debatable,” she countered swiftly, refusing to let his compelling charm soften her.
“That’s exactly what Brooke needs these days. A good debate.” Stacey grabbed Marc’s arm and tugged him across the threshold. “Come on in, so we can continue this conversation without the threat of frostbite.”
Before Brooke could protest, the cabin was filled with three overwhelmingly masculine bodies, and the small living room seemed to shrink in size.
Marc shrugged out of his jacket and went about introducing his friends, mostly for Stacey’s and Jessica’s benefit. “This is Shane Hendricks, who works for my company as an electrical engineer,” he said of the blond-haired guy who’d seemingly captured Stacey’s attention, then nodded toward the other dark-haired man. “And this is Ryan Matthews, a divorce attorney for Haywood and Irwin.”
“Nice to meet you all,” Stacey said gregariously.
Jessica greeted Shane politely, then turned to Ryan. “An attorney, huh?” A sly smile curved her mouth as Ryan confirmed her question with a nod. “What’s black and brown and looks good on a lawyer?” Before he could respond to her odd, unexpected question, she offered the punch line. “A Doberman pinscher.”
Brooke groaned, Marc chuckled, and Ryan stared at Jessica in bafflement, taken aback.
Then he shook his head and laughed, too. “Nice greeting. I have to admit I haven’t heard that one before.”
“Oh, I have one for just about every occasion.” With a jaunty spring to her step, Jessica went to the coffee table, picked up her laptop computer and glanced at Brooke. “I’ll be up in the loft working on my transcripts until you get everything settled with Marc and his friends.”
Interest gleamed in Ryan’s gaze as he watched Jessica climb the stairs to the cabin’s only second-story bedroom. Once she was out of his line of vision, he looked back at Brooke, a grin quirking his mouth. “Was it something I said?”
Brooke rubbed the slow throb beginning in her temple, and offered the man a reassuring smile. “It’s not you, personally. Lawyer jokes are Jessica’s specialty. She finds them…amusing.” But Brooke knew where Jessica’s comments came from. Ryan’s profession made him an easy target for the pent-up emotions Jessica had kept deeply buried since their childhood.
As for her own emotions, they were currently under siege, as well. She thought about her forbidden attraction to Marc, her sister’s arsenal of lawyer jokes, and Stacey’s preoccupation with Shane as he helped her rekindle the fire in the hearth. Combining all that volatile sexual energy and masculine appeal and cramming it into one tiny cabin was not conducive to the rest and leisure she’d envisioned. No, it was more suited to insanity.
Desperate to see the trio on their way, she turned back to the leader of the pack. “Can I talk to you, Marc, alone?” Before he could refuse her, she headed purposefully toward the kitchen, the only room that would provide them a modicum of privacy.
She was determined that, within the next hour, Marc and his friends would be gone and her relaxing, week-long ski retreat would resume as planned.
2
MARC RELEASED a low, deep breath and watched Brooke head toward the kitchen. His gaze was unerringly drawn to the subtle sway of her slim hips, and the way her soft, faded jeans contoured to her curved bottom…which, admittedly, was his favorite part of the female anatomy—long, slender legs taking a close second. But her deeper, less superficial qualities were what tied him up in knots and had his conscience warning him to put her, and the spontaneous kiss they’d shared, out of his mind.
Intensely loyal and infinitely giving, Brooke was exactly the kind of woman he steadfastly avoided. She was so completely opposite from the enjoy-the-moment-while-it-lasts kind of woman he usually dated. Granted, he was very particular about whom he pursued, but his motto was always the same—no strings attached. The women knew up front what to expect, and he always bailed before the relationship turned demanding. One fateful night had proved he wasn’t cut out for commitment and forever promises, and he wasn’t willing to risk a woman’s emotional stability to give any kind of long-term relationship a try.
Nope, if his own brother hadn’t been able to find contentment with the one woman who embodied the perfect wife, then Marc had little hope for himself.
“Well, buddy,” Ryan said, slapping him good-naturedly on the back and cutting into his thoughts. “I know finding your sister-in-law here puts a glitch in our personal plans, but we’re depending on you to pull this off.”
Marc lifted a brow at his friend. “After Jessica’s odd brand of humor, you don’t mind sharing the cabin?”
Ryan’s gaze drifted toward the loft. “No doubt I’ll be dodging a barrage of lawyer jokes, but I figure we’ll be spending more time on the slopes than here. And if I don’t find an enticing ski bunny to hook up with, I figure it’s a place to sleep. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve crashed on the floor.”
Marc glanced at Shane, who was currently flirting with Stacey as they knelt in front of the fireplace. It seemed the other man didn’t have any objections to the cramped quarters, either. “I’ll see what I can do.”
He headed into the kitchen and found Brooke standing across the small room, near the oak table with six matching chairs—a convenient number given the current occupants of the cabin. He doubted Brooke would appreciate him using that fact as part of his argument for letting them stay.
Their gazes met, held, melded.
She folded her arms over her chest and lifted her chin, showing him the more stubborn side to her personality. Her thick, shoulder-length hair swayed with the movement, prompting him to remember the feel of his fingers tangling in those rich, luxurious, honey-blond strands as he’d angled Brooke’s head for a deeper kiss. Wispy bangs touched her forehead and set off her expressive eyes, currently an intense shade of blue.
Despite her determined demeanor, her gaze revealed the wariness and caution she was really feeling. He knew those emotions were present because of the boundaries he’d unintentionally overstepped at his parents’ house that night of their anniversary party.
Unfortunately, the three months that had passed since he’d last seen Brooke had done nothing to diminish the deep, sensual craving he’d developed for her. He’d tried to tell himself that moment had been instigated out of flirtatious fun, but he now had to admit that the soft, warm feel of her lips under his had seduced him, had forced him to acknowledge that flawed part of him that had coveted his brother’s wife. Sweet, hot desire had gripped him, and he’d done the unthinkable and stolen a sample of what he knew would never be his—oneness, stability, eternity.
The discovery of what forever tasted like had shaken up every rule and restriction he lived by. He’d thought, he’d hoped, that time and distance would put their relationship back on track, as friends. He’d spent the past three months trying to get Brooke out of his mind, knowing she wasn’t his kind of woman, knowing he was the last kind of man she’d go for, especially after what she’d endured with his brother. Especially when his own past track record was less than sterling.
Their time apart had only intensified their awareness of one another.
“I’m sorry, Marc,” she said with an adamant shake of her head. “But having you and your friends here just
