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He couldn’t resist baiting the stupid woman. ‘If it was a rumour we certainly could.’
Maura ran an elegantly manicured hand across her smooth blonde hair, watching Molly and Nick dancing. ‘Well, if it’s not a rumour then Nick will be all the more interested. From what I hear he’s quite the ladies’ man in Dublin, whether they’re spoken for or not. But I’ll understand if you want to pretend you are a couple to engage his interest in your little friend. He’d be quite a catch for her.’
She turned her attention back to Ryan. ‘And once she’s out of the way I’m sure you’ll realise that I’m the most suitable choice for you, Ryan. No one else can advance your placing in this community like I can, and we both know it. We’d make the perfect couple.’ She sighed dramatically. ‘But I won’t wait for ever.’
Ryan watched as she strode away and then raised his eyes heavenwards. ‘I sincerely hope not.’
‘You don’t mind if I steal Molly, do you?’ Ryan tried not to look too pleased as he interrupted the dance.
‘Of course not, Ryan.’
Both men knew he lied, and they each knew that the other knew.
Ryan grinned. ‘Thanks.’
Nick looked at the taller man with chilly eyes which warmed noticeably as he looked back at Molly. ‘I’ll see you later, and maybe we’ll go for that midnight swim.’
She giggled like a schoolgirl. Ryan was forced to look and see where his Molly had gone.
‘I’ll hold you to that, you know.’
Side by side they watched as Nick left the dance floor and was accosted by Maura.
“‘I’ll hold you to that you know.’” Ryan mimicked her in a high-pitched voice before laughing as he swung her into a dance. ‘What was that supposed to be?’
‘You can take a running jump off the nearest pier, Callaghan!’
He thumped one large fist against his broad chest. ‘You wound me deeply, old pal of mine. You’re not honestly going to tell me you like that man?’
‘And why shouldn’t I?’ Green eyes blazed up into familiar dark ones. ‘He’s a charming, handsome, sophisticated, rich man. So naturally I’m going to find him completely gross!’
‘Don’t tell me—that’d be another of those quaint American sayings, wouldn’t it?’
She thumped his shoulder before placing her hand there. ‘You are such an absolute rat. I don’t even know why I like you at all. Can you remind me?’
He leaned down towards her, his voice low and intimate. ‘Because deep down you truly love me and you know it, that’s why.’
Molly shook her head, but her eyes had softened and a smile was teasing the corners of her mouth. ‘Well, if that’s what you want to think, you just keep livin’ the dream.’
They were silent for a moment as the music slowed and hung on the warm evening air. Ryan glanced up at the newly formed curtain of stars above them and sighed. ‘Maura Connell says the man’s a well-known womaniser.’
‘She’s the girl that would know, right enough.’
He smiled down at her. ‘Meow. Seriously, though, wouldn’t you rather know that, one way or another?’
Molly raised one eyebrow and looked him straight in the eye. ‘Maybe he’s changed. Maybe he’s moved to the country to get away from that reputation and meet someone genuine. Has that occurred to you inside that overprotective head of yours?’
If any thought occurred to him it was only the irritating one that recognised that Molly might genuinely have an interest in Mr Smarmy. Another thought swiftly followed. He, Ryan Callaghan, didn’t like that idea one little bit. But then, that was only because—as Molly rightly pointed out—he was her protector. It was his job. Yeah, that was it.
‘There’s one way to find out for sure.’
Green eyes narrowed. ‘Oh, yeah, and what might that be?’
‘Maura reckons he’ll be all the more interested in you if he thinks you’re involved with someone else.’ He couldn’t look her in the eye. ‘And apparently half the town already thinks you’re involved with someone else, so that could be why he approached you in the first place.’
Molly noticed that he couldn’t meet her gaze, and she knew she wasn’t going to like where the conversation was headed. ‘Who do they think I’m involved with?’
Ryan cleared his throat and found his eyes focused on her mouth for some unknown reason. ‘Me.’
She burst out laughing. ‘You’re kidding? That’s utterly ridiculous. You and me? As if!’
‘Well, that’s what comes of sharing a house with one of the town’s most eligible men.’ He raised his chin indignantly, his dark eyes sparking with barely hidden irritation. ‘Not everyone looks at me and sees some elder brother figure, all safe and reliable.’
‘Safe and reliable—oh, yeah, that’s how I see you right enough.’ She was still laughing.
