Can't Tie Me Down! (Sinclair Sisters 1)

Sean staggered back, clutched his face and glared at Keir. “I’m giving you that, because I probably deserve it. But you hit me again and I’m hitting back. Arsehole.” He stalked to the freezer, pulled out a bag of peas and held it to his chin. “Feel better?”

“Not much.” Keir folded his arms. “Tell me everything.”

???

Mairi found Agnes sitting at the dining table with the laptop open on a hotel staff recruitment site.

“Am I Mum?” Mairi said as she plopped down into a chair beside her sister.

“What are you talking about now?” Agnes sat back in her chair and folded her arms.

“Logic, that’s what I’m talking about.” Mairi reached for the nearest box of chocolates and ripped into them. “There are four of us—odds are that one of us will take after Mum. I want to know if it’s me.”

Agnes rolled her eyes before helping herself to a chocolate. “Yes, it has to be you. It couldn’t possibly be the sister who can’t say no to anyone—just like Mum.”

“Oh, I never thought of that. But...” Mairi bit into a caramel, and then tossed it at the bin. Caramels were only eaten when you didn’t have anything else to eat, and her living room was full of chocolate, which meant she didn’t have to waste time on caramels. “Am I Mum like she is with Dad?”

“Do you mean her going back for more when he treats her like crap, or her making excuses for everything he does?”

“Both.” Mairi focused on the chocolates because she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer. Whatever it was, Agnes would give her the brutal truth.

“Honey.” Agnes covered Mairi’s hand with hers. “You’re nothing like Mum. And Keir is nothing like Dad. Keir made one mistake with you, years ago. If you want to try again, then that’s perfectly okay. It doesn’t turn you into Mum.”

Mairi looked at her sister and saw only understanding in Agnes’ eyes. “What if he does it again?”

“He’s highly unlikely to run out and steal a car while he’s in bed with you. I think he learned his lesson.”

Mairi ignored the sarcasm and gave her sister the truth: “I think I’m falling in love with him all over again.”

“Oh, you precious child, you. You never stopped loving Keir. You’ve just been in a really, really bad mood with him for the past six years.”

As soon as Agnes said the words, Mairi felt something fall into place inside her. It was true. She’d never stopped loving Keir. That was why that horrible night still hurt like hell.

“I don’t know if I can ever trust him again,” she confessed.

“Trust doesn’t happen just because you decide it should, but you need to think about how Keir’s behaved since he got out of prison. Heck, how he was before that night, too. I don’t know what happened that night, but it was completely out of character for him. Sure, he was wild when he was a kid, but look at him now—he runs a successful business, people rely on him and he’s known for stepping in to help when it’s needed. Maybe all of that outweighs the other stuff. That’s for you to decide.”

Agnes wasn’t saying anything that hadn’t already occurred to Mairi. “I want to marry him,” she blurted. “And not just because I have to. I’ve wanted him to be mine since I first saw him.”

“I know.” Agnes smiled and squeezed Mairi’s hand.

Whatever else she was going to say was lost when the door down to the garage burst open and a furious Keir strode in, followed by a pale and sheepish Sean.

“Tell them what you told me,” Keir said, batting the balloons that were still hovering at the ceiling out of his way.

Mairi sat up straight, the chocolate forgotten, as the obvious seriousness of the situation hit her.

“What is it?” she asked Keir. “Jonas is okay, right?”

His face softened. “Jonas is fine, but this idiot’s life is in the balance. Talk.” He smacked his brother’s shoulder.

“Give me a chance, then,” Sean snapped.

He took a deep breath and stepped back, putting a bit more space between him and the sisters, which made Mairi’s hair stand on end. This wasn’t going to be good. Not. At. All.

“Okay,” Sean said. “I’m the one who hacked you. It was my idea.”

Mairi froze, and Agnes let out a threatening little rumble that made Sean pale further. He shared a look with his brother, one that was particularly threatening on Keir’s part.