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Ah, would that I were closer to you to hold yours, my love, to take you in my arms, to kiss your deliciously kissable lips (and every other part of you, for you are infinitely kissable and delicious). I recall the sweet taste of you and feel as if I have savored the wine of the gods.
My dear, my own incomparable Olivia, I love you endlessly.
Devotedly,
John
P.S.—You were really only joking about your housekeeper once shooting a man—right?
SUBJECT: Arrangements, Winchesters, Etcetera
From: Olivia@USAserve.com
To: BanditKing@USAserve.com
To the darling bandit of my heart—
So glad to hear your son is better. And don’t apologize for him—it’s not his fault. That wretched mosquito made him do it.
Hope he’s out of the hospital as soon as possible. I’ve been in that very one. There used to be the tiniest little nun there with the coldest hands—even the memory chills me—brrr. Wish you were here to warm me, my sweetheart. You do light my fires, you know. (Yes, you know, you sexy devil.)
Oh, dear, I must watch what I say. This is how I got us in trouble in the first place.
So—explain to me about Sloan. If he’s released but has to stay in Austin, where will he stay? Does he have friends there?
Kisses and Caresses from
Your Own Olivia
P.S. No, I was not joking about Rose Alice. She shot off a man’s ear with a Winchester rifle. She’s never told me why, exactly, but apparently he irritated the very hell out of her.
SUBJECT: Hotel Rooms are Wonderful Places
From: BanditKing@USAserve.com
To: Oliva@USAserve.com
Darling Girl—
Just a note before I’m off for the evening’s work.
Your housekeeper is beginning to sound rather fearsome. Don’t you think your household might be more peaceful if you hired someone a little more, well, mellow? And without a felony conviction? Just a thought, sweet girl. I don’t mean to interfere.
Sloan says he’ll check into a hotel near the university. Don’t worry about him. Hotel rooms can be wonderful places—as you have proved to me beyond the shadow of a doubt.
I can’t wait until we can be together again. I will gladly come to Maine. Shall I tell you in minutest detail, the tender and pleasurable things I want to do with you?
Missing you body and soul—
John
SUBJECT: The Most Marvelous Idea!
From: Olivia@USAserve.com
To: BanditKing@USAserve.com
Dearest, most marvelous man—
You in Maine—how wonderful! I’ve got a new four-poster bed with a mattress soft as clouds. Would you like to play in a cloud?
As for Rose Alice, she’s mellowed considerably since her gun-slinging days. I’m sorry that when she backslid, your son was the target. I’ve already spoken to her about that.
And darling, about your Sloan—I have the most marvelous idea. I’ll call Darcy right away…
DARCY CLUTCHED THE PHONE so tightly that her fingernails paled. “What?” she asked in alarm and dismay. “What did you say?”
“I don’t want Sloan stuck in some impersonal hotel room,” Olivia said firmly. “I want him to stay at the lake house.”
Darcy was appalled. “But I live here,” she said.
“No, you don’t,” Olivia corrected. “You live in the guest house. Nobody’s in the big house. It’s just sitting there, going to waste. He’d be so much more comfortable there—he could spread out, read, listen to music, use the hot tub, the pool.”
Darcy pictured Sloan English’s nearly bare body sweating in the hot tub, glistening in the pool. Her nerves skittered to a higher level of anxiety.
“He’ll have a nice view,” Olivia went on. “He can take the boat on the lake if he wants, walk in the garden, get some nice, fresh, healthy air…”
Emerald came into the room from the kitchen. She had taken off her chain mail and sword and boots. She had a peanut butter sandwich in her hand and a curious look on her face. “Who’s on the phone?”
Darcy didn’t answer her. “You can’t just give a stranger the run of your house,” she told Olivia.
“He might not be a stranger long,” Olivia said. “He might be your stepbrother.”
“Stepbrother?” Darcy asked, stunned. “Mother, surely you’re not thinking of getting married—you hardly know this man.”
Emerald’s face went white and her mouth dropped open, forming an O. The peanut butter sandwich fell to the floor. She clutched the edge of Darcy’s worktable as if she needed support.
“I know John intimately,” Olivia said. “I know him better than I’ve ever known any other human being. And yes, we’ve talked about getting married. It’s like that ‘September Song.’ Our days are dwindling down to a precious few, and we want to spend them together.”
“Mother,” Darcy said desperately, “don’t do anything rash—please. If you’re going to get engaged, at least make it a long engagement. Be sure that he’s right for you—”
“He’s perfect for me,” said Olivia. “And I want his son to stay at the lake. It’s a sort of peace offering from our family to his.”
“The lake house,” Darcy said tonelessly. “Our future stepbrother in the lake house.”
Emerald looked even more stunned. She reeled away from the table and flung herself into the easy chair. She bent her head and covered her face with her hands to hide the tears glinting in her eyes.
“Why should our family make a peace offering?” Darcy demanded. “He owes us an apology, not the other way around.”
“Darcy, he’s deeply sorry. I’m going to tell him I insist. I won’t have it any other way. If he really wants my forgiveness, then he can prove it by accepting my offer.”
Oh, Lord, Darcy thought, her stomach twisting sickly. She knew that tone in Olivia’s voice. Her mother had made up her mind, and nothing, nothing, nothing on earth could change it.
Darcy felt overwhelmed. Olivia was about to rush into a foolish marriage, Emerald was distraught and Sloan English was moving in practically on top of her. The thought of having him so near was unsettling, even somehow menacing.
