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her behind the wheel.
    “It hardly matters now,” he said at last. “I can’t change that night.”
    Kathleen looked directly into his eyes. “No,” she said softly. “You can’t. The only thing you can do—the thing you must do—is put it behind you.”
    Ben wanted desperately to accept that, to let go of the past as his entire family had urged him to do, but blaming himself was too ingrained. Absolution from a woman he’d known a few hours counted for nothing.
    He forced his gaze away from Kathleen and saw Destiny and his brothers watching him intently, as if they’d sensed or even heard what Ben and Kathleen had been discussing and were awaiting either an explosion or a sudden epiphany. He gave them neither.
    Instead, he lifted his glass of water. “To good company and wonderful food. Thanks, Destiny.”
    “To Destiny,” the others echoed.
    Destiny beamed at him, evidently satisfied that things were working out exactly as she’d intended. “Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.”
    Ben drank to her toast, but even as he wished everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving, he couldn’t help wondering when this dark, empty hole inside him would go away and he’d truly be able to count his blessings again. He gazed at Kathleen and thought he saw shadows in her eyes, as well, and guessed she was feeling much the same way.
    He knew Destiny wanted something to come from this meeting today, but it wasn’t in the cards. Whatever the whole story, Kathleen Dugan’s soul was as shattered as his own.

Chapter Three
    K athleen waited impatiently through several courses of excellent food. She nibbled on pecan pie, then lingered over two cups of rich, dark coffee, hoping for an invitation to Ben’s studio to go through the works that were stashed there. She desperately wanted to see for herself if the painting in the dining room was the exception or the rule.
    Then again, it might be sheer torment, especially if each and every painting was extraordinary and Ben still flatly refused to allow her to show them.
    When the meal finally ended and people started making their excuses and leaving, she lingered at the table with the family. She debated simply asking for a tour of the studio, but Ben’s forbidding expression stopped her. Not even Destiny seemed inclined to broach the very subject that she claimed had been her reason for asking Kathleen to dinner. It was as if she, too, hadread her nephew’s mood and determined that he wouldn’t be receptive.
    Kathleen was about to accept a momentary defeat and leave, when Melanie stepped in.
    “Kathleen, surely you’re not going without looking at Ben’s paintings,” Melanie said, merriment sparkling in her eyes. “Isn’t that why you came tonight?”
    Ben looked as if he’d like to strangle his sister-in-law. Kathleen took her cue from that.
    “Perhaps another time,” she said before Ben could utter a word. She smiled at him. “I would love to come back sometime to see your studio, if you’ll let me.”
    He regarded her with a faint frown. “Sure,” he said, too polite to refuse outright.
    “I’ll call to set it up,” Kathleen promised. She had no intention of doing that. She had a hunch she needed the element of surprise on her side. Meantime, though, let him get complacent, thinking that he’d have fair warning.
    “There’s no phone in the studio,” Melanie chimed in.
    “And Ben never checks his messages,” Beth added.
    “You should probably just pop in whenever the mood strikes,” Melanie suggested.
    Kathleen grinned. Obviously those two were on the same wavelength. They’d found a way to encourage her and warn Ben at the same time. Very clever.
    “Perhaps I will,” Kathleen said. She gave him a pointed look. “If Ben doesn’t return my calls.”
    He rolled his eyes. “I return my calls.” He gave his sisters-in-law a hard look. “At least to anyone important.”
    The two women laughed, not the least bit insulted by the innuendo.“I guess you put us in our