everyone
knew
Dare
Westmoreland
was
a
staunch
bachelor.
But
there
were
others
who
truly
felt
he
was
worthy
of
another
chance,
and
they
tried
convincing
her
that
if
anyone
could
change
Dare’s
bachelor
status,
she
could.
What
she
couldn’t
tell
them
was
that
she
was
not
interested
in
changing
Dare’s
bachelor
status.
Although
she
had
detected
some
changes
in
him,
she
could
not
forget
that
at
one
time
he
had
been
a
man
driven
to
reach
out
for
dreams
that
had
not
included
her.
And
she
could
never
let
herself
become
vulnerable
to
that
type
of
pain
again.
For
six
years
she
had
believed
she
was
the
most
important
thing
in
Dare’s
life,
and
to
find
out
that
she
hadn’t
been
had
nearly
destroyed
her.
She
had
enough
common
sense
to
know
that
what
she
and
Dare
were
sharing
in
the
backyard
at
night
was
not
based
on
emotional
but
on
physical
needs,
and
as
long
as
she
was
able
to
continue
to
know
the
difference,
she
would
be
all
right.
She
pulled
herself
up
in
bed
when
she
heard
the
knock
on
her
bedroom
door.
“Come
in,
AJ.”
It
was
early
still,
an
hour
before
daybreak,
but
she
knew
he
was
excited.
Today
was
the
day
that
Dare’s
sister
Delaney
and
her
family
were
arriving
from
the
Middle
East.
The
Westmoreland
brothers
were
ecstatic
and
had
talked
about
their
one
and
only
sister
so
much
over
the
past
two
weeks
that
AJ
had
gotten
caught
up
in
their
excitement;
after
all,
the
woman
was
his
aunt,
although
he
assumed
Delaney
| 
