Free Marrying Maddy by Kasey Michaels Page A

off.”
    Joe rubbed a hand across his drenched face, sluicing off water, and blinked several times. Felt the quick anger invade him, just as quickly tamped it down. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Nothing in his life had been easy. “Let me take a wild shot at this one. You’d be the fiancé?”
    â€œWrong. I’d be the brother,” the sun-shadowed image corrected, redirecting the hose nozzle before turning off the spray. “And you’d be the louse, right?”
    â€œNews travels fast around here,” Joe said, standing up to wipe his hands on the towel he’d snatched from a nearby table. He held out his right hand. “Joe O’Malley, louse, at your service. Pleased to meet you, Ryan Chandler. And thanks for only pelting me with water, and not beating me with the hose while you were at it. I’d expected a punch in the mouth, to tell you the truth. Maddy always told me you were a very protective older brother.”
    â€œThat wasn’t for Maddy,” Ryan said, ignoring Joe’s hand. “That was for me. You’ve already screwed up Maddy’s life once. Now you seem to be back, trying to do it again, God only knows why. I suppose it wouldn’t help if I were to ask you to go away, leave my sister alone? I could threaten to beat you black and blue, too, if you really want me to.Only I’d have to make it all gut shots. If Maddy saw you with a black eye, she’d probably feel sorry for you.”
    Joe withdrew his hand, pretended to wipe something from his chest. He looked at Ryan Chandler, man of the house, head of the business, and one tall, muscular-looking son of a gun. Hair as black as Maddy’s, eyes just as green. Now that the sun wasn’t half-blinding him, even with Chandler’s longer face, squarer jaw, Joe would have been able to pick Maddy’s protective big brother out of a crowd.
    He shook his head. “Sorry, no. It wouldn’t help if you flattened me. I’d still stick around. But my gut most gratefully thanks you. I’m here to stay, Mr. Chandler, or at least for the duration—until after the wedding. If there is a wedding. It’s just another of my wild, reckless gambles, as Maddy would tell you.”
    Ryan lifted one expressive eyebrow. “Really. You’re betting over a million dollars that Maddy would take one look at you and toss Matt into the nearest garbage can? That’s one damn healthy ego you’ve got, O’Malley.”
    â€œYeah,” Joe said, smiling his best I’m a nasty little rascal, but please love me anyway smile. It had always worked to get a free doughnut out of Mrs. George at the South Street Bakery, but he didn’t have much hope that it would help him now. “Sometimes I have to beat this ego of mine down with a stick. And you’re underestimating the bargaining power of the Harris Realtor. By about a million. But it will be worth it, every penny, if I canstop Maddy from making the second biggest mistake in her life.”
    Joe watched as a small tic began in Ryan Chandler’s tanned left cheek. “I take it all back, O’Malley. You don’t have a big ego. You’re all ego, top to bottom. Do you really think Maddy’s going to go all soft and gooey because you bought this house? You do, don’t you?”
    â€œI just want a chance, that’s all. A chance to prove to Maddy that I love her, that I still want to marry her. If I can’t convince her, this house will be her wedding present. I owe her that much. Twice as much, and more. I doubt I’d be the success I am today if I hadn’t been trying so hard to prove her wrong about me.”
    The eyebrow lifted again, and Joe thought he saw a quick flash of sympathy in Ryan Chandler’s eyes. “That’s pretty pathetic, you know.”
    Joe grinned quite naturally, relaxing his guard now that he knew he wasn’t going to get punched. “Damn