The Right Twin For Him (O'Rourke Family 2) (5 page)

She glared. So she liked to talk and was a tiny bit scatterbrained. It didn’t mean she had a problem keeping important things private. Besides, Ted didn’t qualify as important, not any longer.

“Be careful,” Maddie said sweetly, “or I’ll tell how you kissed me before you realized I wasn’t your sister-in-law.”

Stephen let out a crack of laughter, not the least intimidated by Patrick’s scowl. “You’re going to do
fine here, Maddie. I’m looking forward to us working together.”

Patrick wondered if his face had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression. “I kissed her cheek,” he growled. “It was entirely innocent.”

“Did I say it wasn’t?” she asked.

“You…” Patrick stopped and counted to ten. Lord, having Maddie Jackson around was like have a ton of bricks hanging over your head—you never knew when they were all going to drop.

“Never mind, Patrick,” Stephen murmured. “A kiss is nothing compared to some of the stunts you pulled as a kid.”

“Stunts?” Maddie looked interested. “What kind of stunts? He called himself a teenage tough, but didn’t give details.”

“Never mind,” Patrick said hastily. “Why don’t you and Stephen talk about what you’ll be doing here? He’ll have you fill out your employment forms so we can get you on the payroll. I’ll come by later to check on things.”

As Patrick reached the end of the hall, he glanced back in time to see a huge grin splitting Stephen’s face. If C.D. had become his surrogate grandfather, then Stephen was a surrogate uncle. He’d worked for the station for over twenty-five years and knew more about Patrick’s misdeeds than his own mother.

But he wouldn’t talk about Patrick behind his back, no matter how hard Maddie tried to worm out the information. When it came right down to it, Candace Finney didn’t have the market cornered on loyalty; the entire staff at KLMS was a loyal group.

It was a nice thought, though he should have used the opportunity to warn Maddie about his less-than-stellar
past. He didn’t think she’d get any ideas about him, but she was on the rebound from that louse of a fiancé, and he was definitely the wrong guy to handle the situation.

After Patrick had turned the corner, Maddie looked at Stephen. “I’m not sure he likes me very much,” she said.

A smile tugged at the older man’s mouth. “I don’t know about that. He hired you, didn’t he?”

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “He thinks I might be his sister-in-law’s twin sister. We look alike and were born on the same day, in the same hospital. And we were both adopted, though Beth ended up in foster homes after her parents divorced.”

“It does seem likely you’re related.”

“Anyway, you’ll have to tell me if I’m not doing a good job, because I don’t want Patrick keeping me on the payroll if I’m not earning my money.”

Stephen rapped his fingers on the arms of his wheelchair. “Why don’t you let him worry about that?”

“That’s just the trouble. He’s also trying to rescue me—which is sweet but hardly necessary—so he probably won’t say anything if I’m a complete flop.”

Stephen looked thoughtful. “Rescue you?”

“So I wouldn’t have to go back so soon and face all the gossips in Slapshot after what happened with my wedding. See? He’s trying to fix things so I have more time.”

Stephen’s smile widened. “There aren’t very many people who understand Patrick.”

“I don’t really, but I’d like to,” Maddie said, then realized how wistful she sounded. “I mean, he’s an
interesting person. He seems so easygoing and all, but…”

“But that isn’t all there is to him,” Stephen finished.

She heaved a sigh. “No, it isn’t. I should have told Patrick I was already having doubts about marrying Ted when I found him with the punch girl. Then he wouldn’t have felt sorry for me or think he had to give me a job.”

“I doubt it would have made any difference,” Stephen said, patting her hand. “And don’t worry about the rest. I have a feeling you’re just what the boy needs.”

“I’m not interested in him
that
way,” Maddie denied hastily. “Not romantically or anything. Besides, if Beth turns out to be my sister, then Patrick will sort of be like a brother.”

“Right. Sort of like a brother.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Certainly not.”

“I don’t know why not, everyone else does.”

