Noreen turned to him sharply, but he was already leading Darren into the family room.
Two beautiful women?
Had he really said that? He had to be joking.
She shook her head and returned to the kitchen to make a salad. She ripped up the lettuce with pleasure.
“Are you angry?” Arlene asked, creeping into the kitchen like a child going to the principal’s office.
Noreen turned to her. “You should have told me you had invited Dad.”
“I knew you’d say no, and I want you two to get on. I thought a nice family dinner was in order. It’s the holidays. I didn’t know Michael would show up too. But it’s all working out great. They like each other.”
“Good.”
“So you’re not mad?”
I’m furious.
“No.”
“Oh, and isn’t Darren cute? You just want to hug him.”
A reluctant smile touched Noreen’s lips. “Yes,” she admitted.
Arlene kissed her sister on the cheek. “Thanks for everything. Could we get more nibbles?” She handed Noreen the empty bowls.
Noreen filled them.
Arlene took them from her and looped her arm through hers. “Come and see what we’ve done.” She dragged Noreen into the family room.
“It looks great,” Noreen said, admiring the tree and other decorations.
“Sit down and watch us turn on the lights,” Arlene urged her.
“I really don’t—”
Michael’s voice cut through her protest. “Sit down.”
She stared at him, surprised by his command.
“Please,” Darren said in a softer tone.
Noreen shifted her gaze to him and slowly sank into a nearby love seat, biting back what she really wanted to say.
Arlene smiled and nodded at her father. “Okay, plug it in.”
He did and all the lights came on.
“Beautiful,” Noreen said, jumping to her feet.
Arlene’s smile fell. “Where are you going?”
“If you want to eat dinner, I’d better be cooking.”
“It doesn’t usually take you that long.”
“I don’t usually cook for five.”
“Make a large pizza or something then.”
Noreen’s lips thinned. “A pizza? Why not hot dogs and soda? Silly me, I should have thought of that before I started roasting a chicken.”
“I didn’t expect you to.”
“We could order in if you want,” Michael said.
“And waste the food I’ve already started?”
Michael narrowed his eyes. “We didn’t ask you to make a feast.”
“No, I guess I shouldn’t have made anything.”
“I didn’t mean—”
Darren cut in. “We’re really grateful for all that you’re doing,” he said, his smooth, deep voice calming the argument before it could escalate. “Don’t let us bother you.”
Noreen cooled her temper. “Thank you.” She left and sighed with relief when she reached the safety of the kitchen. She cut the potatoes and put them in a bowl and began to mash them.
“You’re a violent masher,” a male voice said.
She ignored him and mashed harder, wishing she could do the same to the desire welling up inside her.
“Dinner smells good,” he added.
She turned, recognizing the kind voice. “I’m sorry, Darren, I thought you were—”
“Michael?”
She nodded, ashamed.
“Forgive him. He’s used to being in control of situations.”
“I noticed.”
“I think there are a few things about him that you should know. Your sister really is in good hands, but that’s just my opinion and you don’t know me.”
“But I already like you.”
His face lit up with a smile. “That’s good to know.” He rolled up his sleeves and headed to the sink.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping you wash up. You’re going to have enough dishes after dinner. You might as well start clean.” Darren filled the sink before Noreen could protest. “You can trust me. I used to help my wife in the kitchen all the time. Sometimes I’d help with the cooking.” A soft look touched his face as he remembered her. “She’d—” He stopped.
“Go on,” Noreen gently urged him.
“She’d find new recipes and we’d cook them together. I’d wash and she’d chop.” He sighed. “They were good times.”
Noreen lightly stroked his arm, touched by his love for his wife. “I’m sorry for your loss.” She laughed bitterly. “I could never get my ex-husband into the kitchen.”
“Then he was a stupid man because I would have come up with any excuse to be with the woman I love.” He placed a pot in the dish rack nearby. “I know times like this are hard. It seems more memories come during the holidays than at any other time in the year.”
“Yes,” Noreen said, relieved to meet someone who understood.
“But you can’t live in the past. I loved my wife, but that doesn’t mean I won’t ever love again. She wouldn’t want that for me and loving someone is too precious to ignore.”
