AFTER THE TABLE HAD been cleared, Sarah walked toward the back door and said, "I'll go check on the kids." Facing the boys' wrath was a lot easier than facing Raif Manning's drugging kisses or the strained silence that had grown between them over the past few minutes.
Stepping off the single wooden step and onto hard, baked earth, heat instantly whirled around her like a small tornado. The huge tree near the barn and the twin trees beside the house looked inviting, though out of place in this otherwise flat land.
"What are you kids up to? Oh!" Sarah yelped as Tommy spun around at the sound of her voice and squirted her right in the face with the hose. The water was cold and a shock to her system. Her T-shirt lay plastered against her chest and stomach. Chris grabbed the hose from Tommy a
