But, God. Dee’d been wanting to face off with that pernicious bitch as long as she could remember. She’d had the girls to think of, though. She’d had her mother looking at her with those big Lizzie eyes of hers, begging Dee to protect them.

Seemed she didn’t have to anymore. At least not alone. So no matter what, it was time to put on her big-girl panties and get on with it. For a second, Dee actually managed a smile. She damn near giggled. Until she remembered just what she had to do to get to that face-off.

She’d thought she’d never have to see him again. That as bad as last night had been, she could be safely away long before he came to demand explanations. She should have known better. Ever since Danny James had knocked on their door, nothing had gone the way it should.

Yanking on her gray cardigan and grabbing her purse off the table, she turned for the door. ‘All right, then,’ she said with forced bravado, let’s get this over with.’

She should have known. She threw the door open, ready to march out like Carrie Nation in search of a saloon, only to be stopped dead in her tracks.

‘Oh, good,’ he said, standing on her porch in his white T-shirt and bomber jacket and jeans. ‘I hoped you’d be home.’

Dee knew she was probably goggling at him. But what did you say to the most handsome man in the world, whom you’d run from the night before? Sorry. I wasn’t sure how well you liked your mother? No. Too much to explain. It was better this way? Not that, either. Dee decided she wasn’t the Casablanca type.

‘Yes,’ was all she could come up with. ‘Here I am.’

She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Those wonderful, water-clear eyes, that chiseled chin and the glint of silver above his T-shirt. The easy, comfortable-with-myself, happy-to-see-you stance that made people smile and set her palms to sweating. She couldn’t breathe again. She could never seem to breathe around him.

She’d run from him last night. She’d have to do it again soon or lose her mind altogether. But not right now. Now she had a mission. Yeah. That’s all it was. A mission for her sisters.

He was smiling. Of course he was. ‘May I come in?’ Dee blanked. ‘Uh, no.’

He looked over her shoulder, as if expecting a parent with a shotgun. ‘Well, can you come out?’

She fortified herself with a breath. ‘Why, yes,’ she said, closing the door behind her. ‘I can. I need to talk to you.’

‘Funny. I was just about to say that very thing.’

Dee tried to smile, but she knew it looked stupid. She swore her heart could be heard down the block, it was beating so hard. And it was fragile enough right now that she feared serious injury. ‘Um, there’s a garden bench in the back.’

‘Perfect,’ he said. ‘I love sitting in a jungle on a nice day.’

They did have to wade through a veritable sea of rhododendrons, wisteria, and lilac to get to a bench, and Dee caught sight of Pywackt prowling in the shadows like the predator he was. But the garden was out of sight of the street. On the other hand, she’d be isolated with Danny James where every sharp memory from the night before would hover between them. What a choice.

Dee was about to sit down on the cedar bench when Danny held her back. Dee jumped at his touch. Hot, sharp, sweet. God, she was going to have to get what she needed from him and run like a coward. She looked over at him, but he just held up a hand. Then, pulling a handkerchief, of all things, from his back pocket, he bent to wipe the fallen petals and pollen from the bench. Dee’s breath simply left her body.

He turned, held out his hand, guided her to her seat. Dee couldn’t take her eyes from him. It was such a simple thing, a gift of courtesy. But it made her want to cry. Nobody ever thought to do for Dee O’Brien. Dee knew it was because of the face she put on, that she was in charge, in control. But Danny had done this little thing anyway, and that perilously fragile heart that had been in such danger simply failed.

Oh, she thought, gazing up at him like a besotted girl as he settled in next to her. She could so fall in love with him.

Then he sat down himself. ‘I have a message from your aunt.’

Well, so much for fantasies. ‘Pardon?’

He pulled out his keys and started playing with them, a sure sign of discomfort. Oh, no. Oh, no, no. Her poor, sore heart.

‘I talked to her.’

Dee pulled herself up, as if posture were protection. ‘I gathered that.’

He nodded, still not facing her. ‘I know you think she’s-’

‘The spawn of Satan? The inspiration for every succubus in history?’

That got a grin out of him. ‘I really wish you had an opinion on anything, Dee.’

Oh, don’t be charming. That makes it worse. ‘What did she say?’

He was at the keys again, so that they jangled. He kept that up, he’d end up with Pywackt in his face.

‘Your aunt wants to meet with you.’

Worse and worse. ‘I bet she does. And when does she get in from Santa Fe?’

