She looked so natural here, so much more real than she did in her office and business suits. Home was her element.

She said something to a pretty older woman who could only be her mother. They both had the same large, almond eyes and full mouths. And like her mother, Mia tended to be more rounded and womanly than was currently the trend-a look Collin appreciated.

Today her long hair was down, flowing in soft red-brown waves around her shoulders. Her red T-shirt fitted her to perfection and topped off a pair of white, loose-fitting cropped pants and sandals.

She was talking-no big surprise-as she popped a piece of cheese in her mouth. Suddenly she laughed, clapping one hand over her lips.

"Hey Mia," Adam hollered over the noise. "You got company."

When she caught sight of him, her face brightened. Hurriedly, she said something over her shoulder, wiped her hands on a towel and rushed in their direction.

"You're here!" For a minute, Collin thought she might hug him. Instead, she grabbed his elbow with one hand, dropped the other arm over Mitch's shoulder, and drew them into the melee.

"I see you've already met Adam, so follow me and we'll try to forge a path to the others."

Adam disappeared into the mix as Mia introduced the newcomers to her sister, parents, grandparents and a number of other people whose connection escaped him.

"I don't expect you to remember everyone the first time," Mia said.

The first time? Collin wasn't sure he could survive a second go-round. Though everyone was as friendly as Mia, he felt like a bug under a microscope.

"This is my baby brother, Nic," Mia was saying. "The birthday boy."

"That's birthday man to you, big sister." Across Nic's T-shirt were the words, What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?

Mia laughed and rolled her eyes. "He's twenty-one today and I suspect he will be impossible to live with now that he thinks he's become one of the grown-ups."

Collin shook the younger man's hand. "Good to meet you, Nic. Happy birthday."

"Thanks," Nic answered, his grin wide as he looked from Collin to Mia. Speculation, totally unwarranted, was rife. Just what exactly had Mia told them about him anyway? "You want to hear some secrets about my evil big sister?"

Mia poked a teasing finger in Nic's chest. "No he doesn't. Not if you want to live to be twenty-two."

Speculation or not, Collin enjoyed the joking exchange between brother and sister.

He leaned toward Nic and spoke in a low voice. "Maybe we should talk later. When Mia isn't around."

Mia pretended horror. "Don't you dare. Nic tells lies about how mean I was to him when he was small."

"They're not lies. Just ask Adam." Nic whipped around. "Hey, Adam. Come help me out."

Adam, the football player in the maroon shirt, popped up from the couch where he was surrounded by kids who fell away like brushed-off dust. Collin was startled to see Mitchell in the mix. At some point the kid had wandered off toward the big-screen TV, and Collin hadn't even noticed. Chalk up one demerit for the Big Brother.

"What's up?" Adam asked, his sweaty T-shirt still damp and dark. "The birthday boy already showing off?"

"Of course," Mia said. "I'm leaving Collin in your mature company so I can help Mom and Grandma get dinner on the table. Do not allow Nic to tell horror stories."

Nic guffawed and Adam struggled to keep a straight face. "Sure, sis. Whatever you say."

"I mean it," she warned with a wagging finger. "Collin, I'll be back to rescue you in five minutes."

Then she returned to the oregano-scented kitchen, leaving Collin with Adam again. The feeling of abandonment came with startling swiftness, that emptiness he despised. Collin bit down on his back teeth, annoyed. He was a grown-up. He didn't need a baby-sitter. In fact, he didn't need to be here. He didn't fit.

He shifted uncomfortably and wished for a quiet corner where he could watch and listen without being noticed. Mitchell was probably miserable, too. But one look in the living room told him he was wrong. Mitch was deep in conversation with Mr. Carano and they were both fiddling with a laptop chess game. Give the kid a computer and he was at home anywhere. Collin envied that ease and wondered if he'd ever had it as a kid. If he had, it had been very early in his life. He sure didn't remember.

"You have that shell-shocked look that says Mia didn't warn you about us." Adam's voice broke into his thoughts.

"What? Sorry, my mind strayed."

"No wonder. The noise level in here could rival a landing strip."

"No problem." The noise wasn't what bothered him, though it was loud. Loud and enthusiastic. He could see where Mia got her positive energy and upbeat attitude.

"From the look on your face, I'd say your family isn't as big or rowdy as the Carano bunch."

"You'd be right about that." If he had a family.

Adam grabbed a bowl of chips from the coffee table. "Come on, let's head out to the backyard where there's some relative peace. There could be a football game in your future. How about you, Nic? Ready to rumble?"

"Not now. Dana Rozier just pulled up out front with a carload of babes." He cranked his eyebrows up and down a few times. "Can't disappoint the ladies."

Nic rubbed his hands together and then bounded for the front door.

"Ask them if they want to play football," Adam called and was rewarded with a hyena laugh from the birthday boy. "Oh, well, it was worth a try." He shook his head. "Nic and his girls. I don't see the attraction, do you?"

The Carano brothers were fun. He'd say that for them.

Adam shrugged, hollered at Gabe to organize a team, and then led the way through the sea of people and at least one large dog. The backyard was filled with kids, some swimming, two shooting hoops, and a couple of little ones just running in circles squealing for the joy of it.

Adam set the bowl of chips on the ground and collapsed into a lawn chair. "Grab a chair."

Collin did.

"Man, is this a gorgeous day or what?"

"Yeah." He thought of all the work he could be doing on his house on a day like this. Winter would come soon and he wouldn't be any closer to finishing than he'd been at the beginning of summer.

