A Love Surrendered (10 page)

Heat suffused Annie’s cheeks at the mere mention of his name.

Erica’s coffee-colored eyes narrowed to feline mode. “Out there,” she said, her voice and gaze noticeably sharp, “with some bimbo.”

Annie fingered Steven’s coat, refusing to glance in the direction Erica had indicated.

“Come on, Erica, the man’s been out of commission for a long time now,” Allan said with a chuckle. “Let him have a little fun, will you?”

Her lips slanted into a tease as she took a slow sip of her drink. “Believe me, I’m trying.”

Allan stood and extended his hand with a grin. “Care to make the man jealous?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” she drawled, standing up to smooth a silk dress that hugged generous curves before it flared midcalf. Fingers linked, they disappeared into the crowd.

Stan ushered Ashley to the floor and Joanie left with somebody Annie didn’t know. Mark smiled at Peggy. “You game, Peg?”

“Sure thing!” Peggy bounced up as Joe returned. “Hey, Joe, Annie needs a partner.”

Joe set the drinks down. “Sure. What d’ya say, Annie? I promise to stay off your toes.”

She laughed, thinking if she ever had a brother, he’d probably look like Joe with his freckles and country-boy good looks. “I seem to remember you being pretty light on your feet, Agent Walsh,” she said, laying Steven’s coat down on the seat of her chair.

On the floor, Joe took her in his arms with a whirl, his soft crooning to the lyrics making her smile. She released a heady sigh, finding it easy to relax in his hold. “Well, it seems you not only dance well, but you sing well too.”

His chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. “I suppose I do have one or two attributes—dancing, singing . . .” He spun her lightly, a glimmer of tease in hazel eyes. “Loyalty to my best friend.” He paused, studying her with a knowing squint and a ghost of a smile. “So . . . why don’t you tell me, Miss Annie Martin,” he said softly, “just what exactly did you do to my partner?”

She tripped and he laughed, sweeping her close with an iron grip, cheek pressed to his chest. “W-what do you mean?” she asked, thinking the fire in her face just might scorch his shirt.

“I mean,” he said, voice as easy and fluid as his dancing, “seldom have I seen Steven so off his game, so preoccupied, so, well . . . downright surly . . . than after walking you home.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “What makes you think it has anything to do with me?”

He laughed again, twirling her in a spin. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the crowbar I needed to pry him away from work tonight when he thought you’d be here?”

“He said that?” The song ended and she blinked, unable to keep the hurt from her voice.

He tucked a finger to her chin with a gentle smile. “Not in so many words, but Steven’s been my best friend since I was five, Annie. I know him better than I know myself. Paul Whiteman’s one of his favorites, so when he hemmed and hawed about tonight, I had a feeling it had something to do with you and the funk he was in after walking you home.”

Her chin inched up. “Yeah? Well, it’s a free country, and I had to return his coat.”

Another song began and Joe tugged her back. “Yeah, I know.” In a graceful move to the music, he tucked his head against hers. “He asked me to pick it up from you tonight.”

His words stabbed. “So why is he here, then?” she asked, her ire keeping up with her hurt.

She sensed his grin over her shoulder. “Because I did what any loyal friend would do when his best buddy is dying on the vine. I lied. Told him you and Peggy wouldn’t be here.”

“Well, he’ll just have to get used to it, then, now won’t he?” Her words came out clipped.

He chuckled. “Steven has trouble getting used to anything out of the norm, I’m afraid . . .” He paused, his next words stealing her wind. “Especially the idea of falling for a kid like you.”

She jerked back, mouth so dry her voice was a croak. “W-what?”

A grin eased across his lips. “I think he likes you, Annie, a lot. Don’t know what you did to the man when he walked you home, but the guy who came back here was in a royal snit. He’s been a bear all week at work and then refuses to come see his favorite band until I tell him you won’t be here.” He
pulled her into a spin that made her dizzy, both in her head and her heart, then gave her a slow wink. “So you figure it out, kid.”

Her mind whirled along with her feet as he spun her on the floor, a heady giggle bubbling in her chest. A ball of jitters rolled in her throat as she stared. “But, how do we know for sure?”

The music ended, but Joe didn’t release her. “We test our theory.”

“How?” she asked, her breathing as ragged as her pulse.

