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secretly helped her make mud pies for their tea parties. Brandon let her assist him with finding new recipes. Math whiz Pierce helped her with her homework.
    She didn’t come into her own until she was in the third grade and learned to be as self-assured and as independent as everyone else in her family. Since then she’d made it a point to be genuinely friendly and warm to everyone she met, but especially those who were slighted by others or alone.
    Letting herself into the suite, she saw the message light blinking on the telephone. Pierce or Brandon or possibly both, she thought. She retrieved the messages and found she was right. They wanted her to call the moment she returned.
    Not feeling up to an interrogation, she phoned Pierce. Luckily, a laughing Sabra answered. “Hello.”
    Sierra heard Pierce’s playful laughter in the background. Her thoughts went to Blade. He hadn’t laughed or smiled. How sad and tragic. What had caused him such pain that he couldn’t forget?
    “Hello?” Sabra repeated.
    Sierra shook her own melancholy away. “I’m back safe and sound. Please tell Pierce to call Brandon. I’m headed for the tub. Night.” Not giving Sabra a chance to ask questions or pass the phone to Pierce, Sierra hung up.
    Passing through the bedroom suite, she saw her reflection in the mirror over the dresser. She paused. Her unbound hair hung around her shoulders and down her back. She vividly recalled Blade’s strong fingers pressed against her scalp as he possessed her mouth.
    Her eyes shut at the remembered pleasure; then they flew open. Blade still had her diamond comb. Of course he’d return it and she—Her thoughts abruptly halted.
    The momentary joy that he might drop by the hotel in the morning to return it was tempered by the growing certainty that he wouldn’t. He hadn’t liked the fierce attraction between them. While it had certainly puzzled her, it seemed to have displeased him.
    If she ever saw him again, she wondered if she’d have the courage to ask him why.
     
     
    T hank goodness for intuitive, loving sisters-in-law , Sierra thought the next day as her brothers tried to interrogate her. Faith and Sabra managed to divert the conversation each time Brandon and Pierce began to question Sierra. Of course the women noticed she was quieter, more pensive, than usual, but they respected her privacy—after Sierra assured them her “dinner date” hadn’t gotten out of line.
    As Sierra stood on the sidewalk, her hand clamped and undamped on the bamboo handle of her Gucci croc bag. Inside was the diamond comb. It had been waiting for her when she checked out an hour ago. Just the comb inside a black silk pocket square.
    No message. Nothing.
    When her brothers moved away to help supervise their mountain of luggage, she’d foolishly asked the clerk if there had been a message. When Sierra was told that there was none, she had to make herself leave before asking if the woman had been on duty at the time.
    Sierra wasn’t the needy type. She would be annoyed with Blade for making her so if she didn’t know that whatever it was between them was causing him as much turmoil as it was her. She’d never been surer of anything in her life.
    Dodging pedestrians, she headed for the open door of the limo waiting to take them to the airport. She was about to get inside when she felt a tingling sensation. She glanced around and straight into Blade’s enigmatic gaze.
    He stood less than twenty feet away beside the open back door of the Rolls. His scorching gaze roamed greedily over her. Her heart thumped. Her body heated, shamelessly yearned.
    Do something! Say something!
    She thought she saw him make a motion as if to come to her, but the movement was abruptly checked. He turned sharply to reenter the car. As soon as a clanking cable car passed, the Rolls pulled away from the curb and sped off. Sierra watched as it passed, hoping Blade was looking so he could see her lips pursed in annoyance.
    Men. Why did