Ryan’s anger rose. ‘Well, maybe if you just took the time to notice you’d see that I’m actually not that damn bad!’
Her eyes widened at the hard edge to his voice. He was, what, angry that she thought the idea of her being attracted to him was ridiculous? No, that just couldn’t be. No way. Not her Ryan. Not her ‘safe and reliable’ Ryan. She blinked at him.
He glared down at her.
Molly smiled, attempting to ease the sudden tension between them. ‘Poor baby.’
Ryan’s eyes softened the smallest amount, so small an amount that someone who didn’t know him as well as Molly did would never have noticed it. But notice it she did, and almost sighed with relief. ‘Look, Callaghan, Nick Scallon seems like a perfectly nice guy. I don’t see what you have against him.’
‘I have plenty against him if he’s chasing after you for some short-lived affair.’
Molly frowned up at him. ‘You don’t know that!’
‘How do you know he’s not?’
She shook her head. ‘You’re being really stupid about this.’
Ryan smiled sarcastically. ‘You wanna bet?’ ‘Ryan, quit it.’
‘No. C’mon Molly.’ He squeezed his arm tighter against her waist, drawing her body closer to his. ‘If you’re so convinced that he’s such a nice guy then you should stand by your convictions.’
She allowed her body to move in time with the music, matching the gentle sway of his hips. ‘And how exactly do I do that, then?’
Ryan’s smile was slow, and a challenge was lighting up in the back of his eyes. ‘By proving me wrong. Go out with me, pretend we’re an item for a few months, and we’ll see just how nice a guy Mr Nick Scallon is. If he continues chasing you then you’ll know exactly what his intentions are.’
The air was forced out of her lungs. ‘You’re off your trolley!’ She glared at Ryan in amazement as he pulled her off the dance floor towards the walkway at the loughside.
He knew the warning signs of an impending O’Brien explosion and decided the further away she was from the general population, the less the fallout would be. ‘It’s not like you to go chicken on me, O’Brien.’
‘Chicken?’
‘Yeah, chicken.’ He stopped and stared down at her. ‘If you don’t think you can handle the fact that I’m right, as usual, then say so.’
Snatching her arm away from him, she marched to the darker end of the walkway. Once there she turned to face him so quickly that he almost crashed into her. ‘You’ve had some absolute whoppers of ideas in your time, but this one definitely gets the award.’
He folded his arms across his broad chest and waited.
‘I mean, you and me—a couple? Who’s gonna believe that?’
He sighed. ‘Molly—’
‘And to suggest that we’d ever be able to fool anyone—I mean, there are days we have difficulty just getting on well enough to still like each other as friends!’ She started pacing in front of him.
He sighed again. ‘If you’d just—’
‘We’d have to be able to look at each other without sniggering every two minutes. And as for the kissing thing—’ She stopped pacing long enough to waggle a finger at him. ‘You do realise if we were actually dating we’d be expected to kiss and—well, other stuff like that….’
There was a deadly silence as they stared at each other in shock. Ryan swallowed hard. ‘I know that—’
She recommenced the pacing. ‘It’s the most ridiculous suggestion you’ve ever made, Callaghan, and you should know that, for crying out loud!’
‘O’Brien—’
She stopped again and looked up into his eyes. ‘I mean, honestly, what makes you think for one second we could fool anyone?’
Ryan frowned at her. ‘Methinks the girl protests too much.’
‘And just what does that mean?’
‘Maybe you’re too frightened to kiss me.’
Her eyes widened, fire glinting in their depths. ‘Me? Frightened, of you? What in hell is there for me to be frightened of?’
He stepped closer, his body almost touching hers. Towering over her smaller frame until any dim light was almost obscured, he leaned down towards her. ‘Maybe you might just like kissing me.’
‘You wanna bet?’
‘Well, actually, yes, I do.’ His gaze was steady. ‘I thought we’d established that fact.’
Her mouth gaped. ‘I don’t believe this. As if I’d like kissing you, of all people! Like as in enjoy? Like as in, participate—’
He did the only reasonable thing he could think of to shut her up. He hauled her body to his and kissed her.
At first Molly couldn’t believe what he was doing. This was Ryan Callaghan. The Ryan she had known for half her life. The Ryan who, along with her soulmate Kieran, had managed to alternately torture, humour and protect her most of the way through her late teens. They’d been the three musketeers back then—almost invincible. She had thought she knew Ryan better than anyone else on the planet. It should have felt like kissing a brother. Somehow it didn’t.
