Having Faith (Callaghan Brothers #7)

“Is your mother on a diet or something? She hasn’t eaten anything.” Kieran leaned over and spoke quietly to Matt when Faith excused herself to answer the door.

Matt shrugged, chewing the mouthful he had. Just that quickly, his expression changed to one that looked suspiciously like guilt as he put down the unfinished half of his sandwich. Kieran frowned. The kid was putting it away like a champ a few minutes ago. What had changed?

“Had enough?” he asked.

Matt nodded. “Yeah,” he lied. “But can I save this for later?”

“Sure,” Kieran nodded as Matt wrapped up the sandwich with care and put it into the fridge. It did not escape his notice that there was nothing else in there. Then again, they had just arrived, and Faith had admitted earlier they hadn’t had a chance to do any shopping yet. Still, the empty fridge bothered him.

“Do you think your mom will mind if we leave the rest of this stuff here?” Kieran asked suddenly. “No sense letting it go to waste.”

Matt’s eyes widened. “You don’t want it?”

“Nah,” he reassured the kid. “Plenty more where that came from.”

Kieran helped Matt wrap up the leftovers and put them in the fridge. At least he knew they’d have dinner tonight. Maybe Faith was self-conscious about eating in front of other people, or maybe she felt bad that she hadn’t had anything to offer them.

It was ridiculous, of course, but she seemed like the type of woman who would care about that kind of thing. Besides being beautiful, she was also a proud woman. Her initial reluctance to accept help demonstrated that clearly enough. And she obviously cared a great deal for her son. Kieran had caught her worried looks and frequent peeks all morning. Of course, that may have been because he was watching her so closely, too.

The woman had an unexpected way of commanding his attention; there was no doubt about that. He’d had to put an extra effort into focusing on what he was doing lest he lose a finger or some other important body part while operating various power tools. Even now, he couldn’t help himself from listening to what was going on in the other room. He could hear Faith’s soft voice, along with two deeper, obviously male ones.

He honed in on the exchange, his protective instincts surging as he moved closer to the archway separating the kitchen from the living area. As far as he could tell, the delivery men had made only two trips from their truck to the house. Two mattresses and two box springs sat propped up by the door. Surely that wasn’t all?

“If you’ll sign here, Mrs. ....”

“Miss,” Faith automatically corrected as she signed the papers. The delivery man’s grin grew. He was the younger of the two; Kieran put his age somewhere around twenty-five or so. The guy was decent looking enough, he supposed. Brown hair, brown eyes. Well-toned.

Kieran’s eyes narrowed. The guy – the name stitched on his shirt said David - was looking at Faith with far too much non-professional interest. Faith must have noticed, too, because she shifted uncomfortably. After handing the clipboard to him, she took a deliberate step backward.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to put those bed frames together for you?” the other guy asked. He lifted his cap and smoothed back his hair as he nodded toward the tangle of thin black steel rods now leaning against the wall. He was older, with clearly defined lines around his eyes and a fair smattering of gray around his close-cropped hair. His gaze toward Faith was decidedly more fatherly than David’s. Kieran didn’t have the sudden, irrational urge to kill him.

“I’m sure, thank you,” Faith said politely.

“It’s much easier with an extra set of hands,” the younger guy pushed, coming dangerously close to invading Faith’s personal space. Kieran only just managed to silence the low warning growl rumbling around in the back of his throat. Faith had already said no. Why was this guy still here?

Dropping all pretense of not listening, Kieran placed himself in the archway. Faith didn’t respond to the man’s latest offer. Judging by the way her pretty eyes were flashing with irritation, it was not the first time he’d asked. She stood patiently by the door to see them out. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem all that anxious to leave.

Faith took another step back when David got a little closer than was socially acceptable. He was not a large man, not by Callaghan standards, but he was a good deal bigger than Faith. Faith’s shoulders stiffened. With a slightly defiant tilt to her chin, she held her ground. For his part, Kieran did not like the way the guy was openly appreciating her assets.

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