Another message, not so subtle this time. Catherine felt her rare temper starting to simmer. Laurie’s little barbs were starting to annoy her. As many women as Mike has dated… Indeed.
Because she simply didn’t have the patience for catty games, she placed her hands on her hips and faced Mike’s sister squarely. “Is there something you want to say to me, Laurie?”
Laurie looked surprised only for a moment, then she lifted her chin. “I just can’t help wondering why you’ve been spending so much time with Mike. I’d hate to think you were just stringing him along or anything.”
“Well, isn’t it obvious?” Catherine asked curtly. “I’m just using him as a pretty boy toy. After all, what else could I possibly see in him?”
Laurie’s cheeks darkened—whether from embarrassment or anger, Catherine couldn’t say. Maybe a combination of both. “Well, you are a Harvard trained scientist. Mike’s a maintenance man who doesn’t even have an undergraduate degree. You can’t blame me for being concerned.”
“Actually, I can. Not only are you selling Mike short, you’re making some fairly unpleasant insinuations about me. I think your ‘little brother’ is capable of handling his social life without your interference—and I know for a fact that I am. Now, if you’ll excuse me—”
She turned and shoved against the bathroom door, almost flattening an incoming Raggedy Ann in the process. Murmuring an apology, she moved across the room toward Mike.
Charlie had practically pounced on Mike the minute Catherine left for a few minutes to step into the restroom. Drew hovered nearby, looking ruefully at Mike, as if he had tried but failed to stop Charlie from meddling.
“Are you having a good time?” Charlie asked brightly to begin the conversation.
“Yeah, great party.” Mike held up a frosted cookie shaped like a ghost. “Good cookies. Where’d y’all get them?”
“The bakery on Chenal. So, do you think Catherine’s having fun?”
Munching the ghost’s head, Mike nodded. He had taken out the fake teeth, the better to sample the food, and this was his second cookie from the snack trays arranged on the bar. “She seems to be,” he said after swallowing.
“It’s sort of hard to tell with her, isn’t it?” Charlie spoke a little too casually. “I don’t know if it’s her costume or if she’s just naturally reserved, but she doesn’t seem to show her emotions much.”
“She’s a little reserved, but she’s not that hard to read. She doesn’t play games. She’s very honest about what she’s thinking.”
Charlie brushed a bit of lint from the short green belted tunic she wore with green tights and low boots. “You’ve obviously fallen pretty hard for her in a short time. You aren’t getting serious about her, are you?”
“Charlie,” Drew muttered, his voice sounding strained.
She ignored him. “I just want you to be careful, Mike. I mean, you’ve never really been serious about anyone before, and I wouldn’t want you to be hurt if it turns out she doesn’t feel the same way.”
“What your sister is saying,” Bob said, joining them just in time to overhear, “is that there’s a possibility the beautiful, brilliant doctor is just temporarily slumming with the young maintenance man for good times and hot sex. What Charlie hasn’t made clear is why any of that would be a bad thing.”
Drew snorted. Charlie scowled. Bob looked inordinately pleased with himself. Mike wondered what had made him think that bringing Catherine to a party with his sisters would be a good idea.
The first thing he noticed when Catherine rejoined him was the glint of temper in her brown eyes—an expression he had already learned to recognize. Seeing Laurie tagging a few feet behind gave him a pretty strong clue of who had lit Catherine’s fuse.
What was with his sisters tonight? They were usually such friendly, congenial women. Even with his previous girlfriends they hadn’t liked—and there had been several—they had at least been civil.
Were they intimidated by Catherine’s career? If so, that was just stupid. His sisters were all successful on their own. Gretchen was a loan officer, Amy was an R.N. in a neonatal unit, Charlie was a veterinarian’s assistant and Laurie had just started selling real estate, and was doing quite well with it. All perfectly respectable professions.
But he couldn’t imagine what else could be the problem. How could anyone not like Catherine? Couldn’t they see how great she was?
He wasn’t falling for her, he assured himself, a little uncomfortable with Charlie’s accusation. He just really admired her. Liked her. Enjoyed being with her. That was pretty much all there was to it, he thought, then wished he felt a bit more confident about his muddled feelings.
Catherine looked at Charlie, who was still standing rather close to Mike, and gave her a glittering smile. “Is there anything you would like to say to me? Any more questions you feel compelled to ask?”
“Um,” Charlie blinked. “No, I can’t think of anything.”
Nodding in satisfaction, Catherine turned to Mike. “I believe you’ve been waiting for a dance?”
He was mildly surprised, but he wasted no time taking her up on the offer. “As a matter of fact, I have been. Let’s go boogie.”
Catherine was more than ready to leave the party after a couple more dances with Mike, but she allowed Bob Sharp to wheedle her into one last dance with him first.
“Don’t let them get to you, sugar,” he advised kindly. “Mike’s sisters are really decent. He’s just let them get away with bossing him around for too long.”