Liam paused and looked at Natalie as she rose from the car. Her face looked pale and tense in the moonlight.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Liam.” He could tell by her pointed expression that she was warning him to drop it.
“What? Why are you going to be talking to him?” Eric demanded, glancing from her to Liam with a look of confusion and alarm on his face.
“Liam and I are working on something together,” Natalie said.
“Yeah. I could see that,” Eric replied sarcastically.
“Liam,” Natalie said sharply when Liam started around the car. He came to a halt, scattering gravel beneath his feet, glaring at Eric all the while.
“It’ll be okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” The small tremor in her voice quieted Liam’s fury more than anything.
Liam nodded. He remained standing by the car as he watched Natalie and her brother walk toward her town house.
Eric slammed the door behind him.
“Jesus, Nat.”
Natalie shut her eyes when she heard the three, pointed syllables. She didn’t bother to turn around but merely walked into her living room and tossed her purse on the couch.
“Do you want me to make some coffee?” she asked calmly.
“No, I don’t want any coffee,” Eric stormed. She finally turned to look at him. Her brother was a very handsome man—tall, dark and intense. Three quarters of the female staff at Harbor Town Memorial, where he practiced as an orthopedic surgeon, would have sacrificed a great deal to have Eric drop in on them unexpectedly on a balmy Harbor Town summer night.
Natalie wished fervently he’d go grace one of their door-steps and leave his little sister alone…the same little sister he’d just caught making out with a Kavanaugh.
Her cheeks burned at the memory and she started toward the kitchen determinedly. “I’m going to make myself some coffee, then.”
“Why the hell are you dressed like that?” Eric demanded as he followed her into the kitchen.
Natalie opened a cupboard and paused, feeling regretful. Eric had sounded positively flummoxed. Seeing her with Liam must have been like taking an unexpected blow to the head, though he’d have been confused and protective enough finding her steaming up the windows in a car with any man. Natalie didn’t date that much, after all, and her brother had been the only witness to a few of her unsuccessful attempts during her early and mid-twenties. Eric had been the only witness to her hurt and tears when things had gone bad on those occasions.
He may be annoying at times, but he was her only family. Ever since their mother had died when she was eleven, he’d been both brother and father to her, taking on the full responsibility of an adult and caregiver at age eighteen.
If anyone deserved to scowl at her odd association with Liam Kavanaugh, it was Eric. Knowing that didn’t particularly decrease her annoyance with his presence at the moment, though.
“What do you mean why am I dressed like that?” she asked, her irritation leaking into her voice, despite her former thoughts.
“Your hair, it’s…” He paused and made a comical gesture around his head. “And that top you’re wearing…” He couldn’t seem to come up with the right word to describe it, but he persisted, unfortunately. “It’s not really your style, is it?”
“You can’t expect me to wear a business suit out on a date.”
It took her a few seconds to register the ringing silence.
“You went on a date with Liam Kavanaugh?”
“Sort of,” Natalie replied, already wishing she could take the words back. It was too late now. “Like I said, we’re working on something together.”
“What?”
Natalie exhaled and tossed the bag of coffee onto the counter. She started to tell him about her idea to hire Liam to investigate Derry Kavanaugh’s state of mind on the night of the crash. By the time she’d finished, her brother had gone tight-jawed and pale behind his tan.
“Why didn’t you tell me you planned on doing this?” he asked when she’d finally finished.
“I knew you’d worry about me if I did. I knew you’d tell me not to dwell on the past. But I’m not like you, Eric. I…I can’t seem to let
it go.”