Second-Chance Seduction(44)

                They both turned and spotted Connor’s two brothers coming their way with Lucinda, the same woman Maggie had seen with Sarah and her friend a few minutes ago. The same woman who couldn’t seem to keep from frowning at her. Now she was holding a notebook and pen and didn’t look happy about it. Had the brothers corralled her into doing some work? Probably so. That would explain her sour expression. Or maybe it was Maggie’s own presence, she mused, but briskly brushed that thought away.

                Connor quickly slid his arm away and Maggie felt foolishly bereft without his touch.

                “Hey, guys,” Connor said.

                “You go ahead and talk to them,” Maggie urged Connor. “I’m going up to the convention floor to look around some more.”

                “Stick around. You know my brothers.” Connor grabbed her hand to keep her close by.

                Maggie had a bad feeling about this little reunion  , but she stayed with him and tried to think good thoughts.

                “Is that Maggie Jameson?” Ian said as they got closer.

                “Sure is,” Connor said cheerfully.

                “Hello, Maggie,” the woman said tonelessly.

                Maggie tried to smile. “Hi. It’s Lucinda, right? You’re Sarah’s cousin. I remember you from high school. It’s nice to see you.”

                Lucinda’s lips twisted wryly, as though she didn’t quite believe Maggie’s words. “It’s been a long time.”

                “Yes, it has,” Maggie said, recalling more about the woman as they spoke. Lucinda had been a few years younger than Sarah, but she used to hang around with the group once in a while.

                “I work for MacLaren now,” she said, her tone proudly confrontational.

                Maggie blinked. Lucinda made it sound like a challenge. As if she really meant to say, These are my men. You keep your hands off. Frankly, Maggie couldn’t blame her. If Lucinda believed her cousin Sarah, she probably accepted the story that Maggie had destroyed Connor. Now she wasn’t about to allow this witch to get near his brothers.

                Jake and Ian exchanged glances and Maggie suddenly had a whole new reason for running again. They looked even less happy to see her than Lucinda did.

                Naturally, Connor’s brothers were aware that she’d left town all those years ago and probably assumed, as Lucinda and Sarah and everyone else in town seemed to, that she’d left him with a crushed and broken heart. If the accusations of Sarah and her other high school pals were the common wisdom around Point Cairn, namely, that Maggie had betrayed Connor with another man, then Jake and Ian most likely hated her as much as her old friends did.

                So this would be fun.

                “Hi, Ian. Hi, Jake,” she said, trying to be upbeat. “It’s good to see you both.”

                “Yeah, good to see you, too, Maggie,” Ian said carefully. “How are you enjoying the festival?”

                “I’m having a great time.”

                “Oh yeah? Did you enter something in the competition?”

                “Yes, I’ve got three entries.”

                As she spoke to Ian, Jake leaned in to say something to Connor. Connor laughed, but Jake did nothing but stare stone-faced at Maggie.