“You mean you would get married again?”
“Definitely.” He hesitated. “I don’t know you very well, but from what Michael has told me about your
sister, I know she hasn’t had luck meeting good men. I want you to know that your sister is safe. Michael is one of the best men I know.”
“You don’t have to defend him to me,” Noreen said quickly, not wanting to hear anything more about him.
“I think I do, especially after how he talked to you before. It was out of character for him. He’s not usually that abrupt but I think you make him nervous.”
“Me?”
“Yes. See he was basically raised by his cousin Undy—”
“I know, my sister told me about that.”
“Did she tell you that he was a brute?”
“What? No, I thought—I mean she said that he loved him. Idolized him.”
Darren nodded grimly. “Yes, he does for all the wrong reasons. Michael talks about him as if he’s some savior because Michael is loyal and family means a lot to him, but his cousin used him. He started him working at fifteen and Michael didn’t finish college because his cousin worked him so much he was too tired to focus on his studies.
“Undy hid the letters Michael’s father sent to him wanting him to come and visit. He’s mellowed out a little in his older years, but in the beginning he was cruel in ways I can’t tell you. Michael is the one who started his investigation business by accident. For a time, he was working at a high-end restaurant and overheard a woman talking about a necklace that had been stolen. Using his usual charm and his ability to
bluff, he convinced her to hire him to find it for her and that was the start of everything. He studied the antiques business and became affiliated with key contacts. He partnered with his cousin because that’s the kind of man he is, but he was the one who made it a success, not that he’ll ever admit that.
“His cousin was a failed businessman who piled up debt, got into trouble with some shady characters and made promises he rarely kept. But Michael doesn’t see any of that because his cousin provided Michael a place to stay and that means everything to him.” Darren stacked the dishes and drained the sink. “Do you know why he puts on the charm?”
Noreen shook her head.
Darren grabbed a dish towel and dried his hands. “Because he wants to be liked. That’s his survival strategy. For years he lived in fear that his cousin would send him away as others had, but he made sure that Undy liked him and that others did too.” Darren folded up the dishrag and placed it on the counter. “The reason why I’m telling you all this is because he cares about your sister and he wants to be part of your family. Your rejection will hurt him—he won’t admit it, but it will. Just give him a chance. He may seem slick and shallow to you because he’s quick to smile and crack a joke, but he’s solid.”
“He’s also lucky to have a friend like you.”
Darren shrugged then took a step toward her. “I make a good friend.” He looked down. “I’m not sure this is the right time to ask, but would you like to have coffee sometime?”
Noreen wanted to refuse him, her feelings so raw that she didn’t think she could go out ever again. But she liked him. She liked his quiet energy and serious, sweet gaze. Maybe in time she would forget Michael. “I’d love it.”
“Great,” he said and Noreen felt her flagging spirits lift a little.
Unfortunately, the man she wanted to forget burst into the room and looked at them with an unreadable look. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said solemnly. “Darren, we need your help hanging a garland.”
Darren hesitated, sending his friend an odd look. “The three of you can’t hang a garland?”
Michael waited and a tense silence filled the room.
Noreen leaned toward Darren and said in a loud whisper. “You’d better go before he has a tantrum.”
Darren smothered a grin then walked to the door that Michael held open. “Okay, I’ll save the day.”
“My hero,” Noreen teased in simpering tones before she blew him a kiss.
Darren shook his head then left.
Michael shot Noreen a glance, but she couldn’t read whether he was annoyed by her comment, her behavior or something else. She’d never seen that look on his face before. It was implacable. However, it didn’t stop her from seeing him as a child desperately wanting to be liked so that he wouldn’t be sent away. She imagined him charming clients so that he could make enough money to clear his cousin’s bills. As she watched him she wanted to erase him from her heart, but all that Darren had said only made her love him more. Noreen
steeled herself against her unwanted feelings and met his hard stare with one of her own.
“Did you need something else?” she asked him with more coldness than she’d meant to.
Michael blinked and something wary and vulnerable flickered in his eyes before it disappeared. “No, thanks,” he said in a light tone that seemed false then he turned and left.
