The Right Twin For Him
The Right Twin For Him
Julianna Morris
FROM A PECK ON THE CHEEK…Maddie Jackson's bruised heart leaped at the casual brush to her cheek. Evidently men in this town found her attractive! But wasn't this handsome stranger being a little forward? And then she discovered that Patrick O'Rourke thought Maddie was his sister-in-law, and her heart leaped again–this time with hope….TO A TINGLE IN HER TOES!Because Maddie had come to town searching for family–and now she might have found a sister. Yet should she risk turmoil by getting involved with the infamous O'Rourke bachelor? Though Patrick offered his support, he also stirred her vulnerable passions. Would loving him lead to heartbreak or the love and family she longed for?There was only one way to find out…
“What do you think you’re doing?” Maddie demanded.
“Kissing you. What else?” the handsome stranger replied.
“I caught that.” Actually, it had been an awfully nice kiss, but they didn’t know each other and it wasn’t the sort of thing you did with someone you’ve never met.
“Say, is the pregnancy putting you on edge?” the man asked.
Maddie’s eyes widened. Pregnancy? “Preg…What are you talking about? Never mind. I’m leaving.”
“What’s gotten into you, Beth?” the man asked, clearly puzzled. “Kane told me about the baby, but he didn’t say it was a secret.”
Maddie was intrigued despite herself. “It’s a secret to me, because my name isn’t Beth.”
Dear Reader,
My, how time flies! I still remember the excitement of becoming Senior Editor for Silhouette Romance and the thrill of working with these wonderful authors and stories on a regular basis. My duties have recently changed, and I’m going to miss being privileged to read these stories before anyone else. But don’t worry, I’ll still be reading the published books! I don’t think there’s anything as reassuring, affirming and altogether delightful as curling up with a bunch of Silhouette Romance novels and dreaming the day away. So know that I’m joining you, even though Mavis Allen will have the pleasure of guiding the line now.
And for this last batch that I’m bringing to you, we’ve got some terrific stories! Raye Morgan is finishing up her CATCHING THE CROWN series with Counterfeit Princess (SR #1672), a fun tale that proves love can conquer all. And Teresa Southwick is just beginning her DESERT BRIDES trilogy about three sheiks who are challenged—and caught!—by American women. Don’t miss the first story, To Catch a Sheik (SR #1674).
Longtime favorite authors are also back. Julianna Morris brings us The Right Twin for Him (SR #1676) and Doreen Roberts delivers One Bride: Baby Included (SR #1673). And we’ve got two authors new to the line—one of whom is new to writing! RITA® Award-winning author Angie Ray’s newest book, You’re Marrying Her?, is a fast-paced funny story about a woman who doesn’t like her best friend’s fiancée. And Patricia Mae White’s first novel is about a guy who wants a little help in appealing to the right woman. Here Practice Makes Mr. Perfect (SR #1677).
All the best,
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor
The Right Twin for Him
Julianna Morris
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Books by Julianna Morris
Silhouette Romance
Baby Talk #1097
Family of Three #1178
Daddy Woke up Married #1252
Dr. Dad #1278
The Marriage Stampede #1375
* (#litres_trial_promo)Callie, Get Your Groom #1436
* (#litres_trial_promo)Hannah Gets a Husband #1448
* (#litres_trial_promo)Jodie’s Mail-Order Man #1460
Meeting Megan Again #1502
Tick Tock Goes the Baby Clock #1531
Last Chance for Baby! #1565
A Date with a Billionaire #1590
The Right Twin for Him #1676
JULIANNA MORRIS
has an offbeat sense of humor, which frequently gets her into trouble. She is often accused of being curious about everything…her interests ranging from oceanography and photography to traveling, antiquing, walking on the beach and reading science fiction.
Julianna loves cats of all shapes and sizes, and recently she was adopted by a feline companion named Merlin. Like his namesake, Merlin is an alchemist—she says he can transform the house into a disaster area in nothing flat. And since he shares the premises with a writer, it’s interesting to note that he’s particularly fond of knocking books on the floor.
Julianna happily reports meeting Mr. Right. Together they are working on a new dream of building a shoreline home in the Great Lakes area.
Contents
Chapter One (#u9753e49c-2711-59a4-86ca-fdd20bc99316)
Chapter Two (#u4cf65859-56c1-557f-9338-32080b44b761)
Chapter Three (#ub52e79be-0192-535f-8bbf-669ffc89a5bc)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
Maddie Jackson looked around the friendly town of Crockett, Washington, and smiled, her first real smile in days. She loved it here. People waved from their cars, and the service station attendants had even pumped her gasoline though the sign said it was self-serve.
It was really nice—a bit like her home in New Mexico, but probably greener and cooler in the summertime. And bigger. Crockett had a population of over ten thousand, while Slapshot topped out at seven hundred.
“Hey, kiddo, I’ve been waiting for you,” called a deep voice, and she turned to see a man come striding toward her. He had a loose-limbed, sexy gait and the wide, comfortable shoulders of a football player. At another time in her life she might have been thrilled to see a hunk like that trying to catch her attention.
But not now.
Now she was smarter and wiser. She’d sworn off romance for good. No more hunks for Maddie Jackson. Not that she had much experience with hunks—only a sort-of hunk—but that was more than enough.
The man stopped in front of her with one eyebrow raised. “Something wrong, gorgeous?”
He dropped a kiss on her cheek, which made Maddie squeak and jump back several feet. Now that was new. She couldn’t remember an attractive stranger ever calling her gorgeous and kissing her. Granted, she didn’t have much experience with that sort of thing, but maybe Crockett wasn’t such a nice town, after all. Maybe it was just strange.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, trying to look confidently intimidating.
“Kissing you. What else?”
“I caught that.” Actually, it had been an awfully nice kiss, but they didn’t know each other and it wasn’t the sort of thing you did with someone you’ve never met.
Maddie glanced around, hoping to see a policeman standing conveniently nearby. Her father had been the county sheriff before getting elected mayor of Slapshot, New Mexico, and she put a lot of faith in law enforcement.
She sighed.
They didn’t make men like her dad any longer, the faithful-till-the-day-he-dies sort of guy. She’d found out the hard way, which was why she’d walked out on her own wedding just two days ago. Women tended to do things like that when they found their fiancé in a clinch with the girl hired to serve punch at the reception. Of course, she had been looking for Ted to suggest postponing the ceremony, but that was beside the point.
“Say, is the pregnancy putting you on edge?” the man said, and Maddie’s eyes widened.
Pregnancy?
This week was getting weirder by the minute, and it had already been pretty weird.
“Preg—What are you talking about?” Maddie demanded. “Never mind. I’m leaving.”
She might be shaken by the events of the past few days, and she was certainly a little on the scatterbrained side, but she wasn’t stupid. She didn’t need an explanation from this attractive-lunatic hunk, she needed to get away from him. Obviously, she wasn’t ready to be a world traveler—Washington was a world away from comfortable, dusty little Slapshot.
“What’s gotten into you, Beth?” the man asked, clearly puzzled. “Kane told me about the baby, but he didn’t say it was a secret. I wanted to congratulate you in person, but the store was closed.”
Maddie was intrigued despite herself. “It’s a secret to me, because my name isn’t Beth.”
He leaned closer and peered into her face, the space between his eyes creasing thoughtfully. “I’ll be damned. You look just like my sister-in-law. Jeez, you must have thought I was…” His words trailed away and he shook his head.
Suddenly everything became clear to Maddie. It was just a case of mistaken identity—the stranger wasn’t a lunatic after all, and the reason that folks had been friendly was because she reminded them of this Beth person. It was disappointing, but she’d weathered far worse disappointments lately, so she wasn’t planning to let it get her down.
“I’m really sorry,” the man said. “You look a lot like Beth, and since she owns this store, I naturally thought you were her.” He pointed to the maternity and children’s clothing shop in front of them. “She must have decided not to open today.”
Maddie tucked the information into the back of her mind. She’d come back when the place was open—it might be a clue to finding her birth family. Though, just because you resembled someone, it didn’t mean you were related.
“They say everyone has a double,” she murmured.
Patrick O’Rourke looked at the woman he’d mistaken for his brother’s wife and shook his head. At first glance his new sister-in-law and this woman looked identical, but with each passing second he was seeing big differences between them.
The woman’s blond hair was lighter and streakier—it looked natural, so it was probably from the sun…and she wore chunky silver jewelry that suited the defiant tilt to her chin. And her gauzy turquoise dress with the long scarlet sash should have been a dead giveaway. Beth tended to dress more quietly, though Patrick had to admit the stranger’s choice of scarlet and turquoise was kind of pretty.
“Patrick O’Rourke,” he said.
“Maddie Jackson,” she returned, staring at his proffered hand. She finally put her fingers over his, only to instantly yank her arm away. Patrick didn’t blame her. The O’Rourke men were tall, and more than once he’d seen a woman take a step backward as if his size intimidated her.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he murmured.
“You didn’t.”
Oh, yeah. He believed that. You bet.
Maddie lifted her chin a fraction higher and gave her long skirt a tug. “I’m from Slapshot, New Mexico. And I’m not pregnant.” She looked down at her trim tummy, then back at him with a frown. “I don’t look pregnant, do I? I mean, I’ve been upset but I haven’t eaten that much and I never seem to gain weight, anyhow.”
“Certainly not.” A grin tugged at his lips. The non sequitur sounded perfectly normal coming from her mouth. “I apologize for the misunderstanding.”
“That’s okay,” she said generously. “You must have wondered why I was so surprised when you kissed me.”
Yeah, he’d wondered about that…and he’d wondered why he was having a less-than-platonic response to his sister-in-law. It was a relief to discover the response was to someone he didn’t know, rather than the woman his brother had recently married.
“New Mexico, huh? What are you doing so far from home?” he asked, deciding it was a safer subject than the one he’d just been contemplating.
To his surprise, the question transformed the charmingly flustered expression on her face to a blank mask. “I’m visiting,” she murmured.
“Visiting?”
“Well, sort of. I was supposed to be on my…” Her voice quavered and she bit down on her lip.
Damn.
Patrick fought panic as Maddie’s golden-brown eyes filled with tears. He was lousy with crying women. “That’s all right,” he assured hastily. “You don’t have to tell me.”
Maddie sniffed and she made a brave attempt at a smile. “All right. Thank you.”
All right?
He was more perplexed than ever. Whenever he told his sisters they didn’t have to tell him what was wrong, they claimed he wasn’t “interested” and seemed insulted. Granted, he was a stranger to Maddie, but it still surprised him. The intelligent thing to do was leave before things got more complicated.
“At least let me buy you a cup of coffee,” Patrick offered. Obviously, he wasn’t smart enough to do the “intelligent” thing. On the other hand, he’d made so many mistakes in his life, what was one more? “We’ve got great coffee here in Washington. And maybe Beth will show up so you can meet her.”
She regarded him for a long moment, then shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m headed for the cemetery. Well, actually to some graves that might be there with my birth name on the headstones. You see, I was adopted and thought I could get some information on my birth family by checking out the markers. Maybe I’ll come back another time.”
Adopted?
That was interesting. Patrick recalled that his sister-in-law had been raised in foster homes after her adoptive parents split up in a nasty divorce.
“When were you adopted?” he asked.
“I was a month old. My mom and dad are terrific, but I’ve been wondering about my birth parents—their health history and that sort of thing—in case I decide to have children. Which I’m not going to,” she added quickly. “So I’m not actually sure why I’m here. I told you I wasn’t pregnant.”
Patrick shook his head to clear it. Intimate revelations spilled from Maddie without a second thought. “Er…I remember. You aren’t pregnant,” he said.
“Well, I was planning to get pregnant,” Maddie qualified, her innate honesty forcing her into the admission. “But those plans changed abruptly. Thank goodness I found out in time.”
“Found out what?”
“Just s-something.”
To Maddie’s horror, more tears welled up in her eyes. It was so strange being in a place where people didn’t know everything about her. She’d grown up in a tiny town, where everyone knew everybody else’s business, so what was the point in trying to keep secrets? By now everyone in Slapshot knew about Ted and her failed wedding. Darn it all. Marrying the boy next door had always seemed so natural and expected and now she had no idea of what to do with her life.
“You still seem upset,” Patrick said.
He looked uncomfortable, which was fine with her. He’d made her plenty uncomfortable since calling her “gorgeous” and kissing her cheek.
Maddie tightened her mouth.
Boy, was she a dope.
But at least she was smart enough to turn down an invitation from Patrick O’Rourke. He was just the sort of handsome, sophisticated man her father had warned her about before putting her on the airplane in Albuquerque.
All at once Maddie scowled.
Why had her father warned her about other men? She’d told him over and over that she wasn’t ever dating again and that marriage was absolutely out of the question. She was sorry about the grandchildren thing, but one two-timing skunk was enough.
Patrick touched her arm, concern in his blue eyes. “Are you all right, Miss Jackson?”
She lifted her chin. “I’m just peachy, can’t you tell?”
“Uh, sure.” But he didn’t look convinced, and Maddie tried to relax. Maybe she wasn’t going to drink coffee with the man, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be pleasant.
“Well, it was nice meeting you.” She stuck out her hand. “I hope your sister-in-law has a beautiful baby.”
“Thanks.”
