She welcomed them and chatted with Diane, the catering manager. They’d handled dozens of parties for her and knew what to do. Ten minutes later she climbed the stairs to get ready.

With each step, she felt an ache inside-a physical reminder of what she and Mitch had done.

Sex in the dirt? In the middle of the afternoon? That wasn’t her. She was careful and reserved. She was very aware of her position as the head of a charitable foundation and a single mother. She hadn’t been on a date since before she’d married Ray. Certainly not since his death. She wouldn’t ever allow herself to…

Except she had allowed. She’d done more than that. She’d taken and given and lost herself in a wave of pleasure she hadn’t experienced in nearly nine years. The fire had always burned with Mitch and it still smoldered inside.

“What on earth was I thinking?” she asked herself as she reached the landing. There wasn’t an answer, probably because she hadn’t been thinking.

She walked into her bedroom to find Izzy stretched out on the bed, again watching her TV.

“If you don’t like your bedroom, we can find you another one,” Skye told her.

Izzy sat up. “There’s nothing wrong with my room. I wanted to talk to you before the party.”

“The party you’re not coming to?”

Izzy grinned. “Not even for money. Come on, Skye. Jed’s parties are boring. He expects me to behave.”

“Not an area in which you excel.”

“Exactly.”

Izzy bounced to her feet.

Skye studied her sister. Izzy was the wild child-physically free, emotionally flighty. She feared nothing except getting tied down. Since barely finishing high school, she’d held jobs ranging from ski instructor to underwater welder, the latter being her current position on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I met T.J. last night,” Izzy said.

Skye kicked off her sandals. “After you and I talked about what happened?” She groaned. Izzy was very protective and not exactly rational in her approach. “Tell me you didn’t do something that’s going to humiliate me.”