“Your usual . . .” Mary Beth wondered exactly what he was implying. Did he know she’d never had actual sex? How much had Bobby Joe told him? She didn’t dare ask and was too busy wondering desperately about other things. Was he saying that he wanted her to be his woman? One of his women? Absolutely not. He had to know she would never consent to being another notch on his bedpost.

“You know how much I want you.” His lips brushed against her ear, his warm breath fanning the tendrils of red gold hair curling around her face. “If we were alone, I’d take you right now. I’d ease you down in that chaise by the pool and slowly strip you. You wouldn’t be cold with me, would you, my sweet Strawberry?”

The sound of his voice was intoxicating. His words wove a sensual web about her, confusing her mind and endangering her heart. “Parr, don’t. You shouldn’t be . . . we shouldn’t be . . .”

He had to wait for the right moment before he made his move. He had to time it just right or she might not react the way he hoped she would. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to think of Bobby Joe and of getting the two of them back together. Even if it ripped him apart.

“Bobby Joe wasn’t thinking of you last night. Why should you worry about him today?”

“You don’t think I’d do something wild just to get back at him, do you?”

In the heat of the moment, she had thought about payback. But her heart really wasn’t in it.

“Of course not. But getting a little revenge along with a lot of pleasure wouldn’t hurt, would it?” He smiled, a smirky, self-satisfied smile meant to convey his cocky pride.

“How can you say that?” She refused to believe that Parr meant what he’d just said. He couldn’t be that insensitive or that uncaring about his brother’s feelings.

“Are you trying to tell me that you wouldn’t like to hurt that spoiled baby brother of mine the way he hurt you?”

“No. No.”

Did Parr secretly despise Bobby Joe? That was news to her. She’d understood that they were close. Was there some reason he wanted her to seek revenge? This conversation was just plain weird and getting weirder by the second.

“I don’t think he meant to hurt me,” she said at last. “It was something that got out of hand, something he didn’t intend to happen. He’s sorry about it. Genuinely sorry.”

“And you believe him? All Luellen has ever had to do is crook her little finger and he comes running.” Parr was watching her closely for a reaction. “She’s quite a woman. The kind a man can’t get enough of once he’s sampled her charms, or so Bobby Joe tells me.”

“What?”