He grasped her fingers and she shivered. She’d never met someone with his electric body chemistry. The first time they’d shaken hands, the contact had sent tingles clear to her elbow, and this time the tingles reached the bottom of her stomach. It was different and exciting and the last thing she ought to be feeling, especially under the circumstances.
“Uh…bye,” Maddie mumbled, pulling free. Trying not to look as if she was rushing, she walked to her rental car and opened the door. She glanced up and saw him still watching her.
She smiled weakly.
Her father had always told her to be careful about strange men. It was the sheriff in him. They might live in a flyspeck town in the middle of New Mexico, but that didn’t mean his daughter could take unnecessary risks.
So, what would he say about Patrick O’Rourke?
Something succinct, probably.
Her dad was full of bluster and loud talk, but underneath he was pure teddy bear. Still, teddy bear or not, he’d be really uptight at the idea of a man kissing his little girl who hadn’t known her for at least twenty years.
Patrick stuck his hands in his pockets and watched Maddie Jackson drive down the street, feeling as if he’d just escaped a whirlwind.
Lord, the woman was baffling. And entirely too provocative. He wasn’t sure what that business about thinking about getting pregnant meant, though it sounded ominously like a romance gone sour. Even if he was interested in a relationship, he certainly wouldn’t think of starting one with a woman recovering from a broken heart or wanting a baby.
As usual, the R word made him vaguely uneasy.
Relationship.
Patrick shuddered.
It was fine for his brother to get married, and Kane had gotten himself a great wife, but he wasn’t about to follow his eldest sibling to the altar. He liked running his radio station and not having to worry about having to get home by a certain time. If he wanted to work all night, then that was his business. Switching KLMS from rock-and-roll oldies to country music had been a risk, but it was starting to pay off. He needed to stay focused on keeping things moving.
“Patrick, what are you doing in Crockett?” The laughing voice made him turn around. “Lately you’re always at the station. You haven’t even been making it to Sunday dinner with the family.”
“Uh…Beth?” he asked, peering at her closely. He wasn’t taking any chances after running into Maddie Jackson. Heck, he was lucky not to have been slapped or arrested.
Beth raised her eyebrows. “You were expecting someone else?”
“You’d be surprised,” Patrick muttered, giving her a tardy kiss. “I just met a woman who’s your spitting image. You wouldn’t happen to have a twin sister stashed someplace in New Mexico, would you?”
“I don’t think so.”
He hesitated. “The thing is, Maddie mentioned that she was adopted and looking for her birth family. Honestly, you two are so much alike you could be sisters.”
“I suppose it’s possible,” Beth said. “Whenever I’ve tried to get information about my birth family I haven’t gotten anywhere. I’d love to ask her some questions.”
“She went up to the cemetery to do some research. I can ask her to come back if you’d like,” Patrick offered, at the same time groaning silently. Maddie was entirely too disturbing to his equilibrium.
“That would be great. I’m expecting a shipment at the store, otherwise I’d go myself.”
She smiled, and Patrick was relieved he didn’t feel anything except warm affection when he looked at her. His sister-in-law was an attractive woman, but from the beginning he’d realized she belonged with Kane—though it had taken them a while to figure it out for themselves.
“By the way, congratulations on the baby,” Patrick said. “I’m a little smug about it since I’m the reason you and Kane met each other.”
She beamed. “Kane spent hours on the phone last night, telling everyone from London to Japan. We’re going to have a huge phone bill, but he wouldn’t get off.”
That was something else Patrick liked about Beth. She was married to one of the richest men alive, but she continued to think like an average person with an average amount of money.
“That’s great, kiddo. I’m happy for you.”
But the contrast between Beth’s bright happiness and the shadows he’d seen in Maddie’s eyes made Patrick shift uncomfortably. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Okay, so a woman he’d never met had cried twice while talking to him.
It was none of his business.
He was just concerned because Maddie looked like Beth, and since Beth was his sister-in-law, he was confusing family obligations. Except…his response to Maddie Jackson was far too sexual to be confused with anything.
With an effort, Patrick focused on Beth’s glowing face. “Okay, you wait for your shipment, and I’ll go find Maddie.” He kissed her again and watched as she went inside.
All things considered, he couldn’t understand how he’d confused the two women. Beth was Beth. Sweet, safe, comfortable. His brother’s wife. He liked sweet, safe and comfortable. He’d screwed up enough of his life with things that weren’t safe and comfortable.
Down the street was a small grocery shop, with racks of fresh cut flowers in front of it. Patrick ambled over and selected a bouquet of chrysanthemums. It was a small cemetery. He could always say he was putting the flowers on a friend’s grave if Maddie got nervous about him following her. He could even say she’d given him the idea.
In the back of his mind Patrick knew he was probably making a mistake to get involved, but it was important to Beth, so he couldn’t say no. It was the least he could do after she’d made his brother so happy.
Nodding to himself, Patrick got into his Chevy Blazer and headed for Crockett’s hillside cemetery. The sky had the brilliant blue of an early-fall day and the air was pleasant, with an underlying crisp edge. Soon it would be winter and folks would start complaining about the rain. He’d never understood why people lived in the Pacific Northwest if they disliked the weather so much. Though, as his mother said, being Irish he was genetically disposed to liking rain.
At the cemetery he parked, then used his cell phone to call his brother’s private office number. When Kane answered, Patrick described his meeting with Maddie Jackson…leaving out the part about being attracted to her. No sense in complicating things.
“This could be great for Beth,” Kane said. “She’s always wished she had her own family, especially now with baby coming.”
“I know.” Patrick looked across the cemetery. In her turquoise dress Maddie was easily recognizable in the distance. She moved from one stone to another, looking at the inscriptions and occasionally writing something on a pad of paper. At each stone she pulled a flower from the bouquet she carried and laid it on the ground. Once the caw-cawing of a crow caught her attention and she looked up, watching it sail across the sky.
He sighed, barely hearing his brother on the other end of the phone. Something about Maddie was so fresh and innocent. Hell, he couldn’t remember ever being that innocent.
“Uh…what was that?” he asked into the phone, shaking himself. The last time a woman had distracted him this much was when he was a teenager. He ought to have better sense now that he was the ripe old age of thirty-three. It was crazy. Even if he was interested in a long-term relationship, it wouldn’t be with a ditzy innocent who probably thought the whole world was like her hometown in New Mexico.
It wasn’t.
The world was a hard place, and nobody knew that better than Patrick.
“I’m coming over to meet Maddie, as well,” Kane repeated. “I’ll notify the helipad and leave in a few minutes.”
Despite his inner turmoil, Patrick grinned as he slipped the cell phone into a pocket. Few people had a private helicopter and pilot, always ready to make life more convenient. If his brother wasn’t such a great guy he’d be really obnoxious with all that money.
Not that Patrick had always appreciated the way that Kane had tried to fill their father’s shoes. Rebellious teenagers sometimes weren’t the smartest people in the world, and he’d been a “rebel without a pause,” leading with his chin and begging for trouble. A lot had changed since then, except he still tended to lead with his chin.
Carrying his bunch of flowers, Patrick headed toward Maddie. He felt foolish, but putting women and the O’Rourke men together frequently resulted in that emotion.
He cleared his throat when he was ten feet away, and Maddie’s head shot up. Her eyes widened and she took a step backward, which made Patrick’s own feet freeze. He looked down at the flowers and back at Maddie.
The flowers had been a really stupid idea.
“I realize how this looks,” he said slowly.
“No, you don’t.”
He sighed. “Okay, I don’t. It’s just that my sister-in-law arrived after you left and was really excited when I told her about you. She wants to be sure you’ll come back to meet her.” He let the arm holding the flowers fall to one side so the bouquet of yellow and russet mums wouldn’t be so obvious. “So, how is the search going?”
Maddie scrunched up her nose and looked at him for another minute, then shrugged, apparently deciding he was harmless. “I found the graves, but they’re really old. If these people are my relatives, they’re pretty distant.”
“It can be tough tracking down birth parents,” he said. “What do you know about them?”
She sighed. “Not much, except that my mother’s last name was Rousso, and she was really young. My adoptive parents met when Dad was attending the University of Washington. They knew ahead of time they couldn’t have kids, so they decided to adopt. It was a private arrangement through a church.”
“You seem comfortable about being adopted.”
“Why not? I had a great childhood.”
“Then why look for your birth parents?”
She gave him an exasperated frown. “I told you.”
“You told me you wanted to know about their health history in case you decide to have children.” Patrick lifted an eyebrow. “Then you promptly announced you weren’t having any kids.”
“Oh.”
Maddie’s teeth sank down on her lip and Patrick regretted ever bringing up the subject. It was somewhere between babies and adoption that she’d started crying the first time.
“Not that I blame you,” he said quickly. “Who wants to get tied down with a bunch of rug rats?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I thought you were pleased your sister-in-law is pregnant. Children are wonderful.”
Damn it all, he knew better than to get into a discussion about kids with a baby-hungry woman. “Let’s go see Beth,” he said quickly. “Who knows, maybe you’re sisters. She was adopted, too.”
Maddie hesitated.
Her first instinct was to say “yes,” but her instincts weren’t all that great when it came to men, so she needed to think it over. On the other hand, Patrick wasn’t asking her for a date, he just wanted to visit his sister-in-law. How much trouble could she get into, especially since she’d already planned to go see the other woman?
Besides, it wasn’t her business if the man didn’t want a family. She didn’t even know why his dedication to bachelordom was so annoying.
“All right,” she murmured. “Do you want to go now?”
“Sure. You’d better follow me in your car.”
She made a face. “You think I’m going to get lost?”
“We’ve got a lot of twists and turns around here.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She turned on her heel and headed back up the hill to the parking lot. When she didn’t hear footsteps behind her, she looked over her shoulder in time to see Patrick put his bouquet on one of the graves, right next to the flower she’d left.
Her heart skipped a beat.
It was obvious he’d been embarrassed about those flowers, but instead of throwing them away, he’d left them on someone’s long-forgotten grave. Carefully. With respect.
Darn.
She didn’t want her pulse jumping over Patrick O’Rourke. Her life had just gotten completely scrambled, and he was completely the wrong sort of guy for her, even if she hadn’t sworn off romance.
Right?
Chapter Two
Despite Maddie’s assurance that she knew the way back to town, Patrick arrived ahead of her. He got out and leaned against the Blazer as he waited. A few minutes later she drove up, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
He suppressed a smile as she slammed the door closed. “I know a few shortcuts,” he said.
Apparently, Maddie couldn’t stay annoyed, because she grinned at him. It was the most relaxed she’d seemed since he’d made the mistake of kissing her, and Patrick had time to notice the six small freckles on her nose, which were adorable.
Adorable?
He rolled his eyes and tried to think of something—anything—else.
Maddie Jackson was as cute as a baby kitten and had an appealing vulnerability beneath her colorful dress and the defiant tilt of her head. But he wasn’t in the market for appealing vulnerability, he kept his socializing to sophisticated women who didn’t have any interest beyond the here and now. Besides, his tastes ran to cool, classy brunettes, not impulsive, scatterbrained blondes.
“Are you ready to meet your double?” he asked.
Maddie gulped down a flutter of nervous excitement. She shouldn’t expect too much. Patrick was probably wrong and she didn’t look that similar to his sister-in-law.
They walked inside the Mom and Kid’s Stuff clothing store and Maddie stared at the woman behind the service counter. She swallowed again.
They really did look like each other.
“Beth, this is Maddie Jackson,” Patrick said. “Maddie, this is Beth O’Rourke.”
“Oh, it’s like seeing myself in a mirror,” the other woman gasped.
“Exactly,” he murmured.
Shockwaves rolled through Maddie’s already unsettled nerves. First she’d found her fiancé in a clinch with the punch girl, got kissed by a stranger and now…this. She felt an irrational desire to move closer to Patrick, as if he was a safe harbor in the middle of chaos.
Beth seemed to recover first, because she smiled and walked forward. “Welcome to Crockett. I understand you’re looking for your real mother and father.”
“My real mother and father are in New Mexico,” Maddie said, automatically sticking out her hand. “I’m just looking for my birth parents.”
“I see.”
They stood awkwardly until Patrick intervened. “Why don’t you start with your birthdays?” he suggested.
“July twentieth,” they said simultaneously.
Maddie swallowed and took an involuntary step toward Patrick. She didn’t know what she’d thought she would find when she left Slapshot, but it wasn’t seeing a woman with her same birth date and eyes and face.
“That’s interesting,” said a voice from behind them. “You were both born on the same day.”
“Kane!” Beth turned, her face transformed at the sight of a tall, dark-haired man with a striking resemblance to Patrick. She threw herself into his open arms.
“That’s my brother,” Patrick murmured. “You’d think they hadn’t seen each other in years, instead of hours. Of course, they’ve only been married for six weeks, so I guess we can excuse them for getting carried away.”
The wry, humorous tone of his voice was lost on Maddie, and her restlessness deepened as the couple shared a lingering kiss. She didn’t begrudge them their happiness, but it was hard seeing them at the same time her own life had fallen apart and she didn’t know how to fix it. Besides, there was something so…luminous about Beth O’Rourke when she looked at her husband.
When was the last time she’d looked at Ted like that? Certainly not the morning she’d found him with the punch girl’s D-cup bra hanging from his pocket.
