The Tempting Mrs. Reilly Read Online Free Page B

help feeling sorry for the new recruits under Connor’s charge in boot camp.
    Then his brother spoke up again.
    â€œHave you noticed the only one who’s not suffering is our brother the priest?” Clearly disgusted, Connor shook his head. “He’s just sitting back laughing at the three of us. How’d he talk us into this, anyway?”
    â€œHe let us talk ourselves into it. None of us could ever resist a challenge. Or a dare.”
    â€œWe’re that predictable?”
    â€œTo him anyway. Remember, priest or not,” Brian said, “he’s still the sneakiest of us.”
    â€œGot that right.” Connor reached for his wallet and pulled out a couple of bills, tossing them onto the tabletop. “So, what’re you gonna do about Tina?”
    â€œI’m gonna stay as far away from her as I can, that’s what.”
    â€œThat was never easy for you.”
    Brian tossed his money down, too, then grumbled, “Didn’t say it was gonna be easy.”
    Connor stood up, looked at his brother and gave him a smile. “We could try the old switcheroo trick. Since you have a hard time being around her, I could talk to her. Ask her to leave.”
    Brian looked at him and slowly slid out of the booth. They hadn’t used the switcheroo since they were kids. The triplets were so identical, even their mother had sometimes had a hard time keeping them straight. So, the three of them had often used that confusion to their advantage, with one of them pretending to be the other in order to get out of something they didn’t want to do. They’d fooled teachers, coaches and even, on occasion, their own mother and father.
    But, Brian reminded himself, as the idea began to appeal to him, Tina had always been able to tell them apart. They’d never once fooled her as they had so many others. Still, he thought, watching Connor smile and nod encouragingly, it had been years since she’d seen the three Reilly brothers together. Years since Tina and Brian were close enough that she’d been able to pick him out of a crowd of three with pure instinct.
    â€œI’m willing if you want to give it a shot,” Connor prodded.
    What did he have to lose? Brian asked himself. If Tina didn’t catch on to the trick, maybe she would leave, making Brian’s life a little easier. And if she did catch on…well, it had been a long time since he’d seen Tina Coretti’s temper.
    And as he remembered it, she looked damn good when she was fighting mad.

Three
    T ina heard Brian’s car when he returned to the house late that night and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Moving to the curtains of the upstairs bedroom that had been hers since she was a child, she peeked out to watch him walk up the driveway. When he paused long enough to snarl insults at the barking dogs, she smiled.
    She’d been half worried that he might bolt. It would have been easy for him to up and move to the base for a few weeks just to avoid her. But he hadn’t. And she was pretty sure she knew why.
    Brian would never admit that he wasn’t up to the challenge of seeing her every day. He’d never allowhimself to acknowledge that there was anything to worry about .
    He took the flight of steps to the garage apartment two at a time and her heartbeat quickened just watching him move. By the time he opened his door and went inside, without a glance at the house, her mouth was dry and her breath came in short fits and starts.
    â€œOkay,” she muttered, “maybe I’m the one who should be worried.”
    When the phone rang, she lunged for it gratefully. Sprawled across the hand-sewn quilt covering her double bed, Tina snatched at the “princess” style telephone and said, “Hello?”
    â€œSo, you’re there.”
    â€œJanet.” Tina rolled over onto her back and stared up at the beamed ceiling. Smiling, she said, “Right back where I