The Tempting Mrs. Reilly (5 page)

Handle it?

He might think he'd be able to handle it, but Tina knew that she was getting to him. Knew that before the next week was up, she'd have him just where she wanted him.

The only question was, would
she
be able to handle leaving him again when the three weeks were over?

 

Bright and early the next morning, Tina dressed carefully in cream-colored linen slacks and a pale russet blouse. Then she snapped Peaches and Muffin onto their leashes and headed down the street.

It felt strange to go for a walk. Too long in Cali
fornia, she thought. Out there, people drove a half a block to a store rather than walking. Traffic was awful because carpooling had never taken off. Californians liked their cars and their sense of independence too much to share rides. They wanted to be able to go, when and where they wanted to.

Here in Baywater though, the quiet streets were made for walking. The sidewalks rose and fell like waves on the ocean as they climbed over tree roots. But when the sidewalks split, the city came out and patched the cement. A much better solution to Tina's way of thinking, than the California answer to growing trees—which was to rip them out at the roots and plant newer, smaller trees. And then when they grew, rip
them
out and start over again.

The trees in Baywater, left alone to do what trees did best, stretched out leafy arms toward each other, making thick green arches over the wide streets. Kids rolled by on skateboards, neighbors worked in the garden and everyone had a swing on the front porch, just made for sitting and watching the world roll by.

God, she'd missed it.

“Hi, Mrs. Donovan,” she called and grinned when the old woman pruning her roses lifted a hand and smiled.

“That's another thing,” Tina said, talking to the dogs as they pulled her forward, “neighbors actually
talk to you here. They smile. Nobody ever smiles on the freeway.”

The dogs didn't care.

Tina'd never really thought about the differences between South Carolina and California much before. Mainly, she guessed now, because if she had, the homesickness would have crippled her. Always before, her visits to her grandmother were quick and so full of activity or just plain sitting at the kitchen table talking, that she didn't get the chance to wander around her hometown. To appreciate the quiet beauty and the peaceful atmosphere. To give herself a chance to wind down from all the hurry up and wait in California.

Now that she had, it was addictive.

Muffin and Peaches strained at their leashes, wandering back and forth until the twin, red leather straps were hopelessly tangled and they were just short of strangling each other in their enthusiasm. Tina laughed and skipped over Peaches as she darted backward to smell something she'd missed.

Quickly, Tina bent down and did a hand over hand thing with the leashes until they were straight again. “Now, how about single file?” she muttered and laughed as Muffin's tongue did a quick swipe across her chin.

Straightening up, she started walking again and as the dogs' tiny nails clicked against the sidewalk, she thought about her latest plan.

Tina had spent a long, sleepless night thinking about Brian and what he'd said. Or more importantly, what he hadn't said. And just before the first streaks of light crossed the dawn sky, she'd realized what she had to do.

Talk to the one Reilly brother who wouldn't lie to her. The one man she knew who was obliged, by virtue of his career, to tell her the absolute truth.

Father Liam.

T
he rectory at St. Sebastian's Catholic church was old and elegant. Built in the same style as the small church, the rectory, or priest's house, looked like a tiny castle, squatting alongside the church itself. Ancient magnolia trees filled the yard and their wide, silky leaves rustled in a barely felt breeze as Tina approached.

The rectory's weathered gray brick seemed to absorb the summer sunlight, holding it close and giving the building a sense of warmth, welcome. Sunshine glinted off the leaded windows and the petunias crowding huge terra cotta pots on the porch were splotches of bright purple, red and white in the shadows.

Muffin and Peaches raced up the sidewalk, dragging Tina in their wake and she was laughing as she rang the doorbell. An older woman, tall, with graying red hair and sharp green eyes, opened the door and asked, “May I help you?”

“Hello. I'd like to see Father Liam, if he's here.”

The woman gave Tina a quick but thorough up and down look, then nodded and stepped back, issuing a silent invitation. Tina stepped into the room and gathered up the leashes tightly, keeping the dogs close at hand. She looked around and smiled at the dark wood paneling, the faded colors in the braided rugs and the sunlight spilling through windows to form tiny, diamond shapes on the gleaming wood floor.

“He's right in there,” the woman said, reaching for the leashes. She spared a sniff as she added, “I'll take your dogs to the backyard while you talk to Father.”

Before Tina could agree or not, the woman had Muffin and Peaches in hand and headed down a long, narrow hallway toward the back of the house. Shrugging, Tina crossed the hall to the door indicated, knocked and pushed it open.

Liam was sitting in an overstuffed chair, his feet up on a magazine-littered coffee table. He dropped the book he was reading, grinned and jumped to his feet when he saw her. “Tina!”

He crossed the room in a few long strides and enveloped her in a fierce, tight hug. Tina held on for a
long minute, grateful for the warm welcome. Brian had certainly made it a point to let her know she wasn't wanted. Getting this kind of reaction from Liam soothed her bruised feelings.