Darn him, anyway. She could accept they’d both been having second thoughts. She could even accept he’d never been unfaithful before. So why did he have to make that comment about neither of them doing any comparison shopping…then make it clear what part of the feminine anatomy he was interested in comparing?
Honestly. She didn’t understand why men were so hung up about the female body. It wouldn’t matter to her if Patrick was short or tall or anything in between.
All at once Maddie frowned.
Patrick?
No. That was wrong.
Patrick O’Rourke was a temporary acquaintance, even if he did have a nice smile. She didn’t have any interest in his body.
At least, not much.
Though she had to admit it was a great body. The kind that inspired fantasies.
“Are you okay?” a quiet voice murmured.
She glanced upward and saw a concerned expression on Patrick’s face. Beth and her husband still hadn’t come up for air, and a sigh rose from Maddie’s chest.
“They really seem to love each other,” she said, hating the forlorn tone in her voice.
“I should hope so,” he said humorously. “What with them having a baby, and all.”
“Yeah.”
Patrick groaned silently. He didn’t have a clue how to console an upset woman, particularly when he didn’t know why she was upset. All he knew was Maddie had that quivery look to her bottom lip again, and it made him feel awful. He came from a family accustomed to physical displays of comfort and affection, so his first thought was to give her a quick hug. On the other hand, his desire to hug Maddie wasn’t entirely altruistic; maybe it was smarter to keep his hugs to himself.
Another long moment passed before Beth and Kane could drag their attention away from each other.
“Did I hear right, you both have the same birth date?” Kane asked at last, his arm snugly planted around his wife’s waist.
“July twentieth,” Maddie said. “It could be just a coincidence.”
“But we look so much alike,” Beth protested. “I was born at the old Crockett General Hospital at 12:25 a.m. What about you?”
Maddie squirmed. “Uh, same hospital, at 12:35. My birth certificate doesn’t say anything about it being a multiple birth.”
“Neither does mine, but they reissue the certificate when you’re adopted to make it look like you were born to your new parents. Twelve thirty-five? That makes me the eldest. I’ll bet we’re twins.” Beth smiled.
“It’s too soon to know that,” Maddie said. Judging by the way she lifted her stubborn chin, it didn’t look as if she was eager to find a twin sister. “Maybe we’re cousins. Cousins can look alike and be born close to each other.”
Beth shook her head. “It’s too big a coincidence. There was talk when I was a kid, but you hear so many wild rumors when you live in foster homes, I stopped paying attention. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to grow up together?”
Maddie didn’t say anything for a long moment, but her mouth was set stubbornly. “Twins usually aren’t separated when they’re adopted. Mom and Dad would have taken both of us, so we can’t be sisters.”
Realization dawned as Patrick remembered Maddie’s firm declaration that her real mother and father were in New Mexico. She obviously loved and respected her adoptive parents; to accept the possibility of a twin was to accept the Jacksons might have chosen to split them up.
“Hey,” he said, lightly tugging a lock of Maddie’s sun-streaked hair. “You mentioned it was a private adoption. Your birth mother could have decided she could make two childless families happy by separating you guys. I bet your parents didn’t even know there was another baby.”
“Tell us about yourself,” Beth urged. “What do you like to do? Are you married? Do you have children? Kane and I just got married and we’re already starting a family.”
Patrick groaned.
Married?
Children?
Both were topics destined to upset Maddie again. Things were going from bad to worse.
“I’m not married,” Maddie said, but her voice shook. “I was…that is, I was going to be, but it didn’t…Oh, dear.”
Sure enough, a fat tear rolled down her right cheek. If Patrick hadn’t been so fond of Beth, he would have glared at her. Never mind that his sister-in-law didn’t know that marriage and kids were sensitive subjects, she’d upset Maddie again and he was thoroughly put out about it.
Besides, the last thing he wanted to know were the details of Maddie’s broken romance. She’d probably talk about it with Beth at some point—if they actually turned out to be sisters—but he wanted to be miles away when it happened.
He liked Maddie, he just didn’t want to…like her. He’d learned years ago that he wasn’t some gallant knight on a snowy-white charger. Hell, he’d gotten into more trouble than the rest of his eight brothers and sisters combined.
“I’m sorry,” Beth said, looking equally distressed. “Is there anything I can do?”
Maddie shook her head, grateful for the warmth of Patrick’s fingers clasping her own. She wasn’t sure how their hands had met, but he had a strong, firm grip. It was comforting. A man ought to have hands that did hard work and had the calluses to prove it.
Boy, was she a dope.
“I’m through with men. That’s all,” she said hastily, trying to send her thoughts in another direction.
Patrick seemed like a good guy, but it didn’t change anything. She was through with both men and romance. She’d feel melancholy for a while, which was natural, then she’d get back to normal.
Beth opened her mouth, but whatever she’d planned to say was lost when the door of the shop opened and a woman walked inside, wrestling a baby carriage ahead of her. With an apologetic glance, Beth went to assist the customer, who was casting curious looks from Beth to Maddie and back again.
More customers came into the store, and Beth rushed over to Maddie. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’ll put the Closed sign out and get rid of everyone.”
“No.” Maddie was secretly grateful for the interruption. Finding a sister was the last thing she’d thought would happen when she left New Mexico—not that it was certain they were sisters, she reminded herself. “Don’t do that. I’ll come back tomorrow…or call. I’m staying at the Puget Bed and Breakfast Inn just outside of town.”
“You could stay with us. We’ve bought a wonderful old house and it’s huge. We’re remodeling so it’s a little dusty, but we’ve got lots of space.”
Maddie shifted uncomfortably. Beth might well be her sister, but she didn’t know the O’Rourkes or what they expected of her. What she did know was how difficult it would be to stay in the same house with two newlyweds who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Being a third wheel—on what should have been her own honeymoon—didn’t sound like fun.
Besides, Beth would undoubtedly want to know more about her almost-a-wedding. She would ask with the best of intentions, but it was too humiliating.
No.
She couldn’t talk about Ted and the way he’d cheated on her. Not with Beth. It would be easier confessing to Patrick than tell a woman whose husband obviously thought the sun rose and set in her eyes. Maybe Patrick could help her understand men better, because right now she didn’t have a clue about the opposite sex.
Oh, yeah, that was a great idea.
Maybe she could ask his opinion about her less-than-generous bustline. He could tell her if it was really inadequate or just sort of inadequate. Heat crawled up Maddie’s face at the thought. She was losing her mind—totally bonkers.
“Take it easy,” Patrick murmured in her ear.
Maddie realized she was gripping his fingers with the fierce hold of a drowning woman. With an effort she let go and shook her head.
“That’s kind of you, but I can’t,” she said to Beth. “Uh, stay with you. But thanks. I’ll call tomorrow.”
Beth’s face fell with disappointment, Kane seemed thoughtful, and Maddie deliberately didn’t look at Patrick. She backed out of the shop and hurried up the street, her only thought to get away.
This just wasn’t her week.
Patrick looked at his sister-in-law’s upset face and his brother’s worried eyes, and sighed.
He was going to get in deeper with Maddie, he just knew it. Beth was ready to welcome her with open arms, while Kane was concerned about his pregnant wife getting upset. Somebody would have to run interference.
That would teach him to take the afternoon off. Officially he worked Monday through Friday, but lately he’d been at the station seven days a week. Right now he was researching radio transmitters, trying to determine the best way to double KLMS’s receiving area. It was a big investment, but it would pay off if he planned right.
“I’ll go talk to her,” he said, trying not to sound reluctant. He liked Maddie, but getting messed up with her would play hell with his peace of mind.
The reward for his offer was a kiss on the cheek from Beth and an approving nod from his brother.
Well…maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
After all the times Patrick had screwed up, it felt good to be the one helping out.
Maddie’s rental was parked at the curb, which meant she was on foot. He spotted a flash of turquoise and scarlet down the street. She hadn’t been wearing her jacket and the temperature was dropping, so he checked the rental. Sure enough, it wasn’t locked. She’d probably tell him that nobody locked their cars in Slapshot and be surprised to hear she ought to do it here in Washington.
Slapshot.
Who ever heard of a town being called Slapshot? There was a story behind that name, which he’d undoubtedly hear if he spent enough time with Maddie. Deep down Patrick thought the way her tongue ran away with itself was charming. Most of the women he knew were trying so hard to be sophisticated you couldn’t tell what they were really thinking.
Patrick pulled a jacket from the front seat. A faint scent of sage rose from the garment, mixed with a sweet fragrance that had to be Maddie’s own perfume. He draped the jacket over his arm and headed for her with a long stride.
“Hey, Maddie,” he murmured when he’d gotten close enough. “We have to stop meeting like this.”
She regarded him gravely, without the slightest suggestion of a smile at his weak joke. “Do you really think Beth is my sister?” she asked.
“Maybe.” Actually, he thought it was likely, but since Maddie seemed ambivalent on the subject, he didn’t say so.
“She seems nice.”
“She is.”
“And your brother is really in love with her.”
It was the second time she’d said something about love, and Patrick felt as if a lightbulb had gone on over his head. That was the problem. Maddie’s heart had been broken. Now she’d met a possible sister who was happily married and newly pregnant. No wonder she didn’t want to stay with Kane and Beth.
“Tell you what,” he murmured, abandoning his resolve not to have anything to do with Maddie’s obviously troubled love life. “If you show me the low-down louse that made you cry, I’ll beat him up.”
“You…” Maddie stopped and actually smiled. “Would you do that?”
“In a cold second.”
Patrick meant it, too. His best defense was to think of Maddie like another sister, and he’d defend his sisters with the last breath in his body. All his brothers felt the same; guys learned not to mess with the O’Rourke women if they had any brains in their heads. Of course, their sisters didn’t seem to appreciate the effort and complained every chance they got about them being overprotective Neanderthals.
“Here, it’s getting cold.” He dropped her jacket around her shoulders.
“Thanks.” Maddie caught the lapels together.
“Do you want to get some lunch?”
She shook her head. “Thanks, but not today.”
“Come on, Maddie,” he wheedled. “It’s been hours since breakfast, and I hate eating alone.”
Maddie doubted it. Patrick O’Rourke seemed comfortable with himself, though he was hardly a lone-wolf sort of guy. He could probably have all the feminine companionship he wanted, so she ought to be flattered he wanted her companionship. But since she was through with men and romance, she wasn’t the least bit flattered.
Well, maybe a little.
And her ego was certainly bruised enough to crave some bolstering.
Only, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings or anything, but she wasn’t…all at once her heart fell to a new low, along with her bruised ego. The invitation didn’t have anything to do with her, just the fact she might be related to his sister-in-law.
“Men,” she muttered.
“Excuse me?” Patrick said, astonished.
“You’re just being nice because I might be Beth’s sister.”
“Is there anything wrong with that?”
“Well…no, but…no. It’s just that things are a little mixed up right now, and I shouldn’t be here at all.” Maddie sniffed. She wanted to be strong and independent, but a strong and independent person would be home now, dealing with the aftermath of her ruined wedding. At the very least she should have helped her mom put all that food away instead of flying halfway across the country.
“You’re not going to cry again, are you?” Patrick asked suspiciously. “Tears make me nervous.”
“No kidding.”
If there was anything Maddie did know about men, it was that they didn’t like to see a woman crying. Her father was a terrible softy when it came to a wobbly mouth and tears, and her mother had explained at an early age that it wasn’t right to get things just because she cried.
Problem was, Maddie cried at the drop of a hat. It snowed and she cried, because it was so pretty. A baby kitten standing on unsteady feet turned the waterworks on big time. And she went through boxes of Kleenex at Christmas and Easter.
“I’ll try not to upset you any more than necessary,” she assured him. “Which won’t be a problem at all, because it’s not like we’re friends, or anything, though you did kiss me. And even if Beth is my sister, I’m not sure that makes you family. I mean, it would in Slapshot because family is family, but I don’t know about Washington.”
Patrick groaned.
He’d never met a woman whose emotions were so close to the surface. She blurted out every thought that came into her head, and everything she felt flitted uncensored across her face. Now he felt like a jerk for acting as if her tears were an imposition.
“Don’t worry about it. Why shouldn’t you be here?” he asked, figuring he should make up for his big mouth, though it probably meant hearing things he’d rather not know about.
“Oh.” Maddie looked unhappy again. “It’s just that I left Mom and Dad to take care of everything. I should have stuck around for a while, then left.”
He shouldn’t ask, but he couldn’t help himself. “Take care of what?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Two hundred pounds of coleslaw, potato and macaroni salad. Three hundred pounds of cheese, ham, turkey and beef. Over a thousand of those dumb little crusty rolls. Gallons of mayonnaise, fancy mustards and a bunch of other stuff.”
“Really?” Patrick didn’t have the slightest idea what she was talking about.
“Some of the ‘other’ stuff was a four-tier wedding cake,” Maddie added, then bit her lip as if she regretted saying anything at all.
He whistled beneath his breath. He’d guessed she was recovering from a bad romance, but he’d never expected something so dramatic. Something had happened on her wedding day? Once again he decided he should keep his mouth shut, but his vocal cords were having a day of glorious freedom.
“What happened?”
“I caught my fiancé kissing the woman we hired to serve the punch.”
