Chapter 1

The wind was blowing, not an unusual event, not in Milltown, a small mining town situated on a mountain slope in the Sierras in the state of Nevada. Most mountain ranges in the Sierras ran north and south, and the wind, unimpeded for hundreds of miles, had plenty room to roar through the valleys.

A tailings pond covered the valley below the town. Tailings were residue from the mill and smelter, and small, dirty streams carried this waste byproduct to the valley floor. The sun evaporated the water, leaving a flat surface of sand and fine dirt, and when the wind blew, dust storms ensued.

The storm underway was a doozy, and reminded Darrin Cannon why he had left Milltown shortly after graduating from high school to go out into the world to make his fortune. Poverty still plagued him, though. Moving out of poverty wasn't easy if one chose fine art as a vocation. His life's work had overwhelmed his mind and soul, so he slapped paint to canvas nearly everyday to hone his craft, and he saw progress, evolution and promise in his work. Though convinced someday he would break out of the starving-artist syndrome, he didn't daydream about fame and fortune, not any longer. His dreams now entailed solutions to problems he faced with his work. If the truth were known, Darrin Cannon didn't give a rat's ass about fame and fortune. He cared only about his art.

He had returned to his humble beginnings at Carrie's request to attend her high school graduation ceremony. He had never been able to tell his younger sister no, not when he lived at home, or since, but she didn't ask the impossible or take undue advantage of any situation, so when she asked, he rearranged his not-so-busy schedule and made the trek to his parent's home.

Raised as an only child until Carrie was born nine years after his birth, Darrin resented all the attention his sister attracted and demanded - at first. Then he fell in love with her. She seemed so perfect to him, smiling up at him, gurgling happily and content when he held her in his skinny arms. He didn't recognize his love for her at the time, but the baby did, and as all babies do, if they're loved, they love right back, only twice as much. To Darrin, the sun rose and set for his little sister. He cuddled her, changed her diapers, fed her, and read her stories - and made hundreds of sketches of her. They both cried when he left nine years later, Carrie more than he, but then he was trying to appear manly. He'd visited Milltown since he left, but not often. Regardless, brother and sister had remained close. Carrie wanted to be a writer, and she sent him many letters. He cherished and saved all of them and felt guilty because he rarely wrote to her, but he did send her drawings from time to time. Last summer during a short visit, he noted she had pinned up his drawings in her room instead of posters of rock stars, which pleased him.

Darrin had the peculiar talent of looking at something or someone and rendering it in realistic detail, including light and shade and in three dimensions. His mother first noticed the ability when he was about four years old, and encouraged him to explore his talent. The little town offered no tutors, so he worked on his own, sketching everything and everyone around him. They couldn't afford paint or canvas, and even if they could, it wouldn't have dawned on Darrin to move from paper and pencil or ink to color. At his age, he saw the world in black and white. Only later, after he left his humble beginnings did he discover the wonderful world of color, and still he didn't seek out a teacher. He sold his first painting two years ago for a sum that didn't cover his weekly food expense, but the sale offered validation, and he redoubled his efforts, cutting back on the crap jobs he took to pay the rent and purchase his art supplies. Soon, he hoped he could paint fulltime. He'd be poor, but he didn't care, not if his art could support him.

Sitting alone in the tiny home of his youth, he gazed out the living room window and saw a dust-blurred scene that included railroad tracks and the run-down wooden homes of the neighborhood. Greenery was sparse, and obscured by the dust, he saw only shades of brown. It's no wonder color didn't intrigue me when I lived here, he thought. Carrie represents the only beauty in this God forsaken place. His mother, too, he conceded. Darrin had always loved his mother. She was feminine but tough, and unlike Darrin's father, accepted and encouraged her son's need to explore his art. He heard sounds on the front porch, and Carrie burst in with a flurry of dust.

"Goddamn day," she muttered out loud to herself, not realizing Darrin could hear and see her. "Shit!" Anger glinted in her dark eyes.

"Having a bad-hair day, sis?" he asked.

She spun toward him and blushed.

He patted the sofa next to him. "Come here and tell me about it." He loved the sound of her voice, surprisingly low in timbre considering her size.

"Just a sec. I want to wash first. I feel grimy. Damned dust."

He watched her prance away from him toward the one bathroom in the house. Yep, he decided yet again, she's utterly beautiful, both in body and spirit. Small, a size four, with an alluring little body, she'd never be a runway model, but her face could enhance the cover of any magazine. He loved her dark-chocolate-hued eyes capped with perfectly shaped eyebrows. Her long, mahogany hair framed an oval face with prominent cheekbones and a thin, pert nose. Her mouth was a touch too narrow, but her lips were full, and he had brushed his lips to hers so many times in their youth their sibling-like kisses had become commonplace. Her perky breasts excited Darrin more than he'd like, but her legs were her best feature. They appeared long in proportion to the rest of her less-than-average height. To Darrin, Carrie's overall look presented a perfect package. He smiled knowing he was prejudiced in the extreme.

She returned and flopped on the sofa next to him, her short skirt flying high and then settling demurely on her thighs. She crossed her ankles and held one hand with the other on her lap - a practiced, ladylike pose, no doubt taught to her by her mother.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"I just found out I won't have a summer job like I planned. The company gave the job to Ellen Maxwell."

"Ah, that's a shame, Carrie."

She had told him she felt sure she'd be hired as a lifeguard at the spring-fed swimming facility the company maintained for the use of its employees. The pool was more like a pond, about one hundred by fifty yards in size, and required at least two lifeguards whenever open to the public. Carrie had been a substitute lifeguard last year, and graduating seniors usually earned a permanent position for the summer.

