Drake Sisters 02 - The Twilight Before Christmas

for a little lavender, but anything is fine.” Hannah scrutinized Kate closely. “But let’s go with chamomile. Something soothing.”
    Kate smiled. “You think I need a little soothing?”
    Hannah nodded as she measured the tea into a smal pot. “Tel me.”
    “I ran into Matthew Granite and his brother Danny.” Kate tried to sound casual, when her entire body was trembling. Only Matt could do that to her.
    Only Matt moved her. She’d never understood why.
    “Matthew Granite? I thought that might be him.” Hannah’s huge blue eyes settled on her sister with compassion and interest. “How did he seem?”
    Kate shrugged her slender shoulders. “Wonderful. Helpful. He offered to look at the old mil for me and help with the renovations.” She always enjoyed looking at her younger sister. Hannah wasn’t just beautiful, she was strikingly so, exotical y so, with her bone structure, abundance of pale, almost platinum hair, her enormous, heavily lashed eyes, and sultry lips. Beauty radiated from her. Kate had always thought Hannah’s extraordinary beauty came from the inside out. She watched the graceful movements of Hannah’s hands as she went about making tea. “Matt’s always so helpful.” She sighed.
    Hannah reached out to her, clasping Kate’s hands in a gesture of solidarity. “Was it the same?”
    “You mean with his brothers laughing al the time? Wel , only one was with him, Danny.” Color crept up under Kate’s skin. “Yes, of course. Every time I get anywhere near the Granites they al laugh. I have no idea why. It isn’t the same way Jonas is with you. Matthew never needles me. He’s always perfectly polite, but I seem to have some humorous effect on his family. I try as hard as I can just to be polite and calm, but the brothers laugh until I want to go check a mirror to see if I have spinach in my teeth. Matthew just glares at them, but it real y draws attention to al the sil y things I do in front of him.” She squeezed Hannah’s fingers before letting her hand go. “I’ve showered and changed, but I came home with my clothes covered with dirt. Poor Matthew just came from work, was dusting himself off, and I had to be two steps behind him. When he tried to open his truck door, of course I managed to get too close.”
    “Oh, Katie, honey, I’m so sorry. What happened?” Hannah’s face mirrored her sister’s distress.
    Kate shrugged. “The door nearly knocked me over, and he had to apologize yet again. The poor man spends every minute apologizing to me. I’l bet he wishes he never had to see me again.”
    “No he doesn’t,” Hannah said firmly. “I think he’s always been sweet on you.”
    Kate sighed. “You and I both know Matthew Granite would never look at me twice. He’s wild and rough and an adrenaline junkie. He played every sport in high school and col ege. He joined the Rangers. I researched what they do. Even their creed is a bit frightening. They arrive at the ‘cutting edge of battle’ and they never fail their comrades and give more than one hundred percent. The creed says things like fight on even if you’re the lone survivor, and surrender is not a Ranger word.” She shuddered delicately. “He’s a wild man, and he does very scary wild things. He’s going to look at women who climb mountains and scoff in the face of danger. Can you see me doing that?”
    “Kate,” Hannah said softly, “maybe he’s more settled now. He went out and did his save the world thing and now he’s come home and he’s working the family business. He could have changed.”

    Kate forced a fleeting smile. “Men like Matthew don’t change, Hannah. I was tel ing you my tale of woe. We were just at the point where Jonas drove up. You know how he has to make his little ‘Drake sisters’ comments. He implied every time I was around something awful happened. It just made the situation worse.” She sighed again. “I tried to look as though it didn’t bother me, but I think Matthew knew.”
    “Jonas Harrington needs to fal into the ocean and have a nice hungry shark come swimming by.” Hannah dragged the whistling teakettle from the stove and splashed water into the teapot, a fine fury radiating from her at the thought of Jonas Harrington saying anything to upset Kate. The water boiled in the little china teapot, bubbles roiling and bursting with a steady fury. Steam rose.
    Kate covered the top of the teapot with her palm, settling the water back down. “You were out