Patrick winced. Still, it could have been a misunderstanding. “Maybe—”
“Maybe nothing.” Maddie scowled and stuck her chin out. “He had her blouse off, and her D-cup bra was hanging from his pocket. What is it with men, anyway? Breasts are breasts. Why does size matter so much?”
Patrick gulped.
He liked women’s breasts—big ones, little ones, they were all terrific in his opinion. But it was hardly a discussion they should be having on a public street. At the same time a surge of anger swept over him, anger at the unknown man who’d callously cheated on his bride-to-be. How could that guy take advantage of an innocent like Maddie and still look himself in the mirror? At his worst he’d never taken advantage of a woman, and he certainly wouldn’t cheat on his bride-to-be.
“I think your fiancé has the brains of a squirrel,” Patrick said. “I could say something about another part of his pea-size anatomy, but I won’t since I’m in mixed company.”
Maddie giggled, though a bright pink flooded her cheeks. “I’m sorry about that ‘men’ comment. You really are nice.”
Nice?
Patrick gave her a measured look. Having watched four sisters go through some unhappy romances, he knew women were vulnerable when their hearts were broken. His sisters always talked about meeting a “nice” man after breaking up with a boyfriend.
If things were different he’d enjoy getting to know Maddie intimately, as long as she understood it wasn’t going to last. But that didn’t make him “nice,” at least according to the female definition of the word.
“Don’t get the wrong idea about me,” he said carefully. “I’m not that nice.”
Maddie sobered instantly, recognizing a warning when she heard it. Her chin lifted. “Don’t worry, I’m not getting any ideas.”
“I just don’t—”
“I said not to worry.” She gave him a tight smile. “But you’re right about it getting cold. I think I’ll go back to my room at the inn.”
Patrick groaned. Oh, yeah, he’d handled that really well.
Chapter Three
“Maddie, wait.” Patrick caught her arm and swung her around. “I’m sorry.”
She gave him an innocent look. “About what?”
Hell, he was going to pay big-time for his big mouth. “About being a jerk, all right? I’ve got four sisters and I’ve seen them get hurt even more when they’re…well…”
“On the rebound,” she finished, her mouth turned down. “I hate that word, it sounds like something out of a basketball game. But you seem to have forgotten that you’re the one who keeps following me. So even if I did have ‘ideas,’ which I don’t, it wouldn’t be my fault.”
“You’re right.” Patrick held up his hands in surrender. He must have sounded incredibly arrogant, but he’d hate to see a sweet kid like Maddie get hurt again, and he’d hate it worse if he was the one responsible. “If I abjectly apologize and say I was out of my mind, will you forgive me?”
Maddie sighed. She wanted to be furious, but maybe she’d sounded wistful, or admiring, or had indicated in some way to Patrick that she was getting starry-eyed over him. He probably had women falling all over themselves to catch his attention, and she had gotten tingles and a racing pulse over him. It didn’t mean anything. He was a gorgeous hunk with a body chemistry that could make any woman weak in the knees.
“Maddie?” Patrick prompted.
“It’s okay.”
It wasn’t, but she didn’t want to admit it was her ego on the rebound, not her heart. When she’d been growing up, her mother and father had always made her feel beautiful, but now she was left wondering what she actually had to offer a man. Did big breasts really matter that much? Maddie glanced down at her not-so-generous bustline and sighed again.
Maybe Ted would have found a kinder way to tell her he didn’t want to get married if she hadn’t surprised him with the punch girl. He wasn’t mean. And if she’d been able to tell him first that she was having second thoughts, they probably would have laughed about it, bypassed the church and had a great party with all that food and cake.
“You don’t look okay. You still look upset,” Patrick murmured. His eyes were more serious than she’d seen them since they’d met. He put on a good show of being easygoing, but she suspected there was a whole lot more going on beneath his nonchalant exterior than even he wanted to admit.
Maddie summoned a smile. “I’ve had quite a few shocks over the past couple days. I have a reason to be upset. But don’t worry about the other thing. I overreacted, that’s all.”
“About the ‘other thing,’ I should explain,” he said, a determined expression creeping into his face. “You’re so trusting and everything, I didn’t want you to start thinking I was some nice guy without ulterior motives. I’m a guy—of course I have ulterior motives. I’m loaded with them. Hell, I didn’t put in all that time as a rebellious teenage tough for nothing.”
“Oh, sure, you were a teenage tough. I believe that.” She made a disbelieving gesture.
“Take my word for it, I was one of the worst.”
Maddie still didn’t seem convinced, and Patrick thought about rolling up his sleeve and showing her the gang tattoo he sported on his upper arm. Oh, he’d gotten out of it quickly enough—thanks to a tough old coot whose car he’d tried to steal—but not so fast he didn’t have some scars and a broken nose from fighting. Not even his family knew everything about his escapades.
God, he’d been so angry after his father’s accident it was a miracle he hadn’t gotten himself killed.
But it wasn’t any wonder Maddie didn’t believe him. The closest thing to a gang in her hometown was probably the crew down at the local hamburger stand. He’d driven through some of the small, off-the-beaten-track towns in New Mexico. They were terrific…and about a million miles from the city.
Oh, but she did have a very sweet mouth.
Reaching out, he traced his forefinger across the fullness of Maddie’s bottom lip. Her breath caught and her golden-brown eyes widened, the pupils expanding until nearly all the gold specks disappeared, leaving a ring of velvet brown.
“I’m not nice,” Patrick whispered. “If I was, I wouldn’t be having so many notions about nibbling on parts of you. But I’m decent enough not to get involved with a woman who wants different things than I do.” He dropped his hand before he could be tempted to demonstrate exactly how much touching her appealed to him.
Maddie flicked her tongue against the spot he’d just caressed. He was certain it was an unconscious reaction. Any flirting on her part was almost certainly unintentional: she didn’t seem to have a clue about the usual games between a man and woman.
“Different things?”
“Marriage, family, permanence. That isn’t me, Maddie.”
“It isn’t me, either. After what happened with Ted and the punch girl I’m never getting married,” she said immediately.
It was Patrick’s turn to be skeptical, but he wisely kept from smiling. Maddie might say that now, but she’d change her mind quickly enough. She would meet the right man and forget all about Ted and the punch girl.
A small twinge of pain went through him at the thought. It was the same sort of feeling he’d had watching her at the cemetery, her face turned to the sky. Hell, he’d thought Beth was an innocent, but compared to Maddie, his sister-in-law was a sophisticate. Patrick had never realized it before, but innocence could be very appealing.
He cleared his throat. It wouldn’t help to start thinking that way.
“Maddie, I really am sorry.”
“Let’s not talk about it any longer,” she said quickly. “I don’t think I can take any more apologies. You wouldn’t believe how many times Ted said he was sorry.”
Patrick studied the stubborn jut to Maddie’s chin; she reminded him of an eight-week-old kitten spitting at a big old tomcat. And as the tomcat in question, he thought it was pretty funny.
And sweet. But if there hadn’t been such a gulf between them in experience, then he wouldn’t have to be so careful.
“Ted is the fiancé, I take it?”
“Ex-fiancé.”
“I hope you smashed a cake in his face, or something equally appropriate.” Patrick wished he could visit a little frontier justice on “Ted.” He might have been a troublemaker as a kid, but the O’Rourke men had always had a strict code when it came to the female half of the human race, and Ted had broken the code.
To his surprise, Maddie giggled. “Not quite. I did throw my engagement ring at him, though. I think it cut his lip.”
“Good for you.”
“That’s what Dad said. He wanted to shoot Ted, but Mom said it wouldn’t help, and we were lucky I caught him before the wedding instead of after. And there I was in the middle of it, listening to them and feeling so strange—like it wasn’t even me.” Maddie bit her lip and looked up. “You probably noticed I tend to cry easily.”
Great, another opportunity to say something stupid. That was another thing to be angry with Ted about—if Ted had been a decent guy, then Maddie would have come to Washington as a bride and he wouldn’t be having so much trouble with foot-in-mouth disease. Married women were strictly off-limits.
“There’s nothing wrong with being emotional,” he murmured.
“I don’t mean to cry. The waterworks just happen,” she said matter-of-factly. “But it was funny—after I blew up at Ted I felt frozen. Here I’d grown up expecting we’d get married and have a family, then all at once the whole course of my life was unraveling and I didn’t even cry.”
“You were in shock.”
“I guess.” Maddie rubbed the back of her neck. “It was like driving along a road with everything okay one minute and in the next minute the road and signs have all vanished and you don’t know what to do. Have you ever felt that way?”
“When my father died,” Patrick admitted. “It’s a hell of a feeling.”
Maddie got very still and solemn. “How old were you?”
“Fourteen—old enough to get in trouble and too young to understand why this terrific guy I worshipped was suddenly gone. I sure got pissed off at the world.”
“It must have been hard.”
“Like getting a knife in your gut,” he muttered.
Patrick thought about the way Keenan O’Rourke had always been there for his wife and children, at the same time working two jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. How had his father done that?
“So, what do you do in Slapshot?” he asked deliberately.
Maddie gazed at him a moment longer, then lifted her shoulders, accepting the change in subject. She might be innocent, but she wasn’t dumb.
“A little of everything. Mom owns the local newspaper and I answer phones, sell advertising, take orders for the classifieds…whatever needs doing. I’m not necessary, but she likes having me around. Now I have to go right back, and everyone will come in to gossip about the wedding being canceled. It’ll be worse than if I’d stayed.”
“Why do you have to go back so soon?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I cashed in Ted’s airplane ticket to pay for the room at the bed-and-breakfast inn, but the money won’t last forever.”
“Good for you. I hope he’s the one who paid for the tickets.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “He paid for them, but unfortunately we didn’t prepay our room reservations. I thought about getting a job here, only I don’t have any real skills, and saying you’ve worked for five years as your mother’s gofer isn’t impressive on a résumé.”
Renewed sympathy went through Patrick. He knew what it was like to worry about a résumé that way. If Kane had his way, the entire family would be working for O’Rourke Industries—at an exorbitant salary. As his sister, Shannon, always said, nepotism didn’t bother Kane. He was a great brother, but he had an overprotective streak that wouldn’t quit.
Kane had even wanted to buy the radio station or at least invest in it, but it wouldn’t have been the same if Patrick hadn’t earned it for himself. You had to earn success or it didn’t mean anything. He had every intention of going it on his own and proving he didn’t need anyone else to get by.
“Tell you what, I’ll give you a job,” he said, hardly able to believe he was opening his mouth. Having Maddie in such close contact was asking for trouble—it would be bad enough if she ended up spending time with Beth and Kane.
Maddie blinked. “You’ll what?”
“Give you a job. I own a radio station. You said you sold advertising for your mom’s newspaper, and I’m temporarily short in my ad department. It works out well for both of us.”
“You hardly know me.”
“That isn’t true, you might be Beth’s—”
“I know, I might be her sister,” Maddie interrupted. “It’s nice and I appreciate the thought, but it’s hardly a reason to hire me.”
“Well, you could save money by staying with Beth. She did offer,” he suggested, hoping Maddie would reconsider the invitation from his sister-in-law. It would get him off the hook with the job offer and make his brother’s wife very happy.
Maddie shook her head. “Would you want to stay with newlyweds?” She didn’t have to add after catching your fiancé cheating three hours before your own wedding?
Patrick scratched his jaw. He was uncomfortable around newlyweds and he hadn’t just gotten his heart stomped on by his fiancée. And he didn’t know why he was offering Maddie a job. He could claim he was just helping his brother and Beth, but deep down he suspected old-fashioned chivalry was responsible. Maddie wasn’t ready to face the scene of her humiliation, and he wanted to help.
He was in big trouble.
If he tried to climb on a white horse and play the hero he’d get bucked off faster than he could say, “Wounded pride.” Hadn’t he already screwed up where Maddie was concerned?
Patrick looked at her hurt eyes and surrendered. Something about Maddie reminded him of the old-fashioned values his father had once taught him. He didn’t have any choice, he had to help.
“So your option is to go home and face the town gossips, or stay here and sell advertising for a few weeks while we figure out whether you and Beth are related,” he murmured, ignoring the warning his survival instincts kept screaming. “I know which option I’d prefer, but you’ll have to decide for yourself.”
Maddie touched her left ring finger with her thumb. She’d worn her engagement ring there for so long it felt funny without the diamond solitaire. She hadn’t really liked the single diamond—it stood too high on her finger and constantly caught on things, but it still seemed strange.
Jeez. Everything was so mixed up.
Between Ted and his big-chested punch girl, a possible long-lost sister and that sister’s handsome brother-in-law, Maddie didn’t know what to do. She needed time to think, but Patrick was waiting for an answer and she didn’t want to go back to Slapshot. At least not for a while.
As for the stuff with Patrick and him warning her about getting ideas, she had overreacted. Her pride was battered and highly sensitive. She might have laughed at any other time.
“It shouldn’t take that long to find out about Beth and me,” she said uncertainly.
He gave her a charming smile that made her stupid heart skip some more. “It’s hard to say, but you’ll want to get to know each other and it’ll be easier to do that if you’re here in Washington.”
