Thunder Canyon Homecoming / A Thunder Canyon Christmas. RaeAnne Thayne

she’d taken a more subtle approach. She’d gotten to know the residents of Thunder Canyon and asked some discreet questions about the families in that faded picture. Unfortunately, the responses she’d received to those inquiries had told her little. And although there was no shortage of skeletons in the closets of the residents of Thunder Canyon, she hadn’t heard any murmurs about anyone losing a baby more than twenty-five years earlier.

      And then, by sheer luck, she happened to be nearby when Grant Clifton pulled a picture of his sister out of his wallet. Coincidentally, that sister was born on the same day in the same hospital as Erin, and she had some similar features to each of Erin’s brothers.

      But Erin still didn’t know what to do now, how to verify her suspicion that someone at the hospital had somehow mixed up those two babies.

      A hand waving in front of her face jolted her out of her reverie. She looked apologetically at Corey. “Sorry.”

      “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it, darlin’?”

      She could hardly deny that her mind had been wandering again, so she only shook her head. “No, I’m not sure. But it’s not something I can talk about. Not right now.”

      “Will you keep me in mind, when you can?”

      She wouldn’t have blamed him for feeling dissed by her lack of attention, but he seemed more concerned than offended, and she was touched by his offer. “I will,” she promised. “Thanks.”

      “So why don’t we talk about your lunch plans?” he said. “Do you have a date with Stefan or can I steal you away for a little while?”

      “Why are you so determined to take me to lunch?”

      He shrugged. “It’s lunchtime, I’m hungry and I enjoy your company.”

      “How could any woman refuse such a gracious in vi tation?”

      “Stefan was booked, wasn’t he?”

      “Until four-thirty,” she admitted.

      “Then he won’t be putting his hands on you today,” Corey noted.

      It was the hint of smugness in his tone that prompted her to tease, “Not until this afternoon.”

      Erin retrieved her purse from her desk and came around to the other side of the counter.

      “How does DJ’s Rib Shack sound?” Corey asked her.

      “My mouth is watering already,” she told him.

      He reached for her hand and was pleased when she didn’t pull hers away. It was a small thing, but it meant a lot to him because it proved that she was starting to feel comfortable with him.

      “But we might have some trouble getting seated,” Erin warned. “We have a conference group that booked several large tables for lunch there today.”

      “Are you forgetting that DJ is my cousin?”

      “Does that family connection trump a group of fifty-five paying customers?”

      He winced. “Well, I’m sure he can find a couple of chairs for us in the kitchen.”

      Erin laughed.

      He liked to hear her laugh. She seemed so serious most of the time, as if there were heavy issues weighing on her mind. But when she laughed, it was like the sun breaking through on a cloudy day. The soft, sexy sound seemed to burst out of her, and her beautiful blue eyes danced and sparkled.

      “For DJ’s signature rib sandwich, I would happily sit in the kitchen,” she told him.

      As it turned out, DJ did manage to find them a small table on the opposite side of the room from the conference guests and with a fabulous view of the resort property. Be cause they both knew what they wanted to eat, he took their orders so that he could get it into the kitchen before the conference group started clamoring for its food. Corey ordered a beer and Erin, because it was the middle of a work day, requested a soft drink.

      “So tell me,” Erin said, “how you manage to have so much free time when you’re supposed to be in town on business.”

      “I’m my own boss. When I first started out, I worked more than my share of eighty-hour weeks to ensure my business was successful. Now I have the luxury of being able to pick and choose my jobs and the hours that I’m going to work.”

      She eyed him over the rim of her glass. “Why did you start your own company instead of going to work at Traub Industries?”

      “I did work at Traub Industries, as all of my brothers and my sister did. But, although the experience was memorable and I certainly won’t complain about the opportunities the company has afforded me, making a career in the oil business wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life.”

      “So who does run the company?”

      “My mother took over at the helm when my dad died, and she’s still the CEO. My brother Ethan is the CFO. My stepfather is on the board of directors.”

      “So it really is a family business.”

      “I guess it is,” he agreed.

      She tilted her head. “Are there issues between you and your stepfather?”

      “No. Not really.”

      “Which is it—no? Or not really?”

      “Peter’s a good guy,” Corey said. “And he makes my mom happy. It’s pretty amazing to think about the fact that he was willing to marry a woman who was on her own with six kids.”

      “But—” she prompted.

      He didn’t say anything.

      “But he’s not your dad,” Erin finished for him.

      “No, he’s not. I was so young when my dad died that my memories of him are pretty foggy, but it was still hard to accept anyone else trying to take his place. It’s only recently that I’ve realized Peter made his own place—and I’m glad it’s with my mom.” He shook his head. “But it seems that we’re always talking about my family—tell me something about yours.”

      “The Castros aren’t nearly as interesting as the Traubs,” she said.

      “That’s an opinion, not a fact,” he chided.

      She shrugged. “Okay, my parents are Jack and Betty. My dad’s a harbor cop and my mom is a high school history teacher. I have two brothers, Jake and Josh, both of them older. Jake is a cop in New Orleans and Josh is a perpetual student. He’s currently studying geosciences at Princeton.”

      “And what do your parents think of your decision to move to Montana?”

      “They’re trying to be supportive. They understand that I needed to make some changes in my life. They just wish I didn’t have to make them so far away.”

      “It could be worse,” Corey said philosophically. “You could have gone to New England.”

      She smiled. “Which is what I remind them whenever they start complaining about how far away Thunder Canyon is from San Diego.”

      “Do you get home to visit them very often?”

      “Only once since I moved here,” she admitted. “I’d hoped to go back again for Thanksgiving, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to work out now.”

      “It’s hard being away from family, especially at the holidays.”

      She nodded. “I don’t think I’ve ever missed a major holiday with them.”

      “So why don’t you invite them to come here?”

      She seemed startled by the suggestion. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”

      “Sometimes it takes someone from the outside to see the possible