"Mia says you run a rescue ranch for hurt animals."

"That's right."

"She told me about your problem."

Collin stiffened. Mia had promised to keep his search for Drew and Ian confidential. "Why would she do that?"

"Mia doesn't keep much from her family. But in this case she thought I could help."

He should have known he couldn't trust a social worker. "I can handle it."

"Sometimes lawsuits, even frivolous ones, can be tricky."

A truckload of tension rushed out of Collin. The lawsuit.

"Mia told me her brother was a lawyer. I didn't realize she meant you."

"I hope you didn't think she meant Nic."

They both chuckled. "Seeing him in a courtroom might be entertaining."

"What about in the operating room?"

"Excuse me?"

"He's applying for medical school. There really is a brain beneath that happy-go-lucky personality."

"I'm impressed."

"Don't be. He hasn't been accepted yet." Adam reached for another handful of tortilla chips and offered the bowl to Collin. "So how can I help you with this lawsuit?"

"I don't want to impose."

"No imposition. A friend of Mia's is a friend of mine."

Were they friends? He hadn't wanted to be, hadn't really thought about it until now. "She's a nice girl."

"A very nice girl." Adam shifted around in the lawn chair so they were face-to-face.

"Sometimes she pushes too hard, comes on too strong, but don't hold that against her. Gabe and I call her a coconut. Tough on the outside, a little nutty when she gets on one of her crusades to change the world, but soft and sweet on the inside."

Collin had seen the sweet side at the ranch. He'd also wrestled with her talkative, pushy side.

"She hounded me for days until I agreed to mentor Mitchell."

"See what I mean? She's so sure she can change the world with love and faith that she never gives up. Sometimes she gets hurt in the process. I wouldn't want to see that happen again."

Mia had been hurt? How? Why? And, most importantly, by whom? Collin, who seldom ate chips, took a handful.

"She's in a tough profession," was all he could think of. "The ugliness burns out a lot of strong people."

"Not Mia. She'll never let that happen. There's too much of God in her. She'll always stay tender and vulnerable to hurt. That's just the way she's made." Adam tossed a chip into the air, caught it in his mouth and crunched. "You know why she's not married?"

He'd wondered. Mia was smart, pretty, personable...though he wondered more that Adam would bring up the subject with a stranger like him. "I figure she's had her chances."

"She has. But Mia is waiting for the right guy. Not just any guy, but the one God sends."

Well, that left him out for sure. Not that it mattered. He wasn't in the market for a woman. Especially a nosey social worker who talked too much and made him think about things and feel things he'd kept buried most of his life.

Adam could relax. Neither he nor his sister had anything to fear from Collin Grace.

Chapter Seven.

"He's out in the backyard." Adam jerked a thumb in that direction. "The guy looked like he could use a breather from all of us."

Mia took a fresh glass of tea, sugarless the way she'd seen Collin take it during the meal, and pushed open the patio doors.

The glorious blue sky hung over a perfect early-autumn afternoon. She breathed in a happy breath of fresh air. What a great day this had been. Collin and Mitchell had seemed to have a good time. And her family had risen to the occasion as they always did, wrapping the two newcomers in a welcome of genuine friendliness. Nic had been his usual wild and crazy self, celebrating his twenty-first birthday by shooting videos of all the attendees wearing the Groucho glasses he'd bought for party favors.

This kind of gathering was good for Mitchell. He could learn here, interact with real men and motherly women, learn how to have fun in a clean and healthy way. Though she knew Collin would argue the fact, he needed this kind of thing, too. The protective shell around him kept away hurt, but it also kept away the good emotions.

When he'd walked in the door this afternoon, she'd been almost giddy with pleasure. Later, she'd have to examine that reaction.

In the shady overhang of the house, he leaned against the sun-warmed siding to watch Mitchell splash around in the pool. Was it her imagination or did Collin look isolated, maybe even lonely, standing there apart from the bustle of people? She'd thought a lot about him lately, about his upbringing, about how awful he must feel to be alone in the world, not knowing where his family was, or even if they were alive.

Yes, he was on her mind a great deal.

"You look like you could use this." Ice tinkled against the glass as she held the tea out to him.

"Thanks."

Mia wiped her hand, damp from condensation, down her pant leg. "Overwhelmed?"

He sipped at the tea and swallowed before answering. "A little."

"If a person survives their first dose of Caranos, they're a shoo-in for navy SEALs training or a trip to the funny farm."

He smiled his appreciation of the joke. A day with her family showed him where she derived her great sense of humor.

"My experience with family gatherings is pretty limited."

"Well, you're a hit. You officially passed inspection by the Carano brothers."

"Carano brothers." He held up his Groucho glasses. "Sounds like a family of mobsters."

"Shh. Don't say that too loud. We are Italian, remember."

They grinned into each other's eyes. From inside the house came a shout of "Touchdown."

The Cowboys must have scored. Here in the yard, the sounds were quieter, the splash of kids sliding into the pool, the occasional yip of the dog.

Though he'd felt out of place all afternoon, Collin liked Mia and her family. A couple of times he'd seen Mrs. Carano, who insisted on being called Rosalie, pat Mitchell's back and ply him with goodies from the family bakery. The kid must be ready to explode, but he'd soaked up the attention like Happy did, as though starved for positive reinforcement.

Had he been like that? He couldn't recall. He'd spent so much time keeping Drew out of trouble and Ian fed and safe that he really didn't remember ever being a child.