from you!â
âYou have a better one?â
She said nothing.
âI didnât think so,â Austin said smugly.
Â
A USTIN HAD BEEN BAITING HER, Paige knew that.
But knowing hadnât kept her from taking the hook.
Get it out of our systems.
Put the whole thing behind us, get on with our lives.
Indeed.
Standing at the counter in Julie and Garrettâs kitchen, upstairs at the Silver Spur ranch house, Paige whacked hard at the green onions she was chopping for the salad. Julie reached out, stopped her by grasping her wrist.
âWhoa,â she said. âIf youâre not careful, youâll chop off a finger.â
Libby, standing nearby and busy pouring white wine into three elegant glasses, grinned knowingly at her two younger sisters.
All three of the McKettrick men were outside, in the small, private courtyard at the bottom of a flight of stucco steps, barbecuing steaks and hamburgers. Calvin, Tateâs twin daughters and the pack of dogs were with them.
âYou know, Paige,â Libby observed, handing her a glass, âif I didnât know better, Iâd think you and Austin wereâback on, or something.â
Julieâs eyes twinkled as she accepted a wineglass for herself and took a sip. âOr something,â she murmured after swallowing.
âStop it, both of you,â Paige protested. âAustin and I are not âback on.â The man infuriates me.â
Libby smiled, resting a hip against the side of thecounter, but said nothing. The firstborn daughter in the Remington family, Libby had light brown hair and expressive blue eyes. She and Tate were crazy about each other, and they would have beautiful children together.
âWhy?â Julie asked. The second sister, a year younger than Libby and a year older than Paige, Julie had chameleon eyes. They seemed a fierce shade of bluish green at the moment, though the color changed with what she was wearing and often looked hazel, and her coppery hair fell naturally into wonderful, spiraling curls past her shoulders.
âWhy?â Paige echoed, stalling.
âWhy does Austin infuriate you?â Julie wanted to know.
âBecause heâs soâsure of himself,â Paige said. There were probably a million reasons, but that was the first to come to mind.
Libby raised both eyebrows. âThis is a bad thing?â she asked.
Paige wanted her sisters to understand. Take her side. If anybody knew how badly her heart had been broken, they did. âHeâs arrogant.â
Julie laughed. âNo,â she said with a shake of her head, âheâs a McKettrick. â
Paige took a sip from her wineglassâand nearly choked. She set the drink aside and promptly forgot all about it. âThe difference beingâ¦?â
Julie and Libby exchanged knowing glances over the rims of their wineglasses.
âIf you still care about Austin,â Julie said presently, after a visible gathering of internal forces, âthereâs nothing wrong with that. Youâre not in high school anymore,after all, and thereâs no denying that the man is all McKettrick.â
Paige folded her arms. âLook,â she said, âI know youâre both madly in love with McKettrick men, and Iâm happy for youâI really, truly amâbut if you think Iâm going to decide all is forgiven and fall into Austinâs bed as if nothing ever happened, youâre sadly mistaken.â
âSheâs not going to fall into Austinâs bed,â Libby said to Julie very seriously.
âSheâs not going to fall back into Austinâs bed,â Julie said.
Paige stepped between them and waved both arms. âHello? Iâm in the room,â she told her sisters. âI can hear everything youâre saying.â
Libby and Julie laughed. And they raised their wineglasses to each other.
âI give them seventy-two hours,â Libby