“We don’t encourage people to drop by without calling first,” he said.
“I’m here to see my sister.”
“She’s fine.”
“I’d like to see for myself.”
“She’s resting.” Sam stood with one hand braced on the doorjamb, blocking her way.
“I’m not leaving until you let her know that I’m here,” Alice said.
“Lucy has a concussion.” With no small amount of self-derision, he added, “She can’t handle any kind of stress.”
Her mouth compressed into a hyphen. “You think I would hurt her?”
“You’ve already hurt her,” Sam said evenly. “It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out that shacking up with Lucy’s former boyfriend means you lose your place on the short list.”
“It’s not your place to judge me or my personal choices.”
True. But considering the fact that Alice’s affair with Kevin had led to a chain reaction that had ended in Lucy recuperating at Sam’s house, he figured he had a say in the matter.
“As long as Lucy’s under my roof,” he said, “it’s my job to look out for her. And your personal choices haven’t struck me as being all that great for Lucy.”
“I’m not leaving until I get to talk to her.” Alice raised her voice and directed it into the entrance hall behind him. “Lucy? Can you hear me? Lucy!”
“I don’t care if you stand on my porch caterwauling the rest of the day—” Sam broke off as he heard Lucy calling from upstairs. Giving Alice a baleful glance, Sam said, “I’m going to check on her. Stay there.”
“Can I wait inside?” she dared to ask.
“No.” He shut the door in her face.
* * *
By the time Sam returned to the bedroom, Lucy had dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt. She had heard enough of the commotion downstairs to know that Alice had dropped by without warning, and that Sam hadn’t taken it well.
Still giddy with nerves, Lucy couldn’t decide how to feel about what had just happened between them. Mostly she was dumbfounded by her reaction to him, the blood-hot pleasure that had obliterated every thought.
As Sam approached, she felt rampant color race over her skin. His gaze slid across her, and a frown notched between his brows. “How did you get those clothes?” he asked. “I left them on the dresser.”
“I didn’t put any weight on my leg,” Lucy said. “It was just a step and a hop away from the bed, and then I just—”
“Damn it, Lucy. If that foot touches the floor again, I’m going to…” He paused, considering a variety of threats.
“Send me to bed without dinner?” Lucy suggested gravely. “Take away my cell phone?”
“How about a good old-fashioned smack on the ass?”
But she had seen the flash of concern in his eyes, and she knew what was behind his annoyance. She dared to give him a small smile. “Holly told me you don’t believe in spanking.”
As Sam stared at her, the tension eased from his shoulders, and the hard lines of his mouth softened. “I might make an exception for you.”
Her smile lingered. “You’re flirting with me again.”
“No, I’m—” The front door rang impatiently. “Jesus,” Sam muttered.
“I probably should see her,” Lucy said apologetically. “Would you take me downstairs?”
“Why do you want to put yourself through that?”
“I can’t avoid Alice forever. And Mom’s coming out the day after tomorrow. It would make her happy if her daughters were at least back on speaking terms.”
“It’s too soon.”
“I think so too,” Lucy admitted. “But she’s here, and I may as well get it over with.”
Sam hesitated before bending to slide his arms beneath her.
The contact jolted through Lucy as if an electric current had opened between them. She tried to conceal her reaction, concentrating on keeping her breathing steady. But as she held on to his shoulders, she saw a flush rise from the neck of his shirt, and she knew that she wasn’t the only one affected.
“Thank you,” she said, as he turned sideways to take her through the doorway. “I know you’d rather just kick her out.”
“I may kick her out anyway.” Sam headed to the stairs. “I’m keeping an eye on you. At the first sign of trouble, she’s gone.”
Lucy frowned. “I don’t want you standing over the two of us while we talk.”
“I won’t stand over you. But I’ll be nearby in case you need backup.”
“I won’t need backup.”
“Lucy, do you know what a concussion is?”
“Yes.”
