Free The Right Twin For Him (O'Rourke Family 2) by Julianna Morris

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 voicetrailed 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 thechurch. 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 wantme 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