SEALed With a Kiss: Even a Hero Needs Help Sometimes... Read Online Free PDF Page B

the three years that separated them had seemed unbridgeable when Lyle had been a teenager attempting to find herself as an artist while coming to grips with her sexual identity. Even so, their shared love of creatures had always been a bond.
    "I'm so happy to see you! Even though you've stolen my dogs again." Bumping the dogs out of the way with her knees, Pickett took Lyle into her arms. Pickett was the youngest and shortest of her siblings while Lyle was the tallest. The inequity in their heights meant Pickett's face was pressed into Lyle's shoulder. She had to step back to look into Lyle's face. "What are you doing here, Lyle? I wasn't expecting you until the weekend."
    "The meeting with the client got moved up because of the hurricane. We flew into Wilmington this morning and we leave again tonight."
    "You mean you're not going to stay? I'm so disappointed!"
    "My boss has visions of being stranded in Wilmington the way people were in New Orleans. I keep trying to tell him a Category One hurricane is not the same thing at all. He's got a point though. They probably will start canceling flights if the weather service upgrades the watch to a warning. You almost missed me. I was going to leave you a note."
    "I wanted us to have the whole weekend together," Pickett wailed. "I was late getting home because I had to close up the Howells' cottage for them." And because I spent an extra hour interfering in the life of a stranger. Talking to a man who, now that he knows who I am, prefers to remain a stranger.
    Pickett opened the screen door to let Lyle and the dogs in.
    Lyle quirked a dubious eyebrow. "They asked you to help?"
    For a second Pickett stared at Lyle, thinking she'd somehow read her mind. She felt her cheeks get hot, and her heart thumped in embarrassment. Then who her sister meant clicked in. "The Howells? No. Mother told them I would."
    Lyle's lips curled. "Sucker."
    Lyle loved to play the hard-ass. She didn't know what an idiot Pickett had been this afternoon; nevertheless, the sisterly jab stung. "Easy for you to say! You moved all the way to New York City to get outside Mom's reach. At least I had the nerve to try to live my life on my terms while still in the same state with her."
    Lyle planted a fist on her hip. "Nerve, hell. You thought if you didn't rebel too much, she wouldn't disapprove too much."
    "Hey, you're the rebel, not me," Pickett defended herself. "I'll grant you I'm a wimp, and I'm not following the family script of marrying locally and becoming a young society matron, but I honestly wanted the career I've chosen. I wanted the challenge of establishing my own practice. I love the work I do with children and families, and I'm good at it."
    "Well, I'm good at graphic design," Lyle snapped, honey-dark brows drawing together.
    "Yes, but you don't love it," Pickett snapped right back. "You should be painting full time and you know it. Landscape is your gift. But Mother would adore having a fine artist in the family—so of course you can't do that!"
    In the silence that ensued, Pickett felt her blood leave her face. Her sister looked as shocked as she felt. Pickett never had—never would —use her insightfulness as a weapon, but she'd just come close enough to feel deeply ashamed. Lyle's reasons for her choice of career and place to live were complex, as well Pickett knew. She shouldn't have lashed out just because her sister had stepped on her toes.
    Pickett shook her head and threw up her hands. "Listen to us. We haven't been together ten minutes and already we're squabbling like—"
    "Like sisters," finished Lyle. "But not like you. You never tell either of our oh-so-conventional sisters to get off your back, even though sometimes you should. What's got you so riled up?"
    I'm a daydreaming idiot who needs to get her feet back on the ground.
    "Nothing." Knowing she wasn't telling the truth, Pickett pushed away the wistfulness that threatened to engulf her. She and Lyle had never talked about their