"I love you, too, big brother," she told him as she wrapped her arms around him, "but I wouldn't walk away from Grayson when he was h.e.l.lbent on trying to make me leave, and I won't walk away from him now, not even for you." She drew back to give him a stern look. "So when we go back outside, I expect you to be nice."

Of course, Marcus was just as stubborn as she was, so instead of agreeing, he said, "Tell me more about the farm."

It wasn't much, but it was something, so she grabbed it with both hands as she told him all about her first time in the pigpen.

Her siblings were all used to the way Lori blew and in and out of a room so fast that if you blinked you might miss it, but what they weren't used to was seeing her with someone she was obviously very much in love with.

Especially when it was the kind of guy none of them would ever have thought to pair her up with.

After she and Grayson headed out, Smith looked around the table. "So?"

Sophie immediately jumped in with, "I like him." Though she and Lori had had a slightly rocky couple of years, no one was surprised to see Sophie stick up for her sister. Not when they'd always been especially close to each other. "She's never been with a guy like him before, but somehow he's perfect for her."

Gabe nodded grudgingly. "They did seem to be a good fit."

But Zach was shaking his head. "Okay, so maybe he's a good guy. And maybe he does really care about her." All of them had been able to see that in every look, every touch, the way he'd instinctively wanted to protect her when they'd been grilling her on what had happened to her in Chicago and why she'd disappeared on them all. "But he lives on a thousand-acre farm and runs a CSA that supports an entire community. He can't walk away from that for her."

"Who says she's asking him to walk away from it?" Sophie shot back, no longer the quiet little sister they'd nicknamed Nice when she was a little girl.

"Can you really see Lori living on a farm?" Ryan asked.

Marcus had stepped up to take care of all of them after their father died, but they all knew he and Lori had a special bond. "Actually," he said, "she has always loved to help me in the vineyards."

But Ryan was holding firm. "I'm sure being out on a farm is fun for a week or two-something different, especially after what happened in Chicago. But she's Naughty," he reminded them all.

"You're right, Ryan," Chase said. "It's Lori we're talking about here." He gave them all a considering look. "She's not like other people and never has been. So why are we all thinking her love life needs to make sense?"

Only one person hadn't spoken up yet: their mother. They all turned to her now to see what she thought about the man her daughter had brought home today, as they had turned to her so many times before for answers.

Mary Sullivan smiled at her children and at the men and women and children who had also become a part of her family during the past two years. "Lori loves Grayson. And he loves her."

With a few simple words and that calm smile they knew she was right: There wasn't anything else they needed to know about Lori and Grayson's situation. Because there was nothing they could trust in more than love.

"Now," Mary said as she stood up, "who's hungry for dessert?"

Summer ran back to the kitchen to help bring out the chocolate cake with extra rainbow sprinkles they'd made together. Each of the couples squeezed each other's hands just a little tighter. They'd all been where Lori was right now, in a place that didn't necessarily make sense, but at the same time was more right than anything else had ever been.

And love, as Mary had gently reminded them, had prevailed each and every time.

Chapter Twenty-three.

"So?" Lori said to Grayson as they headed north toward her San Francisco apartment in his truck. "Did you survive my family?"

Grayson knew the clock had been ticking from the moment she'd crashed into the fence post on his driveway two weeks ago, but now it felt as though time was racing at warp speed. Days had become hours. Hours had become minutes. Too soon, they'd be left with mere seconds.

"You've got a great family." His words came out a little too raw, but Lord, he was going to miss her.

"What did I tell you?" she said with a jaunty little grin. "And no one even punched you, so that was a plus."

Sunday lunch hadn't exactly been comfortable for him, but her family really was great.

"Believe me," he told her, "it was close there for a while. If your sister hadn't saved me from your brothers, I would have been a goner for sure."

The sound of Lori's laughter filled up all the places that had been dark and cold and empty before, and as he drank it in, he wished like h.e.l.l that he'd done more joking with her and less grumbling.

Then again, she'd pushed every last one of his b.u.t.tons, hadn't she?

Lori reached for his hand and rubbed her thumb over his palm as they drove. Affection was such a simple thing for her, and now he knew where she'd learned her capacity to love: from her family.

