"Oh, G.o.d, anything but that." Grinning, he kissed her again, gave his father a hard hug, and held the spoon out to Hannah. "Want some?"

She might have been an only child, but she knew a dare when it was waved under her nose. She took the spoon and gave it a good long lick. "Mmm, chocolate and what else?"

"Grand Marnier." Kyle laughed. "I didn't think you would do it."

"Luv, I've eaten stewed monkey parts from a communal pot."

"Yuck."

"Amen." Spoon in hand, she turned to Archer. "Want some?"

"Monkey parts? I'll pa.s.s."

"Icing."

He looked at the spoon, then at the dark frosting that clung to the indentation of her upper lip. At that instant he wanted nothing more than to grab her and lick her more thoroughly than any sweet and sticky spoon. His raw, relentless hunger for her infuriated him almost as much as her challenging smile.

"No, thanks," he said, looking right in her eyes.

The tone of his voice said it wasn't just the icing he was refusing.

Twenty-three.

"Kyle, take Hannah and your mother into the kitchen and feed them some of that icing," The Donovan said. And it was The Donovan, not Don or Dad, who was speaking.

Susa gave him an approving look, hooked her arm through Hannah's, and pushed Kyle ahead of them. "Come along, children. I feel an urgent chocolate craving coming on."

As Archer watched the others walk away, he knew he was going to get the rough edge of his father's tongue. He didn't care. In fact, he was looking forward to it. One of the pleasures of being an adult was going toe to toe with The Donovan and coming out on the other side even closer to him than before.

"You were rude to a guest," The Donovan said. "Why?"

"She's not a guest. She's family."

"The question stands."

"I don't like chocolate icing."

The Donovan's V-shaped black eyebrows shot up. "Since when?"

"Since a minute ago. The lady and I rub each other the wrong way."

"Bulls.h.i.t."

"Okay. We rub each other hot enough to set fire to plaster. That's not enough for me. It's enough for her. Life's a b.i.t.c.h and then you die."

His father sighed and raked his fingers through his hair in a gesture that was a mirror of his son's. Then he chuckled. "Giving you a run for your money, is she? Good for her."

"Thanks. Should I turn around so you can stab me in the back, too?"

His father gave a crack of laughter and hugged his oldest son with one arm. "I still think you should apologize to her for being rude, but I won't make an issue out of it. The course of true love never ran smooth, remember?"

Archer smiled thinly, hugged his father hard, and kept his mouth shut. Obviously The Donovan wasn't going to let go of his hope that his oldest son was finally going to know the joys of his own home and family.

"How's Faith doing?" Don asked.

Archer leaped on the change of subject with something close to relief. "Working too hard. Tony keeps dropping by the shop, telling her how he's learned his lesson and it will never happen again."

"It?"

"Whatever made her tell him to go to h.e.l.l. Given his history, my guess is another woman."

Don said something scathing and profane under his breath. "She isn't weakening, is she?"

"I hope not. But I know it's tough on her, seeing her twin with a husband and a kid, and she doesn't have anyone at all."

"She could marry Tony and still not have anyone," Don said sardonically.

"She figured that out all by herself. That doesn't make being alone any easier."

"You ought to know."

Archer shrugged, but his eyes were the color of steel. "I've seen too much. Done too much. I'm not a good bet for hearth and home."

For a moment Don was too surprised to say anything. Then it was too late. Jake was coming down the hall carrying a happily crowing Summer. She was sitting on his broad shoulders with his hand braced behind her back. Her little fists were buried in his dark hair. She was holding on hard enough to make his eyes slant.

"Make way, make way," Jake said from down the hall. "Summer the Magnificent is coming through. Closely followed by Lianne the Gigantic."

Lianne gave Jake a swat on the b.u.t.t as she walked past him. "Gigantic, huh? Watch it, big guy. I'll dump you on your pride and joy."

"Not for a few months you won't."

"I've got a long memory." She winked at Archer and smiled at The Donovan. "It's a shame how you got all the looks in the family, Dad."

He held out his arms and gave her a hug that lifted her right off the floor. "How's my favorite jade expert?"

"He's in the kitchen making icing, last I heard."

"I meant you, beautiful, not that tall blond ox you married."

"I'm fine. Eating for three."

"I hope they're girls. The world needs more women like you."

Lianne's whiskey-colored eyes darkened with emotion. The generous acceptance she had found in the Donovan family kept surprising her. Her in-laws truly loved her like a daughter. And she loved them right back. She kissed The Donovan on both cheeks, hugged him hard, and grinned up at him as he set her back on her feet with the easy precision of a man whose lifelong love was fourteen inches and one hundred pounds smaller than he was.

Summer gurgled and bounced and held out her arms toward her grandfather. Don picked her off her father's shoulders and started making gobbling noises against her tummy. Squealing with laughter, Summer grabbed his thick, silver-streaked hair.

"How is Susa?" Lianne asked Archer as the others drifted off in the direction of the kitchen.

"Looking and moving like her old self."

