Dateline Matrimony (Hot off the Press! 3)

Okay, so he was trying to provoke her for some reason. Needling people was one of Riley’s special talents and favorite hobbies—something she should have remembered sooner. To show him she wasn’t one of his easy targets, she answered coolly, “I’m not certain exactly what would happen, but I can assure you that only one of us would emerge uninjured. And it would be me.”

He laughed and climbed out of the car. Without waiting for him to walk around, Teresa got out and closed the passenger door with a snap.

Maybe he’d been on his party manners for as long as he could stand it that evening. Maybe he was trying to downplay any serious intent behind that impulsive kiss. Or maybe he was just being Riley, and she would be wasting her time trying to analyze his behavior. Since she didn’t expect many more evenings like this between them, she supposed there was no need to try to understand or predict him.

He met her at the front of his car and placed a hand at the small of her back as they moved toward the walk-way that led to her door. Annoyed by the shivery sensations that radiated from that point of contact throughout the rest of her body, she moved a bit abruptly ahead of him, dislodging his hand.

She’d played with fire enough for one evening, she decided. Perhaps Riley had only been teasing her in his eccentric way, but it was time to put an end to it. Their date was over.

“The movie’s almost over, Mom,” Mark said the moment she walked in the door. “Let me finish watching it, okay?”

She took in the scene at a glance. Maggie had fallen asleep on the couch. Mark had piled a couple of throw pillows on the floor and used them to prop his head as he watched the video. Bud sprawled in a recliner, a cup of coffee on the end table beside him. The room was as tidy as she’d left it.

She looked toward the television screen, where Jerry Lewis was sadly boarding an airplane to leave Japan. Because she’d seen the movie, she knew it was, indeed, nearing the end. “Of course you can finish the movie. Riley, would you like some coffee?”

“Sounds good, if Bud’s left us any.”

“Just made a fresh pot,” Bud replied. “I figured you two might want some coffee when you got in. And it’s decaf, so it won’t keep you awake later.”

Teresa had encouraged Bud to make himself at home in her kitchen, and she kept both regular and decaffeinated coffee in her pantry. It had been thoughtful of him to have a pot waiting for them.

She brought a mug of coffee to Riley, who’d settled into the chair beside his uncle, and then she turned toward the couch. “I’ll put Maggie to bed while you guys watch the end of the film.”

The three males merely grunted in response, their eyes glued to the screen. Guys must be born knowing how to make that particular noise, Teresa mused as she bent to rouse her daughter. She didn’t know how else Mark had learned to reproduce it so perfectly.

Yawning hugely, Maggie didn’t protest going to bed. She never did when she was sleepy, though Mark was likely to resist bedtime until he nodded off on his feet.

Maggie stopped to give Bud a hug and a sweet kiss on his lined cheek—which, Teresa noted, made him blush like an embarrassed but delighted schoolboy. And then the child stopped beside Riley’s chair, leaning toward him. “Good night, Riley.”

He hesitated only a moment before giving her a quick peck on the forehead. “Good night, Mags. Sweet dreams.”

The drowsy smile she gave him was angelic. And then she turned to take her mother’s hand, saying over her shoulder, “G’night, Mark.”

Teresa almost felt Riley watching her as she led her daughter out of the room and up the stairs to bed.

Chapter Eleven

Riley was watching Teresa and Maggie as they left the room. They made a pretty picture, mother and daughter. Both blond and willowy, both graceful in their movements. Had Teresa’s late husband realized how lucky he’d been to have this nice family? Why had Serena disliked him so much? Surely he hadn’t been unkind to his wife and children. Riley couldn’t imagine Teresa staying with a man who mistreated her, and definitely not her kids.

He’d tried to get a sense of how Teresa felt about her husband when they’d talked of him earlier. The only conclusion he’d drawn was that Teresa didn’t like to talk about him. Whether it was just with Riley or whether she never talked of her late husband, he didn’t know. Maybe it was still too painful for her. Maybe the grief was still too raw. The memories too vivid.

She was a young, attractive woman. He wondered if she would ever let another man into her life. And then he thought of the men Marjorie was lining up for her and he scowled, convinced that none of them were right for Teresa or her kids.

The film ended and Mark began to chatter, his concentration on the television screen broken. Riley tried to pay attention as the boy began to recount the movie to him scene by scene, even though Riley had told him he’d seen it several times.

“And then the rabbit was floating on this little raft wearing swim trunks and sunglasses, but he got sunburned and he turned all pink and Jerry Lewis said, ‘Oh, Harry.’” Mark leaned on the arm of Riley’s chair as he talked, a broad smile splitting his face. “Maggie liked the first movie better because it was about a girl, but I really liked the rabbit in the other one.”

Teresa entered the room, glancing in her son’s direction. “Don’t get in Riley’s face, Mark. Back up and give him some air.”

She smiled at Bud as she took a seat on one end of the sofa. “It looks like you had everything under control here.”

“No problems at all,” Bud boasted. “You’ve got good kids. Smart, too. They laughed at all the right places in the movies.”

“My uncle’s own version of an IQ test,” Riley murmured.

Ignoring him, Bud asked Teresa, “Did you have a good time tonight?”

“Yes, very nice. Thank you again for watching the children.”