Unmasking the Maverick

by Teresa Southwick

  “Fiona O’Reilly. I haven’t seen you in forever. Almost forgot what you look like.”

  “Hey, Rosey.” Ace in the Hole didn’t have the best memories for her, what with this being where Ronan met the jerk he introduced her to, the one who broke her heart. Coming with Brendan might cancel it out. She opened her mouth to introduce him but Rosey was already talking.

  “Brendan Tanner.” The older woman smiled at him. Clearly they’d met. “Good to see you again.”

  “Same here. Where’s your husband?”

  “You met Sam?” Fiona asked.

  Rosey laughed. “My husband knew this man was military as soon as he walked in.”

  “Sam was a navy SEAL,” Brendan explained.

  “I actually knew that,” Fiona said wryly.

  “Sam took a fellow veteran under his wing and they had a lot to talk about. He’s in the back, organizing inventory. I’ll send him out to say hello when he’s free.”

  “I’d like that.” Brendan seemed at ease with her.

  “So, what can I get you two? Need a menu?”

  “Not me,” Fiona said. “Burger, fries and a house cabernet.”

  “I’ll have the same,” Brendan said. “Except make it a draft beer.”

  “Coming right up.” She glanced in the direction of the blonde who’d checked them out on the way in. “Didn’t Paisley put the moves on you the last time you were here?”

  “Yeah.” His expression turned grim.

  “Thought so.” Rosey looked at him, then Fiona, as if she were sizing them up relationship-wise. But she didn’t comment. “I’ll send Jackie over with your drinks.”

  “Thanks, Rosey.” When the woman walked away, Fiona met his gaze. “So you’ve been here before.”

  “Yeah. Nights get long and this is more my style than Maverick Manor.”

  She knew what he meant about this place being comfortable, like a broken-in saddle.

  “Rosey and Sam are good people.” And both of them had misjudged the jerk who romanced and rejected her. But he’d been a stranger and had fooled almost everyone. That tended to make a girl wary about someone who wasn’t born and raised in Rust Creek Falls.

  The young woman working the bar came over with a beer mug for him and a glass of wine for her. “Let me know if you want refills.”

  “Thanks.” Brendan picked his glass up and took a sip. “Tastes good after a long, hard day.”

  Fiona sipped her own drink. “I’ll second that.”

  They made small talk while waiting for food and, good to her word, Rosey brought out two burger baskets in record time.

  “Enjoy,” she said, then moved away to chat with and check up on people at nearby tables.

  Fiona ate a couple of fries to kill the hunger pains, then dug into the thick, messy hamburger. She’d eaten half of it before saying, “I’m too hungry to talk.”

  He pretended to be shocked. “Who are you and what have you done with Fiona O’Reilly? I thought you were all about conversation.”

  “I know. Priorities. Deal with it.” She grinned before taking another bite.

  Brendan was no slouch in putting away food, either. His disappeared even faster than hers. He pushed away the empty red plastic basket. “That was good.”

  After chewing the last bite of hamburger, Fiona finished up her fries and sighed. “Well, the way I wolfed that down was certainly not ladylike.”

  “Did you enjoy it?” he asked.

  “So very much.”

  “Okay, then.”

  “Now that I’m full, I absolutely swear on Rosey’s bar that I will lose the pesky extra pounds that are probably several more after what I just ate.”

  Brendan studied her as he toyed with the handle of his beer mug. He looked perplexed. “You don’t need to lose weight.”

  Fiona figured he was just being nice since he’d seen her naked. “That’s easy for you to say.”

  “The truth is easy,” he insisted. “You are not overweight.”

  “I’m sure not slender like Brenna and Fallon.”

  “Your sisters aren’t curvy and sexy like you. If I get a vote, I wouldn’t change a single thing.”

  Fiona stared at him for several moments, not sure she’d heard him correctly. “You think I’m sexy?”

  “Now you’re just fishing for compliments,” he teased.

