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.”Penn stared.“Christ, he had her, too?”“No, no.” Liam shook his head.“I don’t.I can’t.Let’s just say he ruined things between us forever.”“He screwed us all, you’re saying.” Penn looked between the two brothers, a little angry at them, a lot frustrated.Where were they going with these confessions?“I guess he did,” Liam agreed, still with his characteristic cool.It frustrated Penn even more.“Then why did you stay when he was alive?” he asked, first to Liam and then to Seth.“Why the hell are you still here?”Liam shrugged.“Because this is our place.Our land.Our town.Our friends.”“Cal Bennett isn’t this,” Seth added, lifting his arms to indicate the surrounding vines.“We are.I didn’t and I won’t let him chase me away from my family.from my brothers.”Brothers.Jesus.But they were his brothers, Penn couldn’t deny it.They looked like him, with their dark blond hair and their rangy bodies.Liam’s sober exterior and Seth’s quick smile were both part of Penn’s makeup, too.They might have grown up with more material things, but their lives had been just as affected by Calvin Bennett’s failings as his had been.I’m not letting him chase me away from my family.from my brothers.Was that why Penn wanted to run back to Malibu? Was he looking to escape from ties that he’d never had?He opened his mouth, not yet sure what might come out, but shut it as he saw Liam stand, shading his eyes with his hand.Penn turned to see a cloud of dust rising in the wake of yet another ATV.One mad-eyed Italian girl was behind the wheel.For a second he thought it was Alessandra and his gut churned, but then he realized it was Giuliana Baci and her crackling temper—if her gaze was any indication—was focused on Liam.“You,” she seethed as she braked the vehicle.He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down his nose at her.Penn could have told him that an exhibition of nonchalance would not sit well with one of the badass Baci women.And he would have been right.She was out of her seat and had hold of the tail of Liam’s shirt in the blink of an eye.“Can’t you keep your mouth shut?” she demanded.Since the oldest Bennett was one of the most close-mouthed men Penn had ever met, he thought this was an odd criticism.So did Liam, who made a long show of extricating his clothing from the woman’s fist.“Jules, I thought it is my lack of—how did you term it?—‘emotional candor and sharing’—that is one of the things you abhor most about me?”Penn looked over to meet Seth’s gaze.They exchanged a rueful smile, brothers in sympathy for their older brother.Brothers.Once again, there was that word.Penn’s gut took another tumble, but this time because he realized he was trapped.No, not trapped, but attached.Already attached.Hell, how had this happened? Because they’d traded confidences in a fertile field? Because they shared a similar appearance? Or was it that their matching halves of DNA had some sort of magnetic property?For whatever reason, he was part of a tribe now.From this moment on, he was connected.Penn sighed.Since there was no chance of walking away now, he decided to step up.Literally.“Is there a problem I could help you with, Giuliana?” he asked.She spun toward him, a little poof of dust flying into the air from the soles of her shoes.Her eyes sparked just like Alessandra’s when she was angry.“Did you tell anyone there are financial problems at Tanti Baci? Because it appears the word is out.”He shook his head.“That word didn’t come from me.”She gazed on him a moment longer, possibly assessing the truth, possibly plotting his dismemberment, then gave a little nod.“Fine.So I’ll only ask that you promise on your own grave that you’ll have the cottage ready for the weddings on time.”Seth bumped his shoulder as he came to stand beside him.“I’ll kill him myself, Jules, if he doesn’t come through.”Penn turned to stare at the younger man.So much for brotherhood, he thought.Seth shot him an unrepentant grin.And when Penn found himself reluctantly grinning back, he had the moment’s thought that the brotherhood connection might not be bad, might not be bad at all.Clare turned toward the office entrance of Gil’s auto service, Edenville Motor Repair, because the metal doors covering the service bays were already down for the night.It was after seven, but she was relieved to find the office open, indicating the boss still hadn’t left for the day.She had to see him.The chair behind his desk was empty, but the door leading to the service area was ajar.She cleared her throat as she approached it, surprised at how hard her heart was hammering.This was her best friend she was here for, no one scary.“Gil?” It came out puny-sounding, so she cleared her throat again and forced herself to say the name louder.“Gil?”“Here,” she heard the word echo in the cavernous room that smelled of grease and gasoline.“The Mercedes.”She found the car and stared at it, recognizing the sleek vehicle.“That’s my mother’s,” she said.A muffled laugh sounded from beneath it.“Hey, she’s a woman who wants only the best, and when it comes to taking care of her automobile, she knows that’s me.”Clare walked around the back bumper to see a pair of legs in coveralls sticking out.Gil’s legs, of course.No one else could claim the long length.She frowned at them, because she’d come here to talk to him, not his ankles.“Why’d you stop by?” he asked.Thinking of her reasons, she felt herself flush and was glad, maybe, that they weren’t yet face-to-face.“Can’t a woman drop in on her best buddy?”In response, he made a noncommittal grunt that only reminded her again of that distance that had cropped up between them in the last several months.She couldn’t put her finger on when it happened.before she’d become engaged to Jordan, she knew that.Clare needed her best friend—the Man of Honor—as her wedding crept closer, though.She had the usual bridal jitters that only someone as close as Gil could help her manage.Would she break out on the morning of her ceremony? Would her mother send her over the bend before the honeymoon? Was it normal to have such vivid dreams starring someone other than her husband-to-be every night?“I can hear your wheels turning from under here,” Gil called out.“What is it this time? I’ve already agreed to be part of the wedding party.Do I have to wear a pink dress after all?”“No.” She laughed at the thought, picturing her Italian Stallion in organza and flowers in his hair.The image was so wrong that she immediately mentally undressed him
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