night. Haven’t we, sweetheart?” he prompted.
Dorie’s eyes twinkled. She nodded. “Indeed we have! I’ll just catch up on talk until he comes back. We can have the last dance together. Don’t give it a thought, Leo.”
Leo was feeling the liquor more with every passing minute, but he was feeling all sorts of undercurrents. The women looked positively gleeful. His brothers were exchanging strange looks.
Corrigan looked past Leo to Cag and Rey. “You can all come by our house after the dance,” he promised.
“What for?” Leo wanted to know, frowning suspiciously. Corrigan hesitated and Cag scowled.
Rey cleared his throat. “Bull problems,” he said finally, with a straight face. “Corrigan’s advising me.”
“He’s advising me, too,” Cag said with a grin. “He’s advising both of us.”
All three of them looked guilty as hell. “I know more about bulls than Corrigan does,” Leo pointed out. “Why don’t you ask me?”
“Because you’re in a hurry to go home,” Corrigan improvised. “Let’s go.”
Leo went to get Marilee. She said a subdued, hurried goodbye to Cag and Rey and then their wives. Leo waited patiently, vaguely aware that Cag and Rey were standing apart, talking in hushed whispers. They were both staring at Leo.
As Marilee joined him, Leo began to get the idea. Corrigan had sacrificed dancing so that he could pump Leo for gossip and report back to the others. They knew he was drinking, which he never did, and they’d probably seen him hobble back into the room. Then he’d wanted to leave early. It didn’t take a mind reader to put all that together. Something had happened, and his brothers—not to mention their wives—couldn’t wait to find out what. He glared at Corrigan, but his brother only grinned.
“Let’s go, Marilee,” Leo said, catching her by the arm.
She gave one last, hopeful glance at Janie, but was pointedly ignored. She followed along with Leo until the music muted to a whisper behind them.
When Marilee had been dropped off, and they were alone in the car, Corrigan glanced toward his brother with mischievous silvery eyes and pursed his lips.
“You’re limping.”
Leo huffed. “You try walking normally when some crazy woman’s tried to put her heel through your damned boot!”
“Marilee stepped on you?” Corrigan said much too carelessly.
“Janie stepped on me, on purpose!”
“What were you doing to her at the time?”
Leo actually flushed. It was visible in the streetlight they stopped under waiting for a red light to change on the highway. “Well!” Corrigan exclaimed with a knowing expression.
“She started it,” he defended himself angrily. “All these months, she’s been dressing to the hilt and waylaying me every time I went to see her father. She damned near seduced me on the cooking table in her kitchen last month, and then she goes and gets on her high horse because I said a few little things I shouldn’t have when she was eaves-dropping!” “You said a lot of little things,” his brother corrected. “And from what I hear, she left town in a dangerous rush and had to be slowed down by our new assistant chief. In fact, you called and asked him to do it. Good thinking.”
“Who told you that?” Leo demanded.
Corrigan grinned. “Our new assistant chief.”
“Grier can keep his nose out of my business or I’ll punch it for him!”
“He’s got problems of his own, or didn’t you notice him step outside with Judd Dunn just before we left?” Corrigan whistled softly. “Christabel may think she’s her own woman, but Judd doesn’t act like any disinterested husband I ever saw.”
“He’s got a world famous model on his arm,” Leo pointed out.
“It didn’t make a speck of difference once he saw Christabel on that dance floor with Grier. He was ready to make a scene right there.” He glanced at Leo. “And he wasn’t drinking,” he emphasized.
“I am not jealous of Janie Brewster,” Leo told him firmly.
“Tell that to Harley. He had to be persuaded not to go after you when Janie came back inside in tears,” Corrigan added, letting slip what he’d overheard.
That made it worse. “Harley can mind his own damned business, too!”
“He is. He likes Janie.”
“Janie’s not going to fall for some wet-behind-the-ears would-be world-saver,” Leo raged.
“He’s kind to her. He teases her and picks at her. He treats her like a princess.” He gave his brother a wry glance. “I’ll bet he wouldn’t try to seduce her in the rosebushes.” “I didn’t! Anyway, there weren’t any damned rosebushes out there.”
“How do you know that?”
Leo sighed heavily. “Because if there had been, I’d be wearing them.”
Corrigan chuckled. Having had his own problems with the course of true love, he could sympathize with his brother. Sadly, Leo had never been in love. He’d had crushes, he’d had brief liaisons, but there had never been a woman who could stand him on his ear. Corrigan was as fascinated as their brothers with the sudden turn of events. Leo had tolerated Janie Brewster, been amused by her, but he’d never been involved enough to start a fight with her, much less sink two large whiskeys when he hardly even touched beer.
“She’s got a temper, fancy that?” Corrigan drawled.
Leo sighed. “Marilee was telling lies,” he murmured. “She said Janie had started all sorts of gossip about us. I’d kissed her, and liked it, and I was feeling trapped. I thought the kiss gave her ideas. And all the time… Damn!” he ground out. “Tess knew. She told me that Marilee had made up the stories, and I wouldn’t listen.”
“Tess is sharp as a tack,” his older brother remarked.
“I’m as dull as a used nail,” Leo replied. “I don’t even know when a woman is chasing me. I thought Janie was. And all the time, it was her best friend Marilee.” He shook his head. “Janie said I was the most conceited man she ever met. Maybe I am.” He glanced out the window at the silhouettes of buildings they passed in the dark. “She likes Harley. That would have been funny a few months ago, but he keeps impressive company these days.”
“Harley’s matured. Janie has, too. I thought she handled herself with dignity tonight, when she saw you with Marilee.” He chuckled. “Tira would have emptied the punch bowl over her head,” he mused, remembering his redheaded sister-in-law’s temper.
“Simon would have been outraged,” he added. “He hates scenes. You’re a lot like him,” he said unexpectedly, glancing at the younger man. “You can cut up, but you’re as somber as a judge when you’re not around us. Especially since we’ve all married.”
“I’m
