Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
He’d been about to break up with her. Tess fought tears and struggled to get dressed.
Oh, he might love her, as he’d said in the heat of passion.
He’d probably told several women he loved them over the years, especially when they pleased him sexually.
He still hadn’t felt the urge to marry one of them.
She was just another of his conquests, fun for the summer but not the one he wanted to spend a lifetime with.
There was only one thing Mac could say that would placate her brothers, and that would be to announce their engagement. And he wasn’t going to do that.
Angry voices from the direction of the living room told her things weren’t going well. Stuffing the harem outfit in a drawer, she ran a brush through her hair and padded barefoot down the hall.
Rhino sounded furious. “So you stand there and admit that you took advantage of our sister’s innocent nature?”
Hardly, Tess thought, wondering what sort of story Mac was spinning out there.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Mac’s tone was lower and more controlled. “And if I hadn’t, some city slicker in New York would have. She couldn’t stay innocent forever, dammit. I convinced her she needed to be prepared before she went off to the big city.”
“You convinced her?” Hammer bellowed. “You seduced her, you mean! That poor girl didn’t have a chance!”
Tess hurried into the room. “I did so have a chance. I—”
“Tess.” Mac turned to her. “You can’t assume the responsibility for this. I took advantage of your lack of experience. Simple as that.”
“You most certainly did not.” She realized he was trying to protect her, but she couldn’t let him do that.
If he had any chance of saving the relationship with her brothers, the truth had to come out.
She glanced at her brothers. “I don’t know what he told you, but this whole summer project was my idea.
I decided back in June that I wanted to lose my virginity before I left for New York. ”
Rhino and Hammer stared at her, their jaws slack. Rhino was the first to speak. “Summer p-project?”
Mac snorted. “Don’t listen to her. You know Tess. She could always make up wild stories on the spur of the moment, and most of the time it was to save my sorry ass. She’s doing it again.”
“I am not! I came up with my plan and asked Mac if he could fix me up with someone. He offered to take care of it himself.”
“Oh, I’ll just bet he did!” Rhino advanced on Mac. “And how did she get this idea in the first place, huh? She’s never been worried about stuff like that before, so who was putting ideas in her head, buddy-boy?”
Tess stepped between them. “I’ve been thinking about stuff like that since I was fourteen years old, Rhino! It wasn’t Mac’s idea, it was mine.”
“He probably made you think it was your idea,” Hammer said, joining his brother as they faced Mac, fists clenched. “We’ve always known this is one slick character when it comes to women. We just never thought he’d go behind our backs and prey on our little sister, right, Rhino?”
“That’s right. Guess we have to take you outside and work you over, Mac.”
“You will not!” Tess pushed a hand into each one of her brothers’ substantial chests.
“I can take care of myself, Tess.” Mac rolled his shoulders. “You don’t have to protect me from your brothers.”
“She can’t stop us, anyway,” Rhino said. He gently nudged Tess aside.
“Yes, I can!” Tess pushed her way between the men again. “If you touch one hair on his head, I’ll tell Mom and Dad about the time you guys drove over the border, got drunk on tequila and spent the night in a Nogales jail.”
“I don’t care,” Hammer said. “No biggie.”
“And what about the time I found the marijuana in your bedroom, Hammer?” she added sweetly.
“You had pot in your room?” Mac asked. “You never told me that. God, your dad would have had a—”
A flush spread over Hammer’s face. “I only smoked a little of the damn stuff, and it made me puke!”
“So that’s what I’ll tell the folks,” Tess said. “I’m sure they’ll understand. Although they might wonder what happened to the rest of the joints, since I found about six.”
Hammer’s flush deepened. “I sold them at school.”
Rhino turned to him, his eyes wide. “You peddled those things? You told me you flushed them!”
“Who flushed what?” Tim called out as he came through the front door. “And what’s up with the darts tournament? Suzie said you called, so I went and picked up Dozer, but when we got to the Ore Cart, they said you’d come down here.”
“Yeah,” Dozer said, walking in behind Tim. “Are we gonna play or not?”
Rhino crossed his arms over his chest. “It seems somebody’s already been playing.” He glared at Mac. “Our friend here, the one we all thought we could trust, has been playing house with our sister all summer.”
“What?” Dozer looked from Tess to Mac. “Tess, is this true? Did this guy...?”
“It was a mutual decision,” Tess said, “so don’t go—”
“That’s it.” Dozer started across the room. “He’s toast.”
“Hold it, Dozer.” Rhino grabbed his brother by the arm. “It’s not that simple.”
“It is simple,” Tess said. “I’m the one to blame here, not Mac. I asked him to do this!”
“And he couldn’t pronounce the word no?” Hammer said.
“I didn’t want him to say no! I wanted to finally experience sex!”
Tim’s face grew red. “Aw, Tess! What did you have to go and do that for? There’s plenty of time for that after you’re married!”
“Oh, really?” Tess lifted her chin and surveyed her four brothers. “And I suppose all you guys waited until after you were married.”
There was a general clearing of throats and glancing everywhere but at Tess.
“That’s different,” Rhino said. “We’re guys.”
Tess stared at them. “Hello? Can any of you say women’s rights?” She threw up both arms and paced across the room. “I can’t believe we’re almost to the millennium and you’re still making such outdated statements. In case you hadn’t noticed, women aren’t considered helpless little flowers anymore.”
