Once her shoulder was well enough she would leave here and probably never see any of the Johnson triplets again. One of them had already let her down and might have been responsible for trying to shoot her, and she'd be a fool to allow another of the hot, handsome triplets to get close to her in any way.

Jake gripped the steering wheel tightly as he headed toward Cameron Creek and the sheriff's office, which had become far too familiar in the past couple of years.

What he didn't want to think about was Grace in that s.e.xy robe that had wrapped around her slender body just tight enough to display all the curves she possessed-and she possessed plenty.

He liked her. It wasn't just the way she looked in her s.e.xy black-and-red robe with her hair slightly tousled. He liked the warmth of her smile, the way she loved her children. He liked the strength she obviously possessed, a strength that had seen her through a rough childhood and had buoyed her up as she'd become caretaker for a younger, obviously troubled sister.

She'd have to be strong to get through what had probably been a difficult pregnancy and the first ten months of raising those girls all alone.

If that wasn't enough, the smoky green of her eyes drew him in, the whisper of her perfume muddied his senses, and yet the very last thing he wanted in his own life was a woman and three children. Justin's problem, he reminded himself.

He just needed to get Justin home and sobered up and find out if he had anything to do with the attack on Grace that afternoon. There was nothing that would make him believe that Justin had been a part of the shooting unless he heard those words from his brother's own mouth.

Justin was thoughtless, irresponsible and showed poor judgment most of the time, but he wasn't a mean man. He didn't have the cruel streak that their father had exhibited over the years.

If any of them had that capacity it was Jake at this moment, who would like nothing better than to wrap his hands around his brother's throat and squeeze a little bit of sense into him.

Grace and the babies might go back to Wichita, but that didn't mean they just went away. Somehow, someday, Justin was going to have to face his daughters. He could do it now with love and support or he would do it later met with bitterness and recriminations from three young women who would have hard questions about where he'd been all their lives.

Jake desperately wanted his brother to make the right choice now and save those little girls a lot of heartache and tears down the road.

The sheriff's station was located on Main Street. It was a small, una.s.suming brick building with a couple of jail cells that were rarely used in the bas.e.m.e.nt.

For a moment Jake remained in his car, staring at the building where he'd spent far too much of his time lately. Justin liked to drink, and when he drank he got stupid.

Jake had bailed him out of jail or talked Sheriff Hicks into just letting Justin go more times than he could count, and here he was again, riding to the rescue. Wearily he got out of the car and headed for the front door.

Lindsay Sanders sat at the front desk and gave him a rueful smile as he walked in. "We've got to stop meeting like this," she said, a slightly flirtatious glint in her dark eyes.

Jake didn't bite. He never did. "Hicks in his office?" he asked.

She nodded, as usual a hint of disappointment in her eyes as he refused to flirt with her. "He's waiting for you."

As Jake walked down the hallway to the sheriff's inner office, he thought of Lindsay. She was an attractive single woman who more than once had let him know she was available.

Maybe he should bite, he thought. Then he realized the only reason the idea had crossed his mind was because he thought it might get the scent of Grace out of his head, the memory of how she'd felt in his arms out of his brain.

He gave one short rap on Sheriff Hicks's door and then opened it, catching the older man with his feet up on his desk, his chair reclined and his hat over his eyes.

"I should be home in bed with my wife," he said without moving. "I should be dreaming about a native woman named Lola feeding me fresh mango on an exotic island." He pulled his feet off the desk, shoved his hat to the top of his head and sat up. "You know I'm only still here because it's you."

"I know, and I appreciate it," Jake said. He sank down in the chair opposite the desk. "Did he tell you where he was at the time of the shooting out at my place?"

Hicks snorted. "He told me that, along with intimate details of his relationship with Shirley and every other woman he's dated, and some crude jokes that made his two friends laugh like the drunken hyenas they are. He told me that he and Shirley had fought earlier this morning and he'd dropped her off at her place, then he hightailed it over to Elliot Spencer's house, they called J. D. Richards to join them there and they proceeded to get trashed. Elliot's wife confirmed that the three were there all day until they left late this evening."

"So he couldn't have been at my place firing shots at Grace." Jake hadn't realized how tight the knot had been in his chest until this moment when it eased somewhat.

