Sinful (15 page)

Connor lifted his head and looked down at her, his brow furrowed. “I hope you don’t mean that, Eve. I hope it matters to you whether I desire you.”

Eve blushed. “It’s just…I half expected something like this to happen. For Molly to be here with us.”

“I didn’t.” Connor’s eyes bored into hers. “I knew exactly who I was holding in my arms.” He shoved
the sheet out of his way and slid his arms around her naked body, tucking her in a close embrace.

“You don’t have to do this,” she said.

“I don’t have to. I want to.”

A sudden raucous clash of metal on metal caused Connor to clutch her tighter, then roll them both off the bed. As soon as they were on the floor, he crouched on one knee, using the bed as a shield.

Eve grabbed at the sheet, pulling it off the bed to cover herself as she stared at Connor. “What just happened?”

He shot her a sheepish look. “I still haven’t stopped ducking for cover when I hear anything that sounds like a gunshot.”

Eve stared appreciatively at Connor’s lean flanks and buttocks as he rose and strode, completely naked, toward the window. Before he got there, he retrieved his shorts and pulled them on.

The clamor intensified as he shoved open the window and stuck his head out. “I don’t believe it!”

“What is it?” Eve asked, her whole body tensed for action.

He turned back to her, shaking his head in disbelief. “A shivaree.”

“A what?”

“Old frontier custom,” he explained. “The neighbors get together to serenade a newly married couple—with pots and pans—and generally interrupt the wedding night.”

They’d done a pretty good job of that on their own, Eve thought. “Who’s out there?”

“No idea, but they aren’t going away until we give them something to eat and drink.”

Two small forms appeared in the doorway clutched together.

“What is that?” Brooke asked fearfully.

“I’m scared,” Sawyer said.

Connor pulled on his jeans as he said, “Some folks are wishing me and Eve noisy congratulations on getting married.” He grabbed his shirt and headed for the door. “Let’s let Eve get dressed while we go say hello. Then you two can head back to bed.”

Eve hurried to put her clothes on, regretting that they hadn’t made love, but feeling more encouraged than she had in a very long time. Connor might not love her, but he wanted her. She hoped whoever it was didn’t stay long, because she very much wanted to finish what they’d started.

Eve heard what sounded like a violent quarrel as she headed down the hall. She recognized Taylor’s voice. And Victoria’s. And several male voices arguing back. Connor’s brothers?

Eve ran for the kitchen, hoping she was in time to keep blood from being shed.

E
VE WAS APPALLED
to discover her eldest sister, Taylor, with her balled fists on her hips confronting Brian Connor. Taylor was the beautiful sister, the one who looked the most like their stunning mother, Jill. Taylor was tall, with posture like a ballerina. She had long, lustrous, movie-star-blond hair and dazzling blue eyes that left men speechless when they met her for the first time.

Brian and Taylor weren’t alone. Leah and Victoria stood to either side of Taylor while Aiden and Devon braced Brian. They were all still wearing their coats. Connor was situated between the kids, who were sitting on stools at the kitchen counter.

“It doesn’t surprise me that you’d choose this way to celebrate a wedding between my sister and your brother,” Taylor said. “Bad judgment seems to run in your family.”

“What are you doing here? Tell me that?” Brian shot back.

“I came to wish my sister well.”

“I did the same for my brother,” Brian said. “Connor knows a shivaree is all in good fun.”

“It’s awful!” Taylor said. “Look at those two poor
quivering children.” She pointed toward Brooke and Sawyer.

Unfortunately, at that moment the children were laughing at something Aiden was saying.

Brian snorted. “Yeah, they look real scared.”

Leah spoke quietly to Connor, and he helped the children down from their stools. After a single wave goodbye from Brooke in the direction of the adults in the kitchen, Leah escorted the two children down the hall toward their bedrooms.

As Taylor watched them go she said, “Well, they
were
scared when they showed up here in the kitchen. I guess you Flynns can be hilarious when you want to be.”

“You would know,” Brian said.

“How dare you bring that up!”

Eve saw tears spring to Taylor’s eyes and wondered what had happened between Brian and Taylor in the past that had caused her sister such anguish. Brian’s blue eyes were as dark as his soul seemed to be.

She wasn’t given the opportunity to sympathize with her sister, because the instant Taylor caught sight of Eve, she blurted, “I can’t believe you got married without inviting any of us!”

“Without giving us a chance to stand up with you,” Victoria added.

Eve’s only defense was the truth, that it was a marriage of convenience, and as such, anything fancier would have been absurd. But she didn’t know whether Connor wanted his brothers to know why they’d married so abruptly, and the more people who knew the real story, the better chance the truth would
have of getting back to the social worker. “We both thought a simple wedding was best.”

“This wedding wasn’t just simple,” Taylor accused. “It was a travesty.”

Brian turned to Connor and said, “A speedy wedding without family present seems pretty suspicious to me.” He turned to Eve and asked, “Are you pregnant?”

