The Fall of Shane MacKade (The MacKade Brothers 4)

He started to swear, but couldn’t resist the laugh. “What the hell! We’ll go for two out of three.”

Chapter 7

“So we played pool.” Rebecca was busily adjusting one of her cameras in Shane’s kitchen while Regan looked on. “He’s really very good. We ended up closing the place down.”

Regan waited a moment, tugged her ear as if to clear it. “You played pool—at Duff’s.”

“Uh-huh. We were just going to play one game, then it was two out of three, and three out of five, and so forth. It’s great fun. But I couldn’t let all those men buy me beers. I’d have been flat on my face.”

“Men were buying you beer.”

“Well, they wanted to, but I’m not much of a drinker.” Lips pursed, Rebecca stepped back to check the positioning. “Shane was awfully good-natured about it all. A lot of people get annoyed when you beat them at their own game.”

“Excuse me.” Regan held up a hand. “You beat Shane—that’s Shane MacKade—at pool.”

“Seven out of ten—I think. Do you know how to work this coffeemaker?”

Leave the woman alone for a few days and look what she gets into, Regan thought. “She can’t make coffee, but she can beat Shane at pool. The only person I’ve ever known to beat Shane is Rafe—and nobody beats Rafe.”

“Bet I could.” Smug, Rebecca flashed a grin. “I’m a natural. Charlie Dodd said so.”

“Charlie Dodd?” Measuring out coffee, Regan laughed. “You hung out with Charlie Dodd and the boys at Duff’s, playing pool? What in the world were you doing there?”

“Celebrating Miranda’s birth. Anyway, since I won the bet, Shane has to help me with my project. He’s not terribly happy

about it. He has a definite block about anything supernatural.”

Curiouser and curiouser, Regan mused. “One minor detail.”

“Hmm?”

“What if you’d lost the bet?”

“I’d have necked with him in his truck.”

Regan splashed the water she’d been pouring into the coffeemaker all over the counter. “Good Lord, Rebecca, what has happened to you?”

A smile ghosting around her mouth, Rebecca looked dreamily out the window. “I might have enjoyed it.”

“I’ve no doubt you would have.” After blowing out a breath, Regan mopped up the spill and started again. “Honey, I don’t want to interfere in your life, but Shane… He’s very smooth with women—and he doesn’t tend to take relationships seriously.”

Rebecca caught herself dreaming, and stopped. “I know. Don’t worry about me. I’ve been sheltered and secluded, but I’m not stupid.” She leaned over to coo at the baby napping in his carrier. “I think I’m handling Shane very well, all in all. I may have an affair with him.”

“You may have an affair with him,” Regan repeated slowly. “Am I having some sort of out-of-body experience?”

“I hope you’ll give me all the details, if you are.”

Regan rubbed a hand over her face, told herself to be rational. But it was Rebecca, she thought, who was always rational. “You may have an affair, with Shane. That’s Shane MacKade. My brother-in-law.”

“Um-hmm…” Unable to resist, Rebecca skimmed a fingertip over Jason’s soft, round cheek. “I’m still considering it. But he’s very attractive, and, I’m sure, very skilled.” The fingertip wasn’t enough, so she bent to touch her lips lightly to the same lovely spot. “If I’m going to have an affair, it should be with someone I like, respect and have some affection for, don’t you agree?”

“Well, yes, in the general scheme of things, but…”

Rebecca straightened and grinned. “And if he’s gorgeous and clever in bed, so much the better. A terrific face and body aren’t everything, of course, but they are a nice bonus. I’d theorize that the stronger the physical attraction, the better the sex.”

The coffeepot was gurgling away before Regan found the words. “Rebecca, making love with a man isn’t an experiment, or a science project.”

“In a way it is.” Then she laughed and crossed over to take Regan by the shoulders. There seemed to be no way to explain, even to Regan, what it was like to feel this way. Free and able and attractive. “Stop worrying about me, Mama. I’m all grown up now.”