Sanctuary

kicked him out twice now, and taken him back twice. And she’s got one baby on leading strings and another under her apron as proof of the reconciliations. We’re the same age, Lida and I, born just a couple of months apart. I took the pictures at her wedding. She looks so pretty and so happy and young in them. Now, four years later, she’s just about worn out. It’s not all fairy tales on Desire,” she said quietly.
    “No.” He slipped his arm around her. “It’s not all fairy tales anywhere. Tell me about Ginny.”
    “Ginny?” With a quick laugh, Jo scanned the beach. “You don’t have to tell anything about Ginny. You just have to look at her. See the way she’s making Brian laugh? He hardly ever laughs like that. She just brings it out of you.”
    “You grew up with her.”
    “Yeah, almost like sisters, though she’s closest with Lexy. Ginny was always the first of us to try anything, especially if it was bad. But there was never any harm in it, or in her. It’s just a matter of Ginny liking everything, and a lot of it. And—uh-oh. I bet she helped stir that up.”
    He was too busy looking at Jo to notice. Everything about her had brightened, relaxed. “What?”
    “See there?” Jo leaned back against his arm and gestured toward the edge of the water. “Lex and Giff are tangling. They’ve been blowing hot and cold on each other since they were in diapers. Ginny’s mighty fond of both of them and probably did something to have them blowing hot tonight.”
    “She wants them to fight?”
    “No, you pinhead.” Laughing, Jo lifted the sizzling hot dog from the fire, anchored the stick in the sand. “She wants them to make up.”
    Nathan considered, then lifted his brows as Giff scooped Lexy up, hefted her Rhett Butler-style in his arms, and strode—with her kicking and cursing—down the beach. “If that’s how it works, I’m going to have to talk to Ginny about stirring things up for me.”
    “I’m a much harder sell than my sister,” Jo said dryly.
    “Maybe.” Nathan plucked the hot dog off the stick and tossed it from hand to hand to cool it. “But I’ve already got you cooking for me.”
     
     
    DESPITE the struggling woman in his arms, Giff kept his pace steady until the bonfire was a flicker in the distance. Satisfied that they were as private as they were going to get, he set her on her feet.
    “Who the hell do you think you are?” She shoved him hard with both hands.
    “Same person I’ve always been,” he said evenly. “It’s time you took a good look.”
    “I’ve looked at you before, and I don’t see anybody who’s got a right to haul me off when I don’t want to go.” No matter how exciting it had been, she told herself. No matter how romantic. “I was having a conversation.”
    “No, you weren’t. You were coming on to that guy to piss me off. This time it worked.”
    “I was being polite and friendly to a man Ginny introduced me to. An attractive man from Charleston. A lawyer who’s spending a few days on the island camping with some friends.”
    “A Charleston lawyer who was just about to drool on your shoulder.” Giff’s normally mild eyes spit fire. “You’ve had time to sow your oats, Lexy, and I gave you plenty of space to sow them in. Now you’re back, and it’s time to grow up.”
    “Grow up.” She planted her hands on her hips, ignoring the water that foamed up the sand inches from her feet. “I’ve been grown, and you’re just one of the many who hasn’t had the sense to see it. I do what I want when I want, and with whom I want.”
    She turned on her heel and began to stalk off, her nose in the air. Giff rubbed his chin and told himself he shouldn’t have lost his temper, even if Lexy had been sliding herself around some Charleston lawyer. But the damage was done.
    He moved fast. By the time she heard him coming and turned, she had time only to squeal before he tackled her.
    “Why, you flea-brained idiot, you’ll ruin my skirt.” Furious now, she used elbows, knees, teeth, rolling with him while the surf lapped up and soaked them both. “I hate you! I hate every inch of you, Giff Verdon.”
    “No, you don’t, Lexy. You love me.”
    “Hah. You can kiss my ass.”
    “I’ll be glad to, honey.” He pinned her arms, levered himself up to grin down at her. “But I believe I’ll work my way down to it.” He lowered his head, and when she turned hers aside, brushed his lips over the soft skin just below her ear. “This