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Julianna Morris
FROM A PECK ON THE CHEEK…Maddie Jackson's bruised heart leaped at the casual brush to her cheek. Evidently men in this town found her attractive! But wasn't this handsome stranger being a little forward? And then she discovered that Patrick O'Rourke thought Maddie was his sister-in-law, and her heart leaped again–this time with hope….TO A TINGLE IN HER TOES!Because Maddie had come to town searching for family–and now she might have found a sister. Yet should she risk turmoil by getting involved with the infamous O'Rourke bachelor? Though Patrick offered his support, he also stirred her vulnerable passions. Would loving him lead to heartbreak or the love and family she longed for?There was only one way to find out…
“What do you think you’re doing?” Maddie demanded.
“Kissing you. What else?” the handsome stranger replied.
“I caught that.” Actually, it had been an awfully nice kiss, but they didn’t know each other and it wasn’t the sort of thing you did with someone you’ve never met.
“Say, is the pregnancy putting you on edge?” the man asked.
Maddie’s eyes widened. Pregnancy? “Preg…What are you talking about? Never mind. I’m leaving.”
“What’s gotten into you, Beth?” the man asked, clearly puzzled. “Kane told me about the baby, but he didn’t say it was a secret.”
Maddie was intrigued despite herself. “It’s a secret to me, because my name isn’t Beth.”
Dear Reader,
My, how time flies! I still remember the excitement of becoming Senior Editor for Silhouette Romance and the thrill of working with these wonderful authors and stories on a regular basis. My duties have recently changed, and I’m going to miss being privileged to read these stories before anyone else. But don’t worry, I’ll still be reading the published books! I don’t think there’s anything as reassuring, affirming and altogether delightful as curling up with a bunch of Silhouette Romance novels and dreaming the day away. So know that I’m joining you, even though Mavis Allen will have the pleasure of guiding the line now.
And for this last batch that I’m bringing to you, we’ve got some terrific stories! Raye Morgan is finishing up her CATCHING THE CROWN series with Counterfeit Princess (SR #1672), a fun tale that proves love can conquer all. And Teresa Southwick is just beginning her DESERT BRIDES trilogy about three sheiks who are challenged—and caught!—by American women. Don’t miss the first story, To Catch a Sheik (SR #1674).
Longtime favorite authors are also back. Julianna Morris brings us The Right Twin for Him (SR #1676) and Doreen Roberts delivers One Bride: Baby Included (SR #1673). And we’ve got two authors new to the line—one of whom is new to writing! RITA® Award-winning author Angie Ray’s newest book, You’re Marrying Her?, is a fast-paced funny story about a woman who doesn’t like her best friend’s fiancée. And Patricia Mae White’s first novel is about a guy who wants a little help in appealing to the right woman. Here Practice Makes Mr. Perfect (SR #1677).
All the best,
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor
The Right Twin for Him
Julianna Morris
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Books by Julianna Morris
Silhouette Romance
Baby Talk #1097
Family of Three #1178
Daddy Woke up Married #1252
Dr. Dad #1278
The Marriage Stampede #1375
* (#litres_trial_promo)Callie, Get Your Groom #1436
* (#litres_trial_promo)Hannah Gets a Husband #1448
* (#litres_trial_promo)Jodie’s Mail-Order Man #1460
Meeting Megan Again #1502
Tick Tock Goes the Baby Clock #1531
Last Chance for Baby! #1565
A Date with a Billionaire #1590
The Right Twin for Him #1676
JULIANNA MORRIS
has an offbeat sense of humor, which frequently gets her into trouble. She is often accused of being curious about everything…her interests ranging from oceanography and photography to traveling, antiquing, walking on the beach and reading science fiction.
Julianna loves cats of all shapes and sizes, and recently she was adopted by a feline companion named Merlin. Like his namesake, Merlin is an alchemist—she says he can transform the house into a disaster area in nothing flat. And since he shares the premises with a writer, it’s interesting to note that he’s particularly fond of knocking books on the floor.
Julianna happily reports meeting Mr. Right. Together they are working on a new dream of building a shoreline home in the Great Lakes area.
Contents
Chapter One (#u9753e49c-2711-59a4-86ca-fdd20bc99316)
Chapter Two (#u4cf65859-56c1-557f-9338-32080b44b761)
Chapter Three (#ub52e79be-0192-535f-8bbf-669ffc89a5bc)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
Maddie Jackson looked around the friendly town of Crockett, Washington, and smiled, her first real smile in days. She loved it here. People waved from their cars, and the service station attendants had even pumped her gasoline though the sign said it was self-serve.
It was really nice—a bit like her home in New Mexico, but probably greener and cooler in the summertime. And bigger. Crockett had a population of over ten thousand, while Slapshot topped out at seven hundred.
“Hey, kiddo, I’ve been waiting for you,” called a deep voice, and she turned to see a man come striding toward her. He had a loose-limbed, sexy gait and the wide, comfortable shoulders of a football player. At another time in her life she might have been thrilled to see a hunk like that trying to catch her attention.
But not now.
Now she was smarter and wiser. She’d sworn off romance for good. No more hunks for Maddie Jackson. Not that she had much experience with hunks—only a sort-of hunk—but that was more than enough.
The man stopped in front of her with one eyebrow raised. “Something wrong, gorgeous?”
He dropped a kiss on her cheek, which made Maddie squeak and jump back several feet. Now that was new. She couldn’t remember an attractive stranger ever calling her gorgeous and kissing her. Granted, she didn’t have much experience with that sort of thing, but maybe Crockett wasn’t such a nice town, after all. Maybe it was just strange.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, trying to look confidently intimidating.
“Kissing you. What else?”
“I caught that.” Actually, it had been an awfully nice kiss, but they didn’t know each other and it wasn’t the sort of thing you did with someone you’ve never met.
Maddie glanced around, hoping to see a policeman standing conveniently nearby. Her father had been the county sheriff before getting elected mayor of Slapshot, New Mexico, and she put a lot of faith in law enforcement.
She sighed.
They didn’t make men like her dad any longer, the faithful-till-the-day-he-dies sort of guy. She’d found out the hard way, which was why she’d walked out on her own wedding just two days ago. Women tended to do things like that when they found their fiancé in a clinch with the girl hired to serve punch at the reception. Of course, she had been looking for Ted to suggest postponing the ceremony, but that was beside the point.
“Say, is the pregnancy putting you on edge?” the man said, and Maddie’s eyes widened.
Pregnancy?
This week was getting weirder by the minute, and it had already been pretty weird.
“Preg—What are you talking about?” Maddie demanded. “Never mind. I’m leaving.”
She might be shaken by the events of the past few days, and she was certainly a little on the scatterbrained side, but she wasn’t stupid. She didn’t need an explanation from this attractive-lunatic hunk, she needed to get away from him. Obviously, she wasn’t ready to be a world traveler—Washington was a world away from comfortable, dusty little Slapshot.
“What’s gotten into you, Beth?” the man asked, clearly puzzled. “Kane told me about the baby, but he didn’t say it was a secret. I wanted to congratulate you in person, but the store was closed.”
Maddie was intrigued despite herself. “It’s a secret to me, because my name isn’t Beth.”
He leaned closer and peered into her face, the space between his eyes creasing thoughtfully. “I’ll be damned. You look just like my sister-in-law. Jeez, you must have thought I was…” His words trailed away and he shook his head.
Suddenly everything became clear to Maddie. It was just a case of mistaken identity—the stranger wasn’t a lunatic after all, and the reason that folks had been friendly was because she reminded them of this Beth person. It was disappointing, but she’d weathered far worse disappointments lately, so she wasn’t planning to let it get her down.
“I’m really sorry,” the man said. “You look a lot like Beth, and since she owns this store, I naturally thought you were her.” He pointed to the maternity and children’s clothing shop in front of them. “She must have decided not to open today.”
Maddie tucked the information into the back of her mind. She’d come back when the place was open—it might be a clue to finding her birth family. Though, just because you resembled someone, it didn’t mean you were related.
“They say everyone has a double,” she murmured.
Patrick O’Rourke looked at the woman he’d mistaken for his brother’s wife and shook his head. At first glance his new sister-in-law and this woman looked identical, but with each passing second he was seeing big differences between them.
The woman’s blond hair was lighter and streakier—it looked natural, so it was probably from the sun…and she wore chunky silver jewelry that suited the defiant tilt to her chin. And her gauzy turquoise dress with the long scarlet sash should have been a dead giveaway. Beth tended to dress more quietly, though Patrick had to admit the stranger’s choice of scarlet and turquoise was kind of pretty.
“Patrick O’Rourke,” he said.
“Maddie Jackson,” she returned, staring at his proffered hand. She finally put her fingers over his, only to instantly yank her arm away. Patrick didn’t blame her. The O’Rourke men were tall, and more than once he’d seen a woman take a step backward as if his size intimidated her.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he murmured.
“You didn’t.”
Oh, yeah. He believed that. You bet.
Maddie lifted her chin a fraction higher and gave her long skirt a tug. “I’m from Slapshot, New Mexico. And I’m not pregnant.” She looked down at her trim tummy, then back at him with a frown. “I don’t look pregnant, do I? I mean, I’ve been upset but I haven’t eaten that much and I never seem to gain weight, anyhow.”
“Certainly not.” A grin tugged at his lips. The non sequitur sounded perfectly normal coming from her mouth. “I apologize for the misunderstanding.”
“That’s okay,” she said generously. “You must have wondered why I was so surprised when you kissed me.”
Yeah, he’d wondered about that…and he’d wondered why he was having a less-than-platonic response to his sister-in-law. It was a relief to discover the response was to someone he didn’t know, rather than the woman his brother had recently married.
“New Mexico, huh? What are you doing so far from home?” he asked, deciding it was a safer subject than the one he’d just been contemplating.
To his surprise, the question transformed the charmingly flustered expression on her face to a blank mask. “I’m visiting,” she murmured.
“Visiting?”
“Well, sort of. I was supposed to be on my…” Her voice quavered and she bit down on her lip.
Damn.
Patrick fought panic as Maddie’s golden-brown eyes filled with tears. He was lousy with crying women. “That’s all right,” he assured hastily. “You don’t have to tell me.”
Maddie sniffed and she made a brave attempt at a smile. “All right. Thank you.”
All right?
He was more perplexed than ever. Whenever he told his sisters they didn’t have to tell him what was wrong, they claimed he wasn’t “interested” and seemed insulted. Granted, he was a stranger to Maddie, but it still surprised him. The intelligent thing to do was leave before things got more complicated.
“At least let me buy you a cup of coffee,” Patrick offered. Obviously, he wasn’t smart enough to do the “intelligent” thing. On the other hand, he’d made so many mistakes in his life, what was one more? “We’ve got great coffee here in Washington. And maybe Beth will show up so you can meet her.”
She regarded him for a long moment, then shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m headed for the cemetery. Well, actually to some graves that might be there with my birth name on the headstones. You see, I was adopted and thought I could get some information on my birth family by checking out the markers. Maybe I’ll come back another time.”
Adopted?
That was interesting. Patrick recalled that his sister-in-law had been raised in foster homes after her adoptive parents split up in a nasty divorce.
“When were you adopted?” he asked.
“I was a month old. My mom and dad are terrific, but I’ve been wondering about my birth parents—their health history and that sort of thing—in case I decide to have children. Which I’m not going to,” she added quickly. “So I’m not actually sure why I’m here. I told you I wasn’t pregnant.”
Patrick shook his head to clear it. Intimate revelations spilled from Maddie without a second thought. “Er…I remember. You aren’t pregnant,” he said.
“Well, I was planning to get pregnant,” Maddie qualified, her innate honesty forcing her into the admission. “But those plans changed abruptly. Thank goodness I found out in time.”
“Found out what?”
“Just s-something.”
To Maddie’s horror, more tears welled up in her eyes. It was so strange being in a place where people didn’t know everything about her. She’d grown up in a tiny town, where everyone knew everybody else’s business, so what was the point in trying to keep secrets? By now everyone in Slapshot knew about Ted and her failed wedding. Darn it all. Marrying the boy next door had always seemed so natural and expected and now she had no idea of what to do with her life.
“You still seem upset,” Patrick said.
He looked uncomfortable, which was fine with her. He’d made her plenty uncomfortable since calling her “gorgeous” and kissing her cheek.
Maddie tightened her mouth.
Boy, was she a dope.
But at least she was smart enough to turn down an invitation from Patrick O’Rourke. He was just the sort of handsome, sophisticated man her father had warned her about before putting her on the airplane in Albuquerque.
All at once Maddie scowled.
Why had her father warned her about other men? She’d told him over and over that she wasn’t ever dating again and that marriage was absolutely out of the question. She was sorry about the grandchildren thing, but one two-timing skunk was enough.
Patrick touched her arm, concern in his blue eyes. “Are you all right, Miss Jackson?”
She lifted her chin. “I’m just peachy, can’t you tell?”
“Uh, sure.” But he didn’t look convinced, and Maddie tried to relax. Maybe she wasn’t going to drink coffee with the man, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be pleasant.
“Well, it was nice meeting you.” She stuck out her hand. “I hope your sister-in-law has a beautiful baby.”
“Thanks.”
He grasped her fingers and she shivered. She’d never met someone with his electric body chemistry. The first time they’d shaken hands, the contact had sent tingles clear to her elbow, and this time the tingles reached the bottom of her stomach. It was different and exciting and the last thing she ought to be feeling, especially under the circumstances.
“Uh…bye,” Maddie mumbled, pulling free. Trying not to look as if she was rushing, she walked to her rental car and opened the door. She glanced up and saw him still watching her.
