Balloons and ribbons festooned the front of the Turk family home. Sparkly gold letters spelled out Leah’s name. Below that, pink and silver glitter competed to crown her the “Birthday Princess.”

“Daddy, my name!” Leah squealed, a huge smile plastered across her delicate face.

“That’s right, baby girl.” Unbuckling Leah’s safety harness, Jake lifted her out of the car seat.

“Birthday, daddy!”

“Is it?” he teased.

Seeing the genuine smile on Jake’s face, Sage felt an invisible giant pressing its foot against her chest, breathing suddenly impossible. Her brother had spent the last few days pacing back and forth after she told him she would be working for the Turk’s cattle operations. Even after she explained using the LLC, she couldn’t get him to relax. Nothing could dispel the cloud of doom he imagined hanging over his head, tracking his every step.

Nor could Sage get him to understand that the lies and omissions he had fed the Turks were worse than the truth he and Sage shared between them.

At least, for the moment, seeing his little girl so happy, he was happy, too.

Adler bounded down from the porch. He didn’t make it to the truck in time to open Sage’s door, but he stood ready to carry the big, wrapped box containing Jake’s present for his daughter while Sage grabbed the smaller gifts.

Meeting his gaze, she involuntarily matched his smile as a little of the pressure in her chest eased. She had plenty of reasons to both dislike and distrust the man. He’d nearly given her a heart attack the first time they met and had essentially blackmailed her into taking the job. And no matter how wet and willing she had been in the bathroom, he had tried to use her arousal to get the truth out of her. Despite all that, being around Adler gave Sage the sense that things would work out. That, by sheer force of will, he would make things right.

“Honey Bee drive you crazy this morning?” he asked.

Sage’s smile broadened into a grin. She liked Adler using the nickname and his question brought to mind the hectic but joyful morning getting the little girl ready for her party.

“She certainly was buzzing around a lot,” Sage answered. “You would think that box you’re holding was one giant flower as much time as she spent hovering next to it.”

He leaned close, whispering in her ear. “Is it the pink vintage dream kitchen? I remember Dawn was saving up for that.”

Hitting the porch steps, Sage nodded then froze for a second. “What is that smell?”

“It’s a ranch,” Adler joked. “Which of the hundred plus smells are you talking about, Miss Ballard?”

“My cake,” Lindy guessed, holding the screen door open to let everyone pass through.

“My cake, Gam-Gam,” Leah corrected as Jake put her down in the hallway.

“Yes, love. It’s your cake, I just baked it.”

“It smells so good I’m afraid to have any.” Sage followed Adler into the great room where more presents were stacked around the fireplace. “Like when you’re a little kid and first discover ice cream and it makes perfect sense that’s all you should ever eat again.”

“Was it store-bought ice cream?” he asked, taking the bag of smaller gifts from her.

Their hands brushed for a second during the exchange. An electric thrill raced across Sage’s body. She hadn’t touched him since Wednesday right before they got out of his truck. That was when, without thinking, she had placed her hand over his and offered a light squeeze. There had been no hot sizzle then. For her at least, she had felt a deep ringing, like a bell or one of those big metal plates being struck over and over. It had echoed all through her. Even her bones had vibrated with the sensation.

“Yes, store bought.” She caught herself before she could say that her mother never had time to be much of a homemaker. Meals were healthy, rooms were clean, homework had a guiding hand when necessary—but the rest of her mom’s time was devoted to long hours at work keeping a roof over her children’s heads.

“Well then, this is going to be ten times more earth-shattering than when you discovered ice cream.” Leaning all the way in, his lips brushed her ear for a second as his breath steamed her neck with a whisper. “Siobhan calls it the O Cake. I wouldn’t say it’s quite that good, but close enough.”

A whole lot of heat flooded Sage’s cheeks. It wasn’t just what was said, but the man saying it and how close he stood, how intimate the whisper. It was the memory of his touching her, kissing her, making Sage ready and wet for him.

She was going to need a lot of ice water to put out the fire if he whispered in her ear again.

“Whoa, baby girl!” Catching Leah about to open the big box, Adler darted over and scooped the toddler into his arms. “Party first, presents later.”

“Box first!”

When Adler shook his head, she cupped her hands around his chin and tried to get him to nod. Tears of laughter glinted in his eyes as he handed her off to Jake.