She grimaced. "I don't know what I'm going to do. If I want to go to college this fall, and I do, I need a job. I was awarded a little scholarship, and I've saved like crazy, but I'm still short. I figured I'd sponge off the parents this summer and save every penny I made at the job to get me through the first year. Mom and Dad will help, but they can't help much." Tears welled in her eyes. "Damn it! I counted on that job. It's not fair!"

He took her hand in his. "You'll find another job."

"No, that's the problem. No other jobs are available, not temporary ones, at least. If I planned to stay in this God forsaken hole the rest of my life, I could probably wrangle a job, but... ah hell! It's not fair. Ellen's daddy is a foreman. That's why she got the job instead of me."

No one in Milltown was rich, but still a caste system had formed many years ago and flourished even in the current more enlightened times. Sons and daughters of management didn't socialized with children of union employees, and the small town even had areas designated by ethnic groups like Greek town and Austrian town. Darrin understood his sister's dilemma. He'd been subjected to the system in his youth, and fighting the issue would be a no-win situation.

Darrin had an idea, but he didn't know if either Carrie or the parents would go for it. What the hell, he thought. "Carrie, sponge off me for the summer. Vegas offers lots of jobs, and you could go to college in Las Vegas instead of Reno. Is the scholarship transferable?"

Her face brightened and she smiled, lighting up the dust-filled day. Darrin loved her smiles. "Yes!" Then, she grimaced. "Daddy will never go for it."

"Why not?"

She chuckled. "He's seen that hovel you live in."

"For your information, young lady, I've moved, or rather I'm in the process of moving. Just before I left Vegas, I rented a warehouse for a studio, and it has a loft where I'll live, and the loft has an extra room. The room isn't large, but it's larger than the tiny bedroom you're using here. I have to pay the rent anyway, so you could live there rent-free this summer while you work, and while you go to school, too, for that matter, though you'd probably need transportation. The university isn't close enough to walk, and I don't think the bus service would work for you, though it's a possibility."

"Really?"

"Yep. Waddaya think?"

She squealed, hopped on his lap and gave him a big hug. "That's what I think," she said with a happy expression. "You saved my life, big bro!" She hugged his neck again and then kissed him, and the kiss wasn't like all the many kisses they had shared over the years, not by a long shot. Darrin felt his toes curling. The embrace shocked him, as did his reaction when he started to become aroused. He didn't know what to do with his hands, so he left them at her waist.

"Ahem."

Darrin's eyes snapped open. His mother stood at the entrance to the living room. Carrie hopped off his lap as if nothing unusual had just happened and rushed to her mother, giving her a hug as well. "I didn't get the lifeguard job, Mom, but Darrin has a solution. He's going to let me live with him, so I can...

"Whoa, young lady. Slow down. Start at the beginning. Join us in the kitchen, Darrin."

The three of them sat around the kitchen table, where all family meetings and discussions took place, and Carrie brought her mother up to date.

"He says the loft has an extra room, Mom."

Harriet Cannon turned to her son. "Describe this loft for me, Darrin."

"Well, it isn't much. It has a tiny kitchen, a small bath, and three small rooms. One of the rooms opens to the kitchen and the studio below, and I'd planned to use it as a living room. One of the other rooms will be my bedroom, and Carrie can use the other room for her bedroom."

"Vegas gets hot in the summer, hotter than here. Is the loft air conditioned?"

"No, and if it was, I couldn't afford it. It's a large studio, Mom, actually a warehouse."

"What about heat?"

"No, come winter I planned to buy electric space heaters that can be moved from room to room. We're not talking luxury, Mom, but it's adequate." He smiled. "It does have running water."

"That's nice," she said sarcastically. "Is it clean?"

"No, right now it's a sty. I rented it just before I left Vegas. I planned to clean it up, paint the rooms in the loft, toss some area rugs on the floor and call it home. I rented it mostly for the studio space. I like to work on more than one painting at a time, and I'm doing large paintings now, so I needed the space. Carrie explained her problem to me, and I offered a possible solution. That's all."

Harriet's expression softened. "I know, son." She turned to Carrie. "Your dad will have a conniption."

"Yeah, but if you help, we can turn him around, Mom."

"Uh-uh, but here's what I suggest. Tell your father you want to drive back to Vegas with Darrin to look the place over, not move in, just look it over. If you want to live there, the two of you clean it up, and I mean from top to bottom. Paint it, like you planned, Darrin. Then call me, and I'll drive down with your father to check it out. It wouldn't hurt if you had a job by then, Carrie."

"Yes!" She hopped on her mother's lap gave her a hug and a kiss, and then did the same with Darrin again, only this time the kiss was toned down - a sister-type kiss.

Four days later, Darrin's car was loaded to the gills not only with Carrie's belongings but also household items contributed by her mother. Carrie looked across the seat at her brother. She couldn't believe her good fortune. She was going to live with the only man she'd ever love. Carrie didn't know when she fell in love with her big brother, but she had. She'd dated, but none of the boys attracted her, not like Darrin. She had hoped she'd grown out of the crush she had on him, but when he visited for a few days last summer, she discovered her feelings for him were even more powerful than she realized. She melted when she looked at him, and when he touched her her blood ran hot. She'd told no one how she felt, not even Darrin - especially Darrin. And she nearly blew everything when she kissed him last week. The kiss started innocently enough, but reason momentarily escaped her, and she went with her feelings. Fortunately her mother's arrival had brought her back from the brink. She'd need to be very careful. If Darrin found out how she felt about him, he'd send her away.