She smiled weakly.
Her father had always told her to be careful about strange men. It was the sheriff in him. They might live in a flyspeck town in the middle of New Mexico, but that didn’t mean his daughter could take unnecessary risks.
So, what would he say about Patrick O’Rourke?
Something succinct, probably.
Her dad was full of bluster and loud talk, but underneath he was pure teddy bear. Still, teddy bear or not, he’d be really uptight at the idea of a man kissing his little girl who hadn’t known her for at least twenty years.
Patrick stuck his hands in his pockets and watched Maddie Jackson drive down the street, feeling as if he’d just escaped a whirlwind.
Lord, the woman was baffling. And entirely too provocative. He wasn’t sure what that business about thinking about getting pregnant meant, though it sounded ominously like a romance gone sour. Even if he was interested in a relationship, he certainly wouldn’t think of starting one with a woman recovering from a broken heart or wanting a baby.
As usual, the R word made him vaguely uneasy.
Relationship.
Patrick shuddered.
It was fine for his brother to get married, and Kane had gotten himself a great wife, but he wasn’t about to follow his eldest sibling to the altar. He liked running his radio station and not having to worry about having to get home by a certain time. If he wanted to work all night, then that was his business. Switching KLMS from rock-and-roll oldies to country music had been a risk, but it was starting to pay off. He needed to stay focused on keeping things moving.
“Patrick, what are you doing in Crockett?” The laughing voice made him turn around. “Lately you’re always at the station. You haven’t even been making it to Sunday dinner with the family.”
“Uh…Beth?” he asked, peering at her closely. He wasn’t taking any chances after running into Maddie Jackson. Heck, he was lucky not to have been slapped or arrested.
Beth raised her eyebrows. “You were expecting someone else?”
“You’d be surprised,” Patrick muttered, giving her a tardy kiss. “I just met a woman who’s your spitting image. You wouldn’t happen to have a twin sister stashed someplace in New Mexico, would you?”
“I don’t think so.”
He hesitated. “The thing is, Maddie mentioned that she was adopted and looking for her birth family. Honestly, you two are so much alike you could be sisters.”
“I suppose it’s possible,” Beth said. “Whenever I’ve tried to get information about my birth family I haven’t gotten anywhere. I’d love to ask her some questions.”
“She went up to the cemetery to do some research. I can ask her to come back if you’d like,” Patrick offered, at the same time groaning silently. Maddie was entirely too disturbing to his equilibrium.
“That would be great. I’m expecting a shipment at the store, otherwise I’d go myself.”
She smiled, and Patrick was relieved he didn’t feel anything except warm affection when he looked at her. His sister-in-law was an attractive woman, but from the beginning he’d realized she belonged with Kane—though it had taken them a while to figure it out for themselves.
“By the way, congratulations on the baby,” Patrick said. “I’m a little smug about it since I’m the reason you and Kane met each other.”
She beamed. “Kane spent hours on the phone last night, telling everyone from London to Japan. We’re going to have a huge phone bill, but he wouldn’t get off.”
That was something else Patrick liked about Beth. She was married to one of the richest men alive, but she continued to think like an average person with an average amount of money.
“That’s great, kiddo. I’m happy for you.”
But the contrast between Beth’s bright happiness and the shadows he’d seen in Maddie’s eyes made Patrick shift uncomfortably. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Okay, so a woman he’d never met had cried twice while talking to him.
It was none of his business.
He was just concerned because Maddie looked like Beth, and since Beth was his sister-in-law, he was confusing family obligations. Except…his response to Maddie Jackson was far too sexual to be confused with anything.
With an effort, Patrick focused on Beth’s glowing face. “Okay, you wait for your shipment, and I’ll go find Maddie.” He kissed her again and watched as she went inside.
All things considered, he couldn’t understand how he’d confused the two women. Beth was Beth. Sweet, safe, comfortable. His brother’s wife. He liked sweet, safe and comfortable. He’d screwed up enough of his life with things that weren’t safe and comfortable.
Down the street was a small grocery shop, with racks of fresh cut flowers in front of it. Patrick ambled over and selected a bouquet of chrysanthemums. It was a small cemetery. He could always say he was putting the flowers on a friend’s grave if Maddie got nervous about him following her. He could even say she’d given him the idea.
In the back of his mind Patrick knew he was probably making a mistake to get involved, but it was important to Beth, so he couldn’t say no. It was the least he could do after she’d made his brother so happy.
Nodding to himself, Patrick got into his Chevy Blazer and headed for Crockett’s hillside cemetery. The sky had the brilliant blue of an early-fall day and the air was pleasant, with an underlying crisp edge. Soon it would be winter and folks would start complaining about the rain. He’d never understood why people lived in the Pacific Northwest if they disliked the weather so much. Though, as his mother said, being Irish he was genetically disposed to liking rain.
At the cemetery he parked, then used his cell phone to call his brother’s private office number. When Kane answered, Patrick described his meeting with Maddie Jackson…leaving out the part about being attracted to her. No sense in complicating things.
“This could be great for Beth,” Kane said. “She’s always wished she had her own family, especially now with baby coming.”
“I know.” Patrick looked across the cemetery. In her turquoise dress Maddie was easily recognizable in the distance. She moved from one stone to another, looking at the inscriptions and occasionally writing something on a pad of paper. At each stone she pulled a flower from the bouquet she carried and laid it on the ground. Once the caw-cawing of a crow caught her attention and she looked up, watching it sail across the sky.
He sighed, barely hearing his brother on the other end of the phone. Something about Maddie was so fresh and innocent. Hell, he couldn’t remember ever being that innocent.
“Uh…what was that?” he asked into the phone, shaking himself. The last time a woman had distracted him this much was when he was a teenager. He ought to have better sense now that he was the ripe old age of thirty-three. It was crazy. Even if he was interested in a long-term relationship, it wouldn’t be with a ditzy innocent who probably thought the whole world was like her hometown in New Mexico.
It wasn’t.
The world was a hard place, and nobody knew that better than Patrick.
“I’m coming over to meet Maddie, as well,” Kane repeated. “I’ll notify the helipad and leave in a few minutes.”
Despite his inner turmoil, Patrick grinned as he slipped the cell phone into a pocket. Few people had a private helicopter and pilot, always ready to make life more convenient. If his brother wasn’t such a great guy he’d be really obnoxious with all that money.
Not that Patrick had always appreciated the way that Kane had tried to fill their father’s shoes. Rebellious teenagers sometimes weren’t the smartest people in the world, and he’d been a “rebel without a pause,” leading with his chin and begging for trouble. A lot had changed since then, except he still tended to lead with his chin.
Carrying his bunch of flowers, Patrick headed toward Maddie. He felt foolish, but putting women and the O’Rourke men together frequently resulted in that emotion.
He cleared his throat when he was ten feet away, and Maddie’s head shot up. Her eyes widened and she took a step backward, which made Patrick’s own feet freeze. He looked down at the flowers and back at Maddie.
The flowers had been a really stupid idea.
“I realize how this looks,” he said slowly.
“No, you don’t.”
He sighed. “Okay, I don’t. It’s just that my sister-in-law arrived after you left and was really excited when I told her about you. She wants to be sure you’ll come back to meet her.” He let the arm holding the flowers fall to one side so the bouquet of yellow and russet mums wouldn’t be so obvious. “So, how is the search going?”
Maddie scrunched up her nose and looked at him for another minute, then shrugged, apparently deciding he was harmless. “I found the graves, but they’re really old. If these people are my relatives, they’re pretty distant.”
“It can be tough tracking down birth parents,” he said. “What do you know about them?”
She sighed. “Not much, except that my mother’s last name was Rousso, and she was really young. My adoptive parents met when Dad was attending the University of Washington. They knew ahead of time they couldn’t have kids, so they decided to adopt. It was a private arrangement through a church.”
“You seem comfortable about being adopted.”
“Why not? I had a great childhood.”
“Then why look for your birth parents?”
She gave him an exasperated frown. “I told you.”
“You told me you wanted to know about their health history in case you decide to have children.” Patrick lifted an eyebrow. “Then you promptly announced you weren’t having any kids.”
“Oh.”
Maddie’s teeth sank down on her lip and Patrick regretted ever bringing up the subject. It was somewhere between babies and adoption that she’d started crying the first time.
“Not that I blame you,” he said quickly. “Who wants to get tied down with a bunch of rug rats?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I thought you were pleased your sister-in-law is pregnant. Children are wonderful.”
Damn it all, he knew better than to get into a discussion about kids with a baby-hungry woman. “Let’s go see Beth,” he said quickly. “Who knows, maybe you’re sisters. She was adopted, too.”
Maddie hesitated.
Her first instinct was to say “yes,” but her instincts weren’t all that great when it came to men, so she needed to think it over. On the other hand, Patrick wasn’t asking her for a date, he just wanted to visit his sister-in-law. How much trouble could she get into, especially since she’d already planned to go see the other woman?
Besides, it wasn’t her business if the man didn’t want a family. She didn’t even know why his dedication to bachelordom was so annoying.
“All right,” she murmured. “Do you want to go now?”
“Sure. You’d better follow me in your car.”
She made a face. “You think I’m going to get lost?”
“We’ve got a lot of twists and turns around here.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She turned on her heel and headed back up the hill to the parking lot. When she didn’t hear footsteps behind her, she looked over her shoulder in time to see Patrick put his bouquet on one of the graves, right next to the flower she’d left.
Her heart skipped a beat.
It was obvious he’d been embarrassed about those flowers, but instead of throwing them away, he’d left them on someone’s long-forgotten grave. Carefully. With respect.
Darn.
She didn’t want her pulse jumping over Patrick O’Rourke. Her life had just gotten completely scrambled, and he was completely the wrong sort of guy for her, even if she hadn’t sworn off romance.
Right?
Chapter Two
Despite Maddie’s assurance that she knew the way back to town, Patrick arrived ahead of her. He got out and leaned against the Blazer as he waited. A few minutes later she drove up, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
He suppressed a smile as she slammed the door closed. “I know a few shortcuts,” he said.
Apparently, Maddie couldn’t stay annoyed, because she grinned at him. It was the most relaxed she’d seemed since he’d made the mistake of kissing her, and Patrick had time to notice the six small freckles on her nose, which were adorable.
Adorable?
He rolled his eyes and tried to think of something—anything—else.
Maddie Jackson was as cute as a baby kitten and had an appealing vulnerability beneath her colorful dress and the defiant tilt of her head. But he wasn’t in the market for appealing vulnerability, he kept his socializing to sophisticated women who didn’t have any interest beyond the here and now. Besides, his tastes ran to cool, classy brunettes, not impulsive, scatterbrained blondes.
“Are you ready to meet your double?” he asked.
Maddie gulped down a flutter of nervous excitement. She shouldn’t expect too much. Patrick was probably wrong and she didn’t look that similar to his sister-in-law.
They walked inside the Mom and Kid’s Stuff clothing store and Maddie stared at the woman behind the service counter. She swallowed again.
They really did look like each other.
“Beth, this is Maddie Jackson,” Patrick said. “Maddie, this is Beth O’Rourke.”
“Oh, it’s like seeing myself in a mirror,” the other woman gasped.
“Exactly,” he murmured.
Shockwaves rolled through Maddie’s already unsettled nerves. First she’d found her fiancé in a clinch with the punch girl, got kissed by a stranger and now…this. She felt an irrational desire to move closer to Patrick, as if he was a safe harbor in the middle of chaos.
Beth seemed to recover first, because she smiled and walked forward. “Welcome to Crockett. I understand you’re looking for your real mother and father.”
“My real mother and father are in New Mexico,” Maddie said, automatically sticking out her hand. “I’m just looking for my birth parents.”
“I see.”
They stood awkwardly until Patrick intervened. “Why don’t you start with your birthdays?” he suggested.
“July twentieth,” they said simultaneously.
Maddie swallowed and took an involuntary step toward Patrick. She didn’t know what she’d thought she would find when she left Slapshot, but it wasn’t seeing a woman with her same birth date and eyes and face.
“That’s interesting,” said a voice from behind them. “You were both born on the same day.”
“Kane!” Beth turned, her face transformed at the sight of a tall, dark-haired man with a striking resemblance to Patrick. She threw herself into his open arms.
“That’s my brother,” Patrick murmured. “You’d think they hadn’t seen each other in years, instead of hours. Of course, they’ve only been married for six weeks, so I guess we can excuse them for getting carried away.”
The wry, humorous tone of his voice was lost on Maddie, and her restlessness deepened as the couple shared a lingering kiss. She didn’t begrudge them their happiness, but it was hard seeing them at the same time her own life had fallen apart and she didn’t know how to fix it. Besides, there was something so…luminous about Beth O’Rourke when she looked at her husband.
When was the last time she’d looked at Ted like that? Certainly not the morning she’d found him with the punch girl’s D-cup bra hanging from his pocket.
Darn him, anyway. She could accept they’d both been having second thoughts. She could even accept he’d never been unfaithful before. So why did he have to make that comment about neither of them doing any comparison shopping…then make it clear what part of the feminine anatomy he was interested in comparing?
Honestly. She didn’t understand why men were so hung up about the female body. It wouldn’t matter to her if Patrick was short or tall or anything in between.
All at once Maddie frowned.