"I'm the yellow two-story apartment on the corner," she said, pointing half a block ahead. He found a spot just outside and grabbed her suitcase, and when she opened the door, he wasn't surprised by the color, the energy, the exotic sculptures and paintings displayed on every possible surface. Where everything in his farmhouse was there by necessity, nothing Lori had would ever be called necessary...and yet, it all was. Because everything, from the clay figurine of dancing girls to the tribal masks hanging from the walls, made up the incredible woman that she was.

"I got this in South Africa," she told him when she found him looking at a vibrant, brilliantly st.i.tched wall hanging. "And this one," she said, pointing to a painting of a young boy and girl about to kiss, "came from Paris." He recognized city scenes from London to Sydney, all places she'd clearly danced in and would again.

The chasm between his life and hers grew deeper from moment to moment. Because that was all they had left now.

Moments.

And every one of them was precious.

Lori was holding his hand and pulling him down the hall, saying, "It shouldn't take me long to grab some T-shirts and jeans, and then we can-" when Grayson tugged her back toward him.

He took her beautiful face in his hands and kissed her with a desperation he couldn't control. She immediately melted into his arms, her strong body so sweetly pliant in pa.s.sion. They quickly ended up against the wall, one of her legs coming up to wrap around his hips, her hands threaded into his hair.

They were just seconds from having a hot and dirty quickie in her apartment. But that wasn't how Grayson wanted to say good-bye, d.a.m.n it.

"What's wrong?" She reached up a hand to cup his jaw. "You've been on edge for the whole drive." She gave him a crooked little smile. "And not just your normal level of edge."

He stared into her eyes, so full of life, so bright-brighter than any star in the sky. Brighter even than the sun. "I love you."

She stroked his cheek. "I love you, too."

Her smile this time was soft. And so sweet he nearly broke right then and there and fell to his knees to beg her to stay with him. And to never, ever leave.

"Now spit it out," she demanded.

He hadn't talked to her once before, hadn't let her in. But now he knew he had to. Even if every word he said was going to rip his heart out of his chest a little further.

"We both know we're not here so that you can pick up new clothes."

A flash of fear pa.s.sed through her eyes, but she quickly masked it with a wicked little smile. "I planned for us to tangle up my sheets, too."

Ruthlessly shoving back the vision of stripping off her clothes and making love to her in her bright and sunny apartment, he said, "You've got to deal with what happened in Chicago."

"You're right. I do have to go." She tilted her head back enough that she could look up into his eyes. "But while I'm gone, I don't want to leave you on the farm by yourself."

"I was alone for three years." He'd never forgive himself if he was the reason Lori didn't take her life and career by the horns again and show it who was boss. "I'm pretty good at it, you know."

She shook her head. "You're too good at it. That's what worries me."

"Don't worry about me."

"All this time you've been looking for a way to make me leave," she said, clearly trying to tease him, but sounding more sad than anything else. "But just as you couldn't get rid of Sweetpea, you're not getting rid of me this easily, either." She looked deeply into his eyes, as if to make sure he really saw the truth of what she was saying to him.

I'm coming back to you.

He kissed her then, long and sweet and soft, before saying all the things he should already have said to her a thousand times over. "I've never had food as good as what you make, the chickens don't want to eat sc.r.a.ps from anyone but you, the crops have been growing twice as fast since they first felt your green thumbs...and Mo and the pigs and I have never loved anyone more than we love you."

"Oh, Grayson." Her face finally crumbled, her beautiful mouth wobbling, tears running down her cheeks. "It would be so much easier if you'd just be cranky and bossy right now."

G.o.d, the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life was giving up what he wanted so that the woman he loved could get what she needed. "Now that you've whipped my farm into shape and taught everyone in Pescadero how to line dance just like they do it in Nashville, it's time to go show that idiot in Chicago what you're made of."

She sniffled, nodded, hugged him close and held on tight. They stood together in her hallway, two people who should never have been together...but who couldn't ever have found what they'd found with anyone else.

When she suddenly pulled back, her eyes were dry and filled with the resolve and determination that he'd seen on the farm every time he'd challenged her-and she'd challenged him right back. "Before I head off for Chicago and you go back to your farm to feed your chickens, I think that I should teach you a new dance."

"What's the dance called?" he asked as she led him into her bedroom.

She was already pulling him down over her on the bed as she answered, "The tangle."

Chapter Twenty-four.

