The Playboy by Carly Phillips

body—“buying into the notion that I was as good-looking as Cindy Crawford. Rick always was a charmer.”
    Kendall laughed. “I can believe that.” He still was. Dressed in faded blue jeans and a navy and white striped polo shirt, he was the epitome of sexy. But more importantly, he had a good heart.
    He’d introduced her to his family and friends, people who were warm, caring, and treated her much differently than those in the salon. People who welcomed her and helped her to forget about her family problems for a little while.
    “So, Kendall, how long do you plan to stay in town?” Raina asked, not for the first time.
    Kendall was running out of ways to change the subject. “Well . . . ”
    “You’ve monopolized her enough.” Rick’s brother Chase stepped in.
    With his pitch-black hair and blazing blue eyes, he didn’t resemble Rick or Raina. From what Kendall had heard, both Chase and the youngest but absent brother Roman were the epitome of their deceased father. But according to rumor, all three Chandler brothers had always caused a stir among women. Chase was just the most reserved of the three.
    “Now, Chase, let me enjoy my time with Crystal’s niece.”
    “Grill her is more like it.” Chase snorted and took Kendall’s elbow in a gentlemanly grip. “I’d like to get to know her for a little while.” Without waiting for his mother’s reply, he led her away from the chattering women.
    “Another Chandler brother who rescues women in need?” Kendall asked, once they were alone.
    Chase raised his eyes toward the heavens. “Hell no. That’s Rick’s job. I just saw my mother gearing up for the inquisition and decided to spare you.” He propped one shoulder against the wall, studying her through piercing blue eyes.
    Sexy eyes if she weren’t so attracted to his brother instead. “Well, I appreciate you running interference. So tell me a little about you. I understand you run the local paper?”
    “
The Gazette.
”
    He shoved his hands into his pockets, a gesture so like Rick she almost laughed. “Oh, yes. You’re a weekly, aren’t you?”
    He nodded.
    Unlike Rick though, this brother was a man of few words. Yet Kendall liked him, if for no other reason than he’d raised his siblings and obviously had a good heart. Something else the brothers had in common. Kendall glanced over to where Rick stood talking on his cell phone, gesturing with one hand. She grinned. Even when he wasn’t working, he was working. She admired his dedication to his job. Oh, heck, she just plain admired the man.
    “Don’t get too attached to him,” Chase said into the silence.
    She blinked and turned back, embarrassed at having been caught staring. “I hadn’t planned on it.” But she did want to know why he’d felt compelled to issue the warning. She bit down on her lower lip. “Any chance you want to tell me why?”
    “Not really.” His eyes twinkled with mystery and knowledge. “But I will. Rick will walk before he lets you get close to him.”
    “Because of his previous marriage?” she asked, speaking the words before thinking them through. She doubted the oldest sibling would discuss his brother’s past.
    Sure enough, his eyes narrowed. “Rick told you about that?”
    Kendall wouldn’t lie, not even in the name of getting information she’d rather have come from Rick himself. She shook her head. “No, he intimated as much.”
    Chase nodded, understanding smoothing the lines in his forehead. “Well, let’s just say once a man’s been dumped by his wife he tends to be more cautious in the future.”
    So that was the story. Kendall had sensed as much and a vise clamped her heart at the thought of Rick being hurt by anyone. Especially by a woman.
    Chase gave her a steely-eyed stare, as if assessing
her
character and gearing up for more to say.
    “And?” she asked, not wanting him to hold back or censor himself. Though she had a hunch this newspaper-man would always state the cold, hard truth.