Connor hit his brother in the jaw. “That’s my wife you’re talking about. Watch your mouth!”

Eve gaped.

Devon had caught Brian as he stumbled backward and kept him upright. Brian rubbed his sore jaw with his hand as his gaze shifted from Connor to Eve and back again. “I notice you didn’t answer my question.”

“Why, you—”

Aiden caught Connor’s cocked fist before he could punch Brian again. He let him go, then said in a voice that demanded obedience, “That’s enough.”

Eve was caught off guard when Leah asked, “Well, are you?”

She hadn’t seen her sister return to the room.

“No, I’m not!” Eve opened her mouth to explain that they’d gotten married so quickly for the sake of the children and snapped it shut again. They didn’t owe their siblings any explanation. “We had a lovely wedding and a lovely wedding day—that is, until the six of you showed up. Be happy for us.”

She crossed to Connor, slid an arm around his waist, and looked up at him with all the love she felt. “We want to be together. Is that so hard to believe?”

Brian snorted again. “Yeah, it is.” He shot a glance
in Taylor’s direction before he said, “Grayhawks and Flynns are notoriously incapable of getting along.”

“That’s because all Flynns are liars,” Taylor snapped back.

Eve stiffened. “I can’t let you get away with that. Connor’s never been anything but straightforward with me.”

Leah put a comforting arm around Taylor’s shoulders and said, “I think we should wish the newlyweds well and take our leave.”

“Nothing good can come of this,” Taylor replied.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t hope for the best,” Leah said.

Eve’s stomach churned. Was it really so impossible for her sisters to believe that she could be happy with Connor simply because he was a Flynn? She wasn’t the only one of her sisters to have interacted with one of “those wild Flynn boys,” but it seemed she was the only one who hadn’t been wounded by the experience. Or at least, whatever pain she’d suffered because of falling in love with Connor wasn’t his fault.

“By the way, your buttons are off-kilter,” Victoria said, pointing to Eve’s shirt.

Eve looked down and self-consciously grabbed a handful of her shirt where a button was in the wrong hole.

“Your shirt isn’t buttoned at all,” Devon said to Connor with a grin. He quirked an amused brow as he surveyed the two gathered sets of siblings. “Looks like these two are getting along a lot better than the rest of us.”

Eve flushed to the roots of her hair. A quick glance at Connor’s fair skin revealed an equal rush of blood
to his cheeks, although he did nothing to close the shirt that gaped open down the center of his chest.

“Let’s let these two get back to whatever it was they were doing,” Aiden said with a chuckle.

“We should go, too,” Leah said. She crossed to Eve and kissed her cheek. “If you’re happy, I’m happy for you.”

“Me, too,” Victoria said as she kissed Eve’s cheek.

“I wish I could believe this will end happily ever after,” Taylor said. “But I don’t.” She grimaced at the admonishing look Leah shot her and added, “I love you, Eve. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Eve watched Leah stiffen as Aiden stepped in front of her on her way to the door. He said something low that Eve couldn’t hear, which resulted in Leah’s looking up at him with troubled eyes. Her sister quickly lowered her gaze and moved past Connor’s brother without touching him and without saying anything. Aiden followed Leah with his eyes until she was gone from the house.

Devon shook Connor’s hand and said, “Congratulations. I wish the best for both of you.”

Then he did something that surprised Eve. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, much as her sisters had done. It was only then it dawned on her that none of her sisters had offered Connor their best wishes. She wanted to call them back and demand that they do so, but it would only have pointed a finger at their lack of courtesy.

She tried to make up for it by being especially cordial to Connor’s brother. She smiled as radiantly as she could and said, “Thank you, Devon.”

Her goodwill toward the Flynn brothers was
quickly extinguished when Brian appeared before Connor, gripped his hand, and said, “You’re making a big mistake.” He turned to look at her and added, “Both of you.”

“Thanks for your concern,” Connor replied in what Eve thought was an amazingly level voice. “I know how unhappy you were in your marriage, so I understand your pessimism. I’m satisfied with the choice I made, and I hope you can be happy for me.”

Connor never let go of Brian’s hand the entire time he was talking. When he was done, he made the extraordinary gesture of hugging his brother. He whispered something in Brian’s ear that made his brother scowl. The moment Brian was free, he turned without another word and headed for the door.

Aiden was the last to speak to them. “This marriage of yours caught Dad by surprise. He knew you were engaged, but he never suspected you’d jump the gun like this.”

“How did he find out?” Connor asked.

“The magistrate called him.”

Eve made a disgusted sound in her throat. Nothing important that happened in Jackson Hole escaped the many eyes and ears devoted to keeping King Grayhawk and Angus Flynn informed. She’d wondered how her sisters knew about the wedding. It seemed logical to assume that if the magistrate had called Angus he would have called King as well. Either King had told Leah, who’d told her sisters, or Leah had intercepted the call and told them.

“Angus was pissed,” Aiden said.

“Too bad,” Connor replied.