The relief on Lianne's face sent warmth through Archer. He cupped her cheek in one hand. "Kyle is a lucky man."

She smiled, but the eyes searching his were intent. She sensed the turmoil beneath his outward calm. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing that you can cure." He bent and kissed her. "But thanks for caring."

"That's what families are for."

He thought of Len, who had never known a real family and had refused one when it was offered. And of Hannah, who had never known real love and had refused it when it was offered. s.e.x was all she wanted. Cold s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g. No emotion required or desired.

"How are my nieces?" Archer asked, putting his hand on Lianne's round, tightly stretched belly.

"Nieces," she said, rolling her eyes, but she guided his hand to the side, where one of the twins was doing backflips. "You and Dad. What if I have boys?"

This time Archer's smile reached his eyes as a tiny foot or elbow drummed against his palm. "Susa will lecture you on training them young, really young, because they're going to be big, really big trouble."

"Huh. Like your twin sisters never got in trouble."

"Of course they did. I led them down the primrose path every chance I got."

"Until they started wearing bras," Lianne said dryly. "Then you turned into a conservative monster."

"I knew how gullible they were. Somebody had to protect them."

She laughed. "That's not how they saw it."

"Sisters never appreciate their brothers."

"I appreciate you, even though you hated me on sight."

"I didn't hate you."

"Could have fooled me."

Archer bent and kissed her nose. "I was worried you were taking Kyle for the kind of ride that would break his heart and the rest of him, too."

She patted Archer's hand where it lay on her restless belly. "I know. You're very protective of the people you love." She looked at him, measuring the changes. Tension where there had been relaxation. Ice where there had been laughter. Ruthlessness where there had been gentleness. She hadn't seen him like this since the night they sneaked onto an island and stolen a priceless jade burial shroud. There had been danger then, but there was no danger here and now, no reason for his fierce wariness. "I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not." She stood on tiptoe and kissed his bristly chin. "We love you anyway. C'mon, let's go get our share of chocolate icing before Kyle eats it all."

"Icing?" said Faith from the hallway leading to the suites. "Did I hear rumors of chocolate icing?"

"Rumors will be all that's left unless we hurry," Lianne muttered. "My husband can be trusted with a lot of things. Chocolate icing isn't one of them."

Faith's smile gave a gleam to her silver-blue eyes that hadn't been there when she woke up from her nap. She had had to nerve herself up to deal with the happy marriages of her sister and brother. It wasn't that she was jealous of her siblings. She simply ached to have that kind of partnership herself, to love a man and know that he loved her no matter what, to tickle her own baby and laugh when her baby laughed.

Simple things. Impossible things. At least for her. It had been a bitter admission to make, but it was better than continuing to live with Tony and kidding herself that it would all turn out okay in the end.

"When are Justin and Lawe coming in?" Faith asked. "Not until the end of the week," Lianne answered. "They're still in Brazil."

"What happened? I thought Walker was flying down to bring them back."

"He was," Archer said. "When they went to take off, he didn't like the feel of the plane, so he aborted. Last I heard, the three of them were up to their ears in engine parts and bad language."

Faith worried her lower lip with her teeth.

"Don't fret," Archer said. "Walker is a careful man. They'll be fine." He drew Faith to his side in a one-armed hug. "You're looking good, I like that new haircut. Short and sa.s.sy."

"Tony didn't," she said absently, still thinking about her missing twin brothers. "He had a fit when I cut it."

"Tony's an a.n.a.l orifice," Archer said.

"I know. Finally." She put her arm around Archer's lean waist and Lianne's swollen one. "Tell me, bro. How could a man as big as Tony be so small?"

"It's the nature of a.s.sholes to be small."

Lianne snorted. She hadn't liked Tony at all.

"Yeah." Faith tossed her head, making her short, sleek blond hair gleam. "So how could a smart woman like me be so dumb about a man?"

"A question for the ages," Archer said.

Lianne gave her sister-in-law a squeeze. "You're not the only one, Faith. A few years ago I was up to my lips in an affair with a man who didn't want me. He just wanted a back door into the Tang family."

Faith looked at her pet.i.te sister-in-law. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"How did you figure it out?"

"I didn't. He dumped me." She smiled thinly. "Being smart doesn't mean you don't make mistakes. It just means you learn from them."

As Archer gestured the women ahead of him into the kitchen, he wondered what he would learn from the mistake he had made with Hannah. Then he saw her standing next to his parents, listening intently to something Susa was saying, holding Summer while the baby gnawed on the big blue diamond Hannah still wore. He went still at the happy family portrait. When his mother glanced up and saw him, she nodded as though he had said, What do you think, Mom? Is this one a keeper?

If that wasn't bad enough, his father had the same gleam in his eye that he did whenever he glanced from Lianne to Kyle, silently saying, Good job, son. This one will go the distance.

But Hannah wouldn't. Not with him. The sooner his parents knew, the less it would hurt when they found out. Like yanking a bandage off a gasp, a burn, and then it was over and healing could begin.