“Ryan? What are you doing here?” she asked through numb lips. She still wasn’t entirely convinced she wasn’t hallucinating.
Her brother’s mouth was clamped tight in a straight line.
“I got sent home early,” Ryan said stiffly. “I’ll explain later. Let’s get you home.”
Out of the corner of her vision, she saw Brigit walk past them. Most of her attention was on her brother’s fixed, furious expression as he looked over Mari’s shoulder. She felt Marc’s arms stiffen around her waist when Ryan reached toward her.
“Come on, Mari,” Ryan said, never removing his gaze from the man who held her.
“Let go of her this instant, Marc. I don’t want them here,” Mari heard Brigit say behind them.
“You heard her,” Ryan said in such a soft, deadly tone that Mari doubted anyone else heard him.
Still, Marc showed no signs of relaxing his hold. If anything, it seemed as if his arms hardened into steel bands.
“Mari?” she heard Marc ask from behind her.
“It’s okay.” She twisted until she caught a glimpse of his face. He looked every bit as tense and angry as Ryan. Every bit as dangerous, too. “I said, let go,” Ryan seethed.
Fear swept through her when she saw the blazing look of anger in Marc’s eyes.
“I’m all right. Let go, Marc. Please,” she implored before he said something volatile and this whole keg of gunpowder exploded in their faces.
Marc’s gaze flickered to her face. His arms slowly loosened around her.
Mari turned toward him and whispered without meeting Marc’s eyes. “Maybe…maybe we ought to cancel for tonight.”
Ryan grasped her hand and led her down the Kavanaugh’s front walk, Eric joining them at the boundary of the Kavanaugh yard. She glanced back furtively as they reached the sidewalk. Looking young and bewildered, Brendan stood on the front steps. Brigit, Colleen and Liam Kavanaugh formed a semi-circle around Marc. Brigit appeared angry, Colleen and Liam tense.
Mari turned away. She didn’t want to interpret the expression on Marc’s face as he watched her walk away with Ryan and Eric on either side of her.
Chapter Nine
Mari glanced up after dinner that evening when her brother walked onto the shadow-draped terrace a
t the back of their house.
When they’d first arrived, Ryan had suggested that Mari go upstairs and rest following her episode of dizziness. Mari had insisted she wasn’t an invalid, and that she wasn’t going to go lay down when her brother was just returning home from a yearlong tour of duty in Afghanistan. She scolded him for not giving her warning about his early release, but Ryan said he’d wanted to surprise her. Apparently he and Eric—who were correspondents—had been conspiring over the matter. Ryan had wanted to return to Harbor Town to help Mari with The Family Center project. Her happiness at seeing Ryan home and healthy did a lot to ease her disappointment about what had happened at the Kavanaughs, but a sense of unease still lingered as her brother sat down across from her.
“It’s strange to be back here, isn’t it?” he murmured.
“Yeah, so many memories,” she replied in a hushed tone.
A silence ensued. Ryan was six foot three inches tall, a hard-as-nails Air Force pilot, charming and courageous in equal measure. Nevertheless, Mari sensed how he hesitated to bring up the explosive topic of finding her in Marc Kavanaugh’s arms. Mari had to admit, she was feeling uncertain around her brother, as well.
She suddenly regretted nothing more than blurting out that she was pregnant to Eric Reyes this morning. Had Eric told Ryan that volatile news on their drive to Harbor Town from the airport? If so, what conclusions was Ryan making? Mari could only imagine, as the news still didn’t seem quite real to her, either.
Ryan nodded toward the overgrown trellis. “Dad’s hydrangea finally took,” he said.
Mari smiled in the darkness. “He fussed over that plant daily, remember? It looks like all it wanted was to be left alone,” she said.
“Mari, what were you doing down at the Kavanaughs’ house today?”
She blinked. Apparently memories of their father had dislodged the crucial question from Ryan’s throat.
“I…I’d been visiting with Colleen. I’ve invited her to be the clinician and educator for The Family Center. She has excellent qualifications. She said yes.” Enough light was leaking through the windows so that she could clearly see how tense Ryan’s face had become. Mari slowly let out the air in her lungs. “I see you don’t agree with my decision.”
“I don’t, but since when does that matter? I’ve always made it clear what I thought of you using all the lawsuit money for this. That money was meant for your future, Mari. Not for some philanthropic project.”