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but the interest they’d shared before—it still seemed to be there. Beth guided her boys toward the parking lot, the three tykes suitably subdued.
    “I’ll meet you there,” Daniel called after her. He’d love to be a fly in the car and hear what the boys had to say about the swimming hole. Smart kids, even if they were in a heap of trouble at the moment.
    He followed her van back toward the house where he’d lived until a few weeks ago. They passed the original ranch house where he currently slept. Daniel loved the layout of the entire SP Ranch. His great-grandpa and his brother had planned well when they had set up the place. Of the two homesteads, what they still called the Peter’s house was slightly smaller. It had been built after the two bachelor brothers had gotten married and started families within a year of each other. The second house stood on the other side of the coulee and creek. The layout had given both families privacy, and yet easy access to the barns and storage for their joint field equipment.
    Years later, the Peter’s house had provided a wonderful location for the oldest boys to get out from under their parents’ roof without moving into town. At twenty-six, Daniel had been batching it with Blake and Matt for the past eight years. It felt awfully strange to have moved back into the home of his youth.
    On an impulse, he turned down a side gravel road that led to the back of the barns. He left his truck there and strode through the trees, crossing the small footbridge to access the other side of the property. He made it to the Peter’s house just as Beth pulled in. The boys poured out of the van and raced for the door.
    “Night, Daniel.” Three sets of hands waved as the kids shot up the wide porch stairs to disappear in to the house.
    He laughed and turned to face Beth. “I see you’ve been living in the country long enough you’re not locking your doors anymore.”
    She opened her mouth then closed it tight, wrinkling her nose for a moment. “You’re right. I hadn’t even thought about that.”
    When she moved slowly toward the house, he hurried to offer his arm.
    “Your leg sore?” he asked.
    She shook her head. “Just not looking forward to doing the ‘Mom speech’. I decided to save it until we got home so I could concentrate on the road.”
    Damn, no wonder the kids ran off so fast. “For what it’s worth, the creek is a pretty harmless place. It’s not very deep, and usually a whole lot of mud. I think I caught them the first time they were down there, and I’ve been keeping an eye out for them ever since, so they’ve been safe.”
    “Thank you for that.” She opened the door. “Good night.”
    “I’ll wait here once I’m done with my chore, until you’ve got a minute to talk.”
    Beth clutched the doorknob so hard her fingers went white. “I have to put the boys to bed.”
    “No troubles. I’ve got nowhere I’ve got to be.” Panic flashed in her eyes again, but he refused to back down. He wasn’t going to push this too far, but now that he’d found her—she could run, but she couldn’t hide. He dipped his head, maintaining eye contact until she had to pull her gaze away.
     
    Three little faces stared upward, lips quivering. She barely had the strength to finish her lecture on staying safe and making sure Mom knew where they were at all times without breaking into a smile.
    “We’re sorry, Mommy.”
    She hugged them close. Now that her heart had slowed from the fear of having them near the water alone, she understood the attraction. Although, they hadn’t been unsupervised—her mysterious stranger had been there. Daniel had managed to tangle himself into her life whether she wanted him there or not.
    “Okay, guys. I know you’re excited from the picnic, but it’s time to start slowing things down. I want all of you in the tub, then we can read together before bed.”
    The boys raced off to the bathroom, voices raised in energetic shouts. Beth