“That’ll be part of it, but—sorry, it’s the psychologist in me again—he’ll also have his eye on profit. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have one of the largest companies in the States. And for the same reasons, he’ll have his eye on his reputation.”

“And ours will be on our own.” Shawn lifted his glass.

“You’ve quite the reputation, don’t you?” Darcy sent Shawn a sour smile.

“Not as well rounded as yours, darling.”

“At least I don’t go around seducing childhood friends.”

Slowly, and with a dangerous gleam in his eye, he set his glass down again. Before feathers could fly, Aidan stretched an arm between them. “Now what? What’s all this?”

“Ah, she’s got her nose out of joint because I kissed Brenna.”

“Well, there’s nothing to squabble about . . .” Aidan’s hand dropped onto the table. “Brenna O’Toole?”

“Of course Brenna O’Toole.”

“What were you doing kissing our Brenna?”

“Aidan.” Jude tugged on his sleeve. “This is Shawn’s business.”

“It’s ours as it’s Brenna.”

“Mother of God. It’s not as if I grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the kitchen floor to force myself on her in a carnal fashion while she tried to fight me off.”

“You were on the kitchen floor?”

“We were not.” At his wits’ end, Shawn pressed his fingers to his eyes. “A man can’t have a simple life in this family. I kissed Brenna, and not for the first time. Neither do I plan on it being the last. And I fail to see why that’s such a puzzlement to everyone who knows us. And an outrage as well.”

Darcy folded her hands. She’d learned something she’d hoped to by the poking at him. He hadn’t mentioned that it was Brenna who’d initiated the shift in relationship. With another man she’d chalk it up to ego. But with Shawn she knew it was instinctive protection of the woman involved.

The fact both pleased and worried her.

“It’s just . . . surprising,” Aidan said.

“I’m not outraged.” Darcy sent Shawn a sweet, sisterly look. “But puzzled I am. After all, Brenna’s seen you naked already—some years ago, to be sure, but still such things linger in the mind. And having had a good look at your equipment, I can’t think why she’d be the least bit interested.”

“That’s a question you’ll have to put to her.” He wanted to leave it at that, dignified, dismissive, but it rankled. “I wasn’t more than fifteen, and the water was cold. A man’s not at his best just out of frigid water, you know.”

“That’s your story, son, and you stick with it.”

“And you shouldn’t have been looking in that direction. But you always were a perverted sort.”

“Why shouldn’t I have looked? Everyone else was. He lost his trunks in the sea,” she explained to Jude, “and didn’t realize it till he was standing clear of the surf, jay naked. I’ve always regretted the lack of a camera.”