Patrick?
No. That was wrong.
Patrick O’Rourke was a temporary acquaintance, even if he did have a nice smile. She didn’t have any interest in his body.
At least, not much.
Though she had to admit it was a great body. The kind that inspired fantasies.
“Are you okay?” a quiet voice murmured.
She glanced upward and saw a concerned expression on Patrick’s face. Beth and her husband still hadn’t come up for air, and a sigh rose from Maddie’s chest.
“They really seem to love each other,” she said, hating the forlorn tone in her voice.
“I should hope so,” he said humorously. “What with them having a baby, and all.”
“Yeah.”
Patrick groaned silently. He didn’t have a clue how to console an upset woman, particularly when he didn’t know why she was upset. All he knew was Maddie had that quivery look to her bottom lip again, and it made him feel awful. He came from a family accustomed to physical displays of comfort and affection, so his first thought was to give her a quick hug. On the other hand, his desire to hug Maddie wasn’t entirely altruistic; maybe it was smarter to keep his hugs to himself.
Another long moment passed before Beth and Kane could drag their attention away from each other.
“Did I hear right, you both have the same birth date?” Kane asked at last, his arm snugly planted around his wife’s waist.
“July twentieth,” Maddie said. “It could be just a coincidence.”
“But we look so much alike,” Beth protested. “I was born at the old Crockett General Hospital at 12:25 a.m. What about you?”
Maddie squirmed. “Uh, same hospital, at 12:35. My birth certificate doesn’t say anything about it being a multiple birth.”
“Neither does mine, but they reissue the certificate when you’re adopted to make it look like you were born to your new parents. Twelve thirty-five? That makes me the eldest. I’ll bet we’re twins.” Beth smiled.
“It’s too soon to know that,” Maddie said. Judging by the way she lifted her stubborn chin, it didn’t look as if she was eager to find a twin sister. “Maybe we’re cousins. Cousins can look alike and be born close to each other.”
Beth shook her head. “It’s too big a coincidence. There was talk when I was a kid, but you hear so many wild rumors when you live in foster homes, I stopped paying attention. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to grow up together?”
Maddie didn’t say anything for a long moment, but her mouth was set stubbornly. “Twins usually aren’t separated when they’re adopted. Mom and Dad would have taken both of us, so we can’t be sisters.”
Realization dawned as Patrick remembered Maddie’s firm declaration that her real mother and father were in New Mexico. She obviously loved and respected her adoptive parents; to accept the possibility of a twin was to accept the Jacksons might have chosen to split them up.
“Hey,” he said, lightly tugging a lock of Maddie’s sun-streaked hair. “You mentioned it was a private adoption. Your birth mother could have decided she could make two childless families happy by separating you guys. I bet your parents didn’t even know there was another baby.”
“Tell us about yourself,” Beth urged. “What do you like to do? Are you married? Do you have children? Kane and I just got married and we’re already starting a family.”
Patrick groaned.
Married?
Children?
Both were topics destined to upset Maddie again. Things were going from bad to worse.
“I’m not married,” Maddie said, but her voice shook. “I was…that is, I was going to be, but it didn’t…Oh, dear.”
Sure enough, a fat tear rolled down her right cheek. If Patrick hadn’t been so fond of Beth, he would have glared at her. Never mind that his sister-in-law didn’t know that marriage and kids were sensitive subjects, she’d upset Maddie again and he was thoroughly put out about it.
Besides, the last thing he wanted to know were the details of Maddie’s broken romance. She’d probably talk about it with Beth at some point—if they actually turned out to be sisters—but he wanted to be miles away when it happened.
He liked Maddie, he just didn’t want to…like her. He’d learned years ago that he wasn’t some gallant knight on a snowy-white charger. Hell, he’d gotten into more trouble than the rest of his eight brothers and sisters combined.
“I’m sorry,” Beth said, looking equally distressed. “Is there anything I can do?”
Maddie shook her head, grateful for the warmth of Patrick’s fingers clasping her own. She wasn’t sure how their hands had met, but he had a strong, firm grip. It was comforting. A man ought to have hands that did hard work and had the calluses to prove it.
Boy, was she a dope.
“I’m through with men. That’s all,” she said hastily, trying to send her thoughts in another direction.
Patrick seemed like a good guy, but it didn’t change anything. She was through with both men and romance. She’d feel melancholy for a while, which was natural, then she’d get back to normal.
Beth opened her mouth, but whatever she’d planned to say was lost when the door of the shop opened and a woman walked inside, wrestling a baby carriage ahead of her. With an apologetic glance, Beth went to assist the customer, who was casting curious looks from Beth to Maddie and back again.
More customers came into the store, and Beth rushed over to Maddie. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’ll put the Closed sign out and get rid of everyone.”
“No.” Maddie was secretly grateful for the interruption. Finding a sister was the last thing she’d thought would happen when she left New Mexico—not that it was certain they were sisters, she reminded herself. “Don’t do that. I’ll come back tomorrow…or call. I’m staying at the Puget Bed and Breakfast Inn just outside of town.”
“You could stay with us. We’ve bought a wonderful old house and it’s huge. We’re remodeling so it’s a little dusty, but we’ve got lots of space.”
Maddie shifted uncomfortably. Beth might well be her sister, but she didn’t know the O’Rourkes or what they expected of her. What she did know was how difficult it would be to stay in the same house with two newlyweds who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Being a third wheel—on what should have been her own honeymoon—didn’t sound like fun.
Besides, Beth would undoubtedly want to know more about her almost-a-wedding. She would ask with the best of intentions, but it was too humiliating.
No.
She couldn’t talk about Ted and the way he’d cheated on her. Not with Beth. It would be easier confessing to Patrick than tell a woman whose husband obviously thought the sun rose and set in her eyes. Maybe Patrick could help her understand men better, because right now she didn’t have a clue about the opposite sex.
Oh, yeah, that was a great idea.
Maybe she could ask his opinion about her less-than-generous bustline. He could tell her if it was really inadequate or just sort of inadequate. Heat crawled up Maddie’s face at the thought. She was losing her mind—totally bonkers.
“Take it easy,” Patrick murmured in her ear.
Maddie realized she was gripping his fingers with the fierce hold of a drowning woman. With an effort she let go and shook her head.
“That’s kind of you, but I can’t,” she said to Beth. “Uh, stay with you. But thanks. I’ll call tomorrow.”
Beth’s face fell with disappointment, Kane seemed thoughtful, and Maddie deliberately didn’t look at Patrick. She backed out of the shop and hurried up the street, her only thought to get away.
This just wasn’t her week.
Patrick looked at his sister-in-law’s upset face and his brother’s worried eyes, and sighed.
He was going to get in deeper with Maddie, he just knew it. Beth was ready to welcome her with open arms, while Kane was concerned about his pregnant wife getting upset. Somebody would have to run interference.
That would teach him to take the afternoon off. Officially he worked Monday through Friday, but lately he’d been at the station seven days a week. Right now he was researching radio transmitters, trying to determine the best way to double KLMS’s receiving area. It was a big investment, but it would pay off if he planned right.
“I’ll go talk to her,” he said, trying not to sound reluctant. He liked Maddie, but getting messed up with her would play hell with his peace of mind.
The reward for his offer was a kiss on the cheek from Beth and an approving nod from his brother.
Well…maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
After all the times Patrick had screwed up, it felt good to be the one helping out.
Maddie’s rental was parked at the curb, which meant she was on foot. He spotted a flash of turquoise and scarlet down the street. She hadn’t been wearing her jacket and the temperature was dropping, so he checked the rental. Sure enough, it wasn’t locked. She’d probably tell him that nobody locked their cars in Slapshot and be surprised to hear she ought to do it here in Washington.
Slapshot.
Who ever heard of a town being called Slapshot? There was a story behind that name, which he’d undoubtedly hear if he spent enough time with Maddie. Deep down Patrick thought the way her tongue ran away with itself was charming. Most of the women he knew were trying so hard to be sophisticated you couldn’t tell what they were really thinking.
Patrick pulled a jacket from the front seat. A faint scent of sage rose from the garment, mixed with a sweet fragrance that had to be Maddie’s own perfume. He draped the jacket over his arm and headed for her with a long stride.
“Hey, Maddie,” he murmured when he’d gotten close enough. “We have to stop meeting like this.”
She regarded him gravely, without the slightest suggestion of a smile at his weak joke. “Do you really think Beth is my sister?” she asked.
“Maybe.” Actually, he thought it was likely, but since Maddie seemed ambivalent on the subject, he didn’t say so.
“She seems nice.”
“She is.”
“And your brother is really in love with her.”
It was the second time she’d said something about love, and Patrick felt as if a lightbulb had gone on over his head. That was the problem. Maddie’s heart had been broken. Now she’d met a possible sister who was happily married and newly pregnant. No wonder she didn’t want to stay with Kane and Beth.
“Tell you what,” he murmured, abandoning his resolve not to have anything to do with Maddie’s obviously troubled love life. “If you show me the low-down louse that made you cry, I’ll beat him up.”
“You…” Maddie stopped and actually smiled. “Would you do that?”
“In a cold second.”
Patrick meant it, too. His best defense was to think of Maddie like another sister, and he’d defend his sisters with the last breath in his body. All his brothers felt the same; guys learned not to mess with the O’Rourke women if they had any brains in their heads. Of course, their sisters didn’t seem to appreciate the effort and complained every chance they got about them being overprotective Neanderthals.
“Here, it’s getting cold.” He dropped her jacket around her shoulders.
“Thanks.” Maddie caught the lapels together.
“Do you want to get some lunch?”
She shook her head. “Thanks, but not today.”
“Come on, Maddie,” he wheedled. “It’s been hours since breakfast, and I hate eating alone.”
Maddie doubted it. Patrick O’Rourke seemed comfortable with himself, though he was hardly a lone-wolf sort of guy. He could probably have all the feminine companionship he wanted, so she ought to be flattered he wanted her companionship. But since she was through with men and romance, she wasn’t the least bit flattered.
Well, maybe a little.
And her ego was certainly bruised enough to crave some bolstering.
Only, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings or anything, but she wasn’t…all at once her heart fell to a new low, along with her bruised ego. The invitation didn’t have anything to do with her, just the fact she might be related to his sister-in-law.
“Men,” she muttered.
“Excuse me?” Patrick said, astonished.
“You’re just being nice because I might be Beth’s sister.”
“Is there anything wrong with that?”
“Well…no, but…no. It’s just that things are a little mixed up right now, and I shouldn’t be here at all.” Maddie sniffed. She wanted to be strong and independent, but a strong and independent person would be home now, dealing with the aftermath of her ruined wedding. At the very least she should have helped her mom put all that food away instead of flying halfway across the country.
“You’re not going to cry again, are you?” Patrick asked suspiciously. “Tears make me nervous.”
“No kidding.”
If there was anything Maddie did know about men, it was that they didn’t like to see a woman crying. Her father was a terrible softy when it came to a wobbly mouth and tears, and her mother had explained at an early age that it wasn’t right to get things just because she cried.
Problem was, Maddie cried at the drop of a hat. It snowed and she cried, because it was so pretty. A baby kitten standing on unsteady feet turned the waterworks on big time. And she went through boxes of Kleenex at Christmas and Easter.
“I’ll try not to upset you any more than necessary,” she assured him. “Which won’t be a problem at all, because it’s not like we’re friends, or anything, though you did kiss me. And even if Beth is my sister, I’m not sure that makes you family. I mean, it would in Slapshot because family is family, but I don’t know about Washington.”
Patrick groaned.
He’d never met a woman whose emotions were so close to the surface. She blurted out every thought that came into her head, and everything she felt flitted uncensored across her face. Now he felt like a jerk for acting as if her tears were an imposition.
“Don’t worry about it. Why shouldn’t you be here?” he asked, figuring he should make up for his big mouth, though it probably meant hearing things he’d rather not know about.
“Oh.” Maddie looked unhappy again. “It’s just that I left Mom and Dad to take care of everything. I should have stuck around for a while, then left.”
He shouldn’t ask, but he couldn’t help himself. “Take care of what?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Two hundred pounds of coleslaw, potato and macaroni salad. Three hundred pounds of cheese, ham, turkey and beef. Over a thousand of those dumb little crusty rolls. Gallons of mayonnaise, fancy mustards and a bunch of other stuff.”
“Really?” Patrick didn’t have the slightest idea what she was talking about.
“Some of the ‘other’ stuff was a four-tier wedding cake,” Maddie added, then bit her lip as if she regretted saying anything at all.
He whistled beneath his breath. He’d guessed she was recovering from a bad romance, but he’d never expected something so dramatic. Something had happened on her wedding day? Once again he decided he should keep his mouth shut, but his vocal cords were having a day of glorious freedom.
“What happened?”
“I caught my fiancé kissing the woman we hired to serve the punch.”
Patrick winced. Still, it could have been a misunderstanding. “Maybe—”
“Maybe nothing.” Maddie scowled and stuck her chin out. “He had her blouse off, and her D-cup bra was hanging from his pocket. What is it with men, anyway? Breasts are breasts. Why does size matter so much?”
Patrick gulped.
