Bri remembered waking up in the ICU waiting room and seeing Tory holding Reese. Comforting her, pretty much like Carre was doing now. Thinking that Reese wouldn’t want anyone to see her so vulnerable, she had looked away. She hadn’t wanted to embarrass Reese, but maybe she had been wrong in thinking that she would. She wasn’t ashamed to have Carre hold her. She just felt lucky.

“How come you know these things and I don’t?” Bri complained, rubbing her face against the inside of her arm to wipe away the last of her tears.

• 124 •

Winds of Fortune

Caroline laughed. “Because we’re made differently and different things are important to us.”

Bri frowned. “I don’t get it.”

“I know, baby,” Caroline said gently. “It doesn’t matter as long as you know that I don’t always need you to be strong and I need to feel strong for you too sometimes.”

“If anything happens to my dad I don’t want anybody around except you.” Bri took Carre’s hand. The tears were close again. “Okay?”

“Reese and Tory love you, baby.” Caroline kissed Bri until Bri relaxed into her arms. “I’ll be right there, I promise. But you can’t shut them out.”

“Thank you for…you know. Being with me.”

“You’re gonna make me mad if you say that again.” Caroline pulled Bri on top of her and held her tightly. “There’s only one thing I want you to say to me. You know what it is.”

Bri rested her forehead against Carre’s and whispered, “I love you so so much.”

❖

“You made it,” Nita exclaimed as Tory hurried into the offi ce at just after three in the afternoon. “You’d better sit down. You look exhausted.”

“I only slept a few hours last night, but I actually felt rested when I woke up this morning.” Tory dropped onto the sofa with a grateful sigh.

“It’s just been a tense day.”

Nita frowned. “Problems with Nelson’s surgery?”

“He came through the procedure with no major problems, but the surgeon said he saw a little more bleeding post-op than he’d like.

They’re just watching him for now.”

“Maybe you should head back, then.”

Tory shook her head. “There are some things I have to do here.

Reese will be there in an hour or so. We’ve got it covered.” She pointed a fi nger at Nita. “Besides, you have a closing to go to. So—go.”

“You’re sure.”

“Positive. Call me later.”

Nita shrugged off her lab coat, hung it on a coat tree inside the door, and grabbed the soft brown leather shoulder bag that doubled as

• 125 •

RADCLY fFE

her briefcase. Murmuring her thanks, she hurried out.

The few moments it took to drive into town were the fi rst free minutes she’d had all day. Unfortunately, the fi rst thing she thought of was Deo. There was no reason to think that Deo would be at the closing, for which she was glad. A day or two without seeing her would put everything into perspective. She was only temporarily off-balance because she hadn’t expected to meet anyone who stirred her up the way Deo had. Nothing to worry about.

So, she’d met an attractive charming sexy woman who had turned her on. So what? So what if she’d tossed and turned for an hour the night before, too keyed up to sleep, unable to purge the memory of Deo’s warm breath against her stomach from her mind. So what if she’d awakened for the fi rst time in months with a hum of arousal singing through her blood. All perfectly normal, perfectly natural. No crime in acknowledging involuntary responses she had no plans to do anything about.

Case closed.

❖

“How does it feel to be a homeowner?” Elana Torres asked, handing Nita the keys with a warm smile.

“Wonderful,” Nita replied automatically, and on one level, she was thrilled. The house had charmed her from the beginning with its history and faded grandeur, and she looked forward to restoring it. The project would occupy her free time, what little of it there was, and in the end, she would have something exceptional of her own to show for it. But undercutting the excitement was a thread of sadness that she was doing this alone. Her fi rst home, a signifi cant dream realized, and she had no one special with whom to share the pleasure.

Elana handed Nita a thick manila envelope. “Deo asked me to give this to you. She said to tell you the renovation estimates just cover the major structural elements. The fi nishing details take more planning, depending on what you have in mind.”

“I, uh…” Nita stared at the envelope but didn’t take it. She had the irrational thought that if she touched it she might feel the rough brush of Deo’s callused palm over her body and give herself away with some small movement or sound.

• 126 •

Winds of Fortune

“Deo’s family, as you know, but I can also recommend her without reservation,” Elana added. “Still, I put contact information for one of the other local contractors and a company from Barnstable in with your settlement papers in case you want to get competitive bids.”

“Yes. I suppose that would be a good idea.”

