Her heart cracked right in two and her eyes filled. Just like that. "Yes."

Concern wrinkled his brow. "Don't do that. Please." He brushed his thumb across her cheek as if to check for wetness, then her lower lip. "You are exhausted, aren't you?"

She nodded, her chest aching. In all her years, no one but her brother Brian had ever been so unerringly protective, gentle, or charismatically honest with her. "I've never been carried to bed before." She grinned to free the ...