He leaned close. “Well, he was in a great mood when we got here. How’s he look now?”

Her gaze flitted over Joe’s shoulder to where Steven sat with a scowl on his handsome face, and joy fizzed inside like a warm Dr Pepper. A giggle broke free as she nestled her head beneath Joe’s. “Like he did with Brubaker last week.”

“Thought so,” Joe said, his laughter low as he swept the back of her sweater. “I can feel holes burning in the back of my head.” He squeezed her shoulders and pulled away. “So, Annie Martin, you willing to smoke him out, get him to admit his true feelings?”

She couldn’t help it. She launched into Joe’s arms and gave him a ferocious hug. “Oh, Joe, yes, yes, a hundred times yes! I’m crazy for the guy, so I’ll do anything.” She hesitated, her smile fading as she squinted up with curious eyes. “But why are you doing this?” she whispered.

He gave her nose a gentle tap. “Because I love Steven like a brother, and I’d give my right arm to see him happy again.” He cocked his head, his expression as reflective as hers. “And something inside tells me you’d be good for him, Annie Martin.”

Blood flooded her cheeks.
Kennedy
, she thought with a shift of her throat, wondering if Joe would feel the same if he knew.

“Come on, kid.” He looped an arm to her waist. “Let’s go poke a stick at the grizzly.”

4

I
’m gonna kill him.
Steven jerked his tie off, fumbling with the top two buttons of his white dress shirt as he seared his best friend with a look as deadly as the gun strapped beneath his vest. Grinding his jaw, he rolled the sleeves of his shirt with a vengeance. What the devil did Joe think he was doing? She was just a kid.

His anger surged.
Yeah, right.
Only the “kid” was nowhere in sight, obviously lost inside a body that spiked Steven’s temperature more than the fury scorching his neck. He tried not to stare, but his gaze had a mind of its own, traveling from strawberry-blonde curls skimming her shoulders, down a turquoise sweater that molded to every curve. His eyes traced the slender lines of a pencil skirt leading to beautiful legs that tripled his pulse. Jaw tight, he scanned up to a face flushed with embarrassment, judging from fingers that nervously tugged at the V of her sweater. She avoided his gaze, and her lowered lids revealed the longest lashes he’d ever seen, making her appear demure and deadly at the same time. Older yet somehow still innocent, invoking a deep-seated urge to rip the tonsils from his best friend’s throat.

“Look who’s here, O’Connor,” Joe said with an easy smile
and a hand to the kid’s waist. “Your damsel in distress. Only tonight it’s my turn to look out for her.”

“Hi, Steven,” she whispered, her breathless voice only irritating him further. She bent to retrieve his stolen jacket from her chair, hand splayed to her neckline in a futile attempt to cover a cleft in her breasts. She held his coat out with a repentant smile. “I forgot to give this back last week. Hope it wasn’t an inconvenience.”

An inconvenience?
Yeah, but not the coat. He snatched it from her a little too abruptly, forcing his lips into a tight smile. “No problem,” he said, fisting it in his hands. His face suddenly wrinkled as he paused to sniff the jacket. “What the devil did you do, sleep in it?”

“You should be so lucky,” Peggy said with a grin.

A healthy shade of rose stained the kid’s cheeks as she chewed on a pink lower lip. “Sorry,” she muttered self-consciously. “It’s called Tabu.”

How appropriate.
His lips twisted as he slung the coat over his chair. “Yeah, well, thanks. I’m sure I’ll be a hit at the office.”

“Watch your manners, O’Connor, will ya?” Joe sat and took a drink of his Coca-Cola, eyeing Steven over the rim. “What’s eating you, anyway? You were in a great mood when we got here tonight. Now you look like you just picked a fight with Brubaker.”

Close
. He singed Joe with a look and a curt nod toward the veranda. “Got a minute?”

The band started and a lazy grin curled on Joe’s lips. “Yeah, right after I dance with Annie again.” He winked at the kid. “What d’ya say, beautiful?”

She shot up faster than a Roman candle at a Revere Beach Fourth of July. “You bet,” she said with a high-voltage smile that would have melted Steven’s wiring if fury hadn’t fried it first. He glared when she closed her eyes to sway. “ ‘Three Little Words’ is one of my favorite songs.”