When he grabbed her shoulders and held her back for a long look, he grinned. “You look terrific. And it's so good to see you.”

“Thanks, Liam. Good to see you, too.”

“Come in, sit down.”

“Sure you're not busy?” She glanced around, but all she saw were the magazines and the open book, now lying on the carpet.

“Nope. Just reading a murder mystery, but it can wait.” He took a seat beside her on the couch. “When did you get in? How long are you here for?”

“A few days ago and three weeks,” she said, smiling. Priest or not, Liam Reilly was the kind of man women noticed. His black hair, longer than his brothers' military cuts, was thick and wavy and his deep blue eyes were framed by long, black lashes. Tall and lean, he walked with an easy grace and his mouth was usually curved in a grin designed to win female hearts. There'd been a lot of disappointed women in Baywater when Liam entered the priesthood.

He looked at her carefully, tipped his head to one side and asked, “What's wrong?”

She laughed shortly. “You must be psychic as well as a priest.”

“Nope,” he assured her with a grin. “Just incredibly handsome and charming.” Then he added, “But I know my people and my instincts are telling me there's something bothering you.”

“Score one for Father Liam.”

“Good. Now why don't you tell me what it is.”

Where to start? It had seemed like a good idea at the time, coming here, to talk to Liam. But priest or not, he was also Brian's brother. Would he really side with Tina against his family? Or would he just clam up and keep whatever secrets Brian was hiding?

“You're thinking,” Liam said softly. “I can practically see the wheels turning behind your eyes.”

“I'm just wondering if maybe I shouldn't have come.”

“Of course you should come to see me.” He reached out and took one of her hands with both of his. “Especially if there's something bothering you.”

A knock at the door sounded and the older woman poked her head into the room. “Would your guest like some tea, Father?”

Covertly, Liam shook his head at Tina, but she ignored him. It had been a long walk. “That would be great, thank you.”

When the woman was gone again, Liam sighed. “Mrs. Hannigan makes the world's worst tea, poor woman.”

“Sorry.”

“Doesn't matter,” he said on a sigh. “I'm almost used to it now anyway. But it may kill you.”

“I'm tough,” Tina assured him.

“Not tough enough to hide whatever's bothering you. So spill it.”

She did. Right or wrong, she'd made the choice to come to Liam, so she would see it through. She started at the beginning and hit only the high points. How she'd decided to become a mother and how the only man she wanted to father her child was Brian and how she was now starting to worry about it all because Brian was so determined to stay away from her and “…so,” she said, winding the story up, “Brian had Connor try to get rid of me, and then refused to tell me why he wants me out of town so badly. I know something's up, I just don't know
what
.”

Liam laughed.

Throughout her story, he'd watched her eyes and she'd noticed first, understanding, and then the amused sparkle in his concerned blue gaze. But outright laughter seemed a little harsh.

“Hello?” she said, reaching out to slug his upper arm. “I came here for comfort, you know. And some answers.”

“I know, I know,” Liam said, still laughing as he rubbed his arm and then stood up to greet Mrs. Hannigan as she reentered the study. He took the tray
from her and set it down on the coffee table. Once the woman was gone again, Liam poured a murky brown liquid into one of the tall glasses filled with ice. Giving it a wary look, he passed it to Tina. “Drink that, if you're feeling brave, and I'll explain.”

She did and at the first sip, she shuddered and felt a caffeine reaction punch through her like a bunched fist. The woman must have brewed the tea for days. It was almost thick enough to chew.

“I did warn you,” Liam said, obviously watching her reaction.

“Right.” She set the glass onto the tray, then turned to face her ex-brother-in-law again. “Start talking, Liam.”

He did. And when he was finished, she just stared at him for a long minute.

“You bet your brothers that they couldn't abstain from sex for three months.”

“Yep.” He grinned again and leaned back into the faded floral couch.

“You're a
priest
.”

He held up one finger. “I'm also a Reilly. And I know my brothers. They'll never make it.”

“And you're enjoying this.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said with relish and rubbed his palms together.
“And,”
he said, “with you back in town, the odds just went even higher in my favor.”

“How do you figure?”

Liam smirked at her. “Please. You and Brian are
meant
to be together.”

“We're divorced, remember?” Tina cringed inwardly at the word. She still didn't like it. Still hadn't accepted it, even five years after the event.

She'd dated over the past five years, but Brian had always been there. In her heart. In her mind. He was the shadow she couldn't quite lose. The memory she couldn't quite forget. He was the love of her life. Or, at least, he had been.

Liam waved one hand at her, waving away her objections. “I blessed your marriage,” he said. “And the marriages I bless don't dissolve.”

“Nice in theory,” she said.

He shook his head, sat up and leaned in toward her. “Tina, you guys are both Catholic. You know as well as I do that Catholic marriages are forever.”

“Until the state of South Carolina says they're not,” she reminded him.

“
My
boss has a lot more clout than the governor,” he said, with a smile.

