was flushed and her hair was tousled from hanging upside down for the past few minutes.
And her shirt was bunched at her waist.
Janna noticed the cloth, too. As her hands were full of lemons, she restored the shirt to its proper place with a quick shimmy of her hips. The tantalizing motion made Raven groan.
„Raven?“ She turned toward him. „What is it? Did you stab yourself with the oyster knife?“
Raven had just enough control left to keep the thought to himself. He took a deep breath – and smelled hot tennis shoes.
Janna smelled them at the same instant. She dumped the lemons in the sink, yanked open the oven door and pulled out her forgotten jeans and shoes. Raven set aside the oysters just in time to snag a pair of flying jeans before they wrapped around his face. Janna tossed the shoes from hand to hand, muttering to herself.
„If I’d known you were this hungry, I’d have tried for some cod,“ he said, examining the jeans with deadpan distaste.
„Who was it that I heard earlier singing paeans of praise to baked jeans?“ retorted Janna, dropping the hot but otherwise unhurt shoes to the deck.
Raven chuckled and folded the rapidly cooling jeans. Janna saw his big hands linger almost caressingly on the worn cloth of the seat and shivered, wishing she were wearing the jeans.
„Talk about hot pants,“ she muttered.
„What?“
„Er, are they cool enough to wear?“ she asked quickly.
„Are you cold?“
Janna opened her mouth, thought better of it, and said, „No you don’t.“
Raven gave her a slow, sideways look. „No I don’t what?“
„Sucker me into another one of those open-ended free-association conversations.“
Smiling, Raven sat on his heels and poked cautiously at the tennies. He looked up and said gravely, „Give ‘em another ten minutes while we have oysters on the half shell. The shoes should be tender by then.“
„Good idea.“
Before his astonished eyes she tossed the shoes in the oven, cranked the control up to high and slammed the oven door. She turned and began mixing cocktail sauce as though nothing had happened. He waited. And waited.
And waited.
Suddenly Raven’s deep, warm laughter filled the cabin. He bent over, shut off the oven and whisked the shoes out.
„You’d have done it, wouldn’t you?“ he asked, still laughing.
„Damn straight,“ she assured him, fighting the smile that insisted on shaping her lips into an amused curve. „The first thing a little sister learns is to out-stubborn brothers who are bigger, stronger and tougher than she is.“
„Small warrior,“ Raven murmured, touching the cinnamon fire of Janna’s hair so lightly that she didn’t feel it. „Did they torment you?“
Janna started to agree emphatically, then realized that it wasn’t quite true. „Sometimes, but they loved me in their own way. And I was a little witch to them. Sometimes.“
„But you loved them all the time,“ Raven said, watching the softness that memories brought to Janna’s mouth.
„Yes,“ she whispered. „They always tried to protect me. They used to drive me crazy vetting my dates, sending some of the boys running and scaring the others so that they were afraid to hold my hand. The only one they would let near me was the boy next door. They liked Mark. He never came on strong.“
Janna’s smile slipped. If only they had known why Mark wasn’t aggressive with their nubile little sister. But it wasn’t fair to blame them. Mark hadn’t known, either. Not really.
„Mark? Your husband?“
„Once. No more.“
„Why?“
Janna’s hands paused. With deliberate motions she scraped the cocktail sauce into a small, shallow bowl. „We were all wrong for each other.“
„What do you mean?“ Raven asked, sensing something more than the usual things that pulled marriages apart.
She hesitated, then shrugged again. „Mark saw me as a friend, a companion, a sister, sometimes even a mother. But not a lover.“ Janna’s voice was even, but all the softness was gone from her face and memories. „Do you want your lemon in the cocktail sauce or on the side?“
Raven looked at Janna for a long moment, wanting to ask more questions about her and the man she had once loved enough to marry – a man who apparently hadn’t loved her.
„On the side,“ he said finally, asking none of his questions because Janna’s eyes were jade green, no passionate silver, no emotion turning in the depths, nothing to tell him whether she had been sad or happy or indifferent when her marriage had ended.
Raven winced inwardly. No wonder Janna had stiffened when he had praised her in terms of her gentle hands and smile. He wondered if she had wanted her husband as a lover rather than a child. Even as the question came, he knew the answer; she had wanted a lover and had gotten a child.
„Your husband must have been blind,“ Raven said flatly.
„How gallant of you to say so,“ Janna said. Her full lips formed a smile that was as emotionless as her eyes. „But unnecessary and untrue. Mark was a pilot. He had superb vision. Do you have a corkscrew for the wine?“
„Did you love him?“
„Of course not,“ she said. „I marry every man who asks me out more than twice.“
„Janna…“ Raven began.
„Corkscrew?“ she asked, smiling at him again, a smile as cool as her voice. „My brothers showed me how to take out the cork just by hitting the bottom of the bottle with my hand, but I’m not as strong as they are. I bruise my palm every time. You’d be good at it, though. Strong and hard. Like them.“
„Do you still love him?“
„Did anyone ever tell you to mind your own business?“
„Yes. Do you still love him?“
„Why does it matter to you?“ Janna asked through clenched teeth, feeling her careful veneer of dispassion disintegrating.
„I won’t let you waste your life looking over your shoulder,“ Raven said quietly.
„You won’t let me.“ Janna’s teeth clicked as she shut her mouth and stared at the big, immovable man in front of her. „You aren’t responsible for my life. I already have a father and three older brothers who are almost as big and every bit as overbearing as you.“
„Do you still love Mark?“ Raven asked relentlessly.
„No! I haven’t loved him since he cried himself to sleep in my arms because he couldn’t bring himself to have sex with me!“
„He married me because he had always liked me, and he wanted children and
