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wishful thinking. Isaiah followed Josh inside without a backwards glance. Grady tossed the dregs from his cup into the nearest bush. Suddenly, a lot of the promise seemed to drain out of the morning. He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath.
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    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 29
    He was doing that a lot lately. If he kept up the deep-breathing habit, he was gonna hyperventilate or something.
    The brothers were in the kitchen already. Isaiah had made straight for the coffee pot. He must have moved with Superman’s speed because he already had a cup in his hand and was busy trying to drain it in record time. Josh, for all his pent-up energy, moved a little slower.
    He was still pouring milk into his cereal bowl.
    Grady’s lips twitched, some of his bad mood leaching away—Josh had found his secret addiction. That was just like a kid. The Fruity Pebbles box sat open on the counter, removed from its hiding spot in the back of the pantry behind the Wheaties. Not that Grady ever ate the Wheaties. They were there for show, to cover up the kid’s cereal box.
    “Put the milk away,” Grady reminded Josh. Josh paused, spoon halfway to his mouth and dripping milk off the sides like a white waterfall. He dropped the spoon back into the bowl with a little splash and obeyed before he climbed up on the chair, short legs swinging, and went back to eating with admirable focus.
    Grady joined Isaiah at the counter, refilling his own cup. Dang, looked like he was going to need to make another pot. Isaiah had already damn near emptied this one. And in less than five minutes, too. It was impressive.
    “You boys must have an industrial-size coffeemaker over there,” Grady teased gently.
    “Otherwise you’d wear the thing out in less than a week.”
    Isaiah froze, lips plastered to the rim of his cup. He shrugged sheepishly. “We do have one of those twelve-cup ones,” he admitted.
    Grady laughed. “I don’t even want to know how much you spend each month in coffee grounds.”
    “No, you don’t.” Isaiah’s smile was…well, there was no other word for it but adorable.
    Chagrined and happy at the same time, it made him look young and carefree. Grady had to clench his free hand into a fist to keep from reaching for his foreman.
    Piercing green eyes watched them from across the room. Josh was studying them intently. Or rather, he was studying Grady. There was a look on his face that made Grady want to squirm. Josh might be a kid, but he was very, very bright. There was a knowledge in his eyes that Grady didn’t even want to attempt to decipher. Mostly because it would probably make him uncomfortable. Or embarrassed. It was too early for that.
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    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 30
    Low voices filtered through the window as Micah and Tommy rounded the house on their way to the back stable. The two main breeding stables were near the bunkhouse, but when Grady had gone to expand, shortly after Isaiah took over as his foreman and business-slash-ranch manager, they’d been out of room over there. Fitting another barn in would have been impossible, unless they had chopped down a couple of dozen trees. Grady hadn’t been willing to do that, not when there was a perfectly decent clearing on the back side of his house. The stable there now housed a large indoor training arena and all the mounts reserved for everyday use. It made for a bit of a walk for the boys, but no one seemed to mind.
    The sounds of activity seemed to jolt Isaiah out of his caffeine haze. He put his cup down—after draining it, of course. That was one man who wouldn’t dream of wasting a drop of coffee.
    “I guess I’d better get out there. I want to check the southern pastures today, make sure the fence is solid for when we roust the cattle out of the foothills. Winter’s gonna come fast this year, I’m thinking.”
    Grady nodded reluctantly. “Yeah. If you need me to help, holler. Oh, and I want to sit down and go