The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [211]
Using that statement to lead into another question, Elizabeth pulled out her paper and pencil. “Do the brothers have any sisters?”
“Not a one. They only have male sperm, to hear them tell it.” Misty had a soft, almost secret smile on her face. “Morgan calls Amber his little miracle.”
Honey sighed. “Sawyer even warned me before we were married that I should resign myself to baby boys. The way they dote on Amber, as if none of them had ever seen a baby girl before, is hysterical. I keep telling them she’s no different from Casey when he was an infant, but they just look at me like I’m nuts.”
Elizabeth grinned at that image. “In a nice sort of way,” she ventured cautiously, so she wouldn’t offend, “they seem a bit sexist.”
“Oh, they’re sexist all right! And very old-fashioned, but as you said, in a nice way. They insist on helping a woman whenever they can, but they’d refuse to admit it if they needed help.”
“Not that they ever do,” Honey added. “They’re the most self-reliant men I’ve ever seen. Their mother made sure they could cook and clean and fend for themselves.”
Misty leaned forward to speak in a whisper. “Morgan says all he needs me for is to keep him happy.” Her eyebrows bobbed. “You know what I mean.” Then she settled back with a blissful sigh. “But then he’ll show me it’s so much more than that. We talk about everything and share everything. He unloads his worries at night over dinner and he says he misses me all day when he’s working.”
“Do you still work here in the diner?”
“Part-time, just for the fun of it. It keeps Morgan on his toes. He has this absurd notion that every guy in town comes here to eat just to ogle his wife.” She laughed. “In truth, there’s not a guy around who would look for more than two seconds for fear of incurring Morgan’s wrath.”
“He has a temper?”
“No, not really.”
Honey choked, accidentally spraying iced tea across the table. Alarmed, Elizabeth quickly handed her a napkin. Biting back a laugh, Honey mumbled, “Sorry.”
But Misty wasn’t offended. “You should talk,” she said primly. “Morgan is still bragging about that fight Sawyer had over you.”
“What about Gabe?” Elizabeth asked. “Is he a hell-raiser?”
“Gabe? Heck, no, Gabe’s a lover, not a fighter. Not that I doubt he could handle himself in any situation.”
Elizabeth tried to sound only mildly curious as she pursued that topic. “He has himself something of a reputation, doesn’t he?”
Misty shrugged. “I suppose, but it’s not a bad one. Folks around here just love him, that’s all.”
“You know,” Elizabeth said thoughtfully as she set aside her pencil and propped her elbows on the table, “I think it’s amazing that he did something so heroic and yet he shrugs it off as nothing.”
Honey waved her fork dismissively. “They’re all like that. They’re strong and capable and well-respected and they don’t really think a thing of it. To them, it’s just how things are—they’re nothing special. But I know not a one of them would sit on the sidelines if someone needed help. That’s just the way they are.”
For over an hour, the women talked, and Elizabeth took page after page of background notes on the brothers, Gabe specifically. If some of her questions had nothing to do with her thesis…well, that was no one’s concern but her own.
When the lunch ended and she was ready to go, Elizabeth thanked both women. Misty had her wide-awake daughter cradled in her arms, cooing to her, so it was Honey who touched Elizabeth’s arm and said, “I hope we’ve been some help.”
Elizabeth could read the look in Honey’s eyes and understood her meaning. She smiled in acknowledgment. “You don’t have to worry. I know Gabe is still sowing his wild oats, so while I’m enjoying interviewing him, I’m not going to expect undying love. I’m a little more grounded in reality than that.”
Honey bit her lip then shared a look with her sister. Misty sighed. “He really is a doll, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is. But he’s a rascal too, and I’m well aware of just how serious he is, which isn’t very. Besides, I’m