He liked women’s breasts—big ones, little ones, they were all terrific in his opinion. But it was hardly a discussion they should be having on a public street. At the same time a surge of anger swept over him, anger at the unknown man who’d callously cheated on his bride-to-be. How could that guy take advantage of an innocent like Maddie and still look himself in the mirror? At his worst he’d never taken advantage of a woman, and he certainly wouldn’t cheat on his bride-to-be.
“I think your fiancé has the brains of a squirrel,” Patrick said. “I could say something about another part of his pea-size anatomy, but I won’t since I’m in mixed company.”
Maddie giggled, though a bright pink flooded her cheeks. “I’m sorry about that ‘men’ comment. You really are nice.”
Nice?
Patrick gave her a measured look. Having watched four sisters go through some unhappy romances, he knew women were vulnerable when their hearts were broken. His sisters always talked about meeting a “nice” man after breaking up with a boyfriend.
If things were different he’d enjoy getting to know Maddie intimately, as long as she understood it wasn’t going to last. But that didn’t make him “nice,” at least according to the female definition of the word.
“Don’t get the wrong idea about me,” he said carefully. “I’m not that nice.”
Maddie sobered instantly, recognizing a warning when she heard it. Her chin lifted. “Don’t worry, I’m not getting any ideas.”
“I just don’t—”
“I said not to worry.” She gave him a tight smile. “But you’re right about it getting cold. I think I’ll go back to my room at the inn.”
Patrick groaned. Oh, yeah, he’d handled that really well.
Chapter Three
“Maddie, wait.” Patrick caught her arm and swung her around. “I’m sorry.”
She gave him an innocent look. “About what?”
Hell, he was going to pay big-time for his big mouth. “About being a jerk, all right? I’ve got four sisters and I’ve seen them get hurt even more when they’re…well…”
“On the rebound,” she finished, her mouth turned down. “I hate that word, it sounds like something out of a basketball game. But you seem to have forgotten that you’re the one who keeps following me. So even if I did have ‘ideas,’ which I don’t, it wouldn’t be my fault.”
“You’re right.” Patrick held up his hands in surrender. He must have sounded incredibly arrogant, but he’d hate to see a sweet kid like Maddie get hurt again, and he’d hate it worse if he was the one responsible. “If I abjectly apologize and say I was out of my mind, will you forgive me?”
Maddie sighed. She wanted to be furious, but maybe she’d sounded wistful, or admiring, or had indicated in some way to Patrick that she was getting starry-eyed over him. He probably had women falling all over themselves to catch his attention, and she had gotten tingles and a racing pulse over him. It didn’t mean anything. He was a gorgeous hunk with a body chemistry that could make any woman weak in the knees.
“Maddie?” Patrick prompted.
“It’s okay.”
It wasn’t, but she didn’t want to admit it was her ego on the rebound, not her heart. When she’d been growing up, her mother and father had always made her feel beautiful, but now she was left wondering what she actually had to offer a man. Did big breasts really matter that much? Maddie glanced down at her not-so-generous bustline and sighed again.
Maybe Ted would have found a kinder way to tell her he didn’t want to get married if she hadn’t surprised him with the punch girl. He wasn’t mean. And if she’d been able to tell him first that she was having second thoughts, they probably would have laughed about it, bypassed the church and had a great party with all that food and cake.
“You don’t look okay. You still look upset,” Patrick murmured. His eyes were more serious than she’d seen them since they’d met. He put on a good show of being easygoing, but she suspected there was a whole lot more going on beneath his nonchalant exterior than even he wanted to admit.
Maddie summoned a smile. “I’ve had quite a few shocks over the past couple days. I have a reason to be upset. But don’t worry about the other thing. I overreacted, that’s all.”
“About the ‘other thing,’ I should explain,” he said, a determined expression creeping into his face. “You’re so trusting and everything, I didn’t want you to start thinking I was some nice guy without ulterior motives. I’m a guy—of course I have ulterior motives. I’m loaded with them. Hell, I didn’t put in all that time as a rebellious teenage tough for nothing.”
“Oh, sure, you were a teenage tough. I believe that.” She made a disbelieving gesture.
“Take my word for it, I was one of the worst.”
Maddie still didn’t seem convinced, and Patrick thought about rolling up his sleeve and showing her the gang tattoo he sported on his upper arm. Oh, he’d gotten out of it quickly enough—thanks to a tough old coot whose car he’d tried to steal—but not so fast he didn’t have some scars and a broken nose from fighting. Not even his family knew everything about his escapades.
God, he’d been so angry after his father’s accident it was a miracle he hadn’t gotten himself killed.
But it wasn’t any wonder Maddie didn’t believe him. The closest thing to a gang in her hometown was probably the crew down at the local hamburger stand. He’d driven through some of the small, off-the-beaten-track towns in New Mexico. They were terrific…and about a million miles from the city.
Oh, but she did have a very sweet mouth.
Reaching out, he traced his forefinger across the fullness of Maddie’s bottom lip. Her breath caught and her golden-brown eyes widened, the pupils expanding until nearly all the gold specks disappeared, leaving a ring of velvet brown.
“I’m not nice,” Patrick whispered. “If I was, I wouldn’t be having so many notions about nibbling on parts of you. But I’m decent enough not to get involved with a woman who wants different things than I do.” He dropped his hand before he could be tempted to demonstrate exactly how much touching her appealed to him.
Maddie flicked her tongue against the spot he’d just caressed. He was certain it was an unconscious reaction. Any flirting on her part was almost certainly unintentional: she didn’t seem to have a clue about the usual games between a man and woman.
“Different things?”
“Marriage, family, permanence. That isn’t me, Maddie.”
“It isn’t me, either. After what happened with Ted and the punch girl I’m never getting married,” she said immediately.
It was Patrick’s turn to be skeptical, but he wisely kept from smiling. Maddie might say that now, but she’d change her mind quickly enough. She would meet the right man and forget all about Ted and the punch girl.
A small twinge of pain went through him at the thought. It was the same sort of feeling he’d had watching her at the cemetery, her face turned to the sky. Hell, he’d thought Beth was an innocent, but compared to Maddie, his sister-in-law was a sophisticate. Patrick had never realized it before, but innocence could be very appealing.
He cleared his throat. It wouldn’t help to start thinking that way.
“Maddie, I really am sorry.”
“Let’s not talk about it any longer,” she said quickly. “I don’t think I can take any more apologies. You wouldn’t believe how many times Ted said he was sorry.”
Patrick studied the stubborn jut to Maddie’s chin; she reminded him of an eight-week-old kitten spitting at a big old tomcat. And as the tomcat in question, he thought it was pretty funny.
And sweet. But if there hadn’t been such a gulf between them in experience, then he wouldn’t have to be so careful.
“Ted is the fiancé, I take it?”
“Ex-fiancé.”
“I hope you smashed a cake in his face, or something equally appropriate.” Patrick wished he could visit a little frontier justice on “Ted.” He might have been a troublemaker as a kid, but the O’Rourke men had always had a strict code when it came to the female half of the human race, and Ted had broken the code.
To his surprise, Maddie giggled. “Not quite. I did throw my engagement ring at him, though. I think it cut his lip.”
“Good for you.”
“That’s what Dad said. He wanted to shoot Ted, but Mom said it wouldn’t help, and we were lucky I caught him before the wedding instead of after. And there I was in the middle of it, listening to them and feeling so strange—like it wasn’t even me.” Maddie bit her lip and looked up. “You probably noticed I tend to cry easily.”
Great, another opportunity to say something stupid. That was another thing to be angry with Ted about—if Ted had been a decent guy, then Maddie would have come to Washington as a bride and he wouldn’t be having so much trouble with foot-in-mouth disease. Married women were strictly off-limits.
“There’s nothing wrong with being emotional,” he murmured.
“I don’t mean to cry. The waterworks just happen,” she said matter-of-factly. “But it was funny—after I blew up at Ted I felt frozen. Here I’d grown up expecting we’d get married and have a family, then all at once the whole course of my life was unraveling and I didn’t even cry.”
“You were in shock.”
“I guess.” Maddie rubbed the back of her neck. “It was like driving along a road with everything okay one minute and in the next minute the road and signs have all vanished and you don’t know what to do. Have you ever felt that way?”
“When my father died,” Patrick admitted. “It’s a hell of a feeling.”
Maddie got very still and solemn. “How old were you?”
“Fourteen—old enough to get in trouble and too young to understand why this terrific guy I worshipped was suddenly gone. I sure got pissed off at the world.”
“It must have been hard.”
“Like getting a knife in your gut,” he muttered.
Patrick thought about the way Keenan O’Rourke had always been there for his wife and children, at the same time working two jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. How had his father done that?
“So, what do you do in Slapshot?” he asked deliberately.
Maddie gazed at him a moment longer, then lifted her shoulders, accepting the change in subject. She might be innocent, but she wasn’t dumb.
“A little of everything. Mom owns the local newspaper and I answer phones, sell advertising, take orders for the classifieds…whatever needs doing. I’m not necessary, but she likes having me around. Now I have to go right back, and everyone will come in to gossip about the wedding being canceled. It’ll be worse than if I’d stayed.”
“Why do you have to go back so soon?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I cashed in Ted’s airplane ticket to pay for the room at the bed-and-breakfast inn, but the money won’t last forever.”
“Good for you. I hope he’s the one who paid for the tickets.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “He paid for them, but unfortunately we didn’t prepay our room reservations. I thought about getting a job here, only I don’t have any real skills, and saying you’ve worked for five years as your mother’s gofer isn’t impressive on a résumé.”
Renewed sympathy went through Patrick. He knew what it was like to worry about a résumé that way. If Kane had his way, the entire family would be working for O’Rourke Industries—at an exorbitant salary. As his sister, Shannon, always said, nepotism didn’t bother Kane. He was a great brother, but he had an overprotective streak that wouldn’t quit.
Kane had even wanted to buy the radio station or at least invest in it, but it wouldn’t have been the same if Patrick hadn’t earned it for himself. You had to earn success or it didn’t mean anything. He had every intention of going it on his own and proving he didn’t need anyone else to get by.
“Tell you what, I’ll give you a job,” he said, hardly able to believe he was opening his mouth. Having Maddie in such close contact was asking for trouble—it would be bad enough if she ended up spending time with Beth and Kane.
Maddie blinked. “You’ll what?”
“Give you a job. I own a radio station. You said you sold advertising for your mom’s newspaper, and I’m temporarily short in my ad department. It works out well for both of us.”
“You hardly know me.”
“That isn’t true, you might be Beth’s—”
“I know, I might be her sister,” Maddie interrupted. “It’s nice and I appreciate the thought, but it’s hardly a reason to hire me.”
“Well, you could save money by staying with Beth. She did offer,” he suggested, hoping Maddie would reconsider the invitation from his sister-in-law. It would get him off the hook with the job offer and make his brother’s wife very happy.
Maddie shook her head. “Would you want to stay with newlyweds?” She didn’t have to add after catching your fiancé cheating three hours before your own wedding?
Patrick scratched his jaw. He was uncomfortable around newlyweds and he hadn’t just gotten his heart stomped on by his fiancée. And he didn’t know why he was offering Maddie a job. He could claim he was just helping his brother and Beth, but deep down he suspected old-fashioned chivalry was responsible. Maddie wasn’t ready to face the scene of her humiliation, and he wanted to help.
He was in big trouble.
If he tried to climb on a white horse and play the hero he’d get bucked off faster than he could say, “Wounded pride.” Hadn’t he already screwed up where Maddie was concerned?
Patrick looked at her hurt eyes and surrendered. Something about Maddie reminded him of the old-fashioned values his father had once taught him. He didn’t have any choice, he had to help.
“So your option is to go home and face the town gossips, or stay here and sell advertising for a few weeks while we figure out whether you and Beth are related,” he murmured, ignoring the warning his survival instincts kept screaming. “I know which option I’d prefer, but you’ll have to decide for yourself.”
Maddie touched her left ring finger with her thumb. She’d worn her engagement ring there for so long it felt funny without the diamond solitaire. She hadn’t really liked the single diamond—it stood too high on her finger and constantly caught on things, but it still seemed strange.
Jeez. Everything was so mixed up.
Between Ted and his big-chested punch girl, a possible long-lost sister and that sister’s handsome brother-in-law, Maddie didn’t know what to do. She needed time to think, but Patrick was waiting for an answer and she didn’t want to go back to Slapshot. At least not for a while.
As for the stuff with Patrick and him warning her about getting ideas, she had overreacted. Her pride was battered and highly sensitive. She might have laughed at any other time.
“It shouldn’t take that long to find out about Beth and me,” she said uncertainly.
He gave her a charming smile that made her stupid heart skip some more. “It’s hard to say, but you’ll want to get to know each other and it’ll be easier to do that if you’re here in Washington.”
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Julianna Morris
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: FROM A PECK ON THE CHEEK…Maddie Jackson′s bruised heart leaped at the casual brush to her cheek. Evidently men in this town found her attractive! But wasn′t this handsome stranger being a little forward? And then she discovered that Patrick O′Rourke thought Maddie was his sister-in-law, and her heart leaped again–this time with hope….TO A TINGLE IN HER TOES!Because Maddie had come to town searching for family–and now she might have found a sister. Yet should she risk turmoil by getting involved with the infamous O′Rourke bachelor? Though Patrick offered his support, he also stirred her vulnerable passions. Would loving him lead to heartbreak or the love and family she longed for?There was only one way to find out…