"If you're to believe the two drunks that are with him and Elliot's wife-and I've got no reason not to believe Darla. She never lies to cover for her husband. According to them, they were all at Elliot's place until about an hour ago when they thought it was a good idea to show up at Tony's. The bartender called me, said they were out of their minds drunk and he was afraid there might be trouble. So I rounded them up and brought them here more for their own safekeeping than anything else."

Greg reared back in his chair. "It appears J.D. and Elliot will be my guests and sleep it off for the duration of the night. J.D. has n.o.body who is willing to come and get him and Darla told me to keep Elliot until he's sober. I'm a.s.suming you're here to take Justin home."

"Unless there's some charges pending?"

Greg shook his head. "Fortunately for them I can't charge for stupidity, otherwise none of them would ever get out of here."

"Anything new on the drifter?" Jake asked.

"Nothing, but I've got my men still looking for him. I'll keep you posted." He got out of his chair and Jake stood as well. He knew the routine. Together he and Greg would take the stairs down to the bottom floor where Greg would unlock the cell door and Justin would stagger out.

It had been a long time since Jake had felt any kind of embarra.s.sment over this situation. Weary resignation was what sat heavily on his shoulders as he followed Greg down the stairs that led to the cells.

And if the current situation wasn't tough enough, he had to face the fact that tomorrow Jeffrey and Kerri were leaving and that meant he'd be responsible for helping Grace with the three girls.

Not going to happen, he determined. One way or the other he was going to sober up his brother and force him to take some responsibility, at least until Jeffrey and Kerri got back into town or Grace healed up enough to take her girls and head home.

The cell area smelled like a brewery. J.D. was on his back, snoring loud enough to wake the dead, and Elliot sat on the edge of the bunk, staring off into s.p.a.ce in an obvious drunken stupor. Only Justin was animated, staggering back and forth in front of the bars and muttering beneath his breath.

"Hey!" His face lit at the sight of Jake. "There's my brother. He's the man. I knew he'd show up to get me out of here." He stepped back from the bars so Sheriff Hicks could unlock the door.

Justin stumbled out of the cell and threw an arm around Jake's shoulder, the smell of booze seeming to seep out of his very pores. "You know I love you, man."

"I know. Let's just get you home," Jake replied.

He got Justin loaded into his car and then headed to his brother's apartment. There were a million things Jake wanted to say to Justin, but he'd learned a long time ago not to argue or try to have a rational discussion with a drunk.

Within minutes Justin had fallen sound asleep. By the time Jake arrived at the apartment building he had to help his brother out of the car and into his place.

Justin went directly to the bedroom and fell onto the bed, pa.s.sed out cold. Jake remained standing just inside the door of the one-bedroom apartment looking around in dismay.

Pizza boxes and food wrappers littered the floor, along with beer bottles and other trash items. The place looked like a room after a frat party had taken place, but Justin was no college kid. He was a thirty-five-year-old father of three and somehow, some way, Jake had to figure out how to make him step up to be a man.

Jake cleared a s.p.a.ce on the sofa and sank down. He'd wait for Justin to sleep it off and then he and his brother were going to have a man-to-man talk that would get Jake out of the middle of this mess and away from the woman and the little girls he feared had the potential to make him rethink his desire to spend his life alone. And that would be the biggest mistake he'd ever make in his life.

Chapter 6.

"You and Jeffrey are leaving today?" Grace stared at Kerri in stunned surprise.

"We'll only be gone for three nights," Kerri said as she refilled Grace's cup of coffee. "It's kind of our honeymoon/anniversary trip. When we got married we never took a honeymoon. We both agreed that for our first anniversary we'd stay at The Bouquet Bed and Breakfast in Topeka. But it's a really popular place and we had to book almost a year in advance."

Kerri rejoined Grace at the table. "If you're worried how you'll do without us, you shouldn't. Jake will take good care of you and the girls. He's perfectly capable of changing diapers and doing whatever else is necessary for you to get along just fine."

"It seems as though Jake takes care of everything and everyone," Grace replied. There had been no sign of Jake since he'd left the night before to retrieve Justin from the sheriff's office. "I imagine the last thing he'll want to do is spend the next couple of days taking care of me and the girls." Worry worked through her, along with a sense of dread at the thought of it just being her and Jake alone.