Steven’s fist clenched along with his teeth.
I’ll give you
“three little words,”
he thought with a scowl.
Leave. Her. Alone.

“Great.” Joe strolled over to push the kid’s chair in, then grabbed her hand with a grin over his shoulder. “Hold that thought, will you, O’Connor? We’ll be right back.”

Steven clamped Joe’s arm. “How about I hold my temper instead, and we talk now?”

Joe grinned. “Sorry, Annie, best not to cross him when he gets like this. Rain check?”

“Sure,” she said, and Steven bristled when she lifted on tiptoe to kiss Joe on the cheek. He prodded his partner toward the veranda with no little force.

Barely outside the door, Joe spun around and pushed back. “What the heck is wrong with you? You’re acting like a moron.”

Steven shoved him hard and several couples scattered away from the railing where sparks of moonlight glittered on the water, not unlike the anger in Joe’s eyes. “Yeah, well, at least I’m not acting like Brubaker, trying to take advantage of a kid.”

Joe propped arms low on his hips. “She’s almost eighteen, Steven. Besides . . .” He hesitated before giving a sly wink. “One look will tell ya she’s no kid, if you know what I mean.”

Steven rammed him so fast, Joe never saw it coming. He staggered back and hit the ground, lunging up with eyes blazing. “I knew it! You have a thing for her, don’t you?”

Joe’s words slammed like a fist, and Steven felt the blow clear to his gut. He stood there heaving, hands clammy and mind numb that he’d just struck his best friend. He shook his head, as if to clear the fog in his brain. “Look, Joe, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”

“Well, I do.” Joe flexed his fingers, eyes as thin as his patience. “You like the kid, O’Connor, why don’t you just admit it?” A smirk lined his lips just like in the fifth grade when Steven had a crush on Marella Smith. “I knew if I made a play for her, you’d tip your hand.”

“What are you talking about?” Steven groused. “I just don’t like to see anybody take advantage of a nice kid, that’s all.”

“Is it?” Joe exhaled loudly and folded his arms. “Okay, you’re right, she is a nice kid . . . and smart and sweet and incredibly pretty, which is exactly why you need to take a second look.”

Steven’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“You heard me. I think she’d be good for you.”

He grunted, fanning fingers through his hair. “Yeah, no doubt about that, but it’s not me I’m worried about, Walsh, it’s her.”

Joe huffed out a sigh and cocked his head to study his best friend. “She’s not Maggie, Steven,” he said quietly, “she’s a nice kid who I have a feeling will keep you in line.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Steven peered up, the shame of his past making him nauseous. “I can’t go there again, Joe. Better to stick with my own kind of women like Erica, who I can have fun with, dance with, even kiss on occasion without anything more.”

“You were in love with Maggie,” Joe said quietly. “You can’t blame yourself for that.”

“Yeah, I can, because it was wrong no matter how you paint it. What I felt for Maggie may have started out as love, but lust cheapened it, made it something ugly and dirty.” He jabbed a thumb to his chest. “I made it ugly and dirty, and I’m done. Innocent girls like Annie only bring out the worst in me . . .” He heaved a weighty sigh, slowly slipping his hands into his pockets. “Like Maggie used to be,” he whispered.

“So you spend time with women like Erica, where marriage isn’t even an option?”

“Yeah, because I’m not looking to get married.” A bay-scented breeze cooled Steven’s face, chilling his body despite the warmth of the night. Couldn’t Joe see it? That he wasn’t cut out for marriage? His relationship with Maggie had made that abundantly clear. A love-hate relationship that almost destroyed everything good in his life—his family, his faith, his
own self-respect. Not just as a son or an O’Connor, but as a man. He thought he loved Maggie to the depth of his being, but the more they explored that love, the deeper his guilt. Guilt over loving her so much that he craved her love, and then guilt over hating her when she gave it. A guilt that became a two-edged sword, severing his ties with everything he held dear while disgust and desire warred for his soul. If that was love . . . marriage . . . then he wanted nothing to do with it.

“How long you gonna punish yourself for what happened with Maggie?” Joe said quietly.

Steven exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Till this awful feeling goes away whenever I think of her.” Regret constricted his throat. “Of what we did.”