“Call soon. At this time of the year, everyone is booked solid. I’ll do what I can to help set up the appraisals, if you like.”

Of course, Nita thought, summertime is the height of the building season. But Deo had taken the time to write up the estimate. She wondered when. “Deo put this together awfully quickly.”

“She was in here crunching numbers when I arrived at six this morning.” Elana smiled. “She’s never been one to let grass grow under her feet.”

Nita stifl ed a comment about fast workers and accepted the envelope. It could take weeks to even schedule an appraisal with someone else, and longer still to get the renovations started. And somehow, she didn’t think that Deo’s comment about being one of the best in the business was an idle boast. Her own sublet was proof of that. Annoyed that she was allowing a transient situation with Deo to compromise what should be a professional undertaking, she asked, “Do you have local references I can check? She’s already seen the house, and—”

“Deo always includes references at the end of her estimates. If you need any other information, just call me. Most of the businesses in town use her, and there’s never been a single complaint.”

Blushing, Nita said hastily, “Really, I’m sure she’s excellent. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”

“Don’t think anything of it,” Elana said. “It’s an important decision, and I’m sure you want to have the right person do the work.”

“Yes. I do. Well,” Nita bounced the keys in her palm. “I think I’ll pay my new house a visit.”

“Welcome to town.” Elana extended her hand. “Call me if you need anything. Remember, you’re one of us now.”

❖

One of us. Nita leaned against the balustrade on the widow’s walk and surveyed the harbor from atop her new home. With still two hours

• 127 •

RADCLY fFE

until sunset, the evening had taken on a golden blush, and the white sailboats and yachts fl oated like pristine clouds atop the deep blue surface of the water. So high above the street, the breeze was cool and brisk, raising goose bumps on her sun-heated skin. One of us.

She could still hear her brother’s angry words. “How could you, Nita? He’s one of us. You don’t fuck with one of us.”

She hadn’t needed her brother’s fury or her father’s cold disdain or her sister’s shocked criticism to understand that the thin blue line was unassailable. She’d known it all her life. Every member of her family took pride in it, and she had broken the line. Ignored the code, disrespected the fraternity, sullied the family honor. She was no longer one of them, cast out for her transgressions.

“All for what,” she murmured for the thousandth time, but she knew the answer. Sylvia. Beautiful passionate, possessive Sylvia.

Sylvia, with her hot demanding hands and her sweet seductive mouth.

Sylvia. God, she could still taste her.

“Hey!” Deo yelled up from the street. “Don’t lean on that!”

Shaking her head, feeling as if she were awakening from a dream, Nita stared down the three and a half stories to the sidewalk. Deo stood with her legs apart and pelvis tilted forward, hands on hips, glaring up at her. Despite the height, Nita could make out streaks of dust on her neck and the sweat that sheened on her bare arms. In an instant, memories of Sylvia disappeared and Nita was grateful.

Recognizing the gratitude for what it was, the mindless substitution of one desire for another, she defi antly grasped the iron railing and shook it. Despite the protesting creak she heard as she rocked it, she shouted back, “It’s perfectly fi ne.”

“Cut it out! Jesus, Nita.” Deo shoved open the scrolled iron gate that separated Nita’s small front yard from the narrow brick sidewalk and stalked toward the house.

Nita lost sight of her, but she didn’t have any trouble hearing her.

“Let me in,” Deo barked.

For one second, Nita considered ignoring her. Then, embarrassed by her reluctance to confront a woman just because she was attracted to her, she abandoned her perch above the town and unhurriedly made her way downstairs. When she opened the door, she felt completely calm.

“Yes?” Nita said.

“Jesus Christ, Nita,” Deo repeated heatedly. “Do you want to kill

• 128 •

Winds of Fortune

yourself? You’ve got to be careful around this place until we’ve gone through it completely.”

“There is no we,” Nita responded levelly. “And I was careful.”

“Leaning over that railing is not careful! If you had fallen…” Deo tried to rein in her temper, but she was still running on nerves after glancing up to see Nita precariously positioned on the widow’s walk, a look on her face that said she was a million miles away and not paying any attention to what she was doing. Deo envisioned the bolts pulling loose from the water-softened wood, the railing crumbling, and Nita falling. Falling and lying crumpled on the grass, her eyes open and empty. She shivered. “Fuck.”