She told herself she was worried about how the two of them would deal with the responsibilities of the girls, but it was more than that. Some of her worry had to do with that slow slide of his gaze down her body and the responding heat she'd felt whenever he looked at her.

"Jake always steps up to do the right thing. Don't you worry. Now, if you don't mind I'm going to excuse myself and tend to some packing."

As Kerri disappeared from the kitchen, Grace fought back a wild sense of panic. If she could heal her shoulder through sheer willpower alone, she would have done it at that very moment sitting at his kitchen table. She looked at the girls playing on the floor and frowned. Her shoulder was still sore enough that she couldn't even pick up one of her daughters.

She'd tried to call Natalie twice that morning to see if perhaps she could somehow get a ride here and take Grace home and then stay with her or help her find a nurse to hire until Grace's shoulder was healed enough for her to be on her own.

Unfortunately, Natalie hadn't answered her phone, and knowing her sister she was probably still in bed despite the fact that it was after ten.

Maybe by tomorrow she'd be well enough to go home, she thought. She experimentally moved her shoulder and gasped at the pain that sliced through her. Okay, maybe not tomorrow, but perhaps the next day she told herself. As soon as possible, that's all she could promise.

She finished her coffee and carried the cup to the sink. Once she'd rinsed it and placed it in the dishwasher, she decided she'd rather sit in the living room than in the kitchen, which required her moving the girls. She was trying to figure out how to make the transition when Jake and Justin walked in.

Jake looked grim and determined and Justin looked hungover and contrite. "Hey, Grace," Justin said, but it was the sight of Jake that made Grace's heart beat a little faster.

"I think it's time we all sit down and have some sort of a rational talk," Jake said.

"I was just going to move into the living room," she replied and looked pointedly at the girls. "If somebody will hand me one of them, I can manage one if you can get the other two."

Jake picked up Casey and landed her on Grace's hip on her good side. Then he picked up Bonnie, who snuggled into him with a contented grunt. Justin looked at the last triplet. "Who is that one?" he asked.

"That's Abby, and she doesn't have enough teeth to bite hard," Grace said drily.

Justin paused a moment as if unsure what to do, then he finally picked her up and Abby immediately began to fuss. "Why don't we go ahead and take them upstairs," Grace said as she changed her mind. "They're probably ready for a nap and it will be much easier for all of us to talk if it's just the adults." Although in Justin's case, she thought, she used the term "adult" very loosely.

Minutes later with the girls in their cribs, the three adults returned to the living room. Jake sat next to Grace on the sofa and Justin sat in the chair facing them, still looking slightly green around the gills.

"Look, the first thing I want to do is get something straight. I had nothing to do with the shooting that happened here," Justin said. "I swear I left here and took Shirley home and then went directly to Elliot's where I spent the whole day." He leaned forward, his features pale but earnest as he looked at her. "Grace, I'd never do anything like that. I'd never want to hurt you. Heck, I'd never try to hurt anyone."

Grace wanted to believe him. No matter what their relationship, no matter what she thought of him personally, he was the father of her children.

Justin shot a glance at his brother and then looked back at Grace. "I don't know what happened or who took those shots at you, but I had absolutely nothing to do with any of it." He leaned back in his chair and ran a hand across his forehead, as if he had a hangover headache. "So, where do we go from here?"

"I'd say that's pretty much up to you," she replied, not feeling a bit sorry for him. There was a little wicked part of her that hoped his hangover lasted for at least another twenty-four hours. "I mean, right now I'm here, the girls are here, but I've been trying to get in touch with my sister to see if maybe she can come and take me back to Wichita."

"You aren't in any condition to go home," Jake protested.

"I figured I could hire a nurse to help me for a couple of days," she explained. "With Jeffrey and Kerri leaving town, perhaps that would be best for everyone."

"That's not necessary," Jake replied smoothly. "You should be fine in a couple of days, and I'm sure between the three of us we can manage to take care of things here until you're healed up enough to go back home."

Grace thought Justin's face blanched slightly at the prospect of being part of the team for the next few days; but there was such a ring of certainty in Jake's voice she almost believed that it would be okay.

Besides, no matter how much Grace told herself that Natalie would step up if necessary, she knew from experience her sister was n.o.body to count on. In that respect she and Jake shared a lot in common.

"I know I've acted badly so far," Justin said to her. "And I want to do the right thing, I really do. I'm just not sure what you expect from me. I mean, I've never been in this position before."

