Keir O'connell's Mistress

“Like that summer, you mean?” Cullen smiled up at the sky. “When I saved my allowance the whole year so I could buy a telescope? And Pop found you using it to girl-watch instead?”

“You mean, Pop found us using it.”

“Yeah, well, I was easily corrupted.”

Sean gave a soft laugh. “I’d almost forgotten that. Remember the blonde in the corner room on the fourteenth floor of the east wing?”

“How could I forget? She was the reason the old man threw out my telescope and paddled my behind so hard I couldn’t sit for a week.”

“Two days, and admit it, she was worth it.”

The men drifted in silence for a while, and then Sean spoke.

“How many times you think we sneaked out here at night, buddy? I figure it must have been at least a couple of hundred.”

“Heck, we probably got caught a couple of hundred.”

“Yeah. And got our bottoms warmed. Never stopped us, though, from sneaking out again.”

“That’s ’cause it was worth it, coming out here late at night, getting to use the pool without sharing it with a couple of trillion strangers.”

The brothers sighed, at ease as they drifted on the water and three decades of shared memories.

“So,” Cullen said, “where were you when you found out about Ma’s engagement to this guy?”

Sean turned over on the float and cushioned his face on his folded arms.

“Monte Carlo. At a private casino. I was up fifty grand when I got the cable.” His voice roughened. “I must have lost ten years of my life, just opening the envelope. I thought—”

“—that Ma had had another heart attack. I know. It was the same for me. I was downloading my e-mail and there was this message marked ‘urgent,’ with the Desert Song’s address on it and I figured…” Cullen sighed. “I was so relieved that it took me a while to start worrying about the actual message, you know? That she’s marrying this Dan Coyle, a man nobody knows.”

“Keir knows him, and seems to like him.”

“True.”

“And Ma’s crazy about him.”

“Well, those are both good signs, right?”

“Right.” Sean sighed. “It’s good to be back.”

“Temporarily.”

“Oh, yeah. That goes without saying. I wouldn’t want to live in this fishbowl again.” Sean dropped his hand and let his fingers glide through the water. “We owe Keir.”

“For taking over here, after Pop died? Yeah. Big time.”

“He looks…I don’t know. Edgy.”

“You think?”

“Maybe that’s the wrong word. I just get the feeling he’s got something on his mind.”

“The fox in the elevator, maybe.” Cullen grinned. “Man, what a scene to walk in on. Keir, holding an armful of female, looking at us as if he wished he could have dropped right through the floor of that car…”

Sean rolled off his float and into the water. “You think there was something really going on there?”

“In an elevator, in the Desert Song? That’s not big brother’s style. He’s too buttoned up to try something like that.”

“Too bad we didn’t get much chance to torment him about it.”

“Yeah. Bree’s and Meg’s timing sort of screwed things up.” Sean’s voice warmed as he spoke his sisters’ names. “It’s good to see the two of them. Last time we were all together was, what, Christmas?”

“I know. Well, it’s tough, with you traipsing around the world, me in New York, Bree in San Francisco, Meg in Boston, Fallon God knows where—”

“Paris, last I heard, for what she calls a fashion shoot.”

“Meanwhile, Keir’s trapped here in Vegas.”

“You think that’s the way he feels?”

“It’s the way I’d feel, in his place.”

Cullen hoisted himself out of the pool and dragged the float up beside him.

“You know what? I’m going to get him alone and ask him. I mean, maybe he wants to go on managing the Song, but if he doesn’t…Ma’s okay now. She looks wonderful, in fact. Seems to me it’s time we made other arrangements, like convincing her to hire someone to take over.”

“Someone is going to take over,” Keir said, stepping out of the shadows. “Under the duchess’s supervision, of course.”

“Of course,” Sean said, smiling. “How’d you get her to agree to that?”

“Actually, she suggested it.” Keir loosened his tie and tucked his hands into his pockets. “Her doctors gave her a clean bill of health and she’s been chomping at the bit, wanting to get back to work.”

“She’s up to handling things alone? Well, with the help of a Chief of Ops?”

“She won’t have to. She’s going to be a married lady this time tomorrow, remember?”

“Actually, we wanted to talk to you about that. This guy Coyle. He’s okay?”

“Yes. Definitely okay.”

“He’d better be.”

“I think he was pretty okay to you guys when you tried that CIA interrogation at dinner.” Keir grinned. “Considering he’s a retired captain of detectives with the New York City P.D., he let you get off easy.”

“Hey,” Sean said, straight-faced, “you can never be too careful about a man you’re going to call ‘Daddy.”’

“Tell him that, why don’t you?” Keir said, his tongue firmly tucked in his cheek.