Amy nodded. “My story is similar. Sly showed me the ranch, but only because I asked. I’d heard that his bedroom was off-limits to the women he dated, but I always hoped I’d be the one he fell for, the one he’d invite to his bed. He never did—we always ended up at my place. I tried everything to make him love me, but no luck.” She let out a sigh, followed by a shrug. “I guess I ended up lucky after all. I met and married Jon, and we’re so happy.”
“Sly has dated a lot of women and broken a lot of hearts,” Sheila said. “Be careful, Lana.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Lana said, but she wasn’t worried. She and Sly weren’t dating, and now they never would.
Not with him suing her cousin.
* * *
SLY AND HIS sister, Dani, were close, and as busy as they both were with their jobs, they made sure they got together a couple times a month. On Wednesday night they met at Clancy’s, a bar and pool hall south of town. Clancy’s was always crowded, but boasted a dozen pool tables—enough so that he and Dani were usually able to snag one.
“I met a woman,” Sly told his sister over the loud country-and-western music adding to the noise. He hadn’t planned on saying anything and wasn’t sure why he’d made the confession. Especially when lately, he hadn’t dated much and she’d been bugging him about it. Now she’d really bug him.
But Lana... Sly was still thinking about her, even though she’d shut him down. There was something about her, and he needed to tell somebody.
In the middle of placing the balls, Dani swiveled her head his way. “Oh?” Her eyes, the same silver-blue as Sly’s and Seth’s, sparked with curiosity.
Not wanting to make a big deal out of what he’d said, he tugged on her ponytail like he had when she was four. Before life had knocked them both upside the head.
“Stop that.” Hiding a smile, she batted his hand away. “I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m twenty-eight years old.”
Dani was seven years younger than him, and one of the few people he trusted. He flashed a grin. “You’ll always be my baby sister, even when you’re fifty.”
“By then you’ll be an old man, and probably too frail to pull my hair.”
Sly scowled, but Dani thought that was real funny. “I’ll take solid, you take the stripes,” she said.
While she eyeballed the table, aimed her cue and broke the balls, Sly thought about how far they’d come since he was eleven and their mother had died. Two years later their father had followed her, leaving them orphans. Sly had wanted to take care of his siblings, but he’d been too young.
Their only family had been an uncle Sly and his siblings had never met, a man who lived in Iowa. Uncle George had grudgingly taken in Sly and his younger brother, Seth, who was ten at the time, but he hadn’t wanted Dani.
She’d entered the foster-care system in Prosperity. Sly had worried about her constantly and vowed that someday he would reunite their little family.
But it turned out that he and Seth had gotten the raw end of that stick. Their uncle had disliked kids and had mostly ignored him and Seth, which was better than the alternative. His idea of attention had been to yell and raise his hand. Sly and his brother had quickly learned to steer clear of him.
Sly had become his brother’s caretaker and parent of sorts, raising Seth as best he could. His best hadn’t been so great, though. A kid with an independent streak, Seth had fought him on everything. By the time Uncle George had died just before Sly’s eighteenth birthday, his relationship with his brother had deteriorated badly. Hoping that returning home and reuniting with Dani would help mend the damages, Sly had brought his brother back to Prosperity. Unfortunately, nothing had changed. After several minor scrapes with the law, Seth had dropped out of high school and left town. A few months later, Sly and Dani had received a postcard letting them know he’d settled in California. He’d failed to provide the name of the city, and the postal stamp had been impossible to decipher. Seth hadn’t spoken to or contacted them since.
Dani had ended up with a much better deal. Big Mama, her foster mom, had loved her from the start and eventually had adopted her.
Dani hit the ball into a side pocket. Another ball slid into a different pocket. She did a little dance. “Dang, I’m good.”
“Cocky, too,” Sly teased. “Wait until it’s my turn.”
She missed the next shot. Sly chalked his cue. “Watch and learn, little sister.” He took aim and dropped a striped ball into the corner pocket. He put away four more, then missed.
Before Dani took aim, she angled her head at him. “I’m glad to hear you met someone, big brother. How and where did it happen?”
“Remember that dinner meeting with my lawyer a couple weeks ago at the Bitter & Sweet? She was there with a girlfriend. We ended up dancing the whole night.”
“The whole night?”
Sly wasn’t about to answer that. “Are you ever going to move that cue?”
Dani ignored him. “Her girlfriend must’ve been bored silly.”
“Yeah. She went home.” Sly nudged her aside. “I’ll shoot for you.”
“No way.” She gave him a friendly poke in the ribs. “Does this woman have a name?”
“Lana Carpenter.” The words rolled off Sly’s tongue and left a sweet taste in his mouth.
“That sounds familiar. Where have I heard of Lana Carpenter?” Dani wondered, tapping the cue with her finger. “I don’t think she’s one of my regulars.”
Dani worked at Big Mama’s Café, a popular place open for breakfast and lunch that Big Mama had started some thirty years earlier. Someday when Big Mama retired, the restaurant would be Dani’s.
His sister finally took her shot, pocketed one and missed the next shot. “Shoot,” she grumbled. “You’re up. Is Lana related to Tim Carpenter?”
Sly sure as hell hoped not. “Haven’t asked her.”
“She doesn’t know you’re thinking about suing a man who could be related to her?”
“I’m definitely suing.” Sly was still unhappy about having to take legal action. He missed his shot, too. “He should have gotten the papers yesterday.”
“I’m sorry it had to come to that.” Dani made a face. “Have you heard anything back?”
“It’s all going through my lawyer. When he hears, he’ll call.”
She nodded. “Where does Lana Carpenter work?”
“She owns a business called Tender Loving Daycare.”
“Now I remember where I’ve heard her name. Her day care was profiled as small business of the month in the paper. Customers have been talking about it a lot. Her picture was in the paper. She’s pretty.” Dani gave him a speculative look. “So where are you taking her this weekend?”
Sly almost told her about stopping by the day care to see Lana, but he didn’t want to stir up his sister’s curiosity any more than it already was. “We’re not dating,” he said.
“Why the heck not?”
Because something told Sly that Lana was the one woman who could cut right past his defenses. He wasn’t about to let anyone do that.
“Let me get this straight,” his sister said when he