‘Uh…’ Danny James couldn’t seem to keep a secret to save his life.

Dee lurched to her feet. ‘Oh, my God. You’ve seen her’

‘Well, yeah. She’s at the Lighthorse.’

Dee didn’t say another word. Shoving wisteria aside like an advancing defensive line, she turned and stalked off. She didn’t even get past the front gate before Danny caught up with her.

‘I really wish you’d stop doing that,’ he said, trying to hold her back.

She batted his hand away. ‘I have to see my aunt.’

Danny took her arm. ‘Well, that was the point of the visit. But she wants to see all three of you.’

Dee tried to pull away, and found that she couldn’t fight hard enough. Suddenly the smell of lilac was cloying, and she hated it. ‘No,’ she said. ‘She sees me or she sees no one.’

And if she did, Dee could save them all a lot of time and grief and just rip her eyes out and feed them to her on a plate.

‘Let me give you a ride down there,’ Danny suggested. ‘It’ll be faster’

That took the starch out of her. He was trying to protect her, to help her, and it hurt. Because for the first time in her life, that was what she wanted.

So he could take her to Xan, whom he’d seen.

‘Dee? Honey, you okay?’

Dee just nodded, her eyes closed. God, how could she smell him over the overwhelming scent of wisteria and lilac? She did, though, a bracing hint of wind and the sea in this claustrophobic little garden. That awful temptation of freedom and flight. He still had her by the arm, but his hold was gentle. It made Dee want to cry all over again.

‘Before we go,’ he was saying, ‘I really need to know something.’ Dee didn’t move. Danny hesitated. ‘Last night…’

Oh, no. Not last night. Not when she had to fortify herself for Xan.

‘Did I hurt you?’

Dee’s eyes snapped open. ‘What?’

His eyes were soft and uncertain. Vulnerable. As if he’d thought what had happened had been somehow his fault.

‘You’re the bravest woman I know,’ he said. ‘Good God, Dee, you’ve raised your sisters alone since you were sixteen. I just couldn’t imagine you running unless I’d done something terrible. I wanted to follow you, but… I stood outside your house for hours. I saw your sister’s friend show up and almost knocked then…’

Well, this certainly was the end. Dee was as lost as a romance heroine. How could she not love Danny James?

‘Oh, Danny,’ she said, unable to resist the urge to cup that strong face in her hand. ‘How could you think you could ever hurt anybody?’

‘Then you…’

The wind caught the flowers and sent some of them spinning, a shower of purple and magenta that rained around them like fireworks. ‘The problem is mine,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry. I would never want to make you feel responsible.’

‘You promise.’

Tears she allowed for no one pooled in her eyes. ‘On my honor. And the girls can tell you I’m tough on that kind of stuff.’

He took her hand in both of his and raised it for a kiss. ‘I’ve never met anybody like you, Deirdre Dolores O’Brien.’

He’d met Xan. Dee came so close to asking him if she was more. More beautiful, more compelling, more everything a good man wanted.

‘You sure you want to go see her?’ he asked, again echoing her thoughts.

‘Yeah. But I have a question for you first.’ She found herself holding tight to those work-roughened hands, really afraid now. ‘Who was she?’

‘Pardon?’

Had the wind died? It sounded so suddenly still, as if breath were being held.

‘How would you describe her? Sophia Loren? Susan Sarandon?’

He considered, her hand still captive. ‘Delilah.’ And Dee had thought she’d lost the capacity for surprise. ‘Delilah?’

He grinned. ‘I see what you mean about how she gets people to do what she wants. But there’s something… sad about her. Empty, I guess.’

Dee couldn’t move. She couldn’t look away from him. How do you answer a statement like that? He was wrong, of course. Xan wasn’t sad. She was evil. But she was empty. Just a shell fabricated from manipulation and cupidity.

‘Do you trust me?’ she asked.

It was his turn to reach out, running his fingers down her cheek. ‘Yeah, oddly enough. I seem to have a taste for sharp-tongued shrews.’

Dee stiffened, until she saw that sly gleam in his eyes. ‘Nobody’s called me that and lived to tell the tale, mister’

‘But I like sharp-tongued shrews. Or weren’t you listening?’

She wasn’t breathing. The wind must have risen, because she swore she had dust in her eyes. And the dust carried that brief, bright sight of Danny James smiling at her. At her. She ached to live that moment, even knowing that by facing off with Xan she was probably tossing out her last chance for it.