“It wasn’t a conversation so much as me talking to her. She really cares for you, Michael.”

His palms were actually sweating. So much for his perfect day. “I care for her, too.”

“Last year when we all heard about your marriage I remember watching the coverage on TV and thinking it was all a Hollywood stunt. A prank for a movie or something like it. Then after you talked with Mom and Dad and you told them you really were married I still didn’t believe it.”

“We really are married.” He tried to laugh but it came out strangled.

“Yeah, I get that. But you’re not going to stay that way.”

He stumbled, but kept walking.

“That’s what I told Karen. She didn’t seem surprised by my observation.”

Was that what this was about? A divorce? “We have had some problems,” he said. “Being married to me isn’t that easy.” He tried to put the blame on him.

Rena released an exasperated sigh. “Please, Mike. I know you’re not divorcing Karen because it isn’t working out between you. You’re divorcing her because that was in the plan all along.”

The pounding in his temple started to throb. “Did she tell you that?”

“Of course not. And stop looking at me like that. You did have a life here before you moved away, Mike. You might not remember all the conversations you and I had when you were a kid, but I remember them.”

They stopped now, feet from the lake, and were watching each other.

“I think you married Karen because your image needed it. The blockbuster superstar Michael Wolfe needed a wife. So poof! Here’s a wife.”

He swallowed. “Does anyone else think this?”

“Mom and Dad? No. And I don’t think Hannah and Judy…or even Zach realize this either. Not yet anyway. Though I think Zach suspects something isn’t right.”

“But Joe?”

“Joe’s my husband. We talk about everything. As I suspect you and Karen talk about everything.”

He wanted to tell his sister she was wrong…he couldn’t.

“Please…please don’t say anything to them.”

Rena tilted her head to the side and offered a sad smile. “I won’t.”

A sense of relief washed over him. At least there was one person in his family that understood his marriage arrangement. One ally when the divorce took place.

Michael hugged his sister.

Before she pulled away, she whispered, “I also know you’re g*y.”

When the cabin came into view, Zach felt Karen straighten on the back of the bike. Her arms loosened around his waist and her br**sts no longer sat snug against his back. He missed her instantly. He had no idea what he was going to do about his attraction. She was equally torn, desperate even. There were times in his life when he heard about someone having an affair, and he always thought how stupid could two people be? Why would someone risk so much for a f**k? But damn, that wasn’t Karen. This was more than physical and they both knew it. If it were only physical, they’d have probably given in by now, jumped in full force and not danced around with conversation.

No, Zach wanted to explore the woman riding behind him on his bike, and not just in bed. He wanted to understand the sad look in her eyes when she talked about the kids she took such loving care of at the club. Why did she say she didn’t want kids, yet act like they were the most precious thing in the world?

If there was one thing their brief intimate moment proved, it was that he wasn’t sated. He wanted more. So much more.

Zach helped Karen off his bike, held on to her elbow a little too long. Their eyes met briefly.

“Wow! Looks like you two went one-on-one with Loch Ness herself.”

From the porch, Rena sat with Mike, both of them watching them with smiles.

Trusting smiles.

The situation was making him sicker by the hour.

Karen lifted her arms in the air. “There was a flock of birds…I fell in the lake.”

Mike’s smile fell. “Oh. Are you OK?”

“Scared the crap out of me.” Karen offered a coy smile to Zach. “Then Zach started to laugh.”

“Ah, now I understand the mud all over Zach. She hates birds, big brother. With a passion. Telling her they aren’t out to peck her eyes or claw her hair won’t make her believe it.”

“I’m right here! And they do those things all the time.” Karen shuddered. “After last year with Gwen…” She hugged herself, lost in thought.

“What happened with Gwen?” Zach asked.

“There was a guy stalking her, leaving dead ravens at the house, by our cars…” Karen’s voice drifted off and Mike finished for her.

“The guy wasn’t after Gwen, but using her to get to Neil. You met them at the party.”

“Big guy and British woman, right?”

“Right. Well, Neil is an ex-Marine. The guy after him was one of his men back when he served. He took out Gwen and Karen’s neighbors while we were in France.”

“Took out?” Rena asked.

“Murdered,” Michael elaborated. “Thank God Karen wasn’t there when that happened. He left ravens everywhere, apparently.”

“It was awful.” Karen’s voice dropped to low tones.

Zach reached out and rubbed Karen’s arm. He actually felt bad for laughing at her now that he heard the story.

“What happened to the stalker?” Rena asked.

Zach glanced at his brother.

Mike gave a quick slicing gesture to his neck, his explanation clear.

“My fear of birds happened long before last year. It’s just the way I’m wired,” Karen told them.

Thinking nothing of the move, Zach gave her a quick hug. His arm slipped away when he looked up to find Rena staring at him. Mike, on the other hand, was staring at Rena.

“I need a shower,” Karen announced as she ducked away from Zach and up the short stairs into the cabin.

Mike followed Karen into the cabin, and Zach watched them go.

He dragged his hands over his chest to rub off some of the caked on mud before he made his way to the second shower of his day.

“Oh, boy,” Rena mumbled before Zach could walk by.

“Excuse me?”

Rena shook her head, and didn’t meet his gaze. “Nothing. Think I’ll go find the girls for dinner.”

No sooner did Karen step from the shower than Michael confronted her.

“We need to make our excuses and leave.” He whispered his words and kept glancing over his shoulder to the voices that carried from outside the cabin.