Page 38 of Somehow You Knew

He, however, is so loud that several partygoers’ heads turn in our direction.

Hazel exhales sharply, then straightens, crossing her arms over her chest. “We got married this week, big brother,” she says, chin raised in defiance. Seeing as how Hazel’s father isn’t around anymore, I imagine her oldest brother has tried to take on that role.

Dallas looks to his mother. “Did you know about this?”

Catherine nods, smiling down at the baby. “Yep. I was there.”

Concern is etched in every line of Dallas’s face, but before he erupts, or worse, causes Hazel to, I step forward and offer him my hand. “I’m Gage. Nice to meet you.”

Dallas remains stiff but, thankfully, his wife steps in. “It’s nice to meet you, Gage. I’m…”

“Willow,” I finish for her. “Hazel gave me the rundown on everyone before we got here to help me keep track.”

Willow laughs. “Smart. We are a pretty big bunch now, aren’t we?” She rubs Dallas’s arm, smiling through the awkwardness, but his eyes remain locked on me.

“Newsflash, Dallas,” Hazel says dryly. “Staring at Gage isn’t going to make him vanish into thin air.”

His gaze snaps to her. “Listen, Hazelnut—”

“No, you listen for once. I am not some incompetent little girl. I didn’t fall in love with a stranger overnight like a lovesick teenager. Diane left us over ten million dollars to split if we got married for six months—which I would have told you last week at Sunday dinner, if you’d ever listen instead of just assuming you know what’s best.”

Dallas and Willow’s eyes widen in shock just as another couple approaches—a man wearing glasses holding the hand of a petite blonde. “Oh shit,” the guy says, popping the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. “Did I hear that right—you married some random guy formoney?”

“Shut up, Parker,” Hazel snaps.

“Oh, please,” Catherine interjects. “Are you telling me that if you had the chance to inherit over five million dollars if you got married for six months, you wouldn’t do it?”

Parker and Dallas share a look just as Astrid and Penn enter the house.

“Hey, Penn!” Parker calls out to the other Sheppard sibling. “Did you know that Hazel married this guy for money?”

Penn stomps over to where we’re standing, eyes narrowed in anger. Even though I know she’s not the one in danger here, I pull Hazel to my side. When her arm wraps around my waist, this insane need to protect her overwhelms me.

Now I can see why she was so nervous about this.

Penn stands next to Dallas, his eyes moving between Hazel and me. “Tell me he’s joking.”

Hazel presses a palm to her forehead. “Jesus…”

Before this one-year-old’s birthday party gets out of hand, I decide to take control of the conversation. “Look, I know everyone has questions, but let’s just take a second to calm down, all right?”

Dallas pins his gaze on me again. “You have a lot of nerve acting like the peacemaker when you’re clearly taking advantage of our sister.”

My jaw tightens. “Look, buddy, I didn’t take advantage of anyone—”

Hazel steps in, shielding me from her brother and pressing a palm to his chest. “Just stop it, Dallas. Gage didn’t lure me or force me to do anything I didn’t want to do. He didn’t trick me or pressure me or whatever insane scenario you’ve cooked up in your head. We both agreed to this.”

She turns back to me and that fire in her eyes that I’ve come to appreciate is alive and well. I give her an encouraging nod before she turns to Penn and Parker.

“And before either of you start, let me save you the trouble. This is happening. It’s done. So you can either get on board, or you can keep actinglike overbearing assholes. But if you do the latter, just know I’m not going to sit here and take it.”

Fuck, she’s sexy when she stands her ground.

Jesus. There goes my dick again.

“You boys need to knock it off,” Catherine interjects.

As if her voice doused the flames coming off the top of Dallas’s head, his shoulders drop and he blows out a breath. “I’m sorry. I just—”