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Claire?”
    “I need to know the answer to my question,” he said, his throat dry.
    “No, I don’t think it’s unfair to bring a child into the world knowing Thomas and I will be gone some day. It could be tomorrow or fifty years from now. But our child will know how much we loved him, and he’ll have uncles and cousins to help fill in the gaps. My perspective is unique because of where I came from. What you guys have is special, and I had no idea how to react to being welcomed and loved unconditionally by the rest of you just because I belonged to Thomas. It’ll be that way for all our children too. You don’t forget that love just because a person dies.
    “And to answer your unspoken question, I don’t think it’s wrong to love. Not ever. Even when you know your time is finite. Why would you limit your happiness? Why wouldn’t you make the best of each day and hope for the best for the days to come? The fear of not knowing what’s coming would be like an axe hanging over your head. You’ll never really enjoy life if that’s the way you choose to live. What have you got to lose, besides a relationship you’re too afraid to nurture or the hope of a child you might someday call your own. You’ve already raised three kids. You’d make a damned fine father to your own. You have a tremendous capacity for love, Coop. You show it by the way you take care of your family. But love hurts sometimes. That doesn’t mean it’ll go away or you can overcompensate by trying not to feel at all. You’re not being fair to yourself or anyone who might love you in return if you do that.”
    Cooper’s eyes burned at how well she’d seen through him. He’d been the problem solver in his family for so long that he’d forgotten what it felt like to let someone else take part of the burden.
    “You’re a pretty good sister-in-law. For a thief.”
    A tear slipped from the corner of her eye and she wiped it away in annoyance. “Damned hormones,” she said. “You’re a good brother, too. For a cop. Now go have Thomas look at your ribs. I can tell they’re hurting you.
    “Oh, and Cooper?” she said on his way out of the kitchen.
    “Don’t give up on Claire. She’s loved you an awfully long time. I bet it wouldn’t take too much groveling for her to forgive you.
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    Claire managed to avoid any and all MacKenzies for a whole week.
    Since she’d embarrassed herself at the club Friday night, she’d had plenty of time to play the scenes over and over in her mind. It didn’t matter how she changed her reaction or the things she said, the outcome would have ended up the same.
    She’d spent the week in seclusion, either in her tiny, two-bedroom house that she’d bought the year before, or at the library where she constantly looked over her shoulder, just waiting for Cooper to corner her.
    He might not have tracked her down in person, but he sure didn’t mind ringing her phone off the hook. She’d hung up on him the first time. She hadn’t bothered to answer the next time. She’d finally unplugged the thing completely from the wall. Cooper would lose interest soon enough. Once he realized she wouldn’t settle for anything less than what she knew he was capable of giving.
    But as she dressed for work the following Friday morning, she found herself staring at her naked body in the mirror on the back of her door. She was trim, but curvy. Her ass and breasts were always going to be more than a handful. No amount of exercise would ever change that.
    Cooper hadn’t rejected her body. He’d found it more than satisfactory. He’d liked the nipple ornaments, and she’d loved the way they’d felt when he’d put his mouth around her.
    It was her research that had given her cause to get them a few years before. She loved all her piercings—she hadn’t been sure she would when she’d first gotten them, especially the small hoop she’d gotten in the sensitive nerve bundle of her