fighting for? For that matter, who says he’d even be willing to fight his brother over you?
You’ve let Angela and her little scheme go right to your head.
Thinking about his relationship to Chance, Donna gave in to her earlier curiosity and said, “I got the impression that you and your brother haven’t been in contact with each other in a long time. Why is that?”
Russ laughed. “I can definitely see a family resemblance between you and Angela.”
Donna chuckled, glad she hadn’t insulted him. “I’ve been told I can be a little forward.”
“Same here.”
“I hear that.”
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Gracie C. McKeever
He put his half-eaten plate down on the bar. “My ex accused me of being a bull in a china shop more than once during our marriage, but she also said she knows I mean well.”
“You’re also good at evasive tactics.”
“Ah, your question about my brother and I.”
Donna nodded, her heart stuttering at his smile. She couldn’t help thinking she should have been having this conversation with Chance, but didn’t think he would be half as forthcoming. As evasive as Russ had so far been, he also seemed more approachable than his brother.
“It’s a long story.”
“Give me the short version.”
“I can’t imagine that would satisfy someone as close to her siblings as you seem to be to yours.”
“True, but it’s not your job to vet the story before you tell it. Tell me. I can take it. Besides, every family has skeletons in the closet.”
“You can say that again,” he mumbled.
Donna laughed, then suddenly turned serious as a thought occurred to her. “If it’s too painful…”
“It’s more complicated than anything.” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I guess I feel a little guilty because I might have had a hand in running Chance away.” He peered across the patio to where his brother was getting a plate of food and took a sip of his water.
“I’m eight years older than Chance, but even then, we were still close until he reached eighteen and joined the Peace Corps.”
“A noble undertaking.”
“That was part of it. But I think he left to get away from me.”
“No.”
He looked at her faux-aghast expression and laughed. “I know.
Little old me. What would he have to run away from? But the truth is, I can be a little demanding and pushy. And I wanted him to be a doctor.”
“And he became one.”
“I’m sure he did it in spite of me, not because of me.”
Sexual Healing for Three
63
“He doesn’t seem to be any the worse for wear. And I’ll bet he loves you more for pushing him.”
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
Donna thought of how pushy Angela was, how she wanted the best for everyone in her family and only acted out of that concern. No matter how much she and Angela or the rest of her brothers and sisters butt heads, in the end they all still loved each other, and that’s what it usually boiled down to for her. “Siblings are always going to have their differences. As long as you don’t let those differences keep you apart—”
“I’m determined they won’t.” His gray eyes widened as if he was shocked he had just divulged his intentions to her. He grinned and leaned his elbows back on the bar like Angela had earlier. The whiskers on his face did little to hide the deep dimples in his cheeks, dimples that lit up his entire face, softening his grizzled look to downright boyish beneath the sexy stubble.
She’d always been a sucker for the Sonny Crocket types, not to mention dimples, but warned herself not to be fooled by the sweet smile. By his own admission, he was bossy, and she just bet he was an overbearing cuss if someone got on his wrong side.
And why did the thought of getting on his wrong side make her nipples harden and swell? Did she want him to dominate her? Did she want that from any man?
The easy and fast answer was an absolute no, but the thought back to her childhood, of how she used to insist on
Landon Dixon, Giselle Renarde, Beverly Langland