"That was crazy," Maeve said. "When I heard about that wedding I just couldn't fathom your father marrying Kiley."

"Kiley is insane," Amanda said. She looked at me. "Sterling still wants to cast her in Mom's role in The Lady's Regret?"

"He can't put Kiley in that role," I said. "I know he'll lose the script if he doesn't, but he'll lose so much more if he does."

"I don't know," Amanda said. "He seems pretty d.a.m.ned determined to do this his way no matter who Kiley will upset. I told him I don't want the film made with Kiley in that role, but he won't listen. Dad will completely cut Sterling out of his life if he casts Kiley. The film will end up a mess. Sterling is so stubborn."

"No kidding," Maeve said. She reached for her gla.s.s of wine and tilted it to her lips. "He's worse than Papa."

"Have you spoken to Sterling?" Amanda asked.

My heart fluttered. "You mentioned that stubborn streak?" I said.

Amanda's smiled the tiniest bit. "You know, he's always at his best when he's with you. I don't know if he knows that yet, but he is. He is happiest and calmest, and kindest. You seem happier with him, too."

A flush burst up over my skin. "I love him," I said. "I've loved him since I was a girl. Nothing will change that. Not even him being angry with me for reasons that I can't control and don't completely understand. I suppose I'll always love him."

The feelings in my chest rolled through my body. A tightness unwound by simply saying the truth-that I loved Sterling.

"Her next series is an homage to your brother," Maeve said.

"Stop," I said. "It's two paintings, not a series and it's no homage, it's just what I need to paint."

"Can I see them?" Amanda asked.

I took a long breath. I wouldn't have shown the paintings to Maeve if we weren't both staying at Mama's and she took it upon herself to come in and out of the guest house whenever she pleased.

"I suppose," I said. I didn't want to show Amanda. But how could I not? She was my childhood friend, almost a sister, and the paintings were of a man that we both dearly loved.

"Come on," I said and stood from the lounger on Mama's back deck. "Let's go look at them now."

Chapter 25.

Sterling "If you've come back to beg for the rights to The Lady's Regret, you might as well save yourself the heartache," Tom said.

I looked around the living room of Gayle's house, the place that had been a safe haven for me and Amanda. I looked from Gayle, who sat on the sofa with a book in her hand, to Tom, who stood just inside the front door. Their lives hadn't turned out as they'd expected.

"No," I said. My gaze went from Tom to Gayle. "I've come to say thank you."

Gayle leaned forward and settled her book over the arm of the couch. Tom's stiffness deflated with my words. He took two steps back and his shoulders drooped as though he didn't know how to react without his anger to hold him upright.

"Sterling? Is everything okay?"

A smile opened wide on my face. A smile from deep inside me that replaced my anger and my loss and burst out with the simple pleasure of acknowledging the sacrifices Gayle had made for me.

"Everything is fine." I settled on the chair across from Gayle. Tom stood to my left, unwilling or unable to get closer. I wasn't sure but, right now, it didn't matter. Right now I was here for Gayle.

"I don't know how you did it," I said. "I don't know if I could have done what you did for me and Amanda. You sent your girls away and took care of us. And after what happened with my mother-"

Gayle reached out her hand and clasped mine. "That was no fault of yours. You two were the children of my best friend. My love for you and Amanda"-her glance went from me to Tom-"and for my own family never changed." A small smile trickled across her face. "Time can heal most wounds, but time alone doesn't raise children." She patted my knee. "I did what I needed to do and I did it not only for you and Amanda, I also did it for me."

"I never knew," I said. "Everything that happened that summer. I didn't understand. I blamed Rhiannon and you and everyone for her leaving. Now-" I looked up and met her gaze. "Now I see what you did, the sacrifice you made, and I need to say thank you."

"Oh, Sterling, life gives us such difficult choices to make." The corners of her lips pulled down though her eyes remained soft with empathy. "We do the best that we can and forgive any transgressions from the ones that we love."

I nodded. I turned to Tom. He stared at Gayle. Confusion and pain and remorse careened across his face. He'd made choices, he and my mother, that were selfish and unkind. I doubted, if he could go back in time, to the yellow house in Montecito, that he'd make the same choices now. I stood. "I need to apologize to Rhiannon," I said.

Gayle's eyes flickered from me to Tom.

"She's not here."

My pulse quickened. How could I lose what I desperately wanted now that I was finally ready to give the love in my heart?

"Did she ...?" My eyes flicked from Tom to Gayle. "Did she go back to Paris? Where is she?" I tried to keep my voice calm, but a panic edged through my gut. Had I lost Rhiannon again?

"Haven't you and your family done enough?"

I turned to Tom. His words came out bitter, edged with anger. His eyes were once again dark and his body filled with a righteous rage.

"My family? Do you mean my mother and my father? And even you?"

He squinted and his hands fisted by his sides. "I'll not have you involved with Rhiannon. Do you understand me, Sterling Legend? I'll not have my daughter caught up with the likes of you."