Stephen let out the chuckle he’d obviously been suppressing and motioned toward the office. “Let’s get started. I’ve got an idea that having you around is going to make the day go a lot faster than usual.”

Several hours later Maddie was studying the Federal Communication Commission’s rules on broadcasting when Patrick stuck his head inside the door.

“Settling in?” he asked casually.

“I’m learning what you can, and can’t, say on radio,” she murmured, still distracted by the legal mumbo-jumbo she’d been trying to digest. “Stephen
thought I should know more about it before I start making pitches to customers. I had no idea there were so many rules about talking.”

“As if you could keep your mouth shut about anything. We’ll never be able to put you on the air. Who knows what might come out.”

“Go away.”

Patrick grinned, enjoying the faint pink staining Maddie’s cheeks and throat. “It’s lunchtime and I own the station. I can pretty much hang out wherever I want.”

“Well I’m busy, and Stephen isn’t here. He said he needed to meet with some clients, but it might have been all my questions that drove him away.”

“He can take care of himself.” Patrick glanced around, noticing most of the surface space had been cleared of files. Since the ad office was notoriously messy, Maddie had to be responsible for the general cleanup.

“It looks good in here. I haven’t seen the tops of these desks in years.”

She shrugged and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Stephen said to do whatever I wanted. I’m not done yet.”

Patrick looked around again, realizing one reason the room looked bigger was that the furniture had been rearranged. Maddie might be ditsy, but she was a hard worker. “Who moved the desks and bookshelves?”

“Me.”

“Maddie,”
he exclaimed, horrified. “You could have hurt yourself. Why didn’t you call me?”

Her eyelids swept down, concealing her expression. “I’m not helpless. I just pulled and nudged things
around to where I wanted them. The loose papers and files and stuff are in boxes in the closet—I’ll sort it out later.”

Boxes? This was going from bad to worse as far as Patrick was concerned. “Would your father have let you do all that heavy work?” he demanded.

“No, but Dad is old-fashioned.”

“So am I.” It occurred to Patrick that he wasn’t being politically correct, but the idea of Maddie trying to strong-arm those heavy old desks appalled him. “Don’t do anything like that again.”

“You hired me to do a job.”

“I hired you to work on promotions and sell advertising, not to be a furniture mover!”

Maddie just blinked at him, a tangle of emotions in her golden-brown eyes. He didn’t have a clue what might be going on inside her active brain. For someone who didn’t seem to have brakes on her tongue, she could be damned incomprehensible.

“And if you get hurt, Beth and Kane will never forgive me,” he added lamely.

She was silent a moment longer, then drew a deep breath. “Beth called me last night,” she said. “We talked for a long time. She doesn’t remember her adoptive parents—I guess adopting a baby was their last-ditch effort to stay together. The judge eventually decided neither one of them were fit parents and put her in foster care.”

Patrick nodded and sat on the corner of Stephen’s desk. “It’s tough growing up without a real family. She’s thrilled to find a sister.”

“A possible sister,” Maddie amended. “I…I also called Mom and Dad and told them about Beth. They
were pretty upset about her ending up in foster homes—they would have loved having us both.”

An ache rose in Patrick’s chest. Maddie was so hurt by her fiancé’s betrayal, and now she was worried about her parents and how they felt about her finding a twin sister. One complication upon another, life going out of control, making it that much harder to deal with.

He knew how it felt.

All those years ago, after losing his father, he’d been out of control. He hated the feeling—the rush of emotions, all conflicting with one another, pain and sorrow, guilt, the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen next. He’d left it behind along with the anger over his father’s death. Life had been too complicated, too confusing, too
painful
the other way, so he’d worked hard at making it simple.

He didn’t
want
it to get complicated again.

Yet even as Patrick affirmed his resolve, he sensed the ground moving beneath his feet, the first real stirrings of upheaval in years. And his father’s voice, long suppressed, murmured into his ear, urging him to stop sitting on the sidelines.

“I’m not,” he muttered.