"Lori!" The minute she walked into the Chicago dance hall, her friend Alicia ran over and threw her arms around her. "I'm so glad you're back." Alicia pulled away and did a quick once-over. "You're gorgeous and glowing. I hope that means you've found someone to replace the sc.u.mbag."

Sc.u.mbag? "What do you know?"

Alicia scowled. "That Victor is a pathetic excuse for a man and a dancer."

"Who else knows?"

"Everyone." Her friend's scowl deepened.

"But-" Lori didn't get it. How, after nearly two years of hiding the truth about Victor from everyone, did they all suddenly know the score? "How'd you find out?"

"Didn't your sister tell you?"

Lori raised an eyebrow, at once filled with love for her meddling twin and annoyance that she'd felt she had to step in to deal with Lori's mess. "My sister didn't tell me anything. What did she do?"

Alicia looked a little worried now that maybe she'd stepped into something she shouldn't have. "Just made a couple of calls, I think..."

"And?"

"And, uh, some people came by to talk to Victor. Some big people. With lots of tattoos."

Perhaps it wasn't nice of her to laugh at the picture of her ex having to deal with Jake McCann's Irish-pub-owning friends, but she couldn't help it.

"Besides," Alicia added, "when you walked out like that, we guessed something had to be up. The only reason anyone ever put up with Victor was because of you. We love you, Lori. But him?" Her friend made a face. "It's been horrible since you've been gone."

Lori had done a lot of thinking in the past two weeks, not only about what Victor had done, but about what she'd done, too. It wasn't her fault that he was an a.s.shole, but hadn't she shielded her friends and family from his true personality? Because if they had known what he was really like-that he was selfish, and demanding, and unfaithful-then she would look like an idiot for sticking with him.

"Thank G.o.d you're back to take over for the last week of the show."

Lori hadn't planned to stay, tried to form the words to explain to her friend that there was somewhere else she needed to be...but she couldn't. Not when she felt terrible about leaving her dancers in a bad situation like this in the first place.

And not when she knew that staying to shepherd her dancers through to the end was the right thing to do.

"I'm sorry I left you with Victor."

"None of us blame you for going. And trust me, no one has any plans to work with Victor or Gloria again. Please say you're going to chew him to pieces."

"Oh, don't worry," Lori a.s.sured her friend, "I've learned a lot these past couple of weeks about dealing with animals."

Victor couldn't hide his surprise when Lori walked into the small office upstairs.

"Get out of my seat. I have a show to fix."

At the clear command in her voice, he immediately stood, before realizing he should have stayed right where he was. Holding on to the back of the chair as if to keep his claim on her show intact, he gave her a hurt look.

"How could you have walked out on all of us like that, Lori? If anyone is responsible for the show going downhill these past two weeks, it's you."

If she hadn't gotten mad and disillusioned enough to walk away, she never would have found Grayson. Which, she was more than a little shocked to realize, meant that if she had it to do all over again, she would hope it all played out exactly the same...if only so that she could finally learn what true love was.

But even if everything she had been through had been worth it just to get to Grayson, she still deserved her pound of revenge. Ten pounds would be even better.

"You're right," she admitted. "Walking out on the show wasn't at all professional. I shouldn't have done it. But," she added in a calm tone that did little to hide the ice behind her words, "you shouldn't have been a lying, cheating douchebag who slept with the lead dancer I hired for my show." She smiled, baring her teeth at him. "So I guess we were both wrong, weren't we?"

They'd had more than their fair share of arguments while they were together, but Lori had focused more on the make-up s.e.x than what was behind the fights. She had told herself it made their relationship exciting. Really, though, all it had done was make her a fool. Because in all the time she and Victor had been together, she couldn't think of one kind thing he'd done for her that hadn't been for his own gain.

Whereas Grayson had taken her to that barn dance, and then to her family's Sunday lunch, when they were both the very last places he'd wanted to be. He'd even pushed her to return to her own world despite his obvious belief that she wouldn't come back to him, back to the farm. All because he loved her, and wanted the best for her, rather than himself.

"We were on a break," Victor protested. "You could have slept with someone else if you wanted to."

"Funny," she said, though there wasn't even a trace of humor in her voice, "I wonder how many other breaks we had that I never knew about? And I'm a.s.suming that's also what you told Gloria when you took her to bed? Did you also tell her she was a better dancer than I am? And was she stupid enough to believe your lies the way I always did?"