makes her what? Naive? Stupid?”
Bryan’s scowl deepened. “Of course not.”
“Glad to know you’re smart enough to see that. But if Kelly’s not the problem, then I must be,” Michael concluded. “Do you figure I’m some sort of macho, sex-starved male who can’t keep his hormones in check?”
His friend flushed a dull red. “No, but you are experienced.”
Michael couldn’t deny that. “Maybe so, but I would never take advantage of your sister,” he said flatly. “After all the time we spent together, you ought to know me better than that.”
“I suppose, but it’s been a lot of years since you and I hung out, Michael. You could have changed,” Bryan said defensively.
“I haven’t,” Michael said, meeting his gaze evenly.
Bryan nodded slowly. “I’ll take your word, then, that you won’t take advantage of her.”
“Thank you.” He slanted a look at Bryan. “So, does she have any idea you’re over here warning me off?”
“Probably,” Bryan said.
Michael regarded him with amusement. “And you got out of the house in one piece? Amazing. You must be quicker than I remembered.”
“Very funny.”
“Look, I admire the fact that you care about what happens to your sister, but I swear to you that I’m not a threat. I’ll say it one more time—this whole pub visit is strictly professional. She thinks it will help the therapy if I can put my trust in her.”
Bryan rolled his eyes. “And you bought that hogwash?”
Something in his reaction sent a little chill of apprehension down Michael’s back. He regarded Bryan with a narrowed gaze. “You think she has another agenda?”
“She might not even be aware of it herself, but, yes, I think she has another agenda.” He leveled a warning look at Michael. “And so help me, if you take her up on it and break her heart, I’ll make you regret it.”
“Whoa!” Michael protested, reeling from the possibility that Bryan viewed his own sister as the one who couldn’t be entirely trusted to exercise good judgment. “It’s a long way from spending one evening in a pub with family to breaking your sister’s heart. Trust me, that is not a road I intend to go down.”
“As long as you’re clear on the consequences,” Bryan said flatly.
“Very clear. Are you clear on the fact that I’m not the least bit interested in getting involved with anyone these days? Fixing my own life is pretty much an all-consuming task.”
“Okay, then,” Bryan said, clearly relieved. “Now turn the sound up on the game, while I get us another beer.”
Michael stared after him as he left the room. Bryan’s little wake-up call hadn’t exactly scared him. He could handle an irate Bryan. But the memory of the way he’d felt when Kelly had her hands all over him gave him pause. He was suddenly far less confident about whether he could handle Kelly, if she really did have something other than therapy on her mind.
* * *
Michael was still feeling a little leery about Kelly’s intentions when they got to Ryan’s Place on Friday night. Fortunately, with nearly a dozen members of his own family and the O’Briens around, it was easy enough to put some distance between himself and Kelly.
When the boisterous crowd got to be too much for him, he made his way to the bar where Ryan was trying to keep up with the orders. Michael couldn’t hide his grin at how natural his big brother looked pouring ales and Irish whisky and joking with the customers.
“This place suits you,” he told Ryan, when his brother finally turned his attention to him.
“You like it, then?” Ryan asked.
“There’s a warm, comfortable feel to it I haven’t run across since a vacation in Ireland a few years back.”
“Then I’ve done it right,” Ryan said, obviously pleased. “And having you and Sean in here couldn’t make me happier. For a long time, I thought I could be content just to have this place with its crowd of regulars. Then Maggie came along and made me see what I was missing.” He nodded toward the crowd across the room. “The O’Briens are special. I didn’t trust all that love they shower on everyone at first, but it’s the real thing.”
Michael nodded. “I can see that. Not five seconds after we met, Nell O’Brien fussed over me as if I were one of her own brood.”
“You are now,” Ryan said simply. His expression turned thoughtful. “You know, if you wanted to invite your foster family here sometime, it would be fine with me. I’d like to get to know them. I never stayed with any of mine long enough to get attached. Sean had better luck, but he doesn’t see them much anymore. Of all of us, I think you’re the one who came closest to finding a real home.”
Michael tried to imagine the Havilceks here and, surprisingly, found that he could. “Maybe I will,” he said. “One of these days. I haven’t told them I’m back in Boston.”
Ryan regarded him with shock. “Why not?”
Michael tried out the same explanation he’d used on Kelly to see if it sounded any better now. “I wanted to sort things out for myself. My foster mom is great, but she’d take over and try to fix things.” He grinned. “The girls are no better. I had measles when I was maybe eight or nine and they just about nursed me into a mental institution with all their hovering. I couldn’t think straight. Even a cold was enough to bring out all their Florence Nightingale tendencies.” He tapped his still-useless leg. “Just imagine the frenzy they’d go into over this.”
“Would that be so awful?” Ryan asked, an unmistakable trace of envy in his voice.
Michael sighed. He’d learned only a little of what his big brother had gone through in foster care, but he knew their experiences were vastly different. He could understand why Ryan might not get how Michael would chafe under all that attention. “Trust me, it’s better this way. They’d be hurt if I refused to move in with one of them.”
“Will they be any less hurt when they find out you’ve been hiding out from them for months?”
“Not months,” Michael insisted. “Another week or two, just till I see if my prognosis improves at all.”
Ryan nodded. “Okay, then, I’ll back off for now.” He glanced across the room. “I was a little surprised to see Kelly and her brother with you tonight.”
Michael shook his head, thinking about how complicated this simple outing had turned out to be. “Kelly’s here because she thinks therapy will go more smoothly if I start to trust her.”
“And Bryan?”
“He’s here because he’s afraid I’m going to make a move on Kelly,” Michael admitted dryly.
Ryan barely contained a chuckle. “And do you intend to make a move on her? You could do a lot worse, you know.”