“I’m e-mailing you a list,” Olivia said with her same blithe air of certainty. “I want you to stock the refrigerator for him. He needs nice, healthy foods to build his strength back.”
Emerald hunched in the chair, eyes still covered, her shoulders heaving with silent sobs.
Darcy shook her head in frustration. “Mother, I’m not going to play nursemaid to this man. I’m not going to get all chummy with him just because you’re—you’re under the delusion that you’re in love—”
“Darcy, it’s my house, and he’s my guest. As are you, I might point out. When you lost the lease on your studio, I was glad to let you use the guest house.”
Darcy ground her teeth. It was true. Olivia was generous to a fault. She would accept no rent from Darcy, not a cent.
“Now,” Olivia said, “I’m asking you a simple favor, that’s all. He’s a sick young man in a strange town. How can it be wrong to offer him food and shelter?”
Damn! Now Olivia was making her feel guilty. Darcy raked her hand through her hair in exasperation.
“I’m asking you,” Olivia said, “for very little. Create a hospitable setting for him. Be polite. Get to know him as well or as little as you like. But remember, he’s going to be my stepson. In all probability, that is.”
Darcy winced. She had a horrid premonition that there was no “probability” involved. That Olivia would become Sloan English’s stepmother.
“Can I count on you?” Olivia asked.
Darcy pressed her hand against her midsection, which was suddenly queasy. She looked at her weeping sister. “Yes,” she said unhappily. “You can count on me.”
“Give him a chance, darling,” Olivia said. “You might actually like him.”
Right, Darcy thought bleakly. I’ll love him like a brother.
She hung up and turned to her sister. “Emerald,” she said as kindly as she could, “don’t cry—please.”
Emerald, who hated to be seen crying, stared at Darcy with swollen, brimming eyes. “She’s going to do it, isn’t she?” she said bitterly. “She’s going to marry that man—isn’t she?”
Darcy tried to keep her expression composed. She nodded. “It sounds like it.”
“It’ll be terrible,” Emerald said, and burst into a new freshet of tears. “It’ll be a disaster. He’s probably just after her money, and he’ll spend it all and make a fool of her—” Emerald gave a strangled little wail and hid her face in her hands again.
Stay calm, Darcy cautioned herself. Somebody around here has to. She went to Emerald and knelt beside her. She put her hand on her sister’s slender arm. “It may not happen. This thing may end as quickly as it started. These intense romances are like that. I’ve seen it happen before.”
Emerald straightened, dug a tissue from her waistband and wiped it across her nose with an angry gesture. “And that man—that churl who passed out on the floor—Mama wants him to come live in the lake house?”
Darcy shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “For just a few days. You don’t even have to see him. It’s all right.”
Emerald rolled her teary eyes heavenward. “I can’t believe it. His family’s already moving in and mooching off her. He’ll probably go through all her closets and drawers and steal the silverware—”
Darcy took Emerald’s chin between her thumb and forefinger. “Em, look at me. Calm down.”
“I don’t want to calm down,” Emerald shot back. “I don’t want a stepbrother. I don’t want a stepfather. I don’t want a step anything. Why can’t we just have Mama to ourselves? Why does she have to get mixed up with him? She can’t really know him. He could be a gigolo. Or a bigamist. Or one of those lonely hearts killers. Or—”
“Shh,” Darcy said, and laid her finger across her sister’s lips. “Listen. We don’t know anything about him—good or bad. But if the son comes here, we can find out. This is an opportunity.”
“Some opportunity,” Emerald said disdainfully.
“No. I mean it. I can find out things, feel him out.”
“He’ll probably feel you up,” Emerald retorted. “He’s probably a wolf like his father.”
“Whatever he is, I can handle him.”
“Ha! You don’t know that,” Emerald scoffed. “You don’t know a thing about him.”
“He may be just as suspicious of us as we are of him,” Darcy reasoned. “But I’ll gain his trust, win his confidence. Bit by bit, I’ll draw him out, and then we’ll know—”
“We won’t know anything,” Emerald argued. “He could lie his head off. I’ve got a better idea. Let’s not be nice to him. Let’s make him hate us. That’ll stop them.”
Darcy squeezed her sister’s arm. “No. Mama’d be appalled. We can’t—”
“We can’t let her go through with it, that’s what we can’t do,” Emerald said passionately. “I say that we break it up. Whatever it takes, we do.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Darcy warned. “My way’s best.”
Emerald narrowed her eyes. With a fierce gesture, she scrubbed away the last of her tears. “We’ll see whose way is best.”
Then she stood and walked to the fallen peanut butter sandwich. She picked it up, dropped it into the wastebasket, turned and left the room. She came back, almost immediately, wearing her boots. She carried her armor, her sword in its scabbard. Her back straight, she walked out the front door.
Darcy followed her as far as the porch. She put one hand on her hip and watched her sister stalk to her car.
“Emerald, where are you going?” she demanded. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going home,” Emerald said sulkily. “I’ve got to think.”
Once again, foreboding filled Darcy. “Then think over what I said. We have a great deal to gain from being nice to this Sloan person, and nothing to lose—”
“Except the silverware,” Emerald said sarcastically. “And, of course, Mama.”
SLOAN HAD STUDIED Darcy’s business card as diligently as a fortune-teller studying a tarot card for the answer to an impenetrable mystery.
The mystery, of course, was what he would say to her.
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I behaved like a jackass—
Now what do I do?
