Second-Chance Seduction(78)

                Ian ignored Connor’s protest. “As much as I hate to utter the words, I have to agree with Jake. You and Maggie have a really nice vibe together. So don’t screw it up.”

                “Yeah,” Jake chimed in. “Just make sure she sticks around this time.”

                “It wasn’t my fault she left,” he groused under his breath. But it was a halfhearted protest. He was no longer opposed to the idea of being with Maggie, even as he pretended to be so in front of his brothers. He’d been doing a lot of thinking over the past few days and he’d come to the realization that maybe he did have some culpability, after all. It was hard to admit it because he’d spent so many years blaming things all on Maggie. But after the other night when they’d talked it out, he could see that he’d done plenty to drive her crazy back then.

                With the arrogance of youth, he’d carelessly ignored the warning signs she’d been giving him all along. Now he could kick himself for not paying closer attention. And while he was kicking himself, he would gladly give himself the boot for not going after her in the first place. But his pride had gotten in the way and he’d ended up wasting all those years without her.

                So now that he couldn’t wait to see her, where the hell was she? Not only did he miss her, but he also had some important news to give her. He wasn’t sure she would appreciate him sticking his nose into her business, but that was too damn bad. She would want to hear this.

                Earlier that day, Connor and his brothers had spent an hour with their longtime local banker, Dave, to discuss some hometown investments. After the meeting had wrapped up, Connor had pulled Dave aside to ask if he knew the reason why his bank had turned down Maggie’s loan application.

                At first Dave had been reluctant to say anything. There were privacy issues involved, naturally.

                “Come on, Dave,” Connor had cajoled. “We’ve known each other since grammar school. You can be sure that anything you tell me won’t leave this room.”

                “Hell, Connor.” He scraped his fingers across his thinning scalp.

                “Look,” Connor said, trying another tack, “the truth is, I’m floating her a loan, so I’d like to know if she’s good for paying it back.”

                “Of course she is,” Dave insisted. “But you know how things are these days. Her credit report came back with one black mark on it and with all our red tape, the loan wasn’t allowed to go through.”

                “A black mark? From where?”

                “Some company back East.”

                “Remember the name?” Connor knew that their local bank was small enough that even as executive vice president, Dave would still go over each of the loans himself.

                Dave thought for a moment. “Cargrove? Casgrow?”

                “Cosgrove?” Connor said.

                “That’s it,” Dave exclaimed. “Apparently she ran up quite a debt with them, although I’ve