  “I’m really not. I sincerely want to know.”

  His eyes were suddenly hot and intense as he leaned forward. “I think you’re damn sexy and so does every other man in here. All of them have been checking you out since we walked in. I’m not the only one getting ogled. Trust me on this, Fiona. You’re the most beautiful woman in here. My humble opinion? You shouldn’t mess with perfection. Stay just the way you are.”

  The words made Fiona go all warm and gooey inside. It could be insincere flattery. She’d been on the receiving end of that before. But then she realized that was her default skepticism kicking in. She’d bet that he wasn’t a sweet talker. Heck, he wasn’t much of a talker, period. Her heart melted like butter in a hot frying pan.

  She’d been thrown off balance by his compliment and hadn’t taken note of the jukebox playing. Some people were now using the dance floor.

  “Are you in a hurry to leave?” Brendan asked.

  “Are you?”

  “Asked you first.”

  “Honestly, no. But if you’re tired—”

  “I’m not.” He glanced over at the couples moving slowly to the ballad that was playing. “Would you like to dance?”

  “Yes.” More than her next breath she wanted to be in his arms again. For any reason at all.

  He slid out of the booth and held out his hand to her. She took it and stood, then walked with him to the dance floor. He circled his arm around her waist and tucked her close to his body, then wrapped her hand in his and settled them on his chest. They swayed to the music, and Fiona knew she would hold this perfect moment in her heart forever.

  Too soon the song ended and they walked back to their booth. Before sitting Fiona said, “I’m going to the ladies’ room. Be right back.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  She smiled before heading past the end of the bar and into the hallway where the restrooms were located. The women’s was blissfully quiet and she quickly took care of business and washed her hands. She’d forgotten her purse and couldn’t reapply lip gloss, but Brendan had certainly seen her look worse. Roundup came to mind. And she smiled remembering what he’d said a little while ago.

  You’re the most beautiful woman in here... Stay just the way you are.

  She was going to hold that in her heart forever, too, and pretty much every moment since she’d seen him at Daisy’s Donuts She smiled happily and went back out into the hallway.

  Rosey was standing by the end of the bar. “Look who moved in on your man.”

  She saw that Paisley woman talking to Brendan and a knot of fury coiled inside her. They were standing by the booth and he looked really uncomfortable. If the woman was an enemy combatant he would know exactly what to do. He was too much of a gentleman to tell her to get lost but Fiona wasn’t too much of a lady. “He’s not my man. But...”

  Fiona didn’t wait for Rosey’s reply. She walked over and wrapped her arms around Brendan’s waist, snuggling close, then smiled at the pretty blonde. “Hi. I’m Fiona. I don’t think we’ve met.”

  “Paisley Ritter.”

  “Pretty name,” she said sweetly. “I see you met my boyfriend, Brendan.”

  “Yes.” The other woman didn’t seem quite so chatty now.

  “Would you like to join us for a drink?”

  Paisley looked startled. “No. My friends are waiting.”

  Fiona rested her cheek against Brendan’s chest. “If you change your mind, just come on over. Bring your frie
nds, too.”

  “Okay. See you around.” She didn’t look at either of them before turning and scurrying away.

  “Boyfriend, huh?” Brendan smiled down at her before kissing her lightly on the mouth. “You didn’t even raise your voice.”

  “Didn’t have to. Killed her with kindness. She never knew what hit her.”

  “They’re leaving,” he said, nodding toward Paisley and her friends, who were walking out the door.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Seriously, thanks. You have no idea how grateful I am.”

  “I’ve got your back,” she assured him. Always, she added silently.

  “I owe you big-time.”

  “And I know just how you can pay me back. A boyfriend usually comes to dinner with family. And my mother wants to thank you for fixing her waffle iron. How about tomorrow night?”

  He looked like he would rather take a sharp stick in the eye, but answered like the brave soldier he was. “I would love to.”

