Sweet Talk. Susan Mallery

about her visit and wasn’t going to be happy to see her. Despite repeated calls to Jesse’s cell phone, she’d been unable to catch her, nor had Jesse answered any of her messages. Obviously something was going on, but Claire was confident it was little more than a misunderstanding that could be easily cleared up. At least that’s what she told herself every time her stomach flipped over or her chest started to constrict.

      She tightened her grip on her handbag as she exited the elevator and started down the long hallway. The signs pointed to the nurses’ station, but before she got there, she saw Nicole in a wheelchair being pushed by a nurse, with Wyatt bringing up the rear.

      Emotions flooded Claire, bringing her to a stop as she just stared at the sister she hadn’t seen in years. Nicole looked good, pale, but that made sense. The woman had just had surgery. She wore a zip-up hoodie over a T-shirt, with her hair pulled back in ponytail. Claire instantly felt overdressed.

      “Nicole,” she whispered, fierce joy filling her. They were together again. Finally.

      “Oh, crap,” Nicole muttered. “Can I get more drugs?”

      “Your sister?” the nurse asked. “You look alike. Almost like twins.”

      “Fraternal and don’t make a bad situation worse by talking about it,” Nicole said.

      Wyatt put his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll take care of this.” He walked to Claire. “What are you doing here? I told you not to come.”

      She ignored him and Nicole’s snarky comments, instead rushing forward, then crouching in front of her sister. She wanted to hug her, but was afraid of hurting her. She settled on touching her arm and smiling into her eyes.

      “You look great. How do you feel?”

      Nicole stared at her. “Like I had an organ ripped out. What are you doing here?”

      “I’m taking you home.”

      “No, you’re not,” Wyatt said. “That’s why I’m here.”

      “What are you doing in Seattle?” Nicole asked. “Please tell me it’s a short visit that ends in an hour.”

      “I heard about your surgery, so I flew here to take care of you.”

      “That’s so sweet,” the nurse said.

      “I don’t need your help,” Nicole said. “Go away.”

      Claire was doing her best not to react to all the hostility. She told herself that her sister was in pain, that Wyatt didn’t know her and that a lot of time and bad feelings had come between the Keyes sisters. It was going to take more than a day to heal old wounds.

      What she wanted to do was stand up, stomp her foot and point out that she was the wronged party here. That Nicole had turned her back on Claire years ago and refused to reconsider her position. That she’d been blamed for things that had hurt her just as much as them. But there was no point in starting there. She was here for a purpose.

      She stood. “I’m not going anywhere.You need me.”

      Nicole groaned. “I need a lot of things, but you’re not one of them. Wyatt, did I tell you to shoot me before? Did you listen?”

      Wyatt put his hand on her shoulder. “I told you I couldn’t do that.”

      “All men are useless,” Nicole muttered, then looked back at Claire. “You want to get up so I can get out of here? I hurt, I’m tired and I just want to go home.”

      “My car is right out front,” Claire told her. “I know the way. I practiced the drive.”

      “We’re all so proud.”

      The nurse gave Claire a sympathetic smile, then pushed her patient toward the elevators. Claire trailed after them, not sure what to say or do. She couldn’t force Nicole into her car. Maybe it would be better to let Wyatt deal with getting Nicole to the house and Claire could take over from there.

      Still, it hurt to be rejected and ignored. She’d hoped things would be different.

      “I’ll change them,” she told herself as they walked out into the cool, spring morning.

      There was a large truck parked in front of the entrance. Wyatt opened the passenger door, then lifted Nicole inside and put her on the seat.

      Claire watched, aching at the sight of the tenderness and care Wyatt displayed. She wanted a little of that for herself. Not from Wyatt, but from someone. She wanted a man to care about her, worry about her. She wanted friends and family. She wanted a life.

      Which was mostly what she’d come home to find.

      CHAPTER THREE

      “I THOUGHT YOU WERE LYING,” Nicole said as they pulled out of the hospital parking lot. “I thought I was having drug-induced hallucinations. I can’t believe she’s here. She’s possibly the most useless human being on the planet. Why me? Why now?”

      Wyatt didn’t have any answers, so he kept quiet. He’d heard enough about Claire over the years to form an unflattering opinion of her. But today, at the hospital, she’d looked so hopeful and wounded at the same time. He’d almost felt bad for her.

      Which only proved what a fool he was when it came to women. He always picked wrong. He had the divorce to prove it. Nicole knew her sister a whole lot better than he did, and he trusted Nicole. What she said went.

      “What are you going to do about her?” he asked.

      “I supposed asking you to shoot her would be a waste of time.” She sighed. “I don’t know. Ignore her and hope she goes away.”

      “You’re going to need some help, at least for a couple of days. You won’t be able to take care of yourself.”

      He kept his eyes on the road, but felt Nicole’s angry stare. “You have got to be kidding me. You’re not suggesting I let her stay and attempt to take care of me. Do you know how incredibly useless she is? She’s not a person, Wyatt. She’s a trained monkey. I’m amazed she can even drive a car. Oh, wait. I haven’t seen the car. I’ll bet you money it’s a limo, with a driver. Claire wouldn’t want to risk her delicate and valuable hands by actually doing work. Holding the steering wheel might impact her performance and we wouldn’t want that.”

      He’d known the sisters didn’t get along and the bare bones of the estrangement, but he’d never understood the depth of Nicole’s anger and bitterness before.

      Nicole had been hurt when Claire had gone away, but until now, he’d never known the wounds went so deep. Sarcasm and black humor concealed a lot of pain. It was just like her to play the bitter bitch to protect herself.

      “I can come over in the evenings,” he said. “After work.”

      She slumped down in the seat, then pressed her arm into her midsection and groaned. “I don’t want that. You have to take care of Amy. I’ll be fine.”

      “No, you won’t.”

      “I don’t want to think about it. Not right now.”

      None of this was supposed to be a problem, he reminded himself. When the surgery had been scheduled, Drew, Nicole’s husband, had still been in the picture.

      Wyatt thought of his stepbrother and instantly wanted to pound him into the ground. What a total idiot. Talk about screwing up big-time. Drew had crossed the line and Nicole was never going to forgive him. Wyatt wasn’t sure he would be able to forgive his brother either.

      He glanced in his rearview mirror and saw Claire in the car behind them. Even from a couple of car lengths away, he could see her death grip on the steering wheel and the determination in her face.

      “You should move in with me and Amy,” he said. “That’s the easiest solution.”

      “No.”

      “You’re