fiancé.
Duncan Collins from down the street drove by in his restored ’57 Chevy, drawing the redhead’s gaze for a long, covetous look before she refocused on the man kneeling at her feet.
Ooh, ouch. A woman madly in love shouldn’t look away from her lover’s eyes—or the ring—when he was on one knee offering her the rest of his life.
It was like seeing a car wreck; he didn’t want to stare, but couldn’t help himself. Pity rose for the poor man at her feet who was about to be rejected. The guy’s heart would be ripped from his chest and stomped into the lush grass the real estate company had cultivated after the Zimmerman wrecking crew departed.
Yeah, he was jaded. That tended to happen when a guy had been cheated on by a superb actress who was less interested in his heart and more interested in the social and political standing that came with his last name. And while his parents were going to celebrate their thirty-fifth anniversary next weekend, and his grandparents had celebrated their fifty-fifth back in January, he and his oldest brother combined for a complete strike-out.
Loyal had fallen head-over-heels in love twice. He’d proposed twice, too.
The family had yet to hear him say, “I do.”
Asher hadn’t proposed to Brianna, but he’d been about to. And while his brother swore off marriage and moved eight hundred miles away to Dallas six years ago, Asher’s method of purging the past was to throw himself into his photography career. He still wanted to get married and have a family, but with Grandpa Ira’s “Dodged a bullet on that one, son. Diamonds don’t do divorce,” echoing in his head, he’d make sure he found the absolute right woman the next time.
He was only twenty-nine, after all. He had more than enough time.
Across the street, the redhead out on the lawn extended her left hand while she beamed down at the man still kneeling before her.
Huh.
He hadn’t seen that coming.
Asher shoved his shoulder off the doorjamb and straightened. His gaze lingered on her face. Man, she was something with a smile brightening her features. The guy’s hand shook so hard, he dropped the ring. He stared down for a moment, then frantically pawed through the trimmed blades in search of the rock that’d flashed in the mid-morning sunlight on its decent to doom.
Legs—it was as good a name as any—dropped to the ground beside him and helped search. When she held it aloft and stood with a victorious smile, Asher experienced a tiny twinge of jealousy. His gaze travelled over her curves once more. The dude kneeling at her feet was one lucky man.
However—thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s fiancé, so he mentally knuckled the green-eyed monster aside and waited for the happy ending so he could go get his coffee. Time for the passionate kiss to put the cherry on top of the romantic scene. Too bad he didn’t have his camera in hand to capture the moment for them. He could frame it as a welcome to the neighborhood present.
The redhead nodded and extended her left hand ag
ain. After the ring was successfully placed on her finger, the man stood, they shared a smile, and then they—