“Not what?” Maddie asked,

“Nothing. I just…nothing.” He shook his head to clear it. Keenan O’Rourke was gone, killed in a freak accident, and if his children sometimes heard his voice, it was only in memory. “Adoption records are sealed, but Kane’s people are experts in finding things out. I’m sure they’ll get something soon.”

He would let his brother and sister-in-law broach the subject of genetic tests. Not that they weren’t convinced
that Maddie was Beth’s sister, but it might take more evidence for her to accept it.

“You know, I’m hungry. Let’s grab some lunch,” he said, wanting to erase her melancholy expression.

“I don’t want to be treated any differently from your other employees,” she said.

Patrick started to point out that Maddie wasn’t like his other employees, then stopped. He could already see the mulish set to her jaw.

“You need to get a feel for the Northwest to do your job,” he said. “I planned to drive you around earlier, but time got away from me.”

When she remained silent he stood up.

“Come on, Maddie. If you keep turning me down this way, I’m going to get a complex. I’m hungry, and you must be, so let’s get moving.”

Maddie pushed the FCC rule book away with one finger. She’d been too edgy about starting a new job to eat breakfast, so lunch sounded wonderful. But she wasn’t supposed to be spending time with Patrick, she was supposed to be figuring out what to do with her life. Wasn’t that the reason she’d come to Washington?

“Okay, but I’ll buy,” she said, standing up. She could figure things out better on a full stomach.

Patrick glared. “I don’t invite a woman to lunch and let her pay. My daddy would have used a shillelagh on my behind for doing something like that.”

“What’s a shillelagh?”

“A big Irish stick. I’m paying, and that’s that.”

“That’s just as old-fashioned as saying I shouldn’t move the furniture.”

“Too damned bad.”

He had the same old-fashioned values Maddie had
grown up with, but she wasn’t going to admit it. “You’re going to be unreasonable about everything, aren’t you?” she asked, trying to match his glare with one of her own.

“You bet. I own this station, and don’t you forget it.”

She wondered what he’d do if she saluted him. No matter what Patrick said, she wasn’t a regular employee, and he wasn’t treating her like one. A part of her didn’t mind, but another part wanted to be strong, an independent woman standing on her own two feet. If nothing else, her parents deserved a daughter capable of managing her own life.

“Would it help if I said it’s my policy to take all new KLMS employees to lunch?” Patrick asked.

“Since when?”

He grinned. “Since I said so. Let’s get going, they have a Marionberry milkshake at the café you can’t miss. That’s sort of like blackberry, only better.”

“Make mine chocolate,” Maddie muttered rebelliously.

“God save me from contrary women. For once I’d like to meet one who doesn’t argue everything with me.”

“I’m sure contrary women are not a big problem in your life,” she said as severely as possible.

“You’d be surprised. Give me an amenable guy like Stephen Traver. Stephen would never refuse to eat lunch with me.”

Maddie rolled her eyes as she followed him to his Chevy Blazer. “I like Stephen,” she said. “Candy told me he was really nice.”

“How did you get permission to call her Candy?” Patrick asked. “I’ve known the Formidable Finn
since I was fifteen and never dared call her anything but Miss Finney.”

“Did you ever ask?”

The question brought Patrick up short. He’d been awed by the Formidable Finn from their first, not-so-auspicious meeting. He met Maddie’s gaze and sighed.

“No.”

“That’s all I did. I asked and she said yes.”

Somehow he doubted it was as easy as that. Something about Maddie was contagious. Her smile, the way she stuck out her hand to shake. She was straightforward and sincere, with a sun-bright smile and eyes as warm as tiger’s-eye topaz. Something about her turned him inside out, and that was a problem he still didn’t know how to handle.

P
atrick held the door of the Blazer for Maddie, trying not to notice the tiny freckles on her nose and the way they made her skin seem even creamier by contrast.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

At least she didn’t object to men holding doors for her. He’d run into a few feminists who’d been vocal about holding their
own
doors, thank you.