“It was a lousy mistake, Steven . . . and Maggie miscarried before anyone ever knew.”

Guilt lapped at his soul like the black, murky waters lapped against the dock, drowning his peace. “I
knew
, Joe,” he whispered, “and that’s all that matters.” He shook his head. “You’d think after the grief and worry I put her through, I’d never risk it again. But I did, over and over.” His laugh was harsh. “A man in love, but too weak to say no . . . until it almost killed my father.”

Joe slapped him on the back. “Come on, Steven, lighten up. You haven’t done anything the rest of us haven’t. It just got a little messier with you and Maggie, that’s all. And it’s over now, part of your past. Don’t make it part of your future too.”

“Trust me, I have no intention of making it part of my future, not with the kid or anyone else.”

Joe’s lip curled as his tone took a turn toward dry. “Or mine, I hope. I hate it when you’re in the dumps, O’Connor, because you drag me there too.”

Steven smiled. “So, this is about you, then?”

“Absolutely. I just want you happy, because when you have fun, I have fun.”

Steven’s smile faded as his eyes locked with Joe’s. “Yeah, but not with the kid, okay?”

Joe studied him through lidded eyes. “Can’t protect her from every guy out there.”

The corner of Steven’s lip quirked up. “No, but at least I can protect her from me.” He hooked Joe’s shoulder in a show of affection. “And you, of course, buddy boy. Then maybe between the two of us, we can ward off the rest of the bums.”

“Kind of like good-looking big brothers, huh?” Joe’s grin eased into wicked. “I’m not worried about me, O’Connor, because I know I can do it, but you?” He shook his head. “When we came back to the table, I thought I was going to have to wipe the drool from your mouth.”

Steven laughed, easing the tension in his shoulders. “Yeah? Well, I already told ya my college days are over. From now on it’s the straight and narrow. I’ll keep my chin dry and the kid safe, just like I’d do for my own baby sister.”

“I don’t know,” Joe said, shaking his head. “She’s got it bad for you, Steven. What the heck did you do to her on that walk home anyway?”

Steven ambled to the door, hoping to deflect his discomfort with a show of bravado. “Not a blasted thing, Walsh, just pure, unadulterated charm.” He grinned. “Just like all the others.”

“Uh-huh.” Joe gave him a narrow look. “Problem is, she’s not like all the others.”

Steven held the door with a tight smile. “Yeah, and if I have my way, she never will be.”

“Something’s not right,” Annie whispered to Peggy when Steven steered Erica onto the floor.

She peeked at Joe across the way. He hadn’t made eye contact since he and Steven returned an hour ago, and she was pretty sure he’d switched camps. In fact, both men acted as if she wasn’t even there, dancing and flirting with other women or cutting up with the other guys.

“What d’ya mean?” Peggy slipped into her seat. A welcome breeze, thick with the loamy scent of the mossy dock, drifted in from a window overlooking the bay, fluttering her curls.

Annie yanked the V of her neckline up for the umpteenth time, then slipped her heels off to rub her sore feet. “I mean an hour ago, Steven was fit to be tied and Joe intent on proving him jealous. Suddenly they’re back, thick as thieves, and neither one has said boo to me.”

Peggy slapped a limp strand of hair from her eyes. “Well, that’s just plain rude. If those two are going to play games, then we can too.”

“Uh, I think we already are,” Annie said with a long face. She tugged her neckline up again and snatched a flyer from the table to fan her face, ready to melt. “And from where I’m sitting, it seems like Steven isn’t interested, which means I debased myself for nothing.”

A throaty laugh rolled from Peggy’s lips as she took a sip of her pop. “Trust me, Annie Lou, the way Steven O’Connor ogled you, I doubt it was for nothing. I’m guessing from all his big-brother lectures last week, he thinks you’re too young, which is why he’s keeping his distance.” She winked. “Otherwise, I’ll bet there wouldn’t be any distance or space at all.”

Heat steamed Annie’s cheeks. She shot a glance over her shoulder and spotted Steven through the crowd, Erica plastered against him so tight, they may as well have been one person. Her heart sank. “Maybe he’s right, maybe I am too young. He’s seven years older than me and used to women with a lot more experience. Maybe I don’t have what it takes.”

“Oh, you got what it takes, all right. We’re just not using the right bait.”