eyes shot flames at him. ‘If Lesli has come to her senses and no longer sees you and Grant as big fearless heroes, then all I can say is it's about time!’ she challenged. ‘But I can assure you nothing I've said influenced her; I've been telling her for years that you're both arrogant sons-of—–'
‘Your success as an illustrator of children's books doesn't seem to have moderated your language any,’ Nathan bit out grimly. ‘Your mouth still needs washing out with soap!'
Brenna's eyes flashed like emeralds. ‘And who taught me every curse in the book?'
His mouth thinned. ‘I always told Dad he should have kept you away from the ranch hands.'
‘I was referring to their boss!'
He gave a deep sigh. ‘A lot of things can go wrong on a ranch,’ he defended.
‘And you swear about every one,’ she recalled softly, her expression hardening as she realised she sounded almost wistful. ‘How did you know about my illustrating?’ she bit out.
He shrugged. ‘Lesli was very proud of her baby sister's accomplishments,’ he drawled. ‘The copy of the book that you sent her has been put by for the baby.'
‘What did you think about it?’ she mumbled.
Grey eyes glinted with humour. ‘Koly the Koala is not exactly my taste in literature.'
‘No,’ she snapped. ‘I remember Mum throwing out of the house a few of your ideas of literature,’ she scorned.
‘They were Grant's,’ he rasped. ‘He brought them back from university.'
‘And you didn't even glance at them,’ taunted Brenna.
‘Oh, I glanced at them,’ Nathan drawled derisively. ‘But they were giving me an inferiority complex; I didn't realise most of those positions were possible!'
Carolyn had got back from the village during their absence, and Brenna made the introductions Nathan had been in too much of a hurry to bother with when he arrived. Carolyn, beautiful blonde, blue-eyed Carolyn, had difficulty hiding her surprise at the sudden appearance of a stepbrother she had never heard of.
‘Although I don't blame you for keeping him a secret, darling,’ her friend told her as she put her arm in the crook of Nathan's, smiling up at him warmly. ‘He's beautiful!’ Carolyn laughed softly as Nathan raised surprised brows in Nick's direction, the dark-haired man lounging in an armchair, completely unperturbed by his fiancée's flirtatious manner. ‘Don't worry, Nathan, Nick isn't likely to challenge you to a duel or anything just because I like the way you look. Just because we're getting married there's no reason to act as if we don't see the attraction of other people.'
Brenna was well aware of Carolyn's views concerning her engagement, just as she was also aware that Carolyn had been faithful to Nick and the love they shared, since the moment they first met. But Nathan couldn't know that from the way Carolyn was acting, and Brenna could sense his sceptical gaze on her.
‘Carolyn is the author of Koly the Koala,’ she defensively explained her friendship with the other woman; the two of them had been introduced through the publisher almost a year ago. ‘We're currently working on another book together,’ she added protectively as she could still feel the sting of his contempt for the arrangement he thought Carolyn and Nick had, obviously considering her part of their relationship at the moment.
‘How nice,’ he drawled uninterestedly, managing to extricate himself from Carolyn's languidly dangling arm before moving to stand in front of the window. ‘If you would like to pack your things, Brenna,’ he added hardly, ‘we can be on our way.'
‘I'll help you,’ offered Carolyn with a generosity uncharacteristic of her, almost pushing Brenna from the room and up the narrow stairs to the two bedrooms and bathroom above. Brenna had one of the bedrooms, Carolyn and Nick shared the other one. ‘Where are you going with that delicious hunk of a man?’ Carolyn demanded to know as soon as the bedroom door closed behind them, making herself comfortable on the bed as Brenna ruefully began to pack.
‘That “delicious hunk of a man” is merely my stepbrother—–'
‘Nathan Wade has never been merely anything in his life,’ her friend dismissed knowingly. ‘I can't believe you haven't noticed how handsome he is,’ she chided. ‘After all, a stepbrother is no relation at all.'
It would be useless to deny that she hadn't been aware of Nathan's masculinely magnetic pull from the time she had first met him; there had been a constant and steady stream of women in his life the last ten years to testify to that even if she hadn't been aware of it.
‘When someone has watched you progress through braces on your teeth, pimples, braids, and a flat chest, there doesn't seem any place left for romance,’ she avoided drily.
‘I would have made sure he noticed the disappearance of the braids, the brace and the pimples, and the appearance of my breasts,’ Carolyn told her enviously. ‘We would probably have been sharing a bed by the time I reached seventeen!'
Brenna didn't doubt that, and smiled affectionately at her friend. Before she met Nick, Carolyn had known a lot of other men, she was a woman that men seemed to like instinctively. Except Nathan, she realised frowningly. Probably her friends weren't good enough for him!
‘I was still wearing the brace at seventeen,’ she dismissed scornfully.
‘But surely… Oh, never mind,’ Carolyn sighed frustratedly at Brenna's closed expression. ‘Where's he taking you?'
‘London. I… He and my sister decided to pay me a surprise visit and I ruined it by not being there.’ She had no intention of discussing this family crisis with Carolyn, considering it too personal. ‘She's waiting in London for me.’ Which was true—she hoped!
‘Your sister came over with Nathan?’ Carolyn frowned. ‘But I thought she was married to someone called Grant? Why…?'
‘She is. Look, I really don't have the time to talk right now, Carolyn,’ Brenna cut in briskly. ‘I have to get my packing done; Nathan doesn't like to be kept waiting,’ she added truthfully, remembering a couple of times he had been waiting up for her when she arrived home later from a date than she had said she would. And she could do without his chilly sarcasm in front of her friends!
Carolyn stood up in a graceful movement, sighing her disappointment. ‘You're really no fun when it comes to confidences, Brenna,’ she complained. ‘I've told you all about my life before I met Nick.'
And some of it had made her toes curl! But she liked Carolyn, and the two of them worked very well together, she just had no intention of discussing her complicated family tree, and the problems her mother's marriage to Patrick Wade had made for all concerned.
‘Maybe when I get back.'
‘How long will you be gone?’ Carolyn was completely professional now, the deadline for the book being only weeks away.
Brenna grimaced. ‘I'm really not sure.’ Everything depended on whether or not Lesli came to her, and what her sister decided to do then.
‘Call me as soon as you know,’ Carolyn instructed as she made her way out of the room. ‘We're really on a tight schedule.'
She