Of course, Maddie probably wasn’t finished arguing about who was paying for lunch. Patrick shrugged and headed for his favorite lunch spot; he’d deal with that when the time came.

Maddie’s face brightened when she saw the small café. “This looks like the one we have back home.”

“Grab any seat,” called the waitress from across the room.

He nodded and directed Maddie to a corner booth. They’d lived in Crockett for a while when he was a boy, and nothing had changed at the café since then—same
food, same blue gingham curtains, same everything. They even had the same waitress, though she was grayer and rounder than before.

“I love the food here,” he murmured. “It’s loaded with all the great stuff nutritionists keep saying we shouldn’t eat.”

A smile tugged at Maddie’s mouth. “Is that so?”

“Oh, yeah. Fried everything with tons of salt.”

“How’re you doing, Patrick?” the waitress asked as she made her way over to their table.

“Not bad. Shirley, this is Maddie Jackson. We think she might be Beth’s twin sister.”

Shirley peered closely at Maddie and shook her head. “If that isn’t something. Like two peas in a pod.”

“Does everyone around here know everyone else?” Maddie asked, blinking. She was used to people knowing her; Slapshot wasn’t that big and her father was the town mayor. But Crockett was much larger than her hometown.

“Oh, everyone around here knows the O’Rourkes,” Shirley said as she pulled a pencil from behind her ear. “They practically saved Crockett when they built the textile mill. What’ll you have?”

Maddie pointed to the wonder burger meal on the menu. “That looks good. And I’ll have a chocolate shake, a side of coleslaw, and the Marionberry pie for dessert.”

Shirley examined Maddie over the rim of her glasses. “You’re a little thing. Are you sure you don’t want something smaller? A meal like that would pack five pounds onto my hips.”

“I don’t gain weight easily. Must be life’s compensation for making me flat-chested,” Maddie said.

She made it sound like a joke, but Patrick knew it wasn’t. He couldn’t say anything, not in the restaurant. He wasn’t even certain he
should
say something, he might make things worse rather than better.

Tarnation. He didn’t want to be responsible for other people’s feelings and worry about them getting hurt. But here he was, trying to be a damned hero and getting involved with Maddie in the process.

“All right, then. The usual, Patrick?” Shirley prompted, startling him from less comfortable thoughts.

“Uh, yeah.” He handed her the menus.

“And I want the check,” Maddie added.

“No, she doesn’t,” he said.

“Yes, I do.”

Shirley hesitated. “Patrick really wants to take care of this one. You can take the next one.” She patted Maddie’s hand and hurried back to the kitchen.

“You knew she going to say something like that,” Maddie accused.

Patrick shrugged, keeping a smile from his face with an effort. Shirley’s husband worked for the mill, so her allegiance was firmly in the O’Rourke camp.

It was after the lunch rush, so they didn’t have to wait long for their food. The “wonder” burger was the café’s biggest platter, served up with a mountain of cheddar fries. Maddie reached for the jalapeño Tabasco sauce and shook a generous amount over the fries.

“Want some?” she asked, holding out the bottle.

“Not a chance. Do you have an asbestos mouth?”

“Nope, but I grew up on New Mexico chilies. We pour green chili sauce over everything that sits still
for it.” She popped a forkful of fries into her mouth and chewed.

Patrick shuddered. He was the first to admit his diet wasn’t the healthiest—mostly steak and salad—but he couldn’t imagine eating liquid fire with such abandon. He also couldn’t imagine any woman he knew ordering such a big meal when they were out with a man. One of his dates had actually ordered a dinner salad as her meal. A dinner salad!

Christina was a stock analyst—a sleek brunette who didn’t want commitment any more than he did. He hadn’t seen her in a while. It was hard having a social life when you were building a radio empire.

As they left the café, his cell phone rang and the display showed his mother’s number. His sixth sense said she was calling about more than him missing the last five Sunday dinners with the family, and he groaned. Didn’t he have enough problems dealing with Maddie without adding family on top of it?

“Is something wrong?” Maddie asked, fastening her seat belt.

“I have a feeling trouble is calling.”