Sam continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “It’s when you hit your head so hard that your brain slams into your skull, killing off large numbers of neurons. It can cause sleep problems, depression, and memory loss, and those side effects are aggravated if you strain yourself in any way.” He paused and added irritably, “And that includes sex.”
“Did the doctor say that?”
“He didn’t have to.”
“I don’t think sex would aggravate my concussion,” Lucy said. “Unless we did it upside down or on a trampoline.”
Although she’d meant to be funny, Sam didn’t seem to be in the mood for humor.
“We’re not doing it in any position,” he said vehemently.
As Sam settled Lucy onto the sofa with her leg elevated, Renfield got up from his mat in the corner. He shambled over to them, his face split with a pugnacious canine grin. Lucy reached down to pet him, while Sam went to get Alice. Unceremoniously he ushered her sister into the living room.
Oddly, although Lucy was the one with the bandages and leg splint, Alice struck her as being far more vulnerable. The heavy makeup, the expression hemmed with strain, the movements constricted by her four-inch heels, all added to an appearance of bruised insecurity.
“Hi,” Alice said.
“Hi.” Lucy forced a shallow smile to her lips. “Make yourself comfortable.”
As Lucy watched Alice lower herself carefully to the edge of a nearby chair, it seemed their history was all around them. Her relationship with Alice had been the most frustrating one of her life, filled with competition, jealousy, guilt, resentment. They had grown up having to battle for the limited resource of their parents’ attention. Although Lucy had always hoped the conflict between them would ease as they got older, it was now worse than ever.
Noticing that Alice was staring at the dog, Lucy said, “This is Renfield.”
The dog grunted and looked up at Lucy with a string of drool hanging from his undershot jaw.
“Is something wrong with him?” Alice asked with distaste.
“It would be easier to tell you what’s not wrong with him,” Sam said. To Lucy, he added, “You have ten minutes. After that, your sister’s leaving. You need to rest.”
“Okay,” Lucy said with a bland smile.
Alice wore an offended expression as she watched Sam leave the room. “Why is he so rude?”
“He’s trying to look out for me,” Lucy said in a low voice.
“What did you tell him about me?”
“Very little.”
“I’m sure you’ve talked to him about how Kevin left you, and what you think I did to—”
“You’re actually not the main subject of conversation around here,” Lucy said, more sharply than she had intended.
Alice closed her mouth and looked affronted.
After a brittle silence, Lucy asked, “Did Mom ask you to check on me?”
“No. This was my idea. I still care about you, Lucy. I don’t always behave in ways you’d like me to, but I am your sister.”
Lucy bit back an acid comment. Realizing that she had gone tense from head to toe, she tried to relax. A series of protesting twinges progressed along her spine.
Why in heaven’s name was Alice there? Lucy wanted to believe that she was motivated by concern, or at least that there was some genuine sisterly feeling left between them. But apparently it was going to require more than a blood tie to reestablish a connection between them. Because the unfortunate truth was, if Alice weren’t her sister, she was the kind of person Lucy wouldn’t have anything to do with.
“How’s it going with you and Kevin?” Lucy asked. “Are you still planning the wedding?”
“Yes. Mom and Dad are both coming out tomorrow to talk about wedding plans.”
“So they are going to pay for it?”
“I think so.”
“I thought they would,” Lucy said darkly, before she could stop herself. No matter what they said to the contrary, her parents were never going to hold Alice accountable for anything.
“You don’t think they should?” Alice asked.
“And you do?” Lucy countered.
“Of course I do. I’m their daughter.” Alice’s eyes turned hard. “There’s something you need to understand, Lucy. I never planned to hurt you. Neither did Kevin. It was never about you. You were just…”
“Collateral damage?”
“I guess that’s one way to put it.”
“Neither of you bothered to think about anything beyond what you wanted right then.”
“Well, love is like that,” Alice replied with no trace of guilt.
“Is it?” Settling deeper into the corner of the sofa, Lucy wrapped her arms around herself. “Did you ever think that when Kevin realized he wanted to end his relationship with me, you might have seemed like the easiest way out?”