  Fiona wasn’t sure why that’s what she wanted as a thank-you except maybe so he’d be less of a stranger. It was becoming more important to her that he lose the label.

  Chapter Eleven

  At five minutes to six the next evening, Brendan turned onto the road that led to the Rusty Bucket Ranch. The last time he’d been here it was to pick up Fiona for dinner. It was quick and almost painless. Tonight he was staying. All he could say was, the next time he told someone “I owe you,” he would find out what paying off the debt entailed. Her brothers hated him and the jury was out on her father. Her mother seemed nice. Maybe she could hold off the men if things went sideways.

  What bothered him more than an evening with two hostile older brothers was that he couldn’t say no to Fiona. He was pretty sure that he would have agreed to this dinner invitation whether he owed her or not. Just because she asked.

  That’s as far as he would go with that thought. Anything more made him feel too exposed when he was about to face the O’Reilly men on their territory.

  At six o’clock on the dot he pulled the truck to a stop in front of Fiona’s house, where lights were ablaze in all the downstairs windows. “Here goes nothing,” he muttered.

  All his senses were on high alert, not unlike the way he’d felt on patrol during his deployments. He was pretty sure there wouldn’t be an IED—improvised explosive device—waiting for him, but situations could be volatile even when there was no shrapnel involved.

  He stepped onto the porch and knocked. From inside came the sound of a dog barking and voices, just before the door opened. Fiona stood there looking so beautiful she took his breath away. The sight of her thick, shiny red hair, sweet smile and cute freckled nose was the best thing that happened to him all day. He made a mental note that if Ronan and Keegan made his life miserable for the next few hours, seeing Fiona was worth it. He wished that wasn’t the case but he had to be honest.

  “Hi. You look pretty—” Before he could say more, a fuzzy, yellow-haired dog nuzzled his hand. He rubbed her head and scratched between her ears.

  “This is Duchess. She’s a golden retriever, German shepherd mix.”

  He rubbed a hand over her back. “You look pretty, too.”

  “Come on in. Everyone’s in the kitchen,” Fiona said.

  He followed her from the spacious living room through a dining room with the table already set for six. Any hope he’d had of dinner with just Fiona and her parents died right there.

  The kitchen was big and cozy and loud. Maureen lifted the lid from a large silver pot on the stove. Her husband hovered and sniffed what was cooking, then slid his arms around his wife’s waist and kissed her neck.

  Seeing the affectionate gesture, their sons groaned loudly.

  “Get a room,” Ronan teased.

  “My eyes,” Keegan chimed in. “I can never un-see that.”

  “I have a room, thank you very much,” Paddy retorted. “And if you don’t want to see me kissing your mother, go back to the barn where you belong.”

  Fiona laughed at the expression on Brendan’s face. “I think I’ve mentioned that they actually live in the converted space. Not that these two couldn’t have survived nicely with just stalls, hay and a water trough. What with them being pigs and all.”

  “Low blow, sis.” Ronan walked over and shook Brendan’s hand. “Would you like a beer?”

  “Thanks.” He hadn’t expected that nonhostile gesture.

  “Wow,” Fiona said. “Since when does my big brother have company manners?”

  “Always.” Maureen put down the big wooden spoon she’d been using and came over to shake his hand. “Welcome, Brendan. I raised all my children to treat visitors to our home with respect. Fiona is teasing.”

  “No, I’m not, Mom.” The sparkle in her eyes said otherwise. “Your manners training didn’t bear fruit until I was born. Then Fallon and Brenna imitated my good example. The effort you put in on my two brothers was a complete waste of energy.”

  Paddy joined the group and shook Brendan’s hand. “Hello, son. Glad you could join us.”

  “My pleasure, sir. Thanks for having me.”

  “Fiona, can I get you a glass of wine, my fair and favorite sister?” Ronan asked when he brought Brendan the beer bottle.

  “I bet you say that to Fallon and Brenna when I’m not around.” She shook her head. “And you’re not fooling anyone with this Sir Walter Raleigh act. No one here believes you would throw your cloak over a puddle so I wouldn’t get my dainty feet wet.”

