It was the tone as much as the statement that made Cam’s eyes narrow. Quiet despair. ‘‘I guess I could be reading you wrong,’’ Cam said slowly. ‘‘I figured, the way things were moving, you were serious about her.’’

‘‘I am serious, about Grace. About a lot of things.’’ He dipped his brush again, watched the clean gold varnish drip. ‘‘Marriage isn’t something I’m looking for.’’

Ordinarily Cam would have let a subject such as this drop. He’d have walked away from it with a shrug. Your business, brother. But he knew Ethan too well, had loved him too long to walk away from the pain. He crouched by the rail so their faces were closer.

‘‘I wasn’t looking for it either,’’ he murmured. ‘‘Scared the hell out me. But when the woman comes into your life, the woman, it’s scarier to let her go.’’

‘‘I know what I’m doing.’’

The dug-in-at-the-heels look didn’t stop Cam. ‘‘You always figure you do. I hope you’re right this time. I sure as hell hope this isn’t some shit that goes back to that ghost-eyed kid Mom and Dad brought home one day. The one who used to wake up screaming at night.’’

‘‘Don’t go there, Cam.’’

‘‘Don’t you go there, either. Mom and Dad did better by us than that.’’

‘‘It has nothing to do with them.’’

‘‘It all has everything to do with them. Listen—’’ He broke off with a mild oath as Seth came running in.

‘‘Hey, this shit’s already melting.’’

Cam straightened, scowled over at Seth out of habit rather than heat. ‘‘Didn’t I tell you to find an alternate word for ‘shit’?’’

‘‘You say it,’’ Seth pointed out, shifting the bag of ice.

‘‘That’s beside the point.’’

Knowing the routine, Seth dumped the ice into the cooler. ‘‘Why?’’

‘‘Because Anna’s going to have my ass if you keep it up. And if she has mine, pal, I’ll have yours.’’

‘‘Oh, now I’m scared.’’

‘‘You oughta be.’’

They continued to bicker, Ethan continued the varnish. Tuning them out, concentrating on the job at hand, he locked his unhappiness away.

SEVENTEEN

IT WAS GOING TO BE PER fect. It was so obviously right, Grace wondered that she hadn’t thought of it before. A sunset sail on calm seas with skies going pink and gold in the west was a custom-made backdrop for both of them. The Bay was part of their lives, what it offered and what it took.

She knew it was more than a place where Ethan worked. It was a place he loved.

It had been easy to arrange. All she’d had to do was ask. He looked surprised, then he smiled. ‘‘I’d forgotten you love to sail,’’ he said.