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men, who the women pointedly ignored. Then there were the locals, the professionals, the older couples, and all the other, no doubt deemed, acceptable people that the ladies went out of their way to greet. What wasn’t clear was what group Kristen belonged to, though she had a feeling she knew where she was being grouped.
    It was impossible to miss when every single time she was introduced to somebody as they passed by their table, Kristen could sense an immediate withdrawal the second they realized who her cousin was, making one thing perfectly clear. Gwen was not beloved in this small town.
    Just the opposite, but Kristen refused to accept that was based on anything other than a lack of understanding. Sure, her cousin might be a little wild and somewhat bossy, but Gwen wasn’t a bad person. In fact, she was generous enough to let Kristen stay with her, and that counted for a lot in Kristen’s book.
    What didn’t count for much, though, were the friends Gwen came strolling into the bakery with not a few minutes after Kristen’s group had finally settled down at a table that had clearly been reserved for them. The young set of mostly inappropriately dressed women that accompanied Gwen didn’t bother to head in their direction or to speak to anyone at any of tables Kristen and her group had paused at.
    Instead, they were greeted by a chorus of welcomes from the men and ended up fitting themselves in among that rowdy, clearly randy, group. Kristen couldn’t say she was surprised, but she was a little disappointed when she saw several of Gwen’s friends settle down at a table with Deputy Hammel.
    His more forward friend was there next to him, greeting the ladies with a smile that assured Kristen he was more than familiar with them. That just went to prove what she’d already suspected. The man was a flirt. He’d just been amusing himself with her.
    That was humiliating enough, but he’d done it simply because she was a virgin, a fact that seemed to be apparent to more men than Kristen had ever realized. That was a depressing thought, one Kristen lost herself in as the conversation swirled around her.
    It was broken up by the sudden hushed whispers that drew Kristen’s attention from her own dark thoughts to the group that was leaning in close as they all tracked the movement of the woman walking in on the arm of a very large, very hard looking man. He was the kind of man who got painted onto a romance cover, and the woman was even better looking.
    Kristen couldn’t help but gape, feeling small and completely mousy as the tall, auburn-haired beauty swept past their table in a light fragrance of flowers and sunshine. She not only looked good. She smelled even better.
    “…can you believe it?”
    “ Three men ?”
    Kristen didn’t know what the ladies were whispering about, but that comment caught her attention. She glanced over to find them all smiling at each other and shooting looks back at the hunk the woman had just walked in with.
    “Oh, please, like you’d turn down a single one of the Davises.”
    “Like any woman would.”
    That received a round of snickers and agreements that had Kristen glancing over at Cybil with a silent question. She caught Kristen’s glance and returned her smile as she bowed in slightly to give her the low down.
    “That’s Patton and one of her boyfriends.”
    “She dating all three brothers,” Cindy, a sweetly round-faced blonde chipped in with a smile that lead to no good thought.
    “At the same time.” Janice tacked that on, causing the whole table to erupt in giggles and leaving no doubt that what they meant by dating was really sleeping…sleeping with three men at the same time.
    Kristen’s eyes damn near bugged out of her head as that realization hit, and her face went up in flames a second later. That unleashed a round of laughter across the table as Kristen looked back over at the woman, not certain if she should loathe her or admire her. She was sort of torn