“Hey, we know all about that stuff,” Hammer said. “We got women in the mines now. Women driving the big ore trucks. Women everywhere. But, dammit, Tess, you’re our sister.”
“Yeah, and guys can be real sleazy!” Tim added. “We didn’t want you getting hurt or anything! A lot of guys only want to fool around. They’re not into the marriage thing.”
“Which reminds me of a very critical point.” Rhino narrowed his eyes at Mac. “Just what are your plans, now that you’ve had a real fun summer fooling around with a sweet and innocent young girl?”
“I’m twenty-six, Rhino!”
“That’s very young!” Rhino shouted back.
“Not that young,” Tim said. “I’m twenty-seven.”
“We’re off the subject,” Rhino said. He fixed Mac with an intimidating look. “What are your intentions, Mac?”
Tess panicked. She didn’t want to listen to Mac fumble around and try to dodge the question.
Suspecting he had no interest in her as a wife was not as bad as hearing him say it.
“No plans, folks! Nada. Have you forgotten that I’m going to New York in a couple of weeks to start a new job?
I’m in no position to make a commitment at this point.
In fact, Mac and I had that understanding from the beginning, didn’t we, Mac? ”
If she expected him to look at her with relief and gratitude, she was disappointed. The blue eyes that had been filled with such passion not so long ago gazed at her without any expression at all. “Yes, we did.”
“That probably suited lover-boy right down to the ground,” Hammer muttered.
He glanced at Tess. “And I still say you’re covering for him and he came up with the idea first. He probably figured this deal was too sweet to pass up — a girl who was leaving town at the end of the summer. Perfect, right, Big Mac?”
Mac’s nonchalant shrug broke Tess’s heart.
That’s probably how Mac had thought of their lovemaking.
A summer romance. Fun while it lasted. “Well, that was the beauty of it for me, too,” she said, forcing the words past a tight throat.
“I couldn’t afford messy entanglements when I was about to leave. ”
Rhino looked at her, his gaze far too perceptive “I don’t buy it, Tess.”
She squared her shoulders. “Well, I don’t give a damn whether you buy it or not. It’s the truth.”
“Let me get this straight,” Dozer said. “On the one hand we have a guy who’s been romeoing his way around the county ever since he was fifteen, and on the other we have a girl who’s lived like a nun until the age of twenty-six. What—”
“I didn’t live like a nun by choice! You guys scared off all my prospects!”
“They were all terrible prospects!” Rhino said.
“And I’m trying to make a point, here,” Dozer continued. “Tess says this is all her fault, but I wonder how that could be, considering she had zero experience and the stud-man over here has more experience than anybody in this room. I mean, who do you suppose was in control of that situation?”
“I was!” Tess said.
“Not likely.” Dozer started toward Mac again. “And I’m itching to land a few punches.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Hammer said.
“Might as well get it over with,” Rhino added.
Tess grew desperate. She couldn’t have her brothers beat up the man she loved. She lowered her voice to deliver her ultimatum. It had always worked for her mother, so maybe it would work for her. “If you do this, I’m through with all of you,” she said.
They turned to her with expressions of disbelief.
“I mean it. No brother of mine would gang up on an innocent man. And Mac is innocent.”
“Hah!” Dozer said.
Rhino stroked his chin and gazed at her. “Does he mean that much to you, Tess?”
Trapped. There was no answer except the truth. Tears of frustration pushed at the back of her eyes. “Yes, dammit, he does.”
Rhino nodded. “Then maybe you ought to stay home and marry him instead of traipsing off to New York.”
But he doesn’t want that, she longed to say.
Instead, she swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat and lied.
“Just because you care about someone and don’t want them hurt doesn’t mean you’re ready to give up your dream for them.
My dream is to experience some other place besides Copperville, and I finally have the chance to do that. ” She blinked to hold back the tears.
Rhino studied her for a while longer. “Well, I guess that settles it. We can’t very well beat up on Mac and make our sister cry, now, can we?”
“I wouldn’t cry.” She sniffed. “I just would never speak to you again.”
Tim frowned and came over to put a hand on her shoulder. “You look like you might cry.”
She sniffed again and glared up at him through swimming eyes. “Well, I won’t.”
“We’ve got another thing to think about,” Hammer said. “Is this information going to leave this room?”
“No.” Rhino fixed each of his brothers with a stern look. “Nobody tells. Not even your wives. Got that?”
Everyone nodded.
Tess gazed at them all with a heavy heart. She wanted this little scene over with. “Don’t you all have a darts tournament to play?”
There was a moment of silence. Finally Rhino broke it. “Guess we do. Come on, Mac.”
“Thanks,” Mac said, “but I think I’ll take a pass.”
“Like hell you will.” Hammer grabbed one of Mac’s arms.
“Yeah.” Dozer grabbed the other one. “You don’t think we’d leave you here, do you?”
“I’ll make it even plainer,” Rhino said. “Unless Tess changes her mind and decides to marry you, I don’t want you around this house again. You may have gotten away with it all summer, but the party’s over, buddy. The Blakely brothers are back on duty. Now let’s go play some darts.”
Tess watched with great misgiving as they escorted Mac out of the house. “You do understand I meant what I said,” she called after them as Dozer demanded Mac’s keys so he could drive Mac’s truck. “If you hurt him, I’ll find out, and there will be hell to pay.”
“We won’t hurt him, Tess,” Rhino promised as he climbed into his truck. “We just won’t let him within ten feet of you ever again.”