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for his brawn. I need some respect around here. I’ve got brains too.”
    “Yes, dear, I know” his mother said indulgently. “But women never get tired of seeing the ripple of muscles, even if they do belong to family.”
    Grant rolled his eyes and heaved the massive turkey into the oven, glad that he was in good shape. There was no way that bird weighed twenty pounds. More like fifty. His female relatives broke into applause and then promptly went back to orchestrating a dinner for twenty-seven people. He took the moment of their distraction to grab his leather jacket and scarf and escape out the kitchen door before they could find something else for him to do. It wasn’t until he got outdoors that he realized he’d left his beer on the kitchen counter.
    “It’s just not worth going back for,” he muttered, shuddering at the thought.
    Fresh snow crunched underfoot as he walked down the sloping back yard into the trees behind the house. Winter hadn’t been kind to Surrender that year, and it was far from over. Already the grey clouds were pregnant and ready to burst with the next round of fat white flakes.
    The entire family would be sleeping under one roof that night so they could wake up together on Christmas morning (the kids were told that it was easier for Santa to make one stop), so there was no need for him to worry that anyone would be stuck out in the storm.
    The late afternoon sunlight was fading, and he lifted his face up, so the cold slapped at his cheeks, and he inhaled the brittle air deep into his lungs. He loved this time of year. The beauty the snow brought to the land—the hushed quiet as it blanketed bare branches and the empty fields where farmers would plant come the spring and let their cattle and horses graze.
    There was no purpose to his steps as he hopped over fallen branches that had snapped off the trees from the cold. He didn’t know exactly where he was going or the heavy need inside of him to get there quickly. He just knew he needed to escape for a little while. To be alone inside his head.
    He’d always felt at home in Surrender. Settled. He’d had no dreams or desires to ever leave the town he was born in or travel the world—unlike his siblings and cousins. They’d all left at some point to go to school or find jobs, and yeah, his cousins had come back to raise their families, but they’d had that one taste of freedom before committing themselves to staying home.
    His brothers and Darcy were no better. Cade was headed to Texas, and Declan and Shane were only ever in Surrender long enough to catch a quick night’s rest before they were off again. And Darcy was working on her Master’s Degree in business. She didn’t know what she wanted to do with it yet, but she knew whatever it was wouldn’t be in Surrender. She couldn’t wait to get out of there.
    But not Grant. He was completely happy where he was. He loved his home, and he’d built his company from the ground up and had a steady business that had been in the black for the last six years. But he was looking for more. What made him the most different from his siblings is that he wasn’t shying away from marriage at all. In fact, he was actively looking for someone to spend his life with. Someone he could come home to and share a quiet evening with. Someone he could be comfortable with. Peace and contentment were something he knew most people never really achieved in their lives, but he was determined.
    No, the thought of marriage didn’t have him running at all. It sounded…nice. He could find a sweet, intelligent woman he could have meaningful conversations with. She would be pleasant to look at, give him children and be every man’s dream at night when the lights went out. It shouldn’t be too hard to find someone to fit his expectations.
    The only problem was that this was Surrender. He knew ever person in the tiny town, warts and all, and the only woman he could think of who fit his ideal was completely