“No,” Alice shot back. “I had the incredible ego to think that maybe he actually fell in love with me, and that—impossible as this may be to believe—someone might actually prefer me over you.”
Lucy held up a staying hand and tried to think over a rush of anger. A fight was brewing, and she knew she couldn’t handle it. The stress of simply being near Alice had been enough to set off a headache that wrapped around her forehead. “Let’s not go there. Let’s try to figure out how we go on from here.”
“What is there to figure out? I’m getting married. We’re all moving on. So should you.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Lucy said. “This isn’t soap opera land, where people conveniently forget the past and everything magically turns out okay.” As she saw Alice stiffen, Lucy remembered too late that she’d lost her job writing for What the Heart Knows. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean to remind you of that.”
“Right,” Alice said sourly.
They were both quiet for a moment. “Are you looking for a new job?” Lucy dared to ask.
“That’s my business. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“I’m not worried, I just…” Lucy let out a frustrated breath. “A conversation with you is a minefield.”
“Not everything is my fault. I can’t help it if Kevin wanted me more than he wanted you. He was going to leave you anyway. What was I supposed to do? I just wanted to be happy.”
Did Alice truly not understand the pitfalls of trying to be happy at someone else’s expense? And did she have any goals beyond that? Ironically, Alice had never looked less content than she did now. The problem with chasing after happiness was that it wasn’t a destination you could reach. It was something that happened along the way. And what Alice was doing now—grabbing at every available pleasure, throwing aside every scruple so she could do whatever she wanted … that was practically a guarantee that she would end up miserable.
But all Lucy said was, “I want you to be happy too.”
Alice made a little snorting sound of disbelief. Which Lucy didn’t blame her for, since she knew that Alice didn’t understand what she’d meant.
The mantel clock measured out a generous half minute before Alice spoke. “I’m going to invite you to the wedding. It’s up to you whether or not you want to come. If you want a relationship with me, that’s up to you too. I’d like for things to go back to normal. I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you, but none of it’s my fault and I’m not going to spend the rest of my life paying for it.”
This, Lucy realized, was what her sister had come to say.
Alice stood. “I have to go now. By the way, Mom and Dad want to meet Sam. They want to take you out to dinner tomorrow night, or have something brought in.”
“Oh, great,” Lucy said wearily. “Sam will love that.” Leaning her head back against the sofa, she asked, “Do you want him to show you out? I’ll call for him.”
“Don’t bother,” Alice said, her heels clacking loudly on the wood floor.
Lucy was still and silent for a few minutes. Gradually she became aware that Sam was standing beside her, his face unreadable.
“How much did you hear?” she asked dully.
“Enough to know that she’s a narcissistic bitch.”
“She’s miserable,” Lucy muttered.
“She got what she wanted.”
“She always does. But it never makes her happy.” Sighing, Lucy rubbed the sore back of her neck. “My parents are coming tomorrow.”
“I heard.”
“You don’t have to go to dinner with us. They can pick me up and take me somewhere, and you can finally have some privacy.”
“I’ll go with you. I want to.”
“That’s more than I can say. I’m pretty sure they’re going to pressure me into making up with Alice, and they’ll want me to attend the wedding. If I do go, it’ll be awful. If I don’t, I’ll look like the jealous, bitter older sister. As usual, there’s no winning in my family. Except for Alice. She gets to win.”
“Not forever,” Sam said. “And not if winning means marrying Pearson. It’s a match made in hell.”
“I agree.” Lucy leaned her head against the back of the sofa, contemplating Sam. A bittersweet smile curved her lips. “I need to get back to my glasswork. It’s the only thing that will help me to stop thinking about Alice and Kevin and my parents.”
“What can I do?” Sam asked quietly.
Lucy found herself looking up into his blue-green eyes and thinking that in the neatly organized inventory of all her plans and hopes, Sam Nolan didn’t fit at all. He was a complication she hadn’t counted on.