are we? Or are you simply rebelling against Daddy?”
That was it! That was the last insult he was going to take from her without striking back. He moved to the soft Italian leather couch and sat down slowly, stretching one arm over the back of the chair while the other one rested in his lap. “I could ask you the same thing. Running around playing cops and robbers with your big brother. What’s the matter? You couldn’t find a man to marry you and knock you up?”
Without another word she scooped up her bag and turned her back to him.
Damn, he hadn’t thought she’d pick up and run. A part of him was enjoying their little sparring match. Besides Gabrielle, his youngest sister, he didn’t have this type of exchange with anyone else. He jumped up from the chair and was at her side before she could take another step. “I’m sorry, Sabrina. I was out of line. Don’t go.” He cupped her elbow, turned her to face him.
Her head tilted to the side, a few strands of her ponytail draping over one shoulder. Her eyes sparked and glittered with flecks of gold he hadn’t noticed before. Then she smiled. And Renny felt his chest tighten. She was quite simply breathtaking.
“Oh, you were way out of line, but I wasn’t leaving.” She tossed the words at him as she purposely turned quickly so that her duffel bag hit him square in the stomach. Then she moved to the matching couch he’d just vacated and plopped herself and her stuff down. “But I have a job to do and I plan to do it. We don’t have to like each other and we don’t have to know each other’s personal business. I’ll just need your schedule and then I’ll show you how to work some of this stuff. Then we should be set.”
Renny rubbed his hand over his midsection. The jab she’d tossed him hadn’t been the least bit painful, but his ego sure was taking a beating. He was used to women falling over him, batting their eyes and doing everything in their power to attract him. Sabrina acted as if she couldn’t care less whether he took his next breath or not.
The bodyguard situation was turning out to be just as bad as he’d thought it would.
Chapter 2
“So, do you want to talk about it?” Lynn set her cup on the table, picked up her napkin and folded it neatly in her lap. Jeremy was in the living room watching his morning cartoons. The sun streamed through the windows on another unusually warm October day. And her baby sister sat across the table from her, looking as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Bree shrugged. “There’s nothing to talk about.” For the first few months of her return Lynn had been the quiet one, the one person in her family hadn’t asked a million questions about her sudden decision not to reenlist. She loved the military, loved the life of a marine. She’d served in Desert Storm, done a year in Germany, a year in Japan and was happily based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, when her glorious life came to a screeching halt.
“You were really happy in the service. You couldn’t wait to get away from here once you graduated from high school and you only came back on holidays. So I guess I’m just a little confused as to why you’re here now, doing this little security thing with Sam.”
Bree looked up at her sister, the oldest of the Desdune siblings. Lynette Desdune Richardson, her mother’s pride and joy. Lynn had always done the right things in her mother’s eyes. She’d been a cheerleader on the honor roll. She went to college, found a guy, married him and had a baby, exactly as planned. And in the last year that guy had walked out of her life, leaving her with a mortgage and a son to raise alone. Still, Lynn was the epitome of womanhood, according to her mother. She was tall and beautiful, with the coffee-brown skin that all the Desdune siblings shared, light brown eyes, full lips and a great body—yes, Lynn was the woman that Bree had secretly longed to be.
Even though she knew she’d definitely lose her mind if all she had to do from day to day was housework and taking care of kids, the small female percentage of her wanted the love of a good man and wanted that love to spill over into a couple of kids—but that wasn’t written in the scroll of her life; she accepted that. Besides, Lynn had a career now. She was an attorney at the Legal Aid Bureau. She said it was entertaining to say the very least, and Bree had to agree that her sister looked really happy. She wished she could feel that way.
“It was simply time to come home, Lynn. Don’t make a big deal out of it.” Bree bit into her muffin and tried to look away.
Lynn shook her head, sipped from her coffee cup, then smiled. “There’s nothing out that window that wasn’t out there yesterday or the day before. And you’re going to have to tell someone what happened sooner or later. I just thought you’d like to share with your only sister first.”
Bree frowned. “Oh, don’t give me that only-sister crap, I had to find out from Mommy that Roger had left. I didn’t see that sister bond reaching out then.”
“You weren’t here, Bree. You were doing your own thing and nobody really wanted to disturb you.”
“Except for Mommy, who wanted me to come home, anyway.”
Lynn smiled. “Mommy never wanted you to go. It was only because Daddy threatened to tie her up and lock her in her room that she didn’t board a plane and bring you home a million times herself.”
Bree laughed with her sister. “Yeah, Mommy never did understand.”
Lynn reached across the table, took Bree’s hand in hers. “But I do, Bree. I know that there is something going on, something that has hurt you deeply. I can see it in your eyes.”
Was she really that transparent? It didn’t matter, she’d failed. She’d been so headstrong and so determined to make her life mean something, to prove to her family that she was more than just the baby of the troop, that she could hold her own. Yet when it really came down to it, she’d been a childish dreamer and as a result she was sitting here in her sister’s kitchen, sleeping in her guest bedroom and working security jobs with her twin brother.
“I remember Mommy saying that there was nothing like growing pains,” she began in a hushed tone. “Now I know that she was right. Again. Mommy always seems to be right.”
“Not always. Remember she thought that white dress and those white pumps would look fabulous on you for your prom.”
Bree smiled at the memory. “Yeah, except I couldn’t walk on those stilts and I ended up wobbling right into Bobby Spencer, who was carrying two glasses of punch that immediately landed all over my dress.”
The sisters laughed over the memory.
“Growing up is hard. But for the record, I think you’ve done a wonderful job.” Lynn still held her hand.
“Yeah, whatever.” Bree snatched her hand away, not willing to go any further. If she continued to sit there, Lynn with her caring eyes and tender touch would have her talking about things that were better off left alone. She stood abruptly and carried her own dishes over to the sink and rinsed off her plate.
Lynn, who was taller than Bree by a couple of inches, came up behind her, wrapped her arms around her sister’s shoulders and hugged her tight. “It’s okay, you’re with family now, with the people that love and cherish you. Whenever you’re ready to talk, just know that I’m ready to listen.”
For a moment Bree’s heart filled and she wanted nothing more than to rid herself of all these hurtful feelings, but she just couldn’t. They wouldn’t
