Ben kicked the broken table out of his way and sat down in her giant recliner, keeping her wrapped in a desperate embrace of fear and guilt. He’d been sitting outside in the truck thinking the worst, and she’d been in here trying to fight off a brutal attack.

“Let me look at you, honey. Where are you hurt?”

He couldn’t pry her loose of the protective fist she’d made of her body, and the last thing he wanted to do was force her. So he simply held her, rubbing her back.

As Mike rushed into the living room, he suddenly stopped and looked around at the destruction. Michael’s face paled as he brought his gaze back to his aunt on Ben’s lap.

“N … Nem? Nemmy? What happened?”

Ben motioned him over. “Simms attacked her. Come talk to her, Mike. I can’t tell how badly she’s hurt. She’s too upset.”

Three strides and Mike was kneeling beside the chair. He reached out and lightly touched Emma’s head. She stirred, but didn’t look up. It felt to Ben like she was trying to burrow under his shirt and hide.

“Oh, Nemmy. Did Galen do this to you?”

“Go away, Mikey,” came a muffled, distant plea.

“Tell me where you’re hurt.”

“I’m fine. Go away.”

“He won’t leave until you prove it, Emma. Let us take a look at you,” Ben urged, nudging his finger under her chin, which was like trying to wedge an elephant into a keyhole. Ben forced the issue and quietly sucked in his breath.

“Mike, go get us an ice pack.”

The boy nearly tripped over himself rushing to the kitchen. Ben lifted her chin again. “You’ve got the makings of one hell of a shiner, Emma. You’re going to have to sit up and let us take care of you.”

Her eyes were scrunched tight and leaking tears, and her cheek was already turning colorful. He had to use his shoulder to push her upright, and then he suddenly had to use both his hands to keep her from bolting off his lap.

“Easy now. Don’t get shy on me.”

Her eyes finally made contact with his, and just as suddenly she looked down at his chest and her whole face turned scarlet.

“My God. You’re embarrassed? Emma, look at me.”

She darted a worried glance at the kitchen door. “I . . . I don’t want Michael to see me like this,” she whispered. She tried to scoot off his lap again. “Let me go to my room.”

“So you can curl up in a ball in the closet?”

She shuddered. “I’m okay now. I just sort of … Galen surprised me. I … I never thought I could be overpowered like that. I thought only weak women were victims.”

“Hell, Emma, the bastard weighs nearly twice what you do. You can’t expect to stand up to a man the size of Simms, no matter how fit you are. You have nothing to be ashamed about.”

She gave him an uncertain look, then shuddered. “You can let me up now.”

“You might be calming down, but it’s going to take me a little longer. Are you hurt anywhere else?”

She shook her head.

Ben didn’t believe her. He’d felt her flinch when he’d stopped her from jumping off his lap. More than just her face and her confidence was bruised.

“Here’s an ice pack,” Michael said, returning to the room. “Shit! That bastard punched you!”

Emma covered the evidence of Simms’s attack with her hand. “‘Bastard’ may be appropriate, Mikey, but its not a word I want to hear coming from you.” She turned a one-eyed glare on Ben. “This is your fault.”

“That Simms attacked you?”

“No. That Mikey has started swearing.” She took the ice pack from her nephew and gingerly touched it to her cheek. “If this is an example of your fatherly influence on him, it’s probably time you went back to New York.”

“It won’t work, Emma.”

She blinked at him.

“The subject is not Mike’s language, nor mine. Where else are you hurt?”

She blinked again.

“Then I guess I’ll just take you to the bedroom, strip off your clothes, and find out for myself.”

Emma darted a look at Mike, who was wholeheartedly nodding approval of Ben’s threat. She brought her right hand up. “I hurt my hand when I punched him back. Are you satisfied now?”

Her knuckles were bright red and swelling.

“Nem? Why did Galen attack you?”

“I told him I wouldn’t marry him. And that I was selling Medicine Creek Camps.”

“What! Why did you say that?”

“Because I am.”

“But you can’t!”

“Sure I can. I may have already found a buyer.”

Ben leaned back in the chair but kept his hands securely on her hips. The surprises just kept coming—from finding out he had a son to finding out he loved that son to discovering he was even willing to marry his son’s aunt.

“When did you decide this?” Ben shot a worried look at Michael. Emma was going to push the boy, all right. Only it was a matter of who got pushed over the edge first—Mike or Ben.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now.”

She was positioning the bag of ice over her hand with the attention of a scientist working on a complicated experiment.

Mike gave Ben an uncertain look, silently asking him if this was a good revelation or a major snag in their plans. Ben didn’t know what to tell the boy, so he asked Emma, “And what do you plan to do then?”

She still refused to look up. “I thought I might go to college.”

“What?” Michael asked.

Emma looked at her nephew. “I’ve always wanted to be a marine biologist. I love the ocean. And I want to go live by it.”

“Well, Jeez, Nem. You could have said something a little sooner. You could have sold the camps years ago.”

She tried to get off Ben’s lap, and this time he let her go. She stood up and faced Mike. “You and I weren’t ready years ago.”

Ben rolled his eyes and also stood up. “Well, ready or not, here comes life, people.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at them both. “You two have been spending all your time trying to outmaneuver each other—and me—instead of seeing the obvious. Now both of you are going to sit down on that couch while I tell you how things are going to be from now on.”

“This isn’t your boardroom, Mr. Sinclair. You can’t order us around.”

One small step brought Ben’s face within inches of hers. “Sit.”

Mike pulled her down on the couch beside him. Ben smiled at her glower.

“You, Emma Sands, are not going to sell anything. The threeof us are going to stay right here at Medicine Creek Camps until Mike graduates from high school. There’s no sense in uprooting him at this point.”

“Then you’re moving to your own cabin.”

Ben still smiled. “That’s fine. I’m going to have to bring in some office equipment, so a separate cabin would work better for me. Like you, I have a business to run. But I’ll be taking my meals here.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but Ben continued. “And you, Michael, will stop coming straight home after school. You’ll stay and play some basketball. Or hang out with the guys. Flirt with the girls, and get into trouble if you have to. But you’re going to get into teenagetrouble—not confrontations with Crazy Larry, the FAA, or the Highway Patrol. Understood?”

Emma jumped up from the couch. “Are you implying that I’ve kept Michael away from his friends?”

Ben took hold of her shoulders and sat her back down, smiling with all the confidence of a man who knew he was finally in control of the situation. “No, I’m not saying any such thing. Michael has kept himself isolated because he’s too old for his own good.”

He straightened and looked at his son. “I don’t care if you’re smarter than Einstein, Mike. You’re going to burn yourself out if you don’t start learning to kick back a little. It’s time you started being fifteen, not fifty.”

Ben could tell that Mike wanted to say something, but his very intelligence kept him silent. And probably a little shock.

“And just what will you be doing while Mikey is getting into trouble and I’m not selling my camps?” Emma asked.