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wanted to pull her hard against him and kiss her until she begged for mercy. The image was so powerful, his mouth went dry and he got hard in a heartbeat. Talk about humiliating.
    He stalked out of the kitchen without saying goodbye and vowed he would keep his distance from Claire. The last thing he needed in his life was another useless woman making him crazy and ruining everything she touched.
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    C LAIRE STARED at the clothes she’d laid across the bed and sighed. Apparently packing was not an intuitive skill. She’d been so careful with everything. Yet here were all her clothes, horribly wrinkled.
    Normally Lisa’s assistant du jour would whisk the clothes away and bring them back perfectly pressed. If she wasn’t around, Claire could call the valet service at the hotel herself. But this wasn’t a hotel.
    She studied a silk blouse and wondered if it was safe to iron. With another sigh, she reminded herself she didn’t know how to use an iron and if she wanted to practice, perhaps a designer silk blouse was not the place to start.
    â€œAm I really totally useless, or is this an isolated incident?” she asked herself, speaking the words softly aloud. Better to know the truth than pretend. Her goal was to change—to fit into the real world. She needed to know where she was to find out how much work was required to get where she needed to go.
    A sound from down the hall caught her attention. Still holding the blouse, she hurried toward Nicole’s room and found her sister coming out of the bathroom. She was bent over at the waist, one arm pressed across her midsection. Her face was drawn, her mouth pulled in pain.
    â€œYou should have yelled for me,” Claire said as she hurried to her side. “I’m here to help.”
    â€œIf you figure out a way to pee for me, I’m all ears. Otherwise, stay out of my way.”
    Claire ignored the snarky comment and rushed to the bed where she quickly smoothed the sheets and pulled back the covers. Nicole ignored her and what she’d done as she slowly, carefully, crawled back in bed. Claire reached for the covers.
    â€œIf you tuck me in, I swear I’ll kill you. Not today, but soon and when you least expect it.”
    Claire stepped away from the bed.
    When Nicole was settled she closed her eyes. After a second, she opened them again. “Are you just going to stand there?”
    â€œDo you need anything? More water? Ice chips? They’ll help you stay hydrated without making you nauseous.”
    â€œHow do you know that?”
    â€œI was reading some articles on the Internet.”
    â€œAren’t you mama’s little helper?”
    Claire clutched her blouse in one hand. “They didn’t say anything about surgery making one ill-tempered, so I guess the sarcasm is all you.”
    â€œI wear it proudly, like a badge of honor.” Nicole shifted and winced. “What are you doing here, Claire?”
    â€œJesse called me a few days ago and told me about the surgery. She said you were going to need my help.” Claire didn’t want to say the rest when it was obviously untrue, but she couldn’t think of a way to avoid it. She’d already told Wyatt and she suspected he had passed it on to Nicole. “She said you were sorry we were still estranged and that you wanted us to be a family.”
    She spoke without shaking, without her voice giving away her potential hurt. But it was still there, hidden. Because connecting was the one thing she wanted.
    â€œYou believed her?” Nicole shook her head. “Seriously? After all this time, you think I’m suddenly going to change my opinion of you?”
    â€œYour opinion of who and what you think I am,” Claire told her. “You don’t actually know me.”
    â€œOne of the few blessings in my life.”
    Claire ignored that. “I’m here now and you obviously need help. I don’t see anyone else lining up