The porch screen banged shut as Siobhan entered the house, pulling in her wake a man and a woman, both of them around Lindy’s age. Both were dark haired with strands of gray showing. The man had eyes that matched Adler’s, marking him as a Turk. The woman’s were a dark brown, like Siobhan’s. Broad cheeked with a short chin and light brown skin that didn’t look like a tan, Sage guessed the woman’s heritage was at least partly indigenous. She also guessed the woman was Siobhan’s mother, their height nearly equal and only time differentiating their beauty.

“Mom, Dad,” Siobhan said, leading her parents into the great hall to where Sage stood by the fireplace. “This is Jake’s sister, Sage. My slowpoke siblings will be along shortly. I think Cassian is still wrapping his gift to Leah.”

“Claire and Boone, correct?” Sage asked, shaking their hands.

The introduction looped a garrote around Sage’s throat. She couldn’t say Jake had mentioned them to her without inviting, at a minimum, the thought in their heads that Jake hadn’t mentioned her to them or anyone else. And, of course, everything he told her about Dawn’s family was only since her arrival in Willow Gap. He hadn’t covered all of Boone’s kids. The entire day was going to be a minefield in terms of what Sage felt comfortable asking while carefully avoiding someone turning any particular question back on her. Every workday would be the same until she convinced Jake to come clean.

Leah saved Sage from having to say anything more at the moment to Boone and Claire. But the little one was merely slinging her aunt from one fire to the next when she came and grabbed Sage’s hand. Leah led her over to a desk along one side of the great room. A computer keyboard and mouse occupied the surface, as well as a large monitor. The screen was split with two windows open, a different handsome face filling each.

The screen on the left had a live feed of a male in an Army uniform, the area behind him appearing to be a tent with no hint of sunlight outside. To the right sat a male in a shirt and tie, the space beyond the screen filled with overflowing bookshelves and an old metal file cabinet.

“Aunt Sage,” Leah said by way of introduction, then pointed at the soldier. “Sutton.”

Slowly her finger drifted right.

“Em-er-son.”

These were the twins, Sage realized. They might have been conceived and born at the same time, but they weren’t identical. Sutton had red hair like Adler, but their mother’s green eyes. Emerson had dark hair like Walker and the midnight blue gaze of his oldest brother. Otherwise, they were very much alike, strong jaws, thick brows, and firm, full mouths that had probably entertained many a female.

“Nice to meet you,” Sage said, hyperaware that there was a camera atop the monitor pointed at her, the men’s first impression clearly expressed in Sutton’s quirked brow and the downturn at one corner of Emerson’s mouth.

Lifting Leah up, she placed the toddler in the desk chair. “Technology is so wonderful, isn’t it, that Leah can talk with you on her birthday?”

Moving out of camera range, Sage took a step back and bumped into the broad chest and narrow hips of Adler Turk. She knew who it was without turning her head. His scent was permanently scarred along the soft linings of her nose and she felt the hot flash of electricity as their bodies made contact.

Sage sucked in air as Adler stepped to the side, his hand landing on the small of her back as he leaned forward and nodded at his brothers.

“You guys can entertain the birthday princess. I need to steal Miss Ballard away on work matters for a few minutes.”

As Adler walked her toward the hall that led to Dawn’s old office, she could have sworn she heard one of the brothers snicker.

Nice work if you can get it.

Her cheeks were absolutely flaming as they reached the area outside Dawn’s office. The temperature went up a notch when Adler passed the door and went on to the next.

“My office,” he explained, waving her in.

Sweet Heavens, she wondered, was she going to have to work that close to Adler Turk? Wasn’t he supposed to be out riding cows and roping horses, or whatever it was cowboys did?

He plopped into a comfy leather seat, opened a drawer and poked around. Pulling out a couple of key chains, he picked one and slid it toward the center of the desk.

“I might have heard you were looking at Jimmy Hunt’s junker. I’m not letting my niece—or you—ride around in it.”

Sage’s mouth flattened and she offered an eye roll, but she didn’t ask if Betty Rae had blabbed about that, too. She assumed the woman had. Jimmy Hunt lived on Jake’s street and Sage hadn’t mentioned the potential purchase to her brother yet. For the time being, he had agreed he would drop Sage and Leah off at the ranch on his way to work. But that meant getting the little girl up early and home late.

“She means well,” Adler offered, reading Sage’s mind as to the rumor’s source.

Saying nothing, she picked up the keys.

“There’s a log book in the glove box. I don’t care how much you drive it and what percent is for business, just record the miles daily. There’s also a company card for filling up at Tumbleweed. Keep the receipt if you fill it up anywhere else and submit a reimbursement request to me.”

