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you, Bella, and the baby.” Joshua’s expression dared Jake to disagree.
    She’d never known her brother to back down from a challenge and could predict his next words with one-hundred-percent accuracy.
    “She was wrong to lie to me,” he said, fulfilling her expectations.
    Suddenly, Joshua was standing, leaning over the table toward Jake. “Get over it. She’s telling you the truth now.”
    She hadn’t realized that when Joshua said he was going to protect her, he meant from her brother as well. It was an odd feeling. Even her ex-husband had never stood up to her family on her behalf.
    “Don’t tell me how to deal with my own sister.” Jake was on his feet, too, and looking ready to hurt someone.
    She thought he might be considering Joshua as a likely prospect. She knew in Jake’s macho mind, the other man made a better target for his frustrated anger than she did.
    But she wasn’t about to let the confrontation get worse. “I’m sorry, Jake.”
    Joshua turned his laserlike gaze on her. “You have nothing to apologize for. You weren’t acting out of selfish motives. You gave up everything familiar to you to protect your family. If your brother is too stupid to see that, I’ll gladly set him straight.”
    “Joshua!” Bella’s voice was distressed.
    Jake looked one step closer to violence and Joshua’s jaw was as hard as quarry rock.
    Soon Genevieve would be awake and crying.
    So much for a warm family dinner.
    Lise stood up, not terribly impressed with either man and feeling sick inside for ruining Bella’s first Thanksgiving as a married woman. “I’m sorry I’ve upset y’all so much. Maybe it would be best if I leave. I didn’t mean to spoil everyone’s holiday.” She looked at Bella with a sad smile. “And I definitely didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
    Jake’s face clenched and pain flashed in his eyes. “You aren’t going anywhere.”
    “Why not? You’ve made her feel about as welcome as ants at a picnic.” Bella’s tart voice startled Lise.
    Her sister-in-law was busy glaring in equal measure at her husband and her brother, while she gently patted her baby’s back.
    Jake grimaced and then came around the table toward Lise. He pulled her into a bearlike hug. It was a little awkward because he’d never been very demonstrative, but he held her tight for a long time.
    “I didn’t mean half what I said. You know I’ve got a hot temper and I’m sorry I took it out on you. The idea of some creep stalking you scares the crap out of me and I don’t like knowing you’ve been facing it all on your own, but that doesn’t mean I want you to leave now.”
    She hugged her brother back. “I just didn’t want you to worry.”
    He pulled away from her. “Do you really think I haven’t been worrying about you living alone in a city a couple hundred times the size of Canyon Rock?”
    “I—”
    “Don’t apologize again. Joshua is right—you’ve got nothing to be sorry for. I love you, Lise. You’re my little sister. I’ll always worry.”
    She couldn’t remember the last time Jake had told her he loved her and she could feel the tears tightening her throat. “I love you, too.”
    She didn’t know what else to say, but Bella came to her rescue. “Why don’t you gentlemen clean off the table and make up while Lise and I put the baby to bed. We can have dessert in the living room after you’ve both got your civilized manners back.”
    Lise was shocked when her brother agreed. Marriage to Bella had certainly mellowed him some.
     
    Half an hour later, Lise found herself sitting on the sofa with Joshua while Jake and Bella shared the smaller loveseat.
    She still wasn’t sure what had stopped her from taking one of the armchairs. When she’d come into the living room after helping Bella put the baby to bed, Joshua had been sitting on one end of the couch. And he’d looked at her in such a way that she’d found herself approaching him without conscious volition.
    She very nearly