"Tom," I said and stepped closer. My eyes focused on Rhiannon's father, the man who, with my mother's help, shattered two families. "I will always respect you because you're Rhiannon's father and I know you love her and she loves you, but who Rhiannon is involved with isn't your choice. I intend to find her, and if I am lucky enough, keep her, and never let her go." My voice was calm and my gaze didn't waiver. "I won't pay for my parents' sins, nor do I expect Rhiannon to pay for yours." I looked back to Gayle and my heart hammered in my chest. I needn't waste my reasons on Rhiannon's father. I needed to find Rhiannon.

"Where is she, Gayle?" I asked. "Where can I find Rhiannon?"

Rhiannon The sun warmed my skin. I closed my eyes to the view that I would remember forever. A breeze whispered over my eyes and my lips, the most delicate of touches. A broken heart would mend with time and care. But the love I felt for Sterling, I realized, would remain forever. I might, one day, find someone, a person to love, but my heart would forever be his. Emotion thickened my throat. How could I survive this loss? What had it been like for Sterling when I'd left him? If his pain had been half as bad as mine, I could barely stand the idea that I had been the cause of his heartbreak. That I had been the reason that he had to protect his heart. I clasped my hand over my mouth and stifled a sob that threatened to break free. I might want to stay here, but I wouldn't. This place, this spot, would always be linked to Sterling and now, now the pain was too fresh.

"I love you, Rhiannon Bliss."

The air shifted around me, the scents of soap and the outdoors and something else caused me to stop breathing and my eyes to fly open.

Sterling.

My heart beat fast in my chest. Did he just sit beside me on the overlook, under the tree, at the very spot I held most dear to my heart? His hand gentled under my chin and tilted my lips up to his.

"Did you hear me, beautiful? I love you. Do you think that you can love me?" His eyes held a wounded ache, the desire for an answer to his question, a hope that we could be together, finally and for always.

"I will love you forever."

His lips were on mine in a world-ending kiss. Soft and gentle and filled with the haphazard fears from the past and the promises of the future. His hand wove through my hair and he pulled me closer.

"My G.o.d, Rhiannon, I am sorry." He gazed into my eyes. "Please don't ever leave me again."

I smiled through my tears. How was this moment real? How could I have this, the very thing I had dreamed and wished for? "I won't ever leave you again."

His arms wrapped around him and our lips pressed together. Heat and longing pulsed between us. My hands needed to touch him, to feel his skin under my fingertips. I pulled at his shirt and let my hand roam over his chest. His body was something I would never grow tired of. His lips roamed down my neck and I lay back onto the flannel blanket beneath us. I wanted this. Together we would seal this decision, in this sacred place created by us.

His hand slipped under the strap of my dress and pulled it over my shoulder, his lips finding their place on my breast. My sundress fell from my body and the warmth of the sun caressed me. Sterling pulled his lips from my skin and his eyes gazed upon my naked flesh. "You are beautiful, Rhiannon. I ... My love for you will never end."

His lips were on me and he slipped my nipple into the heat of his mouth. A searing pulse flashed through me and my hips arched against his hardness.

My hand scrambled to unb.u.t.ton his jeans and pull them down over his hips. Here in the expanse of this place we were together. His hand trailed over my belly and to the edge of my panties, his fingertips teasing along the edge. Again my hips thrust upward. He pulled and rolled my nipple in his mouth, the heat causing my s.e.x to clench.

"Sterling, please, oh my G.o.d, please." His fingers slipped beneath my panties and pulled them from my hips and over my knees. His fingertips trailed up over the smooth sensitive flesh of my thigh and stopped at the edge of my s.e.x. Wet for him, tight for him, wanting him deep inside me with a need that overwhelmed me. My hands grasped for his hard c.o.c.k, which pulsed between us. I stroked up and then down. His breath hitched in his chest with my touch.

"Please, Sterling, I need you inside me."

With a low moan he rolled over and braced his arms on either side of my head. His hardness now lodged between us. He parted me gently with his knee. Our eyes were locked. This would be a transcendent moment that would never be forgotten. He dipped down and placed a tender of kiss on my lips. His hardness edged into the tight warmth of my center and my s.e.x clenched with want and need to pull him deep within me, to feel the surrender of my body, as I tightened around him. My hips pulsed upward, seeking to fill the want that careened through me. With a long slow stroke Sterling pushed into the heat of me.

"Rhiannon," he breathed, his gaze locked with mine. Heat surged through me with him inside me and my name on his lips. My hips thrust up to him. He moved deeper into me. His eyes watched my face, letting not only our bodies but also our beings embrace this moment.

"Don't ever leave me again," he said. His face awash with desire and need.

"Never," I rasped out on a jagged breath. How could I ever leave what I so desperately needed, what I so desperately wanted?

His lips pressed to mine, he pulled back in one stroke and a tiny moan, a whimper of want, pa.s.sed over my lips. To be empty of him was too much. To be without him was not possible, but he quelled my need with a solid stroke into my body.