“Then don’t answer.”

He just shook his head and pressed the button. Not answering a call from his mother was the same as refusing a call from the president—you didn’t consider it an option.

“Hi, Mom.”

“I understand you have a new employee,” Pegeen said. She’d immigrated from Ireland as a young bride, and she still retained a soft Irish brogue. “I hear Maddie’s the image of our darlin’ Beth.”

News traveled at the speed of light in the O’Rourke family.

“She’s…yeah, they look alike.” Patrick cast a glance at Maddie in her brightly printed dress. She’d abandoned her black blazer and looked more like herself. He grinned wryly—he didn’t have a clue what Maddie was really like, but he’d bet that a sober black blazer was out of character.

“I hoped we could have dinner here tonight to meet Maddie. Since you’ll be the one knowin’ her best, I thought you might speak to her about coming, then bring her along,” his mother said, dropping the verbal bomb he’d been expecting to hear.

“Mom—”

“Beth says the dear girl is heartsore. We know how it is, after what happened to our Kathleen.”

Kathleen.

A hard knot twisted Patrick’s stomach before he willed it away. His sister was all right, and she was probably better off without her skunk of a husband, anyway. And if he tried really hard, he could even forget the way she’d cried after Frank walked out, despair and anger and regret all rolled into a gut-wrenching whole.

“No doubt Maddie needs family to help her through a hard time,” Pegeen continued.

“We’re not…
that.
” Patrick cast another glance at Maddie. She was looking out the window with polite disinterest, but she couldn’t help hearing his side of the conversation, so he didn’t want to come right out and say she wasn’t family.

“Patrick Finnegan O’Rourke, Maddie is Beth’s sister. That child is as much a part of our family as anyone else.”

Using his full name meant he was in deep trouble, and Patrick dropped his head back against the seat.
When Pegeen declared someone a member of the family, then come hell or high water, they were part of the family. Maddie was almost certainly Beth’s sister, and that was enough to declare an all-out assembly of the O’Rourkes as a show of support.

This was even worse than his mother calling to ask if everything was “all right.” She didn’t use guilt deliberately, he just
felt
guilty because staying away from family gatherings worried her, and he didn’t have a good excuse beyond work. Kane used to be the workaholic, not him.

Funny, now that Kane had gotten married it seemed as if they were trading places. But once he’d finished researching a new transmitter and deciding how to best expand the station, things would ease up.

“I’ll try and see what I can do,” he muttered into the phone. “About tonight.”

“That’s fine, dear. Dinner is at six, but come early so we can visit.”

He opened his mouth to remind her he’d just promised to
try,
but she disconnected before he got the words out.

Sighing, Patrick started the Blazer and pulled out on the road. He could imagine Maddie’s response when he told her they’d have to leave work early to have dinner at his mother’s house. She already had her hackles up, wanting to be treated like “any other employee.” Lunch was one thing, dinner with the family was an entirely different proposition.

“It seems we have a command performance tonight at my mother’s house,” he admitted after a long moment.

“What?”

“My mother has invited us to dinner, and I’m expected
to make sure you get there safely. We’ll need to leave in an hour to beat rush hour traffic.” Maybe she wouldn’t notice she hadn’t accepted the invitation.

Maddie shook her head with predictable vigor. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“You’ll never figure out the Bremerton ferry and city traffic on your own,” he said reasonably. “Mom lives on the other side of Seattle.”

“I’m not leaving early. You hired me to do a job, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Lord.

Up ahead there was a small area wide enough to park in Puget Sound, and Patrick turned into it, his jaw set. At this rate they’d never make it back to the office, much less to dinner with his mother and brothers and sisters.

“Mom wants you to know that you’re part of the family and can count on us for…for anything,” he said. “Beth told her that you’ve had a rough time recently and she’s worried about you.”

“How can she be worried? We’ve never met.”

“That doesn’t matter to Mom.” He wondered if he should tell Maddie about Kathleen, then decided it was his sister’s place to explain.

