Landry's Law by Kelsey Roberts

rested her chin on her hands, watching him intently. Though he was a big man, there was nothing at all bulky or awkward about him. In fact, watching muscle strain against the fabric of his tan uniform reminded Savannah of watching a prized thorough-bred going through its paces.
    He was graceful, yet very powerfully built. One of his thighs was probably an equal circumference to her waist. But there seemed to be a gentleness about him that belied the raw strength. Or perhaps there was just something totally nonthreatening about watching a man fold his boxer shorts, she thought with private humor.
    Savannah was a little surprised when he went to his closet and collected some civilian clothes to add to the duffel-shaped bag. Well, soon enough she’d know whether it was the uniform or the man that so attracted her.
    Seth zipped the bag and hoisted it onto his shoulder as if it were weightless. Turning to her, he asked, “Hungry?”
    Not necessarily for food, she thought. Prudence made her respond with a polite and prim, “Yes.”
    He led her down into a kitchen she could only describe as masculine and rustic. Judging from the thin layer of dust on the sideboard, he didn’t entertain much. Which could mean he didn’t date much. Which could mean I’m obsessing about this man!
    Seth opened the freezer, then the refrigerator compartment. He emerged holding a bag of preprepared salad and a bottle of white wine. “How does chicken Caesar salad sound?”
    “Fine,” she answered.
    Savannah pulled out one of the chairs to sit at the long, battered pine table and accepted the corkscrew and bottle from Seth. He then went back to the freezer and pulled yet another bag of precooked food out.
    While he prepared to heat the grilled chicken strips on the stove, Savannah went in search of wine-glasses. She started at the sideboard and went still when she saw the collection of photographs up close.
    “I don’t think I fully understood seven children until this instant.” She picked up an eleven-by-fourteen group shot and guessed it was close to twenty years old. Sam, Chance and Seth were easily recognizable, even though twenty years ago Dr. Landry hadn’t had his prematuring gray temples or eyebrows.
    “Just think herd,” Seth joked. “I’ll never know how my mother stood all of us.”
    She reached out and touched the only female face in the picture. “What is her name?”
    “Pricilla,” Seth said.
    Hearing the slight catch in his voice broke her heart. Savannah could relate. It was the reason shekept all reminders of her family carefully stored out of sight. She couldn’t bear seeing their images, knowing she couldn’t contact them.
    The woman was incredibly beautiful and you’d never know she’d given birth to seven boys. She was tall, elegant, with dark coloring and the same half smile she had passed on to her offspring.
    She remembered Seth telling her his father’s name was Caleb. He, too, was an attractive man. He had his hands on the shoulders of two of his sons. “Who are these?” she asked, holding up the picture and pointing to them.
    “Chandler and Clayton,” Seth answered.
    Savannah wanted to kick herself. She’d asked two simple questions and both had caused Seth varying degrees of pain. Clayton was in prison, and she knew from his earlier blowup that it wasn’t something Seth liked to think or talk about.
    The youngest child was Shane. He stood in front of his mother, smiling even though he had a big bruise on the side of his face. Savannah wondered which one of his older brothers was responsible for that.
    Though he had changed a great deal in twenty years, by process of elimination, she knew the one standing next to Chance had to be Cody. She smiled. He was stiff and rigid, even as a child.
    “Dinner is served,” Seth called.
    She turned to see that he had set the table, pouredthe wine, and had two plates full and waiting for consumption.
    “Sorry, I should have helped.”
    “You did. You opened