The Bachelor Next Door. Kathryn Springer

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СКАЧАТЬ pretty sure I’m here because of you.” Lily teased, knowing Shelby had always appreciated a sense of humor over a show of sympathy. “Or maybe the Lord knew Missy needed someone to take care of her.”

      Shelby snickered. “Or her owner.”

      “Trust me, Brendan Kane doesn’t want anyone taking care of him.” The leftover Cobb salad in the refrigerator proved it.

      “What makes you think I was talking about Brendan?”

      “I—” Lily’s heart stuttered. Because Mr. I-Don’t-Share-My-Office-with-Anyone should have been the last Kane brother who came to mind.

      “I’ll give you some time to think about it.” Shelby was still laughing when she hung up the phone.

      Lily didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t even want to think about why she didn’t want to think about him. It.

      Slipping her cell into the pocket of her skirt, she scanned the woods for her four-legged friend.

      In the past twenty-four hours, Lily had discovered the basset hound’s favorite pastime was finding things—to chew on or roll in.

      “Missy!” As she ducked under branches and skipped over roots protruding from the ground, Lily ruefully acknowledged the trees were winning. She’d decided to take Jill Robinson up on her invitation to attend the service at New Life Fellowship that morning, but she would be late if she didn’t leave within the next few minutes.

      When she came to the back of a familiar building, Lily realized she’d been led in a gigantic circle. Parked on a strip of gravel between the shop and a weathered cabin was a hunter-green pickup truck.

      Missy sat in the driver’s seat.

      “Oh, no. No. No.” Lily was beginning to think Missy’s name was a shortened form of Mischievous. “You can’t be in there!”

      Missy obligingly hopped over the middle console and landed on passenger seat.

      “Hey! I called shotgun.”

      Lily started at the sound of a masculine voice and then released a sigh of relief when she realized it was Aiden who’d turned up at the scene of the crime.

      “She jumped in through the window.” Lily silently measured the distance from the ground to the cab of the truck and frowned. “Just don’t ask me how.”

      “Come on, Missy.” Aiden opened the passenger-side door and tried to coax her out.

      “Looks like we’ve got a stowaway.”

      Liam suddenly materialized at her side and Lily felt a stab of sympathy for the women in Castle Falls. Both of Brendan’s brothers had upgraded from yesterday’s faded jeans and lightweight flannel to khakis and button-down shirts that accentuated their broad shoulders. Lily also couldn’t help but notice these men were smiling at her, too. A comforting change, to say the least.

      But that didn’t stop her from looking past them, trying to see…

      The one you don’t want to see, remember?

      “Lily?”

      Guilt lit a fire in Lily’s cheeks when she realized she hadn’t responded to Liam’s comment. Hopefully he would assume her blush stemmed from losing Missy and not her sanity.

      “Sorry.” Lily forced a smile. “I guess I should have bought Missy a leash to match her collar.”

      “Don’t worry about it,” Liam said. “She didn’t hurt anything.”

      “Speak for yourself.” Aiden laughed as he staggered away from the truck, weighed down by forty pounds of wriggling basset hound. He tried—unsuccessfully—to avoid the swipe of Missy’s tongue against his cheek as he set her down on the ground. “Take it easy now.”

      “And people claim dogs are good judges of character,” Liam murmured.

      “What can I say?” Aiden’s blue eyes danced with mischief. “The ladies can’t seem to resist my charm.”

      Liam rolled his eyes. “Your blarney, you mean.”

      Listening to their banter, Lily found herself wishing that Brendan was as easygoing and uncomplicated as his brothers. Any fears she’d had about Liam and Aiden resenting her presence in the house had been put to rest the day before when they’d invited her to join them for a piece of pie and then peppered her with questions about her plans for the house.

      Laughter had punctuated their lively conversation and Lily could tell that even the good-natured insults flying back and forth across the table welled from a deep affection rather than malice.

      She couldn’t help but compare it to the rare times her father had actually been home for the evening meal. She’d told Shelby once that their interaction was more like dinner interrogation than conversation. Her father expected a list of things Lily had accomplished that day followed by the goals she’d set for the next.

      Gaining his approval had become Lily’s ultimate goal. Until she’d realized it was an unreachable one. She swept the thought aside, along with the feelings of regret that inevitably accompanied it.

      “Those short little legs sure don’t slow her down much.” Liam pointed to Missy, who’d set off after a monarch butterfly that drifted past.

      “Or stop her from breaking into unattended vehicles.” Lily sighed. “I promise I’ll keep a closer eye on her.”

      “No harm, no foul,” Liam said easily.

      “Especially when the unattended vehicle belongs to Brendan, not us,” Aiden added with a grin.

      Now Lily was really sorry.

      “I’d better take Missy back to the house so I can make it to church on time.” And disappear before Brendan made an appearance.

      Aiden’s gaze bounced from her to Liam and back again, a smile brewing in his eyes. “Which one?”

      “New Life Fellowship.”

      “So are we,” he said cheerfully. “You’re welcome to ride with us.”

      “I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”

      “It’s only two miles down the road, and we’re going to the same place,” Liam said. “I don’t call that trouble.”

      Lily doubted Brendan would have the same perspective. But Liam hadn’t mentioned that his older brother would be attending the service with them….

      “All right.” She gave in.

      “We’ll swing by the house and pick you up in five minutes,” Aiden said.

      Lily lured Missy to the door with a biscuit she’d stashed in her pocket and closed her in the three-season room once they were inside. The wicker furniture provided the least amount of temptation for a dog who viewed leather furniture as a gigantic rawhide chew.

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