“Mmm. Beth says your mother is wonderful.”

A pleased warmth crept through Patrick. “We’re just as crazy about Beth,” he murmured. “She’s been great for Kane. He’s finally making a life for himself outside of the business.”

“At least you approve of your brother having a wife.”

“We’re not going to start that again, are we?”

“I’m not sure we’ve ever…” Maddie’s voice
trailed and he looked at her in time to see a strained expression in her eyes. Her teeth were gnawing at her bottom lip in apparent indecision, and her fingers were clenched so hard on the seat belt strap that her knuckles showed white.

“Maddie, what is it?”

For a moment Maddie watched the seagulls reeling over the choppy water of Puget Sound. She’d been struggling with her conscience all morning, feeling confused and trying to figure out exactly what hurt so much about her failed wedding plans. But no matter how she looked at things, she ought to have told Patrick the truth from the beginning, even if it did make her look ridiculous.

She cleared her throat. “Your mother won’t…that is, she needn’t worry…about me.”

“Moms are genetically programmed to worry. Isn’t your mother the same?”

“Yes.”

Maddie smiled faintly.
Genetically programmed to worry
—her father would love that description, though she could apply it to him, as well. From what she could see, fathers worried just as much as mothers. Sometimes more, because fathers knew exactly the way boys—and men—thought.

“The thing is, I’m not exactly brokenhearted about my wedding getting cancelled,” she said after a moment. “The way it happened was awful, but it’s kind of okay that it got called off.”

Patrick’s eyebrows shot halfway up his forehead. “Oh?”

Darn.
It was hard to admit being such a fool. She was reasonably intelligent and should have figured things out
before
hiring a caterer and booking the
church. In a way, she was as much at fault for the fiasco as Ted.

Mortified, Maddie climbed out and crossed her arms over her stomach as she stared at the inlet. There was a taste of salt in the air, and ripples of water in Puget Sound were being driven sideways by the brisk wind. She shivered. It seemed colder in Washington than back home, but the fresh air felt good on her hot face.

The driver’s door slammed shut and Patrick came around to lean on the fender next to her.

“Okay,” he said after a moment. “You don’t have a broken heart. That part’s good. What happened?”

“I was having second thoughts,” she whispered. “That’s why I went looking for Ted. We were high school sweethearts, but it never occurred to us we might have fallen out of love, especially with everyone assuming we’d get married one day. I was just as bad as everyone else. I mean, aren’t you
supposed
to marry the boy next door?”

Patrick looked thoughtful. “What changed on the day of the wedding? It seems like a big step, especially considering you were planning to get pregnant right away.”

Maddie shrugged. “I’d been having doubts for weeks, but I thought it was just cold feet. I should have realized what was going on when we were both willing to wait so long, but Ted was working and driving into Albuquerque three nights a week to take classes for his degree. I thought I was being supportive.”

“How long is long?”

She squirmed. “Since high school, but it was never really formal because my father said he didn’t want
me getting married until I was at least twenty-two. Now I’m twenty-six and still not married. And won’t ever be,” she added hastily.

Patrick laughed. “Give it time. You’ll change your mind.”

“You haven’t.”

“I’m a guy. Things are different for guys.”

She rolled her eyes. “So, anyway, you don’t need to worry about me or anything else. I wasn’t really in love, and I don’t need rescuing, which means it’s okay if you want to fire me. I’ll understand.”

Patrick fought the urge to grab Maddie and kiss her generous mouth. Hellfire, he didn’t care that she hadn’t loved the louse. It didn’t make her any less hurt or confused or vulnerable, it just showed good taste on her part.

“Is it any less embarrassing to go back to face the gossips than if you’d truly been in love?” he asked. “And does finding Ted with another woman hurt any less because of it?”

She shook her head.

“Then stop telling me not to worry. The O’Rourkes are professional worriers and I’ll worry if I want to.” Patrick knew he sounded belligerent, and getting more involved with Maddie was a big mistake on his part, but he wasn’t buying her brave talk.