“So again I say thank you,” Kara said with a wide smile that seemed to further ruffle her sister. “Who wants a man who’s all talk and no action in more ways than one?” High on her own success, Kara winced dramatically. “Oh sorry, I guess you want that guy. Well, congratulations. He’s all yours. My fiancé and I have somewhere to be, so enjoy your visit.”

Kara took Dan’s hand and started for the ramp that led to the main dock.

“Burn,” Dan whispered under his breath, making Kara laugh.

“Kara! Wait! I want to talk to you! I waited all day.”

Kara spun around and pointed a finger sharply at her sister. “No, you wait. When I told you two years ago that you were dead to me, I wasn’t spouting off. I have nothing to say to you or your husband. Go home, Kelly. There’s no reason for you to be here.”

“You have no interest in your nephew?”

“Sure, I do, and I expect to have a very meaningful relationship with him—as soon as he’s old enough to see me when his parents aren’t around. Until then…” Kara shrugged. “Nothing to say.” She smiled at Dan. “Let’s go, babe.”

“What about Mom and Dad?” Kelly asked, sounding more desperate by the second. “Don’t you care at all about what this is doing to them?”

“How dare you try to lay that on me? If you were worried about how a rift between us would affect Mom and Dad, you should’ve kept your hands off my boyfriend. But you didn’t, so that, too, is your problem—not mine. I hope he was worth it, Kel. I really, really do.”

Since Kara had already given her sister far more time than she deserved, she hooked her hand through Dan’s arm and headed for the parking lot.

“Oh my God,” he whispered. “I’m so hot for you right now, I’m about to implode.”

Kara laughed. “I never could’ve done that if I hadn’t had a couple of hours to prepare myself. I owe you big for that.”

“No, you don’t.” He put his arm around her. “But remind me to never get on your bad side. It’s a pretty darned scary place. The litigator in me is extremely impressed.”

“Goddamn, that felt good.”

“I bet it did.”

“I mean really, really good.”

Dan laughed. “You honestly don’t plan to speak to her again? Ever?”

“I’ll probably get around to forgiving her. Eventually.” Arm in arm, they walked toward her apartment in a building that abutted the marina property. “But not today.”

“No, not today. You’ll be too busy having hot sex with your rich fiancé.”

“Didn’t take long for that to go straight to your head.”

“It was actually pretty instantaneous.”

“In case I failed to mention it earlier, I love you, Torrington.”