Page 596 of Lodestar

Brennan snickered. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing. I’ll like children that come out of Camille. That’s it. The rest, I’ll tolerate.”

“You can’t just tolerate your nieces and nephews,” Conor pointed out.

“I’ll go to war for them, but I don’t have to like them,” Brennan argued. “And you can’t make me change my mind about that.”

Conor shook his head. “You gonna kiss your mother with that mouth? Ma just arrived with Paddy.”

He cursed under his breath but scurried off to clean up.

“Momma’s boy,” I called out, earning myself the bird he flipped my way.

Conor curved his arm around my shoulder. “Did he give you a rough time?”

“No more than usual.”

“I don’t know why you seek him out.”

“I like him.”

“I don’t get it. I like him but I have to.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I do. He’s Brennan.”

“There’s no logic there.”

He shrugged. “Brennan would help me when I had nightmares. He’d take a beating from Da so I didn’t get into trouble. He’d kill someone for me if I asked. So yeah, I have to.”

“Which is why I like him. Because even withoutknowingthat, my gut clued me in. He gives me a hard time because he loves you. He’s just fucking bad at showing it.”

Conor’s grin was lopsided. “He is, isn’t he?”

We shared that grin before we turned our attention back to the pool.

Lyra was sitting under a parasol, patiently allowing Troy to apply sunscreen while Kat sneaked behind her and dive-bombed into the water, soaking them both through.

“Goddammit, Katina!” she yelled as she spun around to glower at my daughter. “How many times do I have to tell you? Lyra burns?—”

Lyra didn’t hang around. She dive-bombed into the pool too and landed a few feet away from Kat.

Troy somehow managed to spot me through the window and, glowering, she raised a hand, pointed two fingers at her eyes, then pointed them at me.

“Did she just do that?”

I snorted. “She thinks she’s De Niro.”

“She’s scarier than him inTaxi Driver.”

“Give her a mohawk and sure, I can see it.”

“Your daughter’s a menace,” Savannah declared as she stepped into the room from the French doors that led onto the pool area.

“Of course she is. She’s mine.”

“You always know how to make an entrance, Savvie,” Conor praised affectionately.

Dressed in a cotton cape and wearing a massive sun hat, big shades, and a bright-blue bikini, Vana was definitely dramatically attired.

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