The memory of Philip’s second marriage proposal flashed in Maggie’s mind, but she put it aside immediately. Neither she nor Philip would be happy in such a situation, much as she’d once dreamed of being his wife and bearing his children. “I don’t know,” she said.

“I shouldn’t ’ave asked,” Tansy said, looking angry with herself. “Lord knows, this ain’t the time for it. Rest, Maggie, and don’t give the man nor the babe narry another thought. Tansy Quinn will take care of everything.”

Maggie settled back against her pillows and sighed. She could think of nothing but Reeve McKenna and his child, and she doubted that anyone other than God could set things right.

Jamie sat beside Reeve’s bed, his battered sheepman’s hat dangling from his fingers. It had been more than twenty years since he’d had a close, clear look at his older brother, and to find him like this was almost unbearable. Reeve had always been so strong, so certain of where he was going and what he wanted.

“His soul done froze up inside him,” Cutter O’Riley observed from just inside the door of the room in Jamie’s house. “Never seen anything like it in all my days.”

Jamie kept his eyes on Reeve’s immobile face, thinking of all the effort he’d gone to to evade the detectives. The reasons for avoiding his brother hardly seemed important now. He was glad that Peony kept her ear to the ground, knew what was going on in the seafaring world. He might not have learned of Reeve’s tragedy if it hadn’t been for her.

Convinced that his brother should be looked after by someone of his own flesh and blood, Jamie had gone directly to the newly docked Elisabeth Lee and claimed Reeve, then brought him home.

“Damn you,” he breathed, addressing his brother, “don’t you die now. Don’t you give up and die. You’ve got Maggie to live for—”

“He can’t hear you,” Cutter complained, weary of standing around in the house when there was so much work to be done. “And who, pray tell, is Maggie?”

Despite the heartache he felt over Reeve, Jamie permitted himself a small smile. “She’s the hell-kitten my brother loves,” he said. “Lucky for him, she loves him back.”

“Peony ain’t gonna like it one little bit if she hears you talkin’ so fond about some other woman, Jamieboy.”

“Peony and I have an understanding,” Jamie replied, tossing his hat aside to lean closer to his brother. Had he seen a flicker of movement there by Reeve’s lower lip?

“I’ll wager that understandin’ don’t include your spendin’ a night with a woman what loves your brother,” Cutter said.

“Get out of here,” Jamie replied.