Page 167 of Rocky Mountain Home

Hope with a baby belly out to forever with Matt hovering protectively, Colt wiggling in his grasp. Beth and Daniel found their seats, and the boys settled next to them contentedly.

Travis had one arm around Ashley, the other holding bright-eyed, blonde-haired Daisy who happily sang a nonsense baby song while they waited. Cassidy sat beside them, cradling the newest arrival to the clan. Baby River had arrived only a week earlier, with a shocking amount of dark hair and a decidedly Coleman look to his features.

Blake and Jaxi. Mike and Marion. All Dare’s brothers and Ginny—the lot of them were seated together in one giant mixed-up batch. Children had been passed around and were being contained on random laps. Emma Stone sat next to Rebecca, Sasha held Lana’s hand.

Baby Jessie lay sleeping in Ginny’s arms while Joey clung happily to Luke’s shoulder. There’d been enough visits between the ranches that even the non-Coleman-looking person was family to their son.

Jesse’s cup of happiness overflowed.

Something bumped him from behind, and he glanced down to discover Travis at his heels. “What’s up?”

Travis tugged the bottom of Jesse’s pant leg. “You had a smudge.”

He sounded far too amused, but then the music swelled, and Jesse ignored everything except the vision leaving the house.

Dare and Vicki stopped just shy of the back row of seating, hugging each other fiercely.

There was another joy he might have missed if he hadn’t had the good luck to stumble into Dare all those months ago—that the girls loved each other as friends as deeply as they did only made his and Joel’s lives better.

They broke apart, each moving to the top of the aisle that led to where he and Joel waited. While he supposed Vicki looked nice, Jesse only had eyes for Dare.

She’d picked a slim dress in a rich blue shade that matched the cloth in his pocket, the fabric clinging to her curves. Her hair was twisted up on top of her head, a few long strands curling down in a way that made him want to take her somewhere private to mess her up.

Neither of the girls had anyone to give them away, and Dare had sweetly but firmly turned down the offer from Caleb. Jesse realized how right this was. This was her, giving herself into his hands to care for, and love and protect.

Her choice, his privilege.

She walked slowly toward him, a smile growing on her lips that teased his senses. A sexy, trusting look meant for him alone.

A smile he was going to spend a lifetime enjoying.

But when he finally took her hand in his, her sweet, sexy expression turned to pure mischief as she pressed something soft against his palm.

He glanced down at his hand in confusion.

A piece of plastic fruit?

“You stole my cherry, now you gotta marry me,” Dare said softly.

That was all it took to push him over the edge. Screw protocol.

A low growl escaped as Jesse tugged her close so he could kiss her. Right then and there, as laughter rose from the gathering. Dare smiled against his lips before wrapping her arms around him and kissing back enthusiastically.

They’d get to the wedding eventually.