Sinful by Joan Johnston

think of me like that.” To her great regret. “I’m staying there strictly to help him with his kids.”
    “Where will you sleep?”
    “He’s got an extra bedroom in the house.”
    “Watch yourself, Eve. You can’t trust a Flynn. Give him a chance and Connor will steal your heart, then lie to you and let you down.”
    “Connor wouldn’t do that.”
    “He was raised a Flynn. They’re rotten, root to branch.”
    “Just for the record, I think you’re wrong. At least about Connor. I’ve known him a long time, and he’s not like that.”
    “They’re all like that,” Leah said flatly.
    “Which one of them hurt you?”
    Leah’s face blanched.
    “Aiden? Brian? Devon?” Eve watched for some reaction, but she didn’t get it. Leah’s features remained as frozen as chiseled stone. “Surely not Connor,” she said, horrified.
    “No, not Connor. Just believe me when I say that the Flynn brothers are trouble. Keep your distance. Protect your heart. Don’t give one a chance to disappoint you, and you won’t end up disappointed.”
    Eve stared at her eldest sister. She’d had no idea Leah had been hurt so badly by one of Angus Flynn’s sons. Leah had always seemed so strong and indomitable. When had she given one of them her heart? And why had he broken it? Eve wanted to offer comfort, but Leah had erected an emotional barricade around herself that she’d never known how to breach. She settled for saying, “I’m sorry you got hurt, Leah.”
    Leah stiffened.
    Eve wasn’t sure whether her older sister appreciated the sympathy or was appalled at having revealed so much of her very private life. Eve closed her suitcase and zipped it up, then set the roller bag on thefloor. “I’m out of here. I don’t envy you having to deal with Matt every day. Where do you think you’ll go when you have to leave?”
    “I’m not leaving.”
    That statement, made with such certainty, flummoxed Eve. “How are you going to manage that?”
    A look Eve had seen many times appeared on her sister’s face. “I don’t know yet. But this is my home. By hook or by crook, I’m staying right here.”
    Eve grinned. “I do believe Matt Grayhawk has met his match.”
    Leah shuddered. “Heaven forbid.”
    Eve laughed. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant—”
    “I know what you meant.”
    When Leah opened her arms, Eve stepped close enough to receive the hug that had meant love and comfort and safety all her life.
    Leah was always there. Always reliable. Always available. It was good to know there would always be one person who would stand by her through thick and thin.
    “I’ll miss you,” Leah said as she let Eve go. “Call if you need anything. I’ll be right here.” Her chin lifted as she added, “I’m not going anywhere.”
    A bubble of laughter escaped Eve at the image of Leah digging in her claws like a cat caught in the curtains and refusing to leave. “I shouldn’t laugh. It isn’t funny. But it is. I guess Daddy didn’t figure on you when he gave Matt the ranch.”
    “Be careful,” Leah whispered as Eve headed out the door, trailing her suitcase behind her.
    “You, too,” Eve shot back over her shoulder.

Chapter 7
    E VE AWOKE WITH a start when she turned over and encountered a warm body in bed with her. She’d been dreaming of Connor kissing and caressing her and half expected to find him there. She sat up, her eyes full of sleep, her hair a mass of rats’ nests, and smiled ruefully as she surveyed the two small forms on either side of her. Not Connor, but Connor’s children. Sometime during the night Brooke and Sawyer had found their way into her bedroom at Safe Haven and into her bed.
    Eve slowly pulled her knees up, looped her arms around them, then settled her chin on her knees to watch the two sleeping children with wonder. Brooke was lying on her back, her hair a spray of chestnut on the pillow, her arms splayed above her on either side of her head. Sawyer was tucked into a ball on his