Page 21 of Just One Look

“I don’t mean physically, I mean in your mind. If your frown were any deeper someone could ride a canoe down it.” His cousin Porter tossed his book aside. “Want to talk about it?”

“All is well.” Devlin poured himself two fingers of bourbon neat. “What has you up at this hour?”

Porter rolled his eyes. “Dropping chaff.”

“Look at you. The contractor using military pilot lingo.” Devlin dropped into the armchair closest to his cousin. “Hey, legitimate question. Whatareyou doing here reading alone after two in the morning?”

“I rest my case.”

“There is no case. There is no wrestling bulls, but you are awake in the middle of the night. Going to tell me what’s up?” He bit back a smile. Devlin loved his cousins as much as his siblings, but some of them were more fun for verbal sparring than others. Porter was definitely one of them.

Shaking his head, Porter flashed a lazy smile. “Actually, the book turned out to be better than I expected. My mantra for the night seems to have been one more chapter. Now you tell me, what’s going on in that head of yours?”

“The Steer’s Den caught fire tonight.”

“Anyone hurt?”

“Nothing serious.”

“And the building?”

“A total loss.”

Porter hissed. Now he had a frown deep enough for a canoe to float down.

“I’ve made arrangements for him to use the space at the Quadrangle.”

“Good call. I’ll call Stuart tomorrow and see what we need to do for his operation.”

Devlin figured his cousin would be willing to help. The whole family dined at Stuart’s with some regularity, there was little doubt everyone would want to help if they could.

“So what’s with the smile?”

“Smile?”

“Are we going to do this verbal dance again? That frown switched to a smile and it’s not a glad to help smile. Who has you smiling?”

“Why does it have to be a who?”

“I’ve seen your we’re-going-to-make-a-killing-on-this-deal smile and that’s not it. It looks more like you’ve found yourself some tantalizing—”

“Careful.”

“Again, I rest my case.”

Why was he bothering. “I had dinner with Emily’s sister.”

Porter’s brows rose high. “Sister?”

“Yes, sister.”

“Now that’s interesting.”

“Watch it.”

Hands up, palms out, Porter shook his head. “Sorry. I always thought you and Emily would wind up together some day.”

“Why does everyone have such a hard time believing we’re just good friends? Eve didn’t wind up with Jack.”

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