Aiden eyed Eve with what appeared to be concern
before he said, “Seems he was only cordial to the two of you when you announced your engagement because he figured he’d have plenty of time to talk you out of getting married. He was ranting about taking away your trust fund if you don’t have this marriage annulled.”

Eve searched Connor’s face to see his reaction to this potentially devastating news. A crease formed between his eyes, his mouth flattened, and a muscle worked in his jaw.

“You can tell him for me that I’m married, and I’m staying married.”

Aiden grimaced. “I’ll do what I can to smooth things over, but I doubt it’ll do any good. Dad seems pretty rabid on the subject of any son of his being married to any daughter of King’s.”

“It’s already done,” Connor said.

Aiden turned his attention to Eve, and she saw what Leah might have found attractive about Connor’s eldest brother. When he focused his full attention on her, she felt almost breathless at the impression he gave of pride and power.

“I think my brother should have hired a good babysitter instead of marrying you. Try not to break his heart.”

“This isn’t a love match,” Eve blurted. “It’s a marriage for mutual convenience.”

Aiden frowned at Connor. “What the hell have you done?”

“Nothing that needs to concern you,” Connor replied.

“You’re about to lose your trust fund, little brother.”

“That’s not your problem.”

“I happen to think that what you’re doing here at this ranch is a good thing,” Aiden replied. “I’d hate to see all that come to an end because you needed a babysitter.”

Eve watched Connor’s fists bunch, but he didn’t take a swing at his brother. Instead he said, “I think you should leave.”

“I’m trying to help.”

“I know what I want.”

“And King Grayhawk’s daughter—and all the trouble that comes along with her—is what you want?” Aiden persisted.

“She is.”

Aiden’s brow furrowed as he looked at Connor, then at Eve, and back at Connor again. “Have I missed something here? Do you love her?”

“Of course—” Connor clamped his mouth shut before finishing the sentence.

Of course not
. Eve was pretty sure that was what he’d intended to say. But that would only have been adding fuel to his brother’s fire.

Insistent pounding on the door interrupted the squabble.

Connor left his brother standing where he was and hurried to the front door. When he opened it, Frank was standing there breathing hard, his eyes frightened. “It’s one of the men,” he said. “He heard all that banging early on and went a little crazy. I haven’t been able to calm him down.”

Connor turned to Aiden. “I know you think of me as your little brother, but I don’t need your help with my life or my marriage.”

“What about Dad’s threat?”

Connor’s mouth turned down in a ferocious frown. “I’ll deal with Dad on my own.”

A moment later Connor and Frank were gone, and Eve was left alone with Aiden Flynn.

“Do you love him?”

The question shocked Eve. She stared wide-eyed at Connor’s brother, not sure what answer to give.

“I saw how you looked at him. I think you love him. I think you’ve loved him for a long time.”

“Connor was married to my best friend,” Eve said quietly.

“Yeah. He was. I think you grabbed at this chance to get him to marry you.”

She felt Aiden’s speculative gaze on her and wasn’t able to control the hot blush that grew on her cheeks. She looked up at him defiantly. “I won’t hurt him.”

“You can’t promise that. What if he never falls in love with you? What then? How are either one of you going to be happy?” He shook his head in disgust and muttered, “It’s that fatal temptation Grayhawk women wield over Flynn men.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Tell one of us he can’t have something, and that’s exactly what he wants,” Aiden said.

“I won’t hurt him,” Eve repeated.

“I hope not. Because if you do, it’s going to make the chance of happily ever after for any of the rest of us an uphill climb.”

He headed for the door without another word.

Eve was left standing with her mouth hanging open. Was Aiden talking about himself and Leah? Was he still interested in her sister, even though they’d
stopped dating? She couldn’t imagine what else he could mean.

Eve was left with a great deal of food for thought.

“Is everybody gone? Where’s Daddy?”

Eve turned to find Brooke standing in the middle of the hallway. She crossed and knelt before the little girl. “Your daddy had to go help one of the visiting soldiers.”

“Oh. When is he coming back?”

“Soon, I’m sure.”

“Can I sleep with you?”

“I don’t have my own bed anymore. I’ll be sleeping with your daddy in his bed.”

“Oh.”

Eve realized that Brooke hadn’t said anything—positive or negative—about finding her in Connor’s bed earlier in the evening. She wondered how much the four-year-old understood about the ceremony she’d witnessed earlier in the day. “Do you understand what it means to be married, Brooke?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What do you think it means?”

“You and Daddy get to kiss each other and sleep in the same bed.”

Eve was amused by the simple explanation. “Is that all right with you?”

“Uh-huh. Daddy smiles more now that you’re here.”

Eve hugged the little girl. “I think he smiles more because
you’re
here. You and Sawyer.”

The little girl looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she laughed and said, “Daddy’s happy because
we’re a family again. Me and Sawyer and you and Daddy and Mommy.”

Eve wasn’t sure what to make of what Brooke had said, but she couldn’t let it stand without speaking. As gently as she could, she said, “Your mommy’s not coming back, Brooke.”