Teresa Southwick - Unmasking The Maverick

She noticed a guilty expression on her oldest brother’s face. In spite of her annoyance with these two, she didn’t want him to feel bad about what happened. Ultimately she’d made the choice to fall for her ex. It was her own bad judgment that got her heart broken. Lesson learned.

“I’m not looking to get married,” she said firmly. “I’ve stopped looking for a man. Period.”

“Keep an open mind, honey.” Up until now their mother had stayed out of the verbal volley and simply listened. Now, though, she stepped in. “When you least expect it, that’s when love will happen. When you’ve stopped looking, it will find you.”

Another tired saying that should be stitched on a sampler and hung on the wall. Fiona envied her parents’ thirty-plus years of marriage. They were still happy and deeply in love, stealing kisses like teenagers when they thought no one was watching. More than once someone would teasingly tell them to get a room. But that kind of love was exactly what she wanted. It just didn’t seem as if it was in the cards for her. And there was no way she’d settle for less.

Brendan Tanner was intriguing, she would give him that. And there was something inherently heroic about him. The way he’d handled little Jared with patience and kindness spoke to how he would be with kids of his own. And the fact that he was taking her to dinner instead of letting her pay him to fix the tractor made him seem like a really good man. But she’d been wrong before.

He was basically another stranger in town and she was definitely against getting burned again. He was certainly a pretty package and she was curious about him. But her only goal was one nice evening out.

Before she could tell the boys to go jump in the lake, the back door opened again and her father walked in, followed by his dog, Duchess. Paddy O’Reilly was a big, handsome man and his sons took after him. That was even more painfully clear when he stopped and stared at her the way they had.

“No one told me we were dressing up for dinner tonight,” he said, absently rubbing the dog’s golden head.

“Fiona’s not eating here,” Maureen told him.

“She has a date but won’t tell us who she’s going out with,” Keegan informed his father.

“Whoever he is, he’s a very lucky man.” Paddy’s eyes were filled with paternal pride. “You’re the image of your mother and she had the men falling all over themselves for a chance with her.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Fiona felt a lump in her throat.

“So who is this fortunate fella?” His eyes twinkled, proof he knew he wasn’t fooling her. Information was what he wanted. “Are we going to have an opportunity to meet him?”

“Not if I can help it.”

Oh, dear God. He would be here any minute and she wanted to spare him the awkward family once-over. Now the guardians of the Galaxy were standing shoulder to shoulder, ready to grill the guy. The poor man had done them a favor and this was how they repaid him!

With her shawl and purse in hand, she turned on her heel and hurried to the living room, planning to slip out the door. But the plan was doomed to failure and if she wasn’t so darn nervous that would have been clear to her.

All of them followed in her wake, including her mother. They were assembled behind her like the Atlantic Wall on D-day. And before she could even tell them to back off, there was a firm knock on the front door.

This was going to be a disaster. The worst part was that she actually cared her night was going up in flames. And not in a good way.

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