“Because. Why are you taking his side anyway?”

“Because is not an acceptable reason, Shane. I’m taking Kyle’s side because you have treated the girl shabbily and you yourself said you wanted to back off. I don’t see why you should be bothered if your brother is going to take her out.”

“What if I still want her?”

“What if, what if,” Edward said with an agitated wave of his hands. He leaned forward, “Maggie is not a thing! She’s not a toy you can hold back until you want to play with her again. She’s a person. A person who deserves respect. I surely have raised men who love women but I have not raised men who treat women the way you’ve treated Margaret Wright. Shane, you know better and you should be ashamed. Let her go, son. Why hurt her any worse? As long as Kyle treats her well and respectfully—which he’d better or his mother will have both your heads—why not let it go? You get your freedom and he gets to date a woman he likes.”

Shane leaned back in his chair, defeated. “Fine, Kyle, but if you hurt her I’m going to stomp on your neck,” he growled grouchily.

Kyle’s anger drained away. He wished like hell that Shane could get past what Sandra had done. “I like Maggie an awful lot. She’s relationship material and that’s what I’ve offered her. I intend to honor that promise.”

“Kyle Maurice Chase a monogamous man?” Marc held his hand to his chest in mock disbelief. “Well, this ought to be good. Don’t mess it up because I find Miss Margaret Wright to be enchanting. If you mess it up, she’ll never give me a chance.”

“Not a chance, monkey boy,” Kyle growled. He looked toward Shane. “Are we okay? She was very worried that this would set us against each other. I promised her that we weren’t competitive over women, just pool and baseball.”

Shane sighed. “Yeah, but don’t mess up like I did.”

“Not a chance, I’m way smarter.” Kyle stretched as he winked. Rolling his eyes, Shane continued to glower.

Chapter Five

Maggie hadn’t told Liv or Dee about her date with Kyle. She didn’t want to have to face their skepticism over the whole thing. Liv would no doubt make some loaded comment about brothers sharing women and Dee would just give her one of those patented sweet Dee looks.

She stood in front of her closet door for at least forty-five minutes trying to decide what to wear. Four outfits later, she finally chose a pair of low slung jeans, her cowboy boots and the bronze shirt that had a bit of a shimmer to it. It had three quarter sleeves and buttons such that a small sliver of her belly would show along with a bit of cle**age. Still, not too much of either.

Searching through her jewelry box she decided on the leather choker with the piece of turquoise that Dee had given her for her birthday a few years back and her silver hoop earrings. It was simple and not more glitz than she’d feel comfortable with.

Pulling a few strands of hair from her face, she twisted them and pinned them back from her face with pretty clips. The barest bit of makeup, a touch of Chanel No. 5 behind each ear and between her br**sts—not that he’d be going there, no matter how tempted she was—and she was good to go. Except for the nervousness that threatened to make her stomach riot and turn itself out on her bedroom floor.

She jumped when the doorbell rang. He’d shown up five minutes early. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and her breath was gone.

Where Shane’s looks were rough and almost savage, Kyle’s were beautiful. He still had brown hair but it was more blond than chocolate. It was longer than Shane’s, too. Kyle’s eyes were a beautiful green, like the ocean on the day after a storm. His skin was golden from working in the sun all day. He was tall but rather than his older brother’s six-and-a-half feet, Kyle towered at just under six feet. Tall—especially in comparison to Maggie who was an inch shy of five and a half feet—but not so tall she got a neck pain to look into his face.

And what a face! His nose was perfect, almost Roman. Full, sexy lips were framed by a mustache and goatee. Crisp blue jeans clung nicely to long legs and a body hugging red shirt showed off his upper body nicely. He was long, lean and mouthwateringly good looking. She stared at him, speechless for a few moments.

When she opened the door he almost fell to his knees. She was there, hair cascading around her face, just a hint of makeup, lips shiny. Her shirt was snug, br**sts clearly outlined by the soft material the color of autumn leaves. Something about the shimmer of it brought out the highlights in her hair and made her eyes smokier. The thick leather choker around her neck was very, very sexy. A creamy expanse of skin peeked from between the waist of her low slung jeans and the hem of the shirt. For a short woman, her legs were quite long and capped off with some seriously sexy cowboy boots.

“Wow,” they both said simultaneously.

“Jinx.” She grinned. “You look really handsome.”

“Ma’am, I’m just here to fight off the men who’ll mob you for looking as sexy as you do.”

Before they left for dinner, she gave him a brief tour of the house. Kyle was impressed with the work she’d done herself.

“You’ve done a heck of a lot of work, Maggie.”

“Thanks. This house wasn’t the most pleasant place to grow up at times. I feel like each time I do something to make it more my own, I chase some of that away.”

“I’m gonna want to hear that story.”