She nodded, her heart breaking into a gallop when he unexpectedly sighed.

“Seeing as it’s a company car—I’m supposed to run your driver’s license for insurance purposes.”

And so it begins, she thought, chiding herself for believing she could take the job without exposing more of her background to the family.

Frowning, Sage placed the keys on the desk.

Adler raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not asking you to spill your brother’s secret. That’s between him and me.”

He nodded at the keys. “Take them. I’ll square it with the insurance company. Just drive safely.”

“Of course.”

“It’s parked by the garage if you want to take it home today.”

“That would probably be the simplest way to handle it,” Sage agreed.

“Car seat is already in place, so you won’t need to run to Billings or take the one out of Jake’s truck.”

Nodding, she felt a pinch in her nose. The man didn’t need to be so considerate. Of course, he was doing it for Leah’s safety and not for Sage’s convenience, but with the kind of assets the Turk family had to call on, they could take the issue of Leah’s safety entirely out of Jake and Sage’s hands.

She needed to convince Jake that no one wanted to take his daughter away. They only wanted to make sure she was happy and secure. If Sage could get her brother to recognize that the Turks’ motives were good, then she and Jake could clear the past and make way for the future, one where she would be allowed back in Jake’s life.

She couldn’t return to being alone again, not after holding Leah.

Vision blurring, Sage heard Adler slide his chair away from the desk. His hip bumped against the furniture as he quickly rounded its corner to wrap his hands around her biceps.

“Tell me why you’re crying,” he demanded, thumbs stroking just below her shoulders. “What did I say or do that was wrong?”

She shook her head. The man was certainly overbearing at times, but, at that moment, in that room, he was doing everything right.

“Tell me, Sage.”

She shook her head again, flinging the tears that refused to remain confined. Her mouth bobbed open and shut, trying and failing to find the right words.

“I hate that you’re stuck in the middle of this,” he said, pulling her close to him.

Her chest pressed against his. Her hips followed. A warning bell went off in her head, but she didn’t pull back. Tilting her face up, she tried to see through the tears.

Adler slid one hand to curl around the back of her neck. His breathing had slowed and deepened, so had hers.

“Family doesn’t lie to one another,” he said.

She could feel the sweet-scented breeze of his words against her lips, feel the heat of his body burning through their clothes.

“There’s no relationship without truth,” he pressed.

Sage blinked fresh tears. She wanted to tell him he was wrong. Almost half her life had been a lie—and it had been a better life in most ways before the truth came out.

“You don’t understand…”

“What?” Adler pleaded, his other hand moving up to cup along the side of her chin. He took a step forward, moving Sage backward until the desk pushed at her flesh.

The maneuver reminded Sage of being in the bathroom with him and how badly that had ended, but only for a second. Wanting to give herself over to this man, a sob ripped through her.

“Jake told the truth before and it ruined everything—”

She looked up at Adler, her gaze wide, tears still flowing freely. He kissed her wet cheek, murmuring that it was okay, that it didn’t matter what the truth was. There was no denying Jake loved Leah and had loved Dawn with all his heart. It only mattered that the truth was being withheld. Trust was a two-way street.

His hands and words soothed, so did the warm press of his lips against her face. She turned limp in his embrace, her mouth sliding to find his.

Sage opened to him, savored the first tentative nibble at her bottom lip then the gentle, exploratory sweep of his tongue. Her hands fisted his shirt, her entire being clinging to this man.

And then she pushed him away.

“Sage…I wasn’t…I mean—” He exhaled in a hot rush. “I only wanted to comfort you.”

“I know,” she said, believing him. What had happened between them in the bathroom wasn’t a tactic to get the truth from her. She understood that at last.

But that fact no longer mattered. Adler was right—there could be no relationship without truth. But she wouldn’t force Jake to say anything before he was ready. More than her, he had been hurt by their past. He had been the one to make public their mother’s relationship with a powerful man. He had been the catalyst for the two of them visiting their father’s home, standing in front of their father’s wife and being judged by the bitter woman as nothing more than trash. Throwaway children from a throwaway affair that had lasted nineteen years.

As much as she wanted to feel the sweet caress of Adler Turk’s lips and hands, there could be nothing between them while her past, and all the trouble carried with it, remained hidden.

She pulled further away, leaving the circle of his arms. Forcing a trembling smile, she wiped at tears that hadn’t dried. Moving to the door, she looked at him over her shoulder.

“We’ve been gone too long. We need to get back.”