than a reckless tryst to Evan. The man was in it for the love, not just for the lust. Morgan had no way of knowing Kendra’s motives, but he hoped like hell she didn’t bring this rugged rancher to his knees, leaving him holding his heart in his hands and triggering another monthlong binge.
“I said get the hell out of here!” Evan roared furiously.
“Go away!” Kendra wailed, covering her head with the sheet.
“No. If you aren’t in the living room in five minutes I’m coming back for you,” Janna insisted, her face still pulsing beet-red, her back ramrod stiff. “I don’t care if I have to go through Evan to get to you. Got it, sis?”
“Yes,” Kendra simpered, still cowering under the sheet.
When Janna wheeled around and stalked off, Morgan tarried in the hall. After Kendra dashed past him, her blouse inside out, her jeans sagging on her hips, Morgan stepped into the bedroom to meet Evan’s menacing scowl. “Sorry about that. I tried to stop her, I really did.”
Evan zipped his jeans and snatched up his work shirt. “Right, you couldn’t manhandle that shrimp of a female,” he bit off sarcastically.
“Right, just like you couldn’t tell a rebounding blonde no and you couldn’t fight her off when she had her way with you,” Morgan retaliated with equal sarcasm.
Evan’s hands stalled over the buttons of his shirt, and then he smiled wryly when Morgan arched a challenging brow. Evan’s smile evaporated as he fastened his shirt. “I never got over her,” he confided. “I’ll take her back any way I can get her—in a red-hot minute.”
“Obviously,” Morgan murmured. “But what if she’s only using you, Evan? What if she’s here today and gone tomorrow?”
Evan crammed his shirttail in his jeans, refusing to meet Morgan’s steady gaze. “Doesn’t matter. I love her. Always have. Always will. You know that. Hell, who in town doesn’t know it?”
“Fine, it’s public knowledge,” Morgan agreed. “But, damn it, I consider you a friend and I don’t want to see you hurt again.”
Evan smiled faintly. “Thanks, Morgan. I appreciate your concern. But Kendra needs me. She may be too distraught to realize it yet, but today was a milestone.” He sent Morgan a meaningful glance. “Ever been in love so deep that you couldn’t let a day go by without driving by her place, catching sight of her on the street and wishing she was still yours?”
“No, can’t say that I have,” Morgan admitted truthfully.
“Then don’t judge me until you’ve stood in my boots and wanted someone so badly that you ache with it. Hell, I know I don’t have Richard’s cash flow, his social connections or his dashing good looks, but I’d sure as hell never do to Kendra what Richard did to her. I’m not gonna cower in the bedroom while her sister—and damn, does she look like a fox these days. When did that happen?”
Morgan shrugged and waited for Evan to finish his comment.
“Anyway, I’m offering Kendra moral support and I want Janna to know this isn’t a fly-by-night fling on my part.”
Morgan sighed as he followed Evan down the hall. Love, he decided, was hell—and then some. If he ever found himself in as deep as Evan Gray he might just shoot himself and avoid the misery.
By the time Morgan reentered the living room Kendra was blubbering in tears and Janna was trying to shuffle her out the door. Morgan intercepted the looks bouncing back and forth between Evan and Kendra and he rolled his eyes. He’d never had much appreciation for melodrama. How did Janna deal with this stuff on a regular basis while growing up in her household?
“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you, Evan,” Kendra murmured as Janna tugged her toward the door. “Janna says I should leave now.”
Evan nodded, his gaze locked on Kendra. “I’ll be here if you need me. I’m just a phone call away…always…” Although Janna glared mutinously at him, Evan didn’t flinch. “I mean it, Kendra. If you need me, just call me and I’ll be there for you.”
Morgan watched Janna haul her sobbing sister away, then turned back to Evan. “You wanna grab a beer tonight…oh say, eightish?”
Evan nodded his tousled brown head. “Yeah, thanks, Morgan.”
Morgan ambled outside to see Janna, behind the wheel of Kendra’s car, chauffeuring her sister home. Well, he supposed his mission here had been accomplished. He might as well head back to town. He wanted to be on hand to see how many more dragons Janna planned to slay in her quest to put the Humpty-Dumpty Mitchell family back together again. Damn, that woman was something, wasn’t she? She’d go to amazing extremes to protect her family.
He couldn’t believe Janna was the same bashful duckling he’d known in high school. No wonder the town was in an uproar and bachelors were crawling from the woodwork to take a gander at her.
JAN DROVE Kendra’s car toward Morgan’s home so she could retrieve her own car and suitcase. Kendra stared straight ahead, her arms crossed hostilely over her chest, her backbone rigid.
“I really wish you hadn’t interfered,” Kendra ground out bitterly. “You embarrassed Evan and me to no end.”
“Well, excuse me for worrying about you,” Jan snapped, then breathed deeply, wishing her hellish headache would ease off. No such luck.
“It’s not what you think,” Kendra mumbled. “You need to know that.”
Jan’s brows shot up at the absurdity of Kendra’s remark. “Not what I think? Hello? You just stooped to Richard’s level to retaliate.”
“No, I didn’t!” Kendra railed explosively.
Jan winced at the high-pitched shriek that blasted her eardrums and vibrated through her sensitive head. “You need to come to your senses and show some respect for yourself. Keni, these escapades have to stop.”
Kendra half turned on the seat, her blue eyes shooting hot sparks. “For your information, Ms. Know-It-All and Fix-All, that was my first time and I’m glad it was with someone who cares about me.”
Jan’s jaw dropped to her chest. Her astounded gaze flew to her sister.
Kendra nodded affirmatively. “Despite what you think, I’m no more promiscuous than you. Do you think I’m so stupid and shallow that I don’t know my outward appearance attracts men and I’ve been some kind of masculine challenge for years? I thought if Richard would wait until we married that he did want me for who I am not what I look like. But his betrayal spoke volumes. I’m just window dressing to him.”
Jan sat there, thunderstruck. She and her sister had drifted apart the past few years. She’d erroneously assumed Kendra had been caught up in her own appeal to men and had become intimate with one or two of them.
“Having drinks with Sonny was all about revenge and inciting gossip for Richard’s benefit. But Evan was always different from the rest. Caring and kind. Why I let Mom and Dad convince me he was too old I’ll never know. I guess I was waiting for Evan to make a commitment to me, but he admitted today that he believed I was too good for him. I didn’t understand where he was coming from until this afternoon. I discovered my feelings for him are
