“How do you know about—”

“You’re not the only sneak. I’ve read your draft. Other than some blatant unfairness to the badger, it looks like you’ve got another winner. But nobody can publish it unless you follow orders. And are you doing that? No. Are you even forcing the issue? No. Instead, you’re letting yourself drift along in some never-never land where none of your troubles are real, only mine.”

“You don’t understand!”

“You’re right about that. I never did understand quitters.”

“That’s not fair! I can’t win. If I make the revisions, I’ve sold out and I’ll hate myself. If I don’t make them, the Daphne books are going to disappear. The publisher will never reprint the old ones, and they sure won’t publish any new ones. No matter what I do, I’ll lose, and losing’s not an option.”

“Losing isn’t as bad as not fighting at all.”

“Yes it is. The women in my family don’t lose.”

He gazed at her for a long time. “Unless I’m missing something, there’s only one other woman in your family.”

“And look what she did!” Agitation forced her to move. “Phoebe held on to the Stars when everybody in the world had written her off. She faced down all of her enemies—”

“Married one of them.”

“—and beat them at their own game. Those men thought she was a bimbo and wrote her off. She was never supposed to have ended up with the Stars, but she did.”

“Everybody in the football world admires her for it. So what does this have to do with you?”

She turned away. He already knew, and he wasn’t going to make her say it.

“Come on, Molly! I want to hear those whiny words come out of your mouth so I can have a big cry.”

“Go to hell!”

“Okay, I’ll say it for you. You won’t fight for your books because you might fail, and you’re so competitive with your sister that you can’t risk that.”

“I’m not competitive with Phoebe. I love her!”

“I don’t doubt that. But your sister is one of the most powerful women in professional sports, and you’re a screw-up.”

“I am not!”

“Then stop acting like one.”

“You don’t understand.”

“I’m starting to understand a lot.” He circled his hand over the back of one of the farmhouse chairs. “As a matter of fact, I think I’ve finally got it.”

“Got what? Never mind, I don’t want to know.” She headed for the kitchen, but he moved in front of her before she could get there.