  “Maybe Brendan does.” Ronan met his gaze but there was no threat, veiled or otherwise.

  “I’m staying out of this skirmish.”

  “Wise man.” Ronan nodded. “The thing is, I wouldn’t be caught dead in a cloak. It would clash with my cowboy hat. Now, little sister, do you want wine or not?”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  “I’d like one, too,” Maureen said. “Dinner is pretty much ready. But I’m keeping it warm. It would be nice to visit a bit with our guest before we sit down to eat.”

  Brendan sipped his beer and braced himself. “Visit with our guest” was code for extracting information from him. What were his intentions toward Fiona? Were they friends or more than that? Was he like the jerk who hurt her? He’d tried not to be that guy. And he never let Fiona think he was staying. He’d done his best not to lead her on.

  “Are you okay?” Fiona asked, studying him.

  “Yes. Why?” He took another drink from his beer bottle then met her gaze.

  “I don’t know. If I had to describe the look on your face, I’d say it’s fight or flight. Like you’re waiting for something bad to happen.”

  “Go ahead. Be honest.” Ronan handed his mother and sister stemmed glasses of white wine. “Tell us. We can take it.”

  As if sensing he needed moral support, Duchess strolled up beside him and nuzzled his fingers. Oddly enough, it helped.

  “Okay.” The comment fell into the “let’s do this man-to-man” category. It was familiar territory for him. “Based on previous experiences, I was expecting hostility from Ronan and Keegan. But this friendliness has thrown me off. Maybe that’s the point.”

  “No.” Ronan grinned at his brother. “The point is that Fiona threatened to hurt us if we were mean to you.”

  “I did not!”

  Keegan took up the narrative as if she hadn’t spoken. “A man would be a fool not to take her warning to heart.” He was doing his best not to laugh.

  “You guys are so full of it,” she accused them. “Like I could really hurt you.”

  “They have you on height and weight.” Paddy slid an arm across her shoulders and pulled her close for an affectionate hug. “But they are putty in your hands if you shed a tear.”

  “True.” She grinned at Brendan. “It’s the nuclear option so I use it o
n them sparingly.”

  “When we were kids, she got us in trouble with dad more than once by crying her eyes out,” Ronan said.

  “I was the first girl after two boys,” she explained.

  “The little princess,” Keegan grumbled.

  “And don’t think I didn’t take full advantage,” she gloated. “After Fallon was born it didn’t work as well. Then Brenna came along and the boys were just plain outnumbered. I’m pretty sure there was a formal request for surrender when Mom came home from the hospital with another pink-wrapped bundle of joy.”

  “You call it joy,” Ronan said. “I call three little sisters the seventh level of hell.”

  Brendan happened to be drinking from his beer and almost spit. He started laughing. “Triple the tears.”

  “No kidding,” Keegan agreed. “If only we could send them to a drought-ravaged area where they could do some good.”

  “Their husbands might object,” Maureen pointed out.

  “Then just send Fiona.” Ronan glanced at his brother who nodded. “No one would miss her.”

  Brendan would, but kept that to himself. This was a sibling thing and the three of them were very good at it. He wondered what it would have been like to grow up in a big, happy family like this one. It was something a lonely, only child had wanted pretty bad. The Corps was the closest he ever got. Right now he felt as if he was on the outside looking in.

  “Stop it, you two,” Maureen said. “You talk tough, but you would miss your sister if she wasn’t here.”

  “Yeah,” Keegan said. “Like a toothache.”

  “And yet again, our family happy hour deteriorates into the children fighting,” their mother teased. “I think it’s time to put dinner on the table.”

  “I’ll give you a hand, sweetheart.”

  Paddy followed her to the stove, where they filled serving platters and bowls with meat, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables and salad. When they thought no one was looking, he dipped his head and kissed his wife full on the mouth.