The Tempting Mrs. Reilly

Focus. Tina wanted a baby.

And she wanted Brian to be its father.

She could do this. It had been five years. She wasn't in love anymore. She wasn't a kid, trusting in one special man to make her dreams come true.

She was mature enough to handle Brian without getting burned again. And if she was still breathlessly attracted to him, that was a good thing. It would make seducing him that much easier.

Brian looked confused. Also good. If she could just keep him off his guard for a week or two, things would work out fine.

But long after he'd gone inside his apartment, Tina was still looking out the window. And she couldn't help wondering which of them was really off their guard….

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

“T
en thousand bucks is a lot of money,” Brian Reilly said and, grabbing his beer, leaned back against the scarred, red Naugahyde bench seat.

“Don't make plans,” his brother Aidan added quickly as he snatched a tortilla chip from the wooden bowl set in the middle of the table. “You don't get it all, remember.”

“Yeah,” Connor added. “You have
us
to share it with.”

“And
me,
” Liam said with a smile, “to guide you.”

“Don't I know it.” Brian grinned at his brothers. Liam, the oldest by three years, looked completely at home, sitting in the dimly lit barroom. Not so un
usual, unless you took into account the fact that Liam was a priest. But first and foremost, he was a Reilly. And the Reilly brothers were a unit. Now and always.

As the word
unit
shot through his brain, Brian turned his gaze on the other two men at the table with him. It was like looking into a mirror—twice. The Reilly triplets. Aidan, Brian and Connor. Named alphabetically in order of their appearances, the three of them had been standing together since the moment they took their first steps.

They'd even joined the Marine Corps together, doing their time in boot camp in stoic solidarity. They'd always been there for each other—to give moral support or a kick in the ass—whichever was required at the time.

Now, they were meeting to celebrate a windfall.

Their great-uncle Patrick, himself the last surviving brother of a set of triplets, had died, and having no other relations, he'd left ten thousand dollars to the Reilly triplets. Now all they had to do was figure out how to split the money.

“I say we split it
four
ways,” Connor said, shooting Liam a glance. “Reilly's—all for one and one for all.”

Liam grinned. “I'd like to say no thanks,” he admitted. “But, since the church really needs a new roof, I'll just say, I like how Connor thinks.”

“Twenty-five hundred won't buy you a new roof,”
Aidan said. “Won't buy much of anything for any of us, really.”

“I've been thinking about that, too,” Liam said and looked at each of his brothers. “Why not have a contest? Winner take all?”

Brian felt the zing of competition and knew his brothers felt it, too. Nothing they liked better than competing. Especially against each other. But the quiet smile on Liam's face warned him that he wasn't going to like what was coming next. Sure, Liam was a priest, but being a Reilly first, made him tricky. “What kind of contest?” Brian asked.

Liam smiled. “Worried?”

“Hell no,” Aidan put in. “The day a Reilly backs off a challenge is the day when—“

“—when he's six feet under,” Connor finished for him. “What've you got in mind, Liam?”

Their older brother smiled again. “You guys are always talking about commitment and sacrifice, right?”

Brian glanced at his brothers before nodding. “Hell yes. We're Marines. We're all about sacrifice. Commitment.”

“Ooh-rah!” Connor and Aidan hooted and high-fived each other.

“Yeah?” Liam leaned back and shifted his gaze between the three other men at the table. “But the fact is, you guys know zip about either.”

Aidan and Connor blustered, but it was Brian who shut them up with a wave of his hand.
“Excuse me?”

“Oh, I'm willing to acknowledge your military commitment. God knows I spend enough time praying for the three of you.” His gaze drifted from one to the other of the triplets. “But this is something different. Harder.”

“Harder than going into battle?” Connor took a sip of his beer and leaned back. “Please.”

“Anything you can come up with, we can take,” Aidan said.

“Damn straight,” Brian added.

“Glad to hear it.” Liam leaned his elbows on the tabletop and gazed from one triplet to the next as he lowered his voice. “Because this'll separate the Marines from the boys.” He paused for effect, then said, “No sex for ninety days.”

