She thought about her father and her desperate need to hear him say that he loved her, that he was proud of her. She was thirty years old. When was she going to accept that Jed would never be the kind of father she’d always longed for? That he enjoyed making those around him squirm?

She smiled at Juanita and joined her at the round kitchen table in the corner. Apparently that kind of acceptance wasn’t going to happen today.

JUANITA SERVED a salad and homemade tamales for lunch. But as much as Lexi loved the food, she found it difficult to eat very much, even with Cruz telling charming stories about their past, including how they’d met.

“You risked your car?” Juanita asked.

Lexi sighed. “I was young and foolish and thought I would win. What did I know? I lost, of course.”

His mother glared at him. “You took her car? What kind of man does that?”

“It was part of my job.”

“An illegal job.” She spoke quickly in Spanish for a few seconds.

“He returned it,” Lexi said quickly. “He kept my car all this time and returned it to me when we got engaged.”

Juanita looked between them. “You won her car from her, then didn’t sell it?”

Cruz seemed to find his food very interesting. “It was nothing. I was busy. I kept it around.”

Lexi smiled, then glanced up and saw Juanita studying her. The other woman nodded slowly. “I see,” she said. “Have you set a date for the wedding?”

If Lexi had been swallowing, she would have choked. “Um, not really. We’re going to wait a while.”

“There’s no rush,” Cruz added.

Juanita nodded. Lexi thought she might push back, but she seemed pleased about something.

“But there will be grandbabies. You are going to have children, yes?”

He went pale. If Lexi hadn’t been part of the “grandbabies” connection, she might have felt sorry for him. As it was, this time she was the one studying the table.

“Mama, maybe we could talk about this later,” he said firmly.

“I’m not getting any younger, you know.” She raised her hands in the air. “All right. I won’t push. But I want at least four. My neighbor has four. It’s a good number. It fills the table.”

Two hours later, when they’d finished lunch and left, Lexi waited until Cruz had gotten onto the freeway before asking, “She’s your mother and you obviously love her. Doesn’t it bother you to lie to her like this?”

He shrugged. “I don’t enjoy it, but it’s necessary. She wouldn’t understand the truth.”

Lexi was wondering if she did. She knew exactly what she got out of the arrangement, but why had Cruz done it? Did he really want a woman with a bloodline? To what end?

“I’ve kept things from her all my life,” he said. “Nothing’s changed.”

“What kind of things?”

“How I made my money.”

“She knew about you racing for pink slips.”

He glanced at her, then turned his attention back to the road. “That’s the least of it. I joined a gang when I was twelve. I ran errands and acted as a lookout during robberies. It gave me money. I saved until I had enough to buy a gun.”

She could feel her eyes widening. “Seriously?”

“I had something to take care of. Don’t ask what. Once that was done, I managed to get out of the gang, mostly by pretending to be too young and scared to get into the really bad stuff. Then I started racing cars for pinks. Eventually I took that money and invested it into legitimate businesses. Auto parts, dealerships. I have a business partner who runs things for me. Manny. I’ve known him since I was a kid. We grew up on the same street.”

She’d known there were some dangerous parts to his past-she just hadn’t known how bad it had been. “You’ve come a long way.”

“I had goals and I wasn’t afraid to work for them. I did what had to be done.”

“Did you finish high school?”

He smiled. “Oh, yeah. My mom made sure of that. She’s small, but she’s determined. Thanks to her, I was careful. I wasn’t scared of jail, but having her mad at me? No way.”

“But you did go to jail.”

“A few times. Nothing after I turned eighteen. The records are sealed.” He glanced at her again. “Rethinking the deal?”

“No. I’m not surprised by any of this.”

“Because you knew I was bad.”

“You’re a lot of things, Cruz, but bad isn’t one of them.”

“You’re wrong about that, Lexi. I’m bad in ways you can’t begin to imagine.”

As she’d grown up in Titanville, under the shadow of her father’s protection, that might be true.

“Any other ghosts from the past I should know about?” she asked.

“No. Do you have any deep, dark secrets?” he asked.

If only. “Sorry, no. My life is exactly what you’d think it would be.”

Boring.

She wasn’t sure where the word came from, but suddenly it was there.

She wasn’t boring, she told herself. She had a good life. Her work, her sisters. But no one special. She had always wanted a family, wanted to fall in love. She almost had once. Andrew. And that had been a disaster.

