“You are wrong. Aiden thinks of Cordie as my friend. Nothing more. He watched her grow up because she was always at our house. And she thinks of him as my brother-”

“Yeah, I’ve got it. And nothing more, right?”

“That’s right.”

They continued to watch the dancing couples.

“Daniel’s looking worried,” Regan said.

“Who’s Daniel?”

“Daniel O’Donnell.”

She could tell he still didn’t know whom she was talking about. “The hospital administrator. He’s waiting for me to circulate and beg for money. Would you like to come with me?”

“No, I can watch you beg from here. Just stay in the room where I can see you.”

He almost added, “And wear the tarp or whatever the thing is called,” but stopped himself. He stood with his back to the wall and watched her walk away. She turned once and smiled at him. There was the dimple he’d been pretending not to notice since that first smile. He loved women with dimples, no matter where those dimples were.

His cell phone vibrated. He didn’t look at the caller ID before answering.

“Buchanan.”

Noah Clayborne was on the line. “I’m stuck in Seattle.”

“What are you doing there?”

“Eating fish.”

“So you’re not coming to Chicago?”

“Probably not. Where are you? I hear music in the background.”

“I’m at a country club, and you’re hearing a band playing. I’m on duty,” he explained.

“Doing what?”

He sighed and braced himself for the razzing to come. “Bodyguard duty.”

“Huh. I guess that’s better than a suspension. What’d you do wrong?”

“What makes you think I did anything wrong?”

Noah laughed. “You’re kidding, right? You’ve been demoted to bodyguard. You did something wrong, all right.”

“Yeah, I did. I made the lieutenant look bad.”

Noah was nosy as usual. “How’d you do that?”

“I resigned,” he said, and then added, “look, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it over a beer sometime.”

“Yeah, okay. So maybe I’ll see you in Boston. I’ll call to let you know.”

“Wait a minute. I want to ask you something.”

“What?”

“It’s kind of an odd thing to ask, but I was just curious…”

“Curious about what?” he asked when Alec hesitated.

“Women.”

“Huh. I sort of thought your father or one of your older brothers would have given you the sex talk, but if you-”

“Very funny,” he snapped. “What I was wondering…”

“Yeah? Spit it out.”

“You’ve been with a lot of women.”

“I like women.”

“And you’ve been in a few relationships, haven’t you? You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? A relationship that’s lasted more than twenty-four hours, maybe even as long as a week? Short-term, but still a relationship.”

“Yes, I have.”

“Okay, so what I want to know is this. In any of those relationships, did you ever become possessive? Did it ever bother you that other guys were trying to hit on the woman you were with?”

“Ah, jeez. Who is she?”

“Just answer the question.”

“No, I’ve never become possessive.” There was laughter in his voice.

It wasn’t the answer Alec wanted to hear, and he was sorry he’d asked the question because now Noah’s curiosity was pricked.

“You’re in a relationship with a woman, and you don’t want any other man hitting on her. Did I get that right?”

He knew Noah was yanking his chain, but he still reacted. “No, damn it. That’s not right. I’m not in a relationship.”

“Huh.”

“Huh, what?”

“You’re not sleeping with her, but you’re still feeling possessive.”

Alec spotted Emerson heading toward Regan again. She was standing next to her brothers talking to the hospital administrator, who appeared to be hanging on her every word.

“Listen, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this conversation to Nick.”

Noah laughed. “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. Your brother’s my partner. I’ve got to tell him. We spend a lot of time on stakeouts together, and this is definitely stakeout conversation. Besides, how often do I get to make fun of one of his brothers?”

Alec could feel his temper rising. “There’s nothing to tell.” He pictured putting his hand through the phone and grabbing Noah by the neck and choking him. Odd, but that fantasy actually made him feel better. He was still sorry he’d brought up the topic, though, and he knew it was going to take a long time for Noah to forget about it.

“Listen, Alec. You better be careful, or you won’t leave Chicago a single man. I know what I’m talking about. I saw it happen to Nick and Theo. And it was pretty painful to watch. Both of your brothers went through the juvenile don’t-look, don’t-touch, don’t-even-think-about-it phase when they first met their wives.”

“That’s never going to happen to you, though, is it, Noah?”

“Hell, no.”

Alec laughed, his good mood restored. He could almost hear the shudder in his friend’s voice when he’d given the denial.

“Are you about finished with the girly talk?”

“Yeah.”

Noah then moved on to a matter he considered far more important. He told Alec all about the fishing trip he and Father Tommy, another family friend, were setting up. “We’re thinking Canada. You interested?”

“Sure, if I can get away.”

Regan was now dancing with Sophie’s date. What was his name? Oh, yeah. Jeff something or other. He was harmless, Alec thought. Emerson didn’t look harmless, though. Anger radiated from his eyes as he watched Regan. He leaned against a pillar gulping down a tall drink while he waited for the music to end. He obviously wasn’t through pestering her.

“Gotta go,” he said and ended the call.

Emerson had just trapped Regan as she was leaving the dance floor. Alec started forward, then stopped. He decided not to interfere. She was a big girl. She could handle herself.

Regan’s expression went stone-cold, but she didn’t run from Emerson. She simply stood there as he rambled on and on. When she had had enough, she tried to walk away, but he grabbed hold of her arm just above the wrist and wouldn’t let go. Her demeanor didn’t change, but his sure did. She put her hand down on top of his, and from the look of shock and pain on the drunk’s face, Alec surmised she’d bent a couple of his fingers back into an unnatural position.

Thatta girl. Alec was proud of her. Being raised by three older brothers did have some perks after all-even if those brothers were overbearing and intrusive.

Regan didn’t come back to the table for a long time. She made the rounds, working the room, and she was fun to watch. The administrator followed in her wake to collect checks and pledges for more. People loved Regan. Most people, anyway. When Emerson’s wife wasn’t busy pushing her silicone breasts back into her leopard-print dress, she was glaring at her.

Every once in a while, Regan would turn toward Alec and smile at him. He thought maybe she was checking to make sure he was still there.

A good forty-five minutes passed before she stopped selling the hospital. She scanned the crowd until she found Aiden. It took her a while to get to him because men and women kept stopping her, some taking her hand as they spoke to her. When she finally reached her brother, he started talking before she had a chance to say anything, and whatever he was telling her didn’t sit well. She looked stunned, but she was quick to recover. Her face was flushed, and she shook her head several times.

Then Spencer joined in, and it didn’t take Alec any time at all to figure out that the two brothers were united on some issue, and she was disagreeing. Alec would have bet a hundred dollars that the issue under hot discussion was Emerson.

By the time Regan walked back to the table, she was trembling. He knew her reaction was due to anger, not fatigue. She was too furious to sit, and so she stood next to him and tried to calm down.

“Anything I can help with?” he asked.