“It’s so great to have you home, Abby,” Colleen exclaimed, throwing her arms around Abby’s neck.
Despite her concern over the impending marriage, Abby’s heart swelled with happiness. She patted Colleen’s back. “Hey, it’s not like you guys haven’t seen me in years. You’ve visited me. Not often enough,” she playfully observed, “but at least you’ve visited.”
“It’s not the same as having you here,” Colleen insisted. “Now that you’ve given up your place in Chicago, you need to move back to Cloverville. You can open the third branch of Temps to Go here.”
The request wasn’t exactly new. Abby had fielded it repeatedly in phone calls, letters and e-mails. She’d never been able to make Colleen understand that, to her, Cloverville could never be home. So instead of arguing, she changed the subject. “Brenna, did you hire any strippers for tonight?”
Colleen’s thin body shook with laughter. With her graceful build and gorgeous face, the girl could have been a supermodel rather than an office manager. But like her big brother, she might have assumed her career out of a sense of obligation. Or guilt—as Abby well knew.
Regret dimmed Abby’s happiness as she considered the part she’d played in Colleen’s guilt. Maybe Clayton was right. Maybe she had caused too much trouble in the McClintock household.
“Strippers?” Colleen shook her head. “You haven’t met the groom yet. No stripper could measure up to him.”
“We’re not having strippers,” Brenna insisted, her expression strained. Not that she would disapprove of strippers—Brenna Kelly was no prude. Was she stressed with her responsibilities as maid of honor? From the long-distance conversations she’d had over the past few weeks, Abby suspected Brenna had more interest in planning the wedding than the bride had. And maybe more interest in the groom.
“It looks like dinner’s ready,” the redhead murmured as she stepped outside to join the others on the patio.
“Come on,” Colleen pleaded with her sister. “You can share Josh with us for one night. You’re going to have him for the rest of your life.”
What little color there had been in Molly’s face drained away, leaving her skin almost translucent.
“The thought of spending the rest of my life with one particular someone would give me the willies, too,” Abby admitted. Not that anyone would want her forever. Even her own parents hadn’t wanted her.
Molly shook her head. “No, it’s just that…”
“What?” Abby persisted, hoping Molly would finally admit to her doubts.
But the brunette laughed. “I haven’t even seen him naked yet.”
Colleen sighed. “What a waste. But at least Clayton will be happy you saved yourself for marriage.”
Abby suspected that her friend had waited to make love to Josh for a reason other than her big brother’s approval. Molly didn’t love her groom. And if she couldn’t sleep with him, she certainly couldn’t marry him.
MOLLY’S DARK EYES welled with tears, summoning every protective instinct Clayton possessed. What had Abby said to her? They’d only been alone together in the house for a few moments.
He asked his brother Rory to entertain Lara and went over to Molly. “Honey, are you okay?” he asked, using the same tone he had with Lara. His sister seemed as vulnerable and afraid as Abby’s daughter had when she’d met him at the airport. Yet Molly had always been the strongest of his three siblings.
What had Abby said to her? He turned his attention from his sister to the blond troublemaker, and although she never slowed her conversation with his mother and Mrs. Kelly, Abby met his stare and then closed one eye in an audacious wink.
Molly laughed, even as the tears shimmered on her lashes. “Nothing much has changed between the two of you,” she commented.
“What do you mean?” There had never been anything between the two of them but animosity.
“You can’t keep your eyes off each other.”
Clayton’s pulse quickened. Did Abby watch him in the way that he watched her? “I’m just making sure she’s not starting trouble again.”
“Isn’t that excuse getting old, Clayton?”
Maybe it was. But he wasn’t about to admit his attraction to Abby, not even to himself. Nothing could come of it. Abby hadn’t been able to wait to leave Cloverville, and there was no way she was staying now. And even if she did, he wasn’t interested.
“Look at you, Mol. You’re crying. She’s only been back a little while and she upset you.”
“These aren’t those kind of tears,” Molly insisted.
“You’re happy?”
Her gaze slid away from his. “I’m happy Abby’s back home, where she belongs. I hope she stays.”
Clayton’s stomach dropped. He hoped she didn’t. He didn’t know how long he could deny the attraction. “Are you happy about tomorrow?” he asked. “About getting married?”
Molly gestured, hand shaking, toward where the groom-to-be stood near the grill, a twin on each arm, like matching blue-eyed, dark-haired bookends. “He’s a great guy. Successful, handsome, generous and a wonderful father.”
But did she love him? Hell, what did Clayton know about love? Only that it could hurt so much he didn’t intend to learn any more about it than he already knew. He’d seen his mother’s devastation when his father died, and he didn’t intend to risk that kind of pain himself. It was better to feel nothing, he was certain.
“So you’re sure…?” he asked his sister. “You’re doing what you want to do?”
Even as she nodded, more tears pooled in her eyes. Her voice broke when she answered, “Yes.”
Clayton pulled her into a hug. “I’m honored to be giving you away tomorrow, but I wish…”
It didn’t matter what he wished. Nothing could bring back his father.
“I know,” Molly said, pressing her lips to Clayton’s cheek before pulling from his arms. “Me, too. But you’ll do, big brother. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for us. For paying for my college and med school.”
“I didn’t,” he protested. “It’s really Dad’s…”
“It’s your money,” she corrected. “You’re the one working your butt off at the office. He’s been gone eight years, Clayton. It’s your office. Your agency. Your money. I can’t believe you even insisted on paying for the wedding. Josh wanted to pay.”
“Dad would have wanted…” He suppressed the emotion that was threatening to choke him. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“And Clayton always does the right thing,” she teased him.
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