“I guess so,” she admitted, but shook her head again.

“Look,” Liam told her, giving one of her hands a squeeze. “Brian's a man on the edge already. It wouldn't take much for you to push him over.”

“So my priest is suggesting I seduce a man who isn't my husband?”

He winked at her. “According to the church,
you're still married. Besides, this is a poor parish. We need that new roof.”

In spite of everything, Tina laughed. “You Reillys are really something.”

“We thank you.”

“I don't think Brian will,” she mused, reaching for her iced tea, before remembering and drawing her hand back empty.

Liam scooted around on the couch, dropped one arm across Tina's shoulders and gave her a brief hug. “That's where you're wrong, Tina. Brian made a big mistake letting you go. Maybe it's time you showed him how big a mistake it was.”

She leaned into the solid comfort of Liam's embrace and thought about everything he'd said. As she did, she smiled. The only reason Brian would be trying so hard to get rid of her, is if he didn't trust himself around her. Which told Tina that seducing Brian Reilly just got a lot easier.

Now all she had to do, was convince herself that she really was doing the right thing.

No problem.

 

By the time Brian got home from the base, he was worn out. He'd done everything he could to run himself ragged so that he'd sleep tonight, without the taunting dreams he'd been experiencing the past few nights.

Ever since Tina came back to town, he'd hardly dared close his eyes. The minute he did, she was there. Surrounding him in living breathing color. He could feel her, hear her, smell her. She filled his mind and tortured him in his sleep.

For three nights running, he'd awakened in the middle of the night, with his only recourse an ice-cold shower.

Not the way he wanted to spend the next two and a half weeks.

So until she left, he'd just work himself into the ground so exhaustion would take care of shutting down his too-busy mind. Today, after taking his jet up for some qualifying runs, he'd hit the weight room, then talked three of the guys into doing a five-mile run. The summer heat had pounded at them and the humidity was enough to make a grown man weep.

But as he pulled into the driveway that night, even exhaustion couldn't completely stamp out the instantaneous reaction his body went into at Tina's nearness.

The house was lit up like a fistful of birthday candles. Every light in the living room was on and a wide slice of lamplight spilled from the kitchen windows onto the flower-lined driveway. Music, something soft and entreating, drifted through the partially opened window overlooking the drive. It all looked warm and friendly, but he knew that inside that house was the biggest danger of all.

Brian walked along the driveway and stopped just short of stepping into the patch of light. Instead, he stayed in the shadows and looked through the kitchen window. Tina was there, alone, dancing slowly to the beat of the music playing on the stereo. His breath caught as he watched her move around the room in time to the music. Her body, long and lean and tanned, looked great in the shorts and skimpy tank top she wore. Her hips swayed, her eyes closed and when she lifted her arms like a gypsy dancer, it was all he could do to keep from storming into the room and grabbing her.

He rubbed both hands across his face and told himself to get a grip. But it was impossible. When he was thirty thousand feet above the ground, in the cockpit of his F-18, blasting across the sky, he felt in control. Sure of himself. But with his feet firmly on the ground and Tina in Baywater, Brian was a drowning man going down for the third time.

God, why was this so hard?

He'd let her go five years ago because he'd believed, deep in his heart, he was doing the right thing for her. For both of them. And it was fairly easy to keep himself convinced of that when she was on the opposite end of the country.

But now that she was home again.

Here.

Within arm's reach—he wasn't so sure anymore.

As that thought skittered uneasily through his mind, he headed toward the stairs, determined to ignore Tina and sneak—correction—
go
home without seeing her. And take another cold shower.

Of course, he'd forgotten about the damn dogs.

Muffin and Peaches erupted into a cacophony of sound that damn near deafened him and Brian shot the closed, backyard gate a furious glare. The little mutts had it in for him.

Suddenly the back door flew open, he turned to look and there was Tina, silhouetted in the doorway. His heart did a quick spin, jump and lurch and it was a second or two before he could draw an easy breath.

“Quiet, girls,” she said and instantly, silence dropped over them.

It was almost eerie.

“Thanks,” Brian said with another glare for the two little meatheads hidden from sight behind the gate. “I'm still not sure why they hate me.”

Tina cocked a hip and leaned one shoulder against the doorjamb. “Maybe they love you and they're just too shy to show it.”

He snorted. “Yeah, that's it.” He lifted a hand and started for the stairs.

“Brian?”

He stopped and looked back, wishing he could just keep walking. “Yeah?”

“Would you mind taking a look at Nana's TV?”

“What?”

“The TV. It's all fuzzed out and I can't get a picture.”

Go into the house? With her? Alone? Feeling like he did right now?

Not a good idea.

She saw him hesitate and spoke up before he could say no. “You're not afraid of me, are you?”

Brian snapped her a glance. He knew exactly what she was doing. She was challenging him. Throwing down a gauntlet. Making a dare. Because she knew he'd respond to it, damn it.