“You moralistic little bitch,” Marlena screamed as the Mackays and Timothy Cranston stared at her in loathing and pity. “You’re as ignorant as he is. He fucked you and passed out, he didn’t even remember he’d had you.” She laughed as Sierra flinched. “You’re such a stupid little whore.”

“I remembered.”

Sierra whirled around, staring back at him in surprise as his arms came around her.

There were too many witnesses she thought. He was lying to help her save face, nothing more.

“I remembered,” he swore, staring down at her as she fought to believe him. “I was drunk as hell, baby, it just took time, but nothing that important, nothing that special to me could have been forgotten for long.”

His fingers touched the single tear that fell from her eye as those behind her were forgotten. Nothing existed but John. Nothing existed but the fact that he was holding her, that he was there, that he loved her. And that he remembered.

“You’ll regret it,” Marlena suddenly laughed behind her. “Love wears off, trust me, I know.” The bitterness in her voice was self-explanatory.

Turning back to her Sierra stared back at Marlena with true pity. Nothing could have hurt worse in Sierra’s life than losing John forever, but never would she have destroyed herself to get back at him.

“True love doesn’t wear off,” she told Marlena. “It doesn’t strike back, and it keeps the heart warm, even when it wants to forget, when it wants to stop hurting. You never loved anyone but yourself.”

The sound of sirens outside, the rush of officers nearing the boat drew her attention. It was over. The danger was gone. If John asked her to leave, if he decided their time ended with the summer, then she would face it with no regrets.

It would break her heart. It would destroy her. But the love she felt for him would never allow her to harm him or to strike back at him.

Marlena stilled as the officers came through the shattered door. Her gaze flashed with fear before she turned to John with a twisted smile.

“I’ll never see prison,” she whispered.

“I’m afraid you will,” he promised her.

She shook her head. “They won’t let me live long enough.”

John watched, almost smiling as Timothy Cranston stepped forward. Calculated interest filled his expression. “We could discuss that, Ms. Genoa,” he stated with such false innocence that the men in the room couldn’t help but chuckle. “We can discuss that in depth.”

ONE MONTH LATER

Sierra watched, a small smile on her face as the Walker clan, including John’s sister, Rogue, and her husband, Sheriff Zeke Mayes, filled the huge backyard of Dawg Mackay’s two-story ranch house. The Walkers weren’t the only ones there. The entire Mackay clan, including Faisal, Natches’s adopted son, the four precocious toddlers, and Timothy Cranston’s lady friend, as well as a young woman he called his adopted daughter, mingled around the tables of food and the pool, and lounged in the comfortable patio furniture set out.

It was a true barbeque. This was no catered affair. Sierra had been at the house for the past two days. Sierra, Rogue, Kelly, Christa, Janey, and Chaya had helped the men prepare for what they called a family reunion.

She’d never been to a family reunion, and she had to admit, she was rather enjoying this one.

John Calvin Walker Sr., “Calvin” to everyone here but his wife, watched the children, his two grandchildren as well as the Mackays’ toddlers with a small smile as he sipped the clear, homemade liquor Dawg had supplied him with.

Sierra had never seen him in jeans until today. Even Brianna Walker wore jeans, a smile, and a ponytail. She looked as though she had come from the same mountains her husband had been born in.

“It’s about time you managed to snag John’s heart.” Rogue moved up to her, brushing back her long red-gold hair, her gaze affectionate and filled with warmth as she gave Sierra a quick hug. “I swear, I thought my big brother was a goner when he gave Marlena that ring.”

“John was too smart for her.” A satisfied smile curled Sierra’s lips.

She’d learned to live for the moment. She didn’t ask for promises, she never hinted for any from John. It was enough to have each day as it came. To store each memory, each touch, each kiss, just in case he asked her to leave.

“He was indeed,” Rogue agreed. “You love him terribly, don’t you, Sierra?”

She and Rogue had always been friends. No one could have missed her more than Sierra had when she had left Boston so long ago.

“With all my heart,” Sierra agreed.

“He loves you,” Rogue told her then.

Sierra nodded. He told her often that he loved her. He held her, even when she had nightmares, drew her into every facet of his life, and gave her a sense of contentment that she had never known.

But he asked for nothing. No commitment, no nothing. And the time was coming that she had to make a decision. She had a career to return to, a job; she couldn’t live off John, and she wouldn’t live off him. But she couldn’t make the final move without an invitation, without some sort of commitment from him.

“It’s so great to see you together.” Rogue hugged her again. “And I’m so looking forward to having you here. You can help decorate the new house.”

Sierra kept her answer vague and once again pushed back the unsettling thought that perhaps John didn’t want her to stay. Maybe he hadn’t asked for a commitment because he didn’t want one.

“Ah, I see my honey calling me.” Rogue moved away, drawing Sierra’s gaze to Zeke Mayes as he motioned to his wife.

John was moving across the lawn as the music blaring from the speakers at the side of the house quieted and everyone turned to her.

“Hey, lollipop,” John whispered in her ear as he kissed her cheek. “Ready to have some fun?”

“With you?” She laughed back. “You’re always fun, dummy.”

“I’m about to become more fun.”

He knelt in front of her as he caught her left hand.

Sierra stood in shock, her heart suddenly hammering against her chest, throbbing in her throat as she stared down at him.

“You enrich me, Sierra Lucas,” he suddenly announced. “You break the rules, you made my heart full, and you bring me a peace I only dreamed of having.”

Oh God.

She couldn’t cry.

She stared down at him, barely daring to breathe as he held her hand in his and lifted his free hand.

“Sierra Lucas, I’ve requested the approval of your godfather for your hand in marriage. And I now ask you, the other half of me, the one woman that completes me.” A ring slid on her finger. “Will you marry me?”

She stared at the ring in awe. A single diamond surrounded by deep, violet-blue sapphires. It was the heirloom engagement ring John Walker had purchased when he made his first million. A legacy for his wife to pass on to their son’s wife.

The antique ring had been fashioned in the sixteen hundreds, the burnished gold rich with age and priceless sentiment, and it now sat on her finger.

“Don’t leave me cold, Sierra,” John whispered as he stared up at her. “Don’t let me ever have to exist without you again.”

She could feel the eyes watching them, and she didn’t care.

She could feel the men’s amusement, the women’s interest, and none of it mattered.

“I love you,” he stated. “With my heart, my soul. Forever.”

Her lips trembled as a tear fell from her eye.

“Yes.”

He didn’t give her time to say anything more.

He was on his feet, she was in his arms, and he was twirling her around as the sunlight glinted blue off the diamond, and struck fire to the sapphires as she curled her arms around his neck and buried her head against his shoulders.

And the tears fell then.

Happy tears. Tears of joy, of love, of all the hopes and all the dreams she had ever harbored inside her.

They all existed here, in this man’s arms, in the fiery love he gave and the sense of belonging.

She was adrift no more.

“I love you.” Her arms tightened around his neck. “So much, John. I love you so much.”

He sat her gently on her feet, framed her face with his hands, and let his lips touch hers. “Until the day after forever, Sierra. I’ll love you until the day after forever.”

And that was all that mattered.

Her lips parted beneath his as his tongue licked against them and he gave her another of those naughty kisses she loved so much. Deep, powerful, filled with love, arousal, heat, and a promise.

A promise to love her until the day after forever.