“You’re thinking about something,” Cruz said.

“Nothing that matters.”

LEXI WALKED INTO the bedroom she’d grown up in and found both her sisters already there. Skye was dressed in a short, green cocktail dress that showed off her lush curves. She wore her red hair long and curly. Pearls hugged her neck.

Skye had the kind of beauty that made men drool like dogs in a butcher shop. Lexi would swear there were times she’d heard them pant. Skye was the earth goddess, while she, Lexi, was always compared to an ice princess. Cold, unobtainable and remote. The contrast had never made her happy.

Whenever she overheard men talking about the two of them she wanted to protest that she could be warm and sexy, too. She was fairly sure. But it wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have and not an argument she was sure she could win.

“At least I’m not bleeding,” Izzy said cheerfully as she came out of the bathroom. She saw Lexi and grinned. “You got engaged and didn’t tell me?”

Lexi laughed and moved toward her. “You’re crushed, right?”

Izzy, dressed only in a thong and strapless bra, hugged her tight. “Beyond crushed. You look good. Tell me about the guy. Is he hot? He should be hot.”

Lexi stepped back. “He’s hot.”

“So you say,” Izzy said. “I’ll give you my opinion later.”

“Did you see this?” Skye asked, pointing at Izzy’s leg.

Lexi glanced down, then winced at the long scrape. The red skin and thick scab went from midthigh to just below her knee.

“I don’t even want to know what you did to get that,” Lexi muttered.

“Rock climbing.” Izzy sounded cheerful. “I slipped. It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

Lexi looked at Skye who rolled her eyes.

“She’s never going to grow up,” Skye said. “I’ve told her to be careful, but does she listen?”

“Oh, please,” Izzy told her. “I’m plenty grown up.”

The two sisters sniped at each other in a loving, familiar way. Lexi listened and tried to enjoy the conversation, all the while feeling slightly on the outside.

It had always been that way, she thought wistfully. Skye and Izzy were only a year apart. She was three years older. Skye and Izzy shared both a mother and a father. Lexi only had Jed in common with them. Sometimes she felt like the odd sister out.

Izzy slid into a pair of silk pants with a slit up the side. The opening stopped just below the wound. Next she shimmied into a bright-red halter top that perfectly suited her dark hair and hazel eyes. She was the sexy wild child.

She faced herself in the mirror. “Okay, I look great. So Lexi, let’s hear all about the guy. Cruz Rodriguez. I’ve heard about him. He’s rich, which isn’t all that interesting. But he owns race teams. I wonder if he’d let me drive one of the really fast cars.”

“You can ask,” Lexi told her, making a mental note to tell Cruz to say no. Izzy didn’t need anyone fueling her need for adventure.

“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Izzy asked.

Lexi coughed. “No. Not even close.” That would require sex, something she’d managed to avoid for nearly two weeks.

“Just wondered. You’ve avoided being tied down for a while now. I didn’t know what had changed your mind.”

“She fell madly in love,” Skye said, watching them both. “At least that’s the story she told me. Is there a different one now?”

Lexi kept her expression pleasant when she really wanted to run for cover. “No. Love it is.”

“Hmm.” Skye looked as if she wanted to argue.

Izzy picked up the gold-and-diamond necklace she’d left on the dresser. “Better you than me,” she said. “I would hate being tied down. Guys are great. I mean sex, sure. Where’s the bad? But commitment? So not my thing.”

“Family matters,” Skye told her. “Roots are important. Don’t you want to belong to someone? To have a place?”

Izzy fastened her necklace, then put her finger in her mouth and made a gagging sound.

Lexi smiled as she thought about how different they all were. Skye and Izzy shared a mother, but they were still worlds apart. Skye wanted a traditional life. Izzy wanted to experience every thrill possible, then do it all again. And Lexi…She frowned, not sure exactly where she fit in. Maybe somewhere in the middle?

Everything was different now, she thought sadly. Since Jed had set them against each other.

“What’s wrong?” Izzy asked, meeting her gaze in the mirror.

“Nothing.”

“It’s something.”

“Jed. The deal. Winner take all.”

The sisters looked at each other.

“He has his reasons,” Skye said, sounding prim.

“They’re stupid reasons,” Izzy said. “He’s a total jerk.”

Maybe, Lexi thought, but for all Izzy’s claims that her father’s opinion didn’t matter, the youngest of them hadn’t been willing to tell him she wasn’t interested.