It felt—well, it felt nowhere near as awful as it could have been. In fact, it wasn’t altogether unpleasant. In fact…
This just couldn’t be right.
Ryan couldn’t believe he was doing what he was doing. He was actually kissing Molly! Hello—earth calling Ryan. What was he doing? Then he forgot for a moment as he felt her mouth soften against his. Good Lord, he was kissing Molly. And, hell, but it felt good. Too good. He moved his mouth over hers, felt her small sigh against his lips. She was so warm, and sweet-tasting, and soft, and—
‘Oops, sorry Mr Callaghan.’ There was a childish giggle. ‘We didn’t see you there.’
They pulled away from each other, both staring at the two Collins children who had materialised by their side. Ryan found his voice first. Well, he assumed it was his voice. The sound certainly seemed to come out of his mouth, so it pretty much had to be his. ‘That’s okay, kids. Don’t worry about it.’
The children looked backwards and forwards at the two adults, giggling again. The fair-haired girl waved at Molly before turning back into the darkness with her brother.
‘See.’ Her voice was the loudest of stage whispers. ‘Mammy said they were goin’ together. Let’s go tell her she’s right.’
Her brother’s voice got louder as they moved further away. ‘I’m telling her first!’
The echo of running footsteps bounced across the still water of the lough. ‘No, you’re not! I am!’
Ryan stared into the darkness as if he could still see them while Molly stared at his broad back. ‘Callaghan—’
‘Well, I guess that takes care of the kissing bit. They seemed fairly convinced.’ He turned to look at her. ‘Don’t you think?’
‘Oh, you—you’ll just do anything to prove a point, won’t you?’ The burst of laughter sounded false, even to her own ears. For the first time in a very long time she felt awkward in his company. Unable to look him in the eye. ‘But surely you can see this is a really dumb-ass idea?’
With only a moment’s hesitation he reached down to frame her face with his large hands, forcing her to look at him. ‘Protest noted. But, hey, come on, O’Brien.’ He smiled a lop-sided smile at her, the one women always seemed to find endearing. ‘It’ll be hilarious. And we’ve already started the jungle telegraph talking. Since when have you ever chickened out of one of our bets?’ He raised a dark eyebrow. ‘Unless you’re prepared to admit I’m right about Scallon.’
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then, suddenly afraid that he might try to convince her some more, Molly moved back, out of his hold. She had never turned down one of Ryan’s bets. Never allowed him the upper hand in their long relationship. And she wasn’t about to start now.
She liked Nick Scallon, for crying out loud. He was the most attractive man she’d met in a good while. And she could think of nothing more rewarding than proving Ryan wrong about him. So if that meant she’d have to play charades for a few weeks then she could manage that. Really, she could. Piece of cake. And Ryan’s forfeit would be hell…
Raising her chin to look at him, she smiled calmly. ‘Okay, Callaghan, you’re on. Let’s just hope—’ she moved close to him to brush an imaginary speck of dirt from his shirt ‘—you can take the heat.’
Ryan stared at her, his throat suddenly dry. What had he started? From past history he just knew that his payback would be a nightmare. Molly would make sure of that.
He grinned. Bring it on.
CHAPTER TWO
End of summer—fifteen years ago
‘FRIENDS don’t kiss.’
‘Ever?’
Molly thought for a moment, her long legs tucked beneath her on the large sofa. It was the last night of the summer holidays and in the morning their two families would part again for another year. To celebrate the last evening they had had a huge barbecue by the lough before returning to Ryan’s family’s summerhouse. While the adults had drunk wine, chatting on the porch, the two kids had sat themselves in front of a video in the family room.
‘Never.’
Ryan studied her profile carefully. ‘What about when they say goodbye or wish each other a happy birthday?’
‘That’s different. Those are friendly kisses.’
‘And the difference would be…?’ She had piqued his interest and he wondered just what the extent of her knowledge could be at her age.
Molly avoided looking directly at him. Instead she kept her gaze focused on the television screen as she watched the source of their debate. They had been watching When Harry met Sally.
Out of the corner of his eye he had seen Molly blush a crimson-red during the café scene when Meg Ryan had demonstrated her talent for faking it. He had impressed himself by not laughing at her reaction. After all, it wasn’t that he was that much more experienced than she was. A few fumblings in the darkness of a cinema or the back seat of a friend’s car on a Saturday evening hardly made for a sex-life to brag about.
