Chapter One

      Carey stared wistfully in the distance, watching as the truck containing the happy bride and groom left a trail of dust in its wake. As the couple sped off toward their honeymoon, he couldn’t help but feel out of sorts and alone in a way he’d never experienced. Of course, he was happy for his brother, Casey, and his new bride, Miranda, but Carey had never really been apart from his twin brother. Something told him this was only the beginning of how things were about to change, not only between the two brothers but also within the family as a whole.

      They’d been a close-knit family for as long as Carey could remember, probably brought even closer from losing their mother at such a young age. For Casey and Carey, the oldest of the Carson boys, all the way down to the fifteen-year-old twins, Seamus and Jacob, with middle brothers, Joseph and Anders, in between, being a part of their ranching family meant they were always together, always looking out for each other, and working toward a common goal for the family.

      But that was about to change. Shouts of, “You’re next, Carey Carson!” had sounded around him as he walked through the different patches of people working on the drive, and it tore him in two. On the one hand, finding someone who was practically a stranger on the Internet like Casey had—with way too much help from his or her meddling but well-intentioned father—just wasn’t for him but neither was sitting out here on a desolate ranch and hoping a beautiful girl just fell from the sky.

      Ever since Dad had gotten a wild hair about finding the brothers romance and set up online dating profiles for both Casey and Carey, they had been on edge. It had only taken a matter of weeks for someone to answer Dad’s ad for Casey but luckily, it seemed to work out. Carey wasn’t so sure lightning would strike twice so unless he wanted Dad to play matchmaker with strangers on cowboy dating sites, he’d better convince the old man that one wedding around here was enough for a while.

      And with the cattle drive going on and the vacationing wannabe cowboys to look after, at least there wouldn’t be any chance to think about some girl showing up on the doorstep the way Miranda had, towing her kid sister, Gracie, with her. Speaking of Gracie…

      “Where are you off to, kiddo?” Carey called out, spying thirteen-year-old Gracie riding her mare away from the group and toward a small cluster of cowboys from the Carson ranch.

      “I can’t take it anymore, Carey! It’s only been a day and a half, and already those city people are driving me crazy!” She grabbed the sides of her head, managing to toss her hat back and letting it hang by its leather chord.

      “If I remember correctly, weren’t you one of those city people not too long ago?” Carey teased, pointing out that Gracie had only been on the ranch a short time, and that this was her first cattle drive.

      “But they’re loud and they’re rude! They keep wanting to know if we have Wi-Fi…this is a freakin’ cattle drive! What do they need with Wi-Fi, anyway? We’re on a cattle drive!” she cried. “Please give me a different job. I don’t care if it’s picking up the poop all the way to Missouri and back, please! Anything but hanging out with the city people!”

      “I dunno, kid. That was the job Dad gave you, so it’s kind of out of my hands. Of course, that was before your sister knew we were getting her hitched and sending her home,” he said with a smile, referring to the surprise wedding they’d staged without her knowing. Miranda had thought she was out here for the cattle drive and to help look after the people who paid to join the ranchers on the trip, but they sprung it on her at the last minute that she and Casey were getting married and heading off to their honeymoon instead of driving oversized, smelly cattle. “I’ll check with him and see if you can help with the feeding, or something like that.”

      “Thank you, Carey!” Gracie squealed, throwing her arms around his neck and giving him an awkward hug from where she still sat in the saddle. She gave a light tug to her reins and nudged her horse with the heel of her boot, leading it off in the direction of some of the other ranchers. Carey watched her go, wondering how he’d found himself in charge of taking care of a kid on this event. The things a best man will do for his twin, the groom, Carey thought as he shook his head and returned to his tasks.

      “Hey, Carey,” Bernard Carson called out to his son. “we need you over here a second.” Carey strode toward his elderly father—some fifty years older than his first-born sons, thanks to marrying late in life himself—and smiled at the old man.

      “Yeah, Dad? What’s up?” he asked, taking off his hat and wiping at his brow with the back of his hand, fanning himself with the hat for a moment before placing it back over his sweat-curled, shaggy brown hair.

      “Well, with your brother gone for the rest of the drive, we’ll need to arrange for someone to drive the truck. I was hoping you could switch off every third day, so that no one person has to keep doing it. I didn’t mind making Casey do it so much because he’d been injured only last week, but I hate to stick someone in the cab of the truck too long and make them miss out, especially if they’re able-bodied enough to get to ride with the group. What do you think?”

      “Sure, Dad, that sounds fair. I’ll