Sultry

“You’ll learn to love him. It’s that simple.”

Lindsay felt as if she were beating her head against a rock. He was one stubbornly opinionated man. “Simple? I don’t think so.”

Cooper’s features turned cold. “I’m counting on this marriage. Please don’t disappoint me. Do it.”

Two

When Lindsay walked out onto the porch, she paused for a moment, feeling a sudden but added sense of homecoming, thinking that houses without porches were like diamonds without the sparkle. They were missing something truly special.

“Hey, your tea’s waiting.”

Lindsay forced her limbs to move, reaching for the glass of iced tea her brother held out to her. After nodding her thanks, she gazed at the beauty that surrounded her, drawing the sweet smell of roses into her lungs.

Summer.

This was her favorite time of the year, especially on a day when the sun was about to call it quits.

“You look beat,” Tim said, his head cocked to one side, eyeing her carefully.

“I am. Actually, I feel like someone beat me.”

Tim almost smiled. “Not someone, but something—jet lag.”

“That and worry about Daddy.”

“You should feel better about him now.”

Lindsay made her way to the white wooden railing and leaned against it, feeling the gentle breeze ruffle her hair. “I do, but I’m still concerned about his heart.”

Tim sipped his tea, then shrugged. “That’ll always be a concern, that’s for sure. But at least the wreck didn’t seem to put any extra stress on it.”

“I hope that continues to hold true,” Lindsay said in a slightly unsteady voice.

“We both know there are no guarantees in this world.”

Lindsay’s own heart skipped a beat. “Are you trying to tell me something?”

“Nope. At least, nothing you don’t already know. Accident or no accident, Dad’s heart could stop at any time.”

Although Lindsay hated to face that brutal fact, she had no choice. Admitting that, however, hadn’t been easy. Even though Cooper had had several attacks already, caused by a defect that couldn’t be fixed with bypass surgery, she had refused to acknowledge that he wasn’t immortal. He’d always been so big, so full of life, so larger than life, that she couldn’t imagine him not being alive.

“On the bright side of all this,” Tim added, “Dad could live to the ripe old age of ninety-five, going full steam ahead.”

Lindsay sipped on her tea. “He’s definitely in that mode now.”

Tim’s lips twisted. “What’s he on your case about this time?”

“Same old thing, only he came right out and gave me an ultimatum for setting a wedding date.”

“Why the hell don’t you just tell him you’re not going to marry Ballinger, and be done with it?”

Lindsay’s eyes flared. “I already have, but he still refuses to take no for an answer.”

“Well, I’ll admit you have a problem. When the old man digs his heels in, it’s his way or the highway.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Lindsay said.

Tim merely shrugged.

Lindsay crossed to the antique swing, which was comfortably cushioned in a floral pattern. Once she was seated, she held her silence, setting the swing in soft motion.

“Would you be willing to help me out?” she asked at last, feeling her insides unwind.

“Depends.”

“Maybe if you talked to him.” She was testing uncharted waters, as she rarely ever asked her brother for anything, especially when it pertained to something personal. She never felt she could count on him.

“Wow, hold on a minute. You’ll have to take care of this one on your own. It’s your baby, you’ll have to burp it. Besides, I’ve got enough problems of my own.”

She still couldn’t count on him, she thought, and not without a trace of bitterness. “Problems seem to go hand and hand with this family,” she said on an emotional note. “And that shouldn’t be. Both of us have the best of everything.”

Tim cut her a sharp glance. “Speak for yourself.”

Lindsay cringed against the whine underlying his succinct statement. It grated on her nerves.

“Oh, come on, Tim, you should be on top of the world. You have a wonderful wife, a practice that other doctors would die for, since you took over all Daddy’s patients. And what about your side business, your chain of pharmacies? My God, you shouldn’t have a worry in the world, especially a financial one. Yet—” Lindsay broke off when she saw the scowl darken his face.

“I always seem to be broke,” Tim finished with a sardonic laugh. “Was that what you were going to say?”

“Yes, and I don’t understand why, unless you’re still playing the stock market and losing.”

“You got it.”

Lindsay glared at him. “You’ve got to stop.”

“I’m trying, only it’s not that simple.”

She knew her brother was addicted to playing the market. From the look of despair on his features, she suspected he might even have depleted the trust their mother had left each of them.

“It is that simple, brother dear. Just stop playing Russian roulette with your time and money.”

Tim clenched his jaw. “Sorry, I forgot I was dealing with Miss Perfect, who never makes any mistakes.”

Lindsay flushed, then murmured, “That’s a cheap shot.”

“Maybe, but it’s the truth. If things were simple, you wouldn’t still be here under Daddy’s roof, at his constant beck and call.”

“You don’t know that,” Lindsay said tersely, her eyes flashing.