Lover Beware

lists.”
    Kate kissed her sister. “And you aren’t prejudiced at all.”
    “Even if we were,” Hannah said, “you’re still the best storyteller ever born and deserve every award and list you get on.”
    Kate blushed, turning nearly as red as the highlights in her chestnut hair. She looked pleased. “How did the spotlight get turned on me? Sarah’s the one who spent the night with a perfect stranger.”
    “I had to spend the night with him,” Sarah insisted.
    “There’s no security at his house. And I’ve asked Jonas Harrington to drop by this morning to meet Damon.”
    All three women groaned in unison. “How could you invite that Neanderthal to our home, Sarah?” Hannah demanded.
    “He’s the local sheriff,” Sarah pointed out. “Come on, all that was a long time ago—we were kids.”
    “He was a total jerk to me and he still is,” Hannah said. The mug, filled with coffee, on the table in front of her began to steam. Hannah looked down and saw the liquid was beginning to boil. Hastily she blew on the surface.
    There was a small silence. “Fine!” Hannah exploded. “I’ll admit he still makes me mad if I just think about him. And if he calls me Baby Doll or Barbie Doll, I’m turning him into a big fat toad. He already is one, he may as well look like it.”
    “You can’t turn the sheriff into a toad, Hannah. It’s against the rules,” Abbey reminded her. “Give him a doughnut gut or a nervous twitch.”
    “That’s not good enough,” Kate chimed in. “You need imagination to pay that man back. Something much more subtle—like every time he goes to lie to a woman to get her in bed, he blurts out the truth or tells them what a hound dog he is.”
    “I’ll do worse than that,” Hannah threatened, “I’ll make it so he’s lousy in bed! Mister Macho Man, the bad boy who couldn’t do anything but make fun of me in school. He thinks he’s such a lady’s man.”
    “Hannah.” Sarah heard the pain in her sister’s voice and spoke gently. “You were then, and still are now, so incredibly beautiful and brainy. No one could ever conceive of you being so painfully shy. You hid it well. No one knew you threw up before school every day or that we had to work combined spells to keep you functioning in public situations. They wouldn’t know you still have problems. You’ve faced those fears by doing the things that terrify you and you’re always successful. Outsiders see your beauty and brains and success. They don’t see what you’re hiding in private.”
    “Someone’s coming up the path,” Kate said without looking away from Hannah. She held out her hand to her sister. “We’re all so proud of you, Hannah. Who cares what Jonas Harrington thinks?”
    “It’s not Harrington, although he’s close by somewhere,” Abbey said. “I think it’s Sarah’s gate crasher. You know, the one she spent the night with. I still can’t get over that, and Elle says she wants every intimate detail the minute you get a chance.”
    “There are no intimate details,” Sarah objected, exasperated. “I’m going to install a security system for him. Kate, don’t let them read your books anymore, you’re giving them wild imaginations.”
    “It wasn’t our imaginations that he was kissing you,” Hannah pointed out gleefully. “We saw you!”
    “And you were kissing him back,” Abbey added.
    “Well, that part wasn’t altogether my fault!” Sarah defended. “He’s a great kisser. What could I do but kiss the man back?”
    The sisters looked at one another solemnly and burst out laughing simultaneously. The dog curled up in the corner lifted his head and whined softly to get their attention.
    “He’s here, Sarah, and the gate must have opened for him a second time,” Kate said, intrigued. “I really have to take a long look at the Drake history book. I want to see exactly what that prophecy says. How strange that something written hundreds of years ago applies to us even in this modern day and age.”
    “Kate, sweetie,” Abbey said, “every age thinks it’s progressive and modern but in reality we’re going to be considered backward someday.”
    “He’s on the verandah,” Kate announced and hurried to the front door.
    Her sisters trailed after her. Sarah’s heart began to race. Damon was not the kind of man she had ever considered she’d be attracted to, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She thought a lot about his smile, the way two small dents appeared