His lips found my b.r.e.a.s.t.s and suckled my nipple. Slowly he pulled back from me and then slowly, ever so deliciously slowly, he glided into me. He buried himself inside me and my body stretched to surround him, to hold him deep within me. Heat built with his touch. To be one with Sterling was all I would ever want, all I would ever need. The world swirled around us-the bright blue sky, the soft whisper of the wind. His fingers found my c.l.i.t and pressed down. My hips arched into his touch. The muscles of his back rippled beneath my fingertips. A want for him to be close, deep inside me was all I could think about. With his name on my lips, the intense pleasure blinded me, a sound so raw I didn't realize it was me.

"Sterling, oh my G.o.d, Sterling."

His facial muscles strained. His eyes focused on me as though there was nothing other than this moment in all the world. This place. This time. I pull him down to me and his lips worked my mouth, our heat building from slow to frenzied. His body stiffened.

"Please, please," I moaned. He moved faster, our breathing ragged and torn as the wave came toward us.

"Rhiannon, I'm going to come, Rhiannon, oh my G.o.d, I'm going to come."

I clasped my legs around him. I pulled on his beautiful a.s.s and pushed him deep inside me, our bodies tense. Our eyes locked and we fell under together.

Sterling Love filled my heart. A love I'd tried to fight with anger. The sins of the past had been my shield against this all-consuming love, but no more. I turned to my side and gazed at Rhiannon. The woman who was by my side, who would always be there.

"I love you," I said. Tears p.r.i.c.ked the backs of my eyes. Her fingers traced the outline of my jaw. Her smile was filled with warmth.

"And I love you, too."

Together we lay in the spot where so many years before our love began. Here, now, in this place, I knew that our love would grow and continue. The pain from the past would remain in the past. We'd move forward with the knowledge of what had happened and the desire to be gentle and kind and nurturing to the love that grew between us. I clasped her hand in mine and pulled it to my lips.

"My parents-" she began.

"Will learn to live with our decisions. This is our life to share. The things that happened between them aren't our burden to bear."

Chapter 26.

Rhett.

I walked toward the bar to take a break. The sound check was almost done. I looked up and saw a gorgeous girl, backlit, standing beside the bar. I couldn't help myself. "Babe, that body would look awesome on the back of my bike."

The woman whipped around and her eyes narrowed upon me. Oh s.h.i.t.

"If that's how you talk to your sister, I can't imagine what you say to the other girls."

Amanda pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. Sister. She said the word as though it fit our relationship, which it didn't. Just beyond her, Ryan Sinclair moved toward us. He looked as happy to see me as I was to see Amanda Legend.

"I have two sisters," I said. I flipped a cigarette into my mouth and flicked my Zippo. A long pull of smoke trailed into my lungs. "I don't need any more." My eyes traveled from her to Ryan. He was a big guy and it was obvious they didn't use a body double for his roles in the action movies he was famous for. He placed his arm around Amanda's shoulders. His jaw muscles flinched when his eyes locked with mine.

"Beer?" I asked and tipped my bottle toward him. I took a long pull. Let's see if he could stay sober in this place, see if he really wanted to.

"No thanks," he said with a smile. A smile that I'd seen on countless other a.s.sholes. A smile that seemed to say "who the h.e.l.l are you?," you're nothing, a n.o.body, a b.a.s.t.a.r.d kid with no last name.

"Suit yourself," I said and finished the bottle. I set it on the bar beside Amanda. "To what do I owe this pleasure? The Hollywood elite descending to my level."

Amanda stiffened with my question. Her spine straightened, or perhaps it was the pole that was shoved so far up her a.s.s. "I want to invite you to our wedding," Amanda said.

A laugh burst from my chest. "Are you f.u.c.king kidding me?"

"I've already spoken with Anita and Ellen and Sophia. They've accepted, they even sent in their RSVPs. But you? Perhaps you never received the invitation?" Her bright blue eyes pierced me. I had the d.a.m.ned thing on a table at home, coiled like a rattlesnake and ready to strike. I leaned against the bar and waved to the brunette serving the brews.

"I got it." I turned back to Amanda. "I just don't want to come."

She pulled in a deep breath as though seeking patience or perhaps a solution to the riddle that was me. I hated to break it to Miss Hollywood Perfect, but stronger minds than hers had tried and failed.

"Right, I kind of thought that. I hoped that our personal invitation might change your mind."

I looked from her to Ryan. He was here because she wanted him to be. Contempt shadowed his eyes. I was the guy he'd brawl with because of my smart mouth, a smart mouth that called guys like him on the s.h.i.t that they pulled. Guys filled with ent.i.tlement, and who got everything served up to them like they were f.u.c.king royals. People like Amanda, Sterling, and even my father Steve Legend were all full of it.

"You're wasting your time," I said. I stubbed out my cigarette. "I don't do Hollywood and I don't do formal affairs."

"I hear your thoughts on Hollywood may be changing," Amanda said. Her eyes sparkled. Of course she knew about my record deal. The ink was still wet and yet, Amanda Legend knew it all.

"Only when it comes to music. As for films and the people who make them? I'm keeping my distance."

"Perhaps the marketing department hasn't let you in on the secret to selling alb.u.ms." A twinkle gleamed in her eye. "Exposure."