Amelia had blushed right in the tub when she remembered what it'd been not to be alone in it. Wrapped up in the slippery, warmth of a man who loved nothing more than sponging her back with the suds while he whispered sweet words in her ear. The man was a romantic who didn't know it and she hadn't known until him what that really meant. Pierce had his own collection of sweet words but they'd left her empty when she'd grown up enough to realize that they simply allowed him to keep so much from her.

She'd been a young bride and when it came to all that came with it including the more intimate parts, she'd been overwhelmed. There hadn't been anyone to talk to…no mother figure in her life only the housekeeper and some of the maids who knew enough to teach her not to conceive a child. She'd told Claire that once, that getting married at a younger age than Ethan's niece had been something she'd done too rashly. She wanted better for the girl to find a way to make her own living and not be dependent on a man with sweet words woven into empty promises to help her escape.

Ethan was a very physical man of action but gentle too and when it came to certain things, she'd met a whole different side of him who still made her melt if she weren't too careful. She couldn't afford it right now because she had to focus on helping Miranda.

She owed her after all for that time long ago. She'd just never expected to see her again. But she'd wanted to help her get away from Carlton without question. He'd been so damn careful to bruise his wife's body beneath the stylish dresses she wore when about town only Miranda hadn't hidden them from everyone.

After her bath, she got ready for the bed which welcomed her after the arduous day. She tried so hard not to think about him. The weight of his body that had lain next to her as she snuggled against him in ways she hadn't with her husband. Pierce hadn't ever let her get that close to him…perhaps because of the secret life he led as an unrepentant cad and con artist.

She'd checked her wound on her side, just above her waist where the bullet had nearly sliced her but it looked fine. Not like the time she'd been hit by one that came out of Ethan's gun when he'd meant to shoot an outlaw. She'd nearly died but for John Taylor and Ethan had stopped at nothing to get him even after the latest in a string of either cowardly or crooked marshals had slapped cuffs on him.

Not that she wanted to keep thinking about a man who was courting not one but two other women…if you could call it that. She knew that desperation to keep the children might be the one thing that would ever drive him to the altar.

Still, it was strange seeing him up so close…enough to touch and knowing she couldn't. Life had enough complications.

She wrapped the sheets around her after fixing her pillow to settle into sleep. She'd spent most of her earliest years camping out on the Outback beneath a whole different carpet of stars. She knew if she scanned the skies above Paradise for the Southern Cross she'd never find it.

Ethan and she had snuggled underneath the stars while spending the night together often enough. Sometimes they just needed to get away from it all to be together.

Soon enough he'd be sharing a life with either Edwina or Stella, having moved on from what he shared with Amelia.

Time to move on and really put it all behind her.

"Oh Ethan…we would be so perfect together so why should we wait?"

Ethan sighed as a perfectly beautifully built woman clung to him by the staircase that led to the hotel rooms including her own. She'd wanted him to join her, even tried to kiss him. It had caught him by surprise but she'd been persistent and for a moment there…but he'd remembered who she wasn't.

He pulled away tactfully and saw Mary looking at them a bit startled on her way to the kitchen.

"Excuse me…I didn't mean to interrupt."

Ethan glanced at her and then focused back on the siren who made her intentions on how to spend the night very clear.

"You're not one of those men who insist on waiting until we're married are you?"

No he wasn't…after all it hadn't been that way with Amelia though it'd taken them a while to find themselves in a place with privacy and without disruptions. And most importantly of all, where they didn't get in their own way. He'd never forgotten that night including right now.

"No…but this isn't right," he said, "I'm not doing this to get a good time out of it."

She pursed her lips.

"Damn right you'd have a good time and what's so wrong with that? Aren't you looking for the right wife in all areas including the marital chamber?"

That almost made his cheeks flush a bit because seriously that hadn't been on his mind at all. Not that he planned on a life of celibacy but taking care of the needs of the children was first and foremost with the rest of it hopefully falling into place.

"Stella…I'm not going upstairs with you."

"Okay then we can go to your place…it's just that it might be a bit crowded."

He sighed.

"It'll always be a bit crowded until I build a new house but that's not it. I'm looking for what's right for my niece and nephews…the rest of it…"

She bit her lip.

"I see…but Ethan it's no crime to want to get something in it for yourself. You can't be selfless all the time. It makes for a dull life."

Maybe, he thought but that wasn't the only problem. The woman he wanted wasn't standing in front of him. She was likely sleeping in another bed across town, one he'd shared but never again. He thought he'd moved past that but as John Taylor had forecast, she'd quickly made a liar out of him. Still he couldn't get distracted from what he had to do. Amelia certainly hadn't acted as if she'd wanted him back or to get married at least to him. She'd been running away from him instead.

That didn't have anything to do with the two of them but it'd been like that with her bank in the early days. When she focused on one thing, she shut everything else out.

He did want to help her though now that he knew someone had tried to kill her.

"I don't want this," he said, "You're very pretty but I'm not joining you tonight."

She didn't look too happy as he walked away back to his horse to ride it back to the ranch. He knew he had to save his family. He wished his heart didn't have to be included at the bargaining table.