“
W
hat’s wrong with you?” Darren demanded when he met Michael in the hallway.
Michael looked blank. “What do you mean?”
“You and I both know that you don’t need my help to hang up some stupid garlands.”
Michael started to walk past him, but Darren grabbed his arm and shoved him against the wall. He held up his thumb and forefinger in front of Michael’s face. “You are this close to getting everything you want. In the other room is a beautiful, sexy woman who loves you and this is the start of a new life for you. Don’t mess it up. I just finished trying to make things better between you and Noreen.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Tell me what’s going on. What
happened to the Vaughn charm? Okay, so her sister isn’t as funny and bubbly as Arlene, but that doesn’t mean you need to be a jerk.”
Michael hung his head in disgust. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…” He let his words trail off.
“It’s what?” Darren pressed.
“Nothing. Forget it. Let’s go.” He pushed himself from the wall and walked away, effectively ending a conversation he didn’t want to have. His friend was right. Something was wrong. With him. He’d discovered something about himself he’d never wanted to admit: he was a bastard. He thought he’d changed. He thought he was ready to settle down and not need the high and thrill of the chase. He’d been convinced even when his cousin wasn’t.
“You? Settle down?” his cousin Undy had said as he lay in his hospital bed, recovering from surgery for removal of kidney stones. “No way.”
“It’s true,” Michael said, leaning forward in his chair. “I’m a taken man.”
“Taken for a ride maybe. But every ride has to end.”
“Not this one.”
“You’re going to run out of gas and want to switch make and model. You’ve never been able to stay in one place long, especially when it comes to women. If you get too comfortable, you’ll bolt. Remember, you tried with Joy and got antsy after only a few months.”
“I’m different now and Joy wasn’t the one.”
Undy sniffed. “If a woman like that can’t keep you satisfied—”
“Arlene is the woman for me. We understand each other. You’ll know it when you meet her.”
Undy was quiet a moment then said, “I want to believe you, but as I look at you, I know you can’t change. You’ve never stayed constant with anything. You tried college and left. You tried staying with Joy and didn’t. You even tried to retire from your work and couldn’t. You’re meant to be a free agent. Marriage isn’t for everyone, and for you it will feel like a noose around your neck.”
Michael faced that fact now as he helped Arlene string lights around the mantel. For months he’d thought about Arlene and proving his cousin wrong. He’d bought the island property they had talked about one day while lying on the beach, imagining how she would look when she saw it. He’d kept tabs on her and learned that she’d moved in with her sister.
He hadn’t planned to “disappear” but after the way things ended on St. Lagans he wanted to take time and plan on how he would enter back into her life. The moment he’d stepped into Noreen’s house he’d felt right about coming to her first and then he’d seen Arlene. After so many months she was still beautiful and her fun, sexy self. But what let him know his timing was perfect was the fact that she was still wearing the necklace he had given her.
Yet something was off and he didn’t know what. Her sister Noreen’s guarded glances bothered him. Her cool replies and refusal to spend any time with them in decorating the house grated his nerves. Her opinion mattered to him, no matter how much he didn’t
want it to. But what he found most disturbing was how Arlene’s sister had become an alluring challenge. That was wrong. He was supposed to be over those feelings. What was wrong with him? Yes, they were identical twins, but the way they dressed and acted made them complete opposites.
But for some reason Noreen didn’t just entice him as a challenge; she intrigued him and he hated that. Arlene was all that mattered and yet at times when she smiled at him it was as if he was a gallant knight who was the answer to all her dreams. Or like a child who was confident that she’d never be hurt again. Michael hadn’t noticed that look before and he found himself uncomfortable in the role she’d given him and he wanted to run.
When Darren disappeared to join Noreen in the kitchen, all he could think about was what his friend was doing and if he’d had better luck thawing the ice queen than he’d had. When he couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer, he’d gone into the kitchen and saw them together. Instead of being happy for his friend, he’d been struck with an irrational jealousy. Why had Noreen chosen Darren to offer her soft smiles and tenderness? Why did she make Darren feel like a guest and make him feel like an intruder? And why did he care? How come Noreen was suddenly making him see his best friend as a rival?
What was wrong with him?