Just love my babies, love your daughters, she thought. It was that easy as far as she was concerned. It was all she really wanted or needed from him. "The first thing I'd like is just for you to get to know the girls while I'm here," she said aloud.

"I can do that," he agreed readily. "I still can't believe there's three of them, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, with me being a triplet and all."

"I was definitely surprised when the doctor told me," Grace said drily. "I had no idea you were a triplet."

"Yeah, I guess I didn't mention that the night of the wedding."

Grace felt her cheeks warm. She didn't even want to think about that crazy night. There was plenty they hadn't talked about. "And then before I leave here maybe we could work out some sort of visitation for once I go back to Wichita," she said.

She wanted so much more than that. She wanted him not just to be a father who occasionally saw his girls on a weekend here and there, but rather she wanted him to be a dad in every loving sense of the word.

"That sounds good," Justin said agreeably and flashed another quick look at Jake. "So, maybe I should go home and pack a suitcase and plan on moving in here while Kerri and Jeffrey are gone." He looked at his watch. "I should be able to pack up and be back by the time the girls wake up from their naps."

"I think that sounds like a perfect idea," Jake said. Grace was sure he was more than a little bit eager to get out of the middle of this whole mess.

He'd been thrust into this drama through no fault of his own. He'd already told her he had no interest in having a wife or a family, and yet she was sure he'd felt saddled with the weight of her and the triplets for the last couple of days. And unless Justin stepped up, nothing was going to change in the immediate future.

Justin shot out of his chair. "Then I'll be back here in about an hour or so." He flashed them both a boyish smile as he flew out the front door.

"Do you really think we'll see him again today?" Grace asked Jake after Justin had disappeared.

"Who knows? I can only hope he'll do the right thing."

She offered him a tentative smile. "That's the way I feel about my sister. I've given up trying to force her to make the right choices and just spend a lot of time hoping she'll eventually grow up."

"In any case, we'll figure things out, and you don't need to worry about Kerri and Jeffrey leaving. Surely if it comes to that, between the two of us we can easily handle three little girls."

Three hours later she had a feeling Jake was eating those very words. Kerri and Jeffrey had left for their trip an hour earlier, Justin had never returned and at the moment Jake was on the floor covered with babies.

Bonnie bounced up and down on his chest, Abby had him by the hair and Casey crawled back and forth over his legs as if they were the most fascinating obstacle course she'd ever encountered.

The whole thing had begun with a diaper change that had quickly spiraled out of control as the triplets saw Jake on the floor as a brand-new fun toy.

For the first time in days Grace's laughter bubbled out of her as Jake wrestled with the girls, and his laughter and their giggles combined to make sweet music to her ears.

He seemed surprisingly at ease with them considering how he'd acted the first time he'd been around them. He tweaked Bonnie's nose and tickled Abby's belly and then reached to tousle Casey's hair as they all laughed.

"Do they always have this much energy?" he asked as he finally managed to extricate himself and get to his feet.

"Mostly in the afternoons right after their naps," she replied. She thought he'd never looked as s.e.xy as he did now with his dark rich hair mussed, a stain that looked suspiciously like drool on the front of his shirt and a genuine smile of amus.e.m.e.nt lifting the corners of his mouth.

This was a side of Jake she hadn't seen before, and it was breathtakingly appealing. Fun-loving and with laughter lighting his eyes, he made a wistful want rise up inside of her. There was a little part of her that warned her not to get caught up in him, not to allow herself to like him so much.

It was at that moment she recognized that she'd arrived here with a little fantasy running in the back of her head-the fantasy that she'd come here, reunite with Justin and they would fall in love and get married and parent their children together and live happily ever after.

From the moment MysteryMom had given her this address, the image of a happily-ever-after had begun to form in her head. She hadn't consciously built it, but it had been there all the same.

That fantasy had been smashed into pieces the moment she'd had her first encounter with Justin. She warned herself now that no good would come from her falling in love with Jake. It would just be plain stupid and too weird for them to get involved in any way. He was the wrong brother. It would only complicate what was already a complicated situation.

"How about dinner out tonight?" Jake asked an hour later. He felt the need to get them all out of the house that for the last hour had rung with Grace's laughter, with the giggles of the delightful little girls and with his own.