Silence dropped down on the table like a rock tossed from heaven.

“Come on,” Connor said, shooting his siblings a look of wild panic.

“No way. Ninety
days
?” Aidan looked horrified.

Brian listened to the others, but kept his mouth shut, watching his older brother while he waited for the other shoe to drop. He didn't have long.

“I'm only talking about three months,” Liam said, that wily smile on his face again. “Too hard for you guys? I've made that commitment for
life.
”

Aidan shuddered.

“That's nuts.” Connor shook his head.

“What's the matter?” Liam challenged. “Too scared to try?”

“Who the hell
wants
to try?” Aidan added.

“Three months with no sex? Impossible.” Brian glared at Liam.

“You're probably right,” the oldest brother said and smiled as he took another long drink of beer. Setting the bottle down onto the tabletop, he cradled it between his palms and said with a shrug, “You'd never make it anyway. None of you. Women have been after you guys since junior high. No way could you last three months.”

“Didn't say we couldn't,” Connor muttered.

“Didn't say we
would,
either,” Aidan pointed out, just so no one would misunderstand.

“Sure, I understand,” Liam said, shooting each of them a look. “What you're saying is, that clearly, a priest is way tougher than
any
Marine.”

There was no way they were going to be able to live with
that
statement. In a matter of a few seconds, Liam had his deal and the triplets had signed on to the biggest challenge of their lives.

How they'd been sucked into the rest of it, Brian wasn't able to figure out, even days later. But he was pretty sure that Liam had missed his calling. He should have been a car salesman, not a priest.

“No sex for ninety days,” Brian said, his gaze shifting to each of his brothers in turn. The other two Reilly triplets didn't look any happier about this than he did. But damned if he could see a way out of it without the three of them coming off looking like wusses. “Loser forfeits his share to the whole.”

“And if you
all
lose,” Liam added cheerfully, “my church gets the money for a new roof.”

“We won't lose,” Brian assured him. Not that he was looking forward to a short spate of celibacy, but now that he was in the competition, he was in it to win. Reillys didn't lose well.

“Glad to hear it,” Liam said. “Then you won't mind the penalty phase.”

“What penalty?” Brian eyed his older brother warily.

Liam grinned.

“You've been planning this, haven't you?” Connor demanded, leaning his forearms on the table.

“Let's say I've given it some thought.”

“Quite a bit, obviously,” Aidan mused.

Liam nodded. “The church
does
need a new roof, remember.”

“Uh-huh.” Brian glared at him. “But this isn't just about a roof, is it? This is about torturing
us.
”

“Hey,” Liam said with a crooked grin. “I'm the oldest. That's my job.”

“Always were damn good at it,” Connor murmured.

“Thank you. Now,” Liam said, enjoying himself far too much, “onto the penalty phase. And I'm especially proud of this, by the way. Remember last year, when Captain Gallagher lost that round of golf to Aidan?”

Aidan grinned in fond memory, but Brian's brain jumped ahead, and realized just where Liam was going with this. “No way.”

“Oh yeah. Gallagher looked so good in his costume, I figure it's perfect for you guys, too. Losers have to wear coconut bras and hula skirts while riding around the base in a convertible,” Liam said, then added, “on Battle Color day.”

The one day of the year when every dignitary, high-ranking officer and all of their families was on base for ceremonies. Oh yeah. The humiliation would be complete.

Aidan and Connor started arguing instantly, but Brian just watched Liam. When the other two wound down, he said, “Okay, big brother, what's
your
stake in this? I don't see you risking anything, here.”

“Ah, I'm risking that new roof.” Liam picked up his beer again, took another long swallow, then looked at each of his brothers. “My twenty-five hundred is riding on this, too. If one of you guys lasts the
whole
three months, then he gets all the money. If you
all
fold, which I suspect is going to happen, then the church gets it all, and the new roof is mine. Ours.” He frowned. “The church's.”

“And how do you know if we last the three months or not?”

“I'll take your word for it.” Liam grinned. “You're a Reilly. We never lie. At least not to each other.”

Brian looked at the mirror images of himself. He got brief, reluctant nods from each of them. Then he turned back to Liam. “You've got a deal. When does the challenge start?”

“Tonight.”

“Hey, I've got a date with Deb Hannigan tonight,” Connor complained.

“I'm sure she'll appreciate you being a gentleman,” Liam said, smiling.

“This is gonna suck,” Aidan said tightly.

Brian admitted silently, that Aidan had never been more right. Then he shifted his gaze to each of his brothers and wondered just which of them would be the last Reilly standing.

He fully intended that it would be
him
.

 

Tina Coretti Reilly parked her rental car in her grandmother's driveway, then opened the door and stepped out into the swampy heat of a South Carolina early-summer day.

She instantly felt as though she'd been smacked with a wet, electric blanket. Even in June, the air was thick and heavy, and she knew that by the end of Au
gust everyone in town would be praying for cooler weather.

Tiny Baywater, South Carolina, was barely more than a spot on the road outside Beaufort. Ancient, gnarled trees, magnolia, pine and oak, lined the residential streets, and Main Street, where dozens of small businesses hugged the curbs, was the hub of social activity. In Baywater, time seemed to move slower than anywhere else in the South, and that was saying something.

And Tina had missed it all desperately.

She stared up at the wide front porch of the old bungalow and memories rose up inside her so quickly, she nearly choked on them. She'd grown up in this house, raised by her grandmother, after her parents' death in a car accident.

From the time she was ten years old until five years ago, Baywater had been home. And in her heart, it still was, despite the fact that she now lived on the other side of the country. But California was far away at the moment.

Not far enough away though to block the memory of the conversation she'd had only yesterday.

“Are you insane?”

Tina laughed at her friend Janet's astonished expression. She couldn't really blame her. Janet had, after all, been the one to listen whenever Tina complained about her ex-husband.

“Not legally,” Tina quipped.

“You are nuts. You're volunteering to go back to South Carolina, for God's sake, in the middle of summer, when the heat'll probably kill you, not to mention the fact that your ex is there.”

“That's the main reason I'm going, remember?”

“Yeah,” Janet said, easing her six-months pregnant bulk down until she could sit on the edge of her friend's desk. “I just don't think you've thought this all through.”

“Sure I have.” Tina sounded confident. She only wished she were. But if she stopped to think about this anymore, she just might change her mind and she didn't want to.

At twenty-nine years of age, she could hear her biological clock ticking with every breath she took. And it wasn't getting quieter.

“Look,” she said, staring up into Janet's worried brown gaze, “I know what I'm doing. Honest.”

Janet shook her head. “I'm just worried,” she admitted, running the flat of her hand across her swollen belly with a loving caress.

Tina's gaze dropped to follow the motion and she swallowed back a sigh that was becoming all too familiar lately. She wanted kids. She'd always wanted kids. And if she was going to do something about it, then it was time to get serious. “I know you're worried, but you don't have to be.”

“Tina, I didn't meet you until six months after your divorce,” Janet reminded her. “And you were
still
torn up about it. Now, five years later, you still carry his picture in your wallet.”

Tina winced. “Okay, but it
is
a great picture.”

“Granted,” Janet agreed. “But what makes you think you can let him back into your life and not suffer again?”

A nugget of hesitation settled in the pit of Tina's stomach, but she ignored it. “I'm not letting him into my life again.
I'm
dropping into
his
life. Then I'm going to drop out again.”

Janet sighed and stood up. “Fine. I can't talk you out of this. But you'd better call me.
A lot.”

“I will. Don't worry.”

Of course, Janet would worry, Tina told herself as she came back from the memory. If she wasn't so determined on her own course, maybe she would be worrying, too. Her gaze slid from the front porch to the driveway and the garage and the apartment over that garage.

Maybe, she told herself, Janet was right. Maybe this was a mistake.

But at least she was doing
something.
For the past five years, she'd felt as though she'd been standing still. Sure, her career was terrific and she had good friends and a nice house. But she didn't have someone to love. And she needed that. Now, whether she
was making the wrong move or not, at least she was
moving.