One in a Million by Susan Mallery Page B

figured there would be more of you than Kevin and I could ever hope to take on on our own," he said lightly, "So I convinced my temporary landlady to take pity on me and help balance the numbers.
    This is Stephanie Wynne. Her three boys are..." He glanced around at the other tables, then spotted Ja son and Adam frantically waving. "Over there." He sat down. Craig rose again. Just then several servers entered the room. They had large trays cov ered with pitchers of root beer, iced tea and beer. When everyone had a drink, Craig raised his glass.
    “ Welcome," he said.
    Chapter Six

    Nash lost count of the number of pizzas consumed by the Haynes family. They simply kept on coming. Pitchers of drinks were continually refilled as well. By the time the kids asked to be excused to go play video games and the adults had started moving the chairs around to form small conversational groups, even the servers were looking exhausted.
    He'd spent most of dinner talking with Stephanie and Jill, but after the meal, he found himself in the company of his brothers.
    Brothers. The word still surprised him. How could he and Kevin have been a part of this family for so many years and not have known? How could a man like Earl Haynes get an innocent seventeen year-old pregnant, abandon her to return to his real family, then produce such honest, sincere, caring offspring? He crossed to the pitchers of drinks left on the table and poured himself another glass of iced tea. After two beers, he'd switched to the non-alcoholic d rink. He wasn't worried about driving, they'd brought Stephanie's minivan and she'd taken the wheel on the way over. Instead he considered the fact that too much beer would make his hostess even more of a temptation than she already was. When sober he found her delightfully intriguing. While drunk he might find her irresistible. Not a good thing for either of them.
    He took a drink and surveyed the crowd. He could put a name to the men, but he was still having trou ble connecting which spouse belonged with which partner. Hannah was easy. As the only female Haynes, she had many of the physical characteristics of her brothers—she was tall, dark-haired and at tractive. Her husband was the only blond male in the room. But after that, things got fuzzy. Was Kyle's wife the average-height brunette with brown eyes or the average-height woman with light brown hair and green eyes?
    “Is it making you crazy?" He turned toward the speaker and found a slender woman standing next to him. Her name tag read "Rebecca— Austin ." Underneath were the words "Honorary Haynes through love."
    “The guy with the earring," he said.
    She smiled. "That would be my husband, yes. He's something of a bad boy." She spoke the words with a smile and Nash saw the affection twinkling in her eyes.
    He glanced over to the man in question and saw him with a young child on his hip. As he spoke with Travis, Austin absently brought the child's hand to his mouth and blew on the palm. The little boy laughed loudly.
    “You seem to have changed his ways," he said.
    Rebecca shook her head. "Actually he changed them all on his own. He was always the quiet rebel, but he's mellowed." Austin looked content, Nash thought. He was a man comfortable and at peace with his world. Two things Nash rarely experienced.
    He turned his attention back to the woman in front of him. She was lovely, with classically beautiful features that spoke of a gentler time. Unlike the other wives who were dressed in slacks and blouses, Rebecca wore a long dress edged in lace. Her dark, curly hair came to the middle of her back. She reminded him of a character in one of those British period movies—the kind that made him head di rectly for ESPN if he ever turned the television to one by accident.
    “Are you overwhelmed?" she asked. "It's a huge family."
    “ I'm getting the adults," he said. "The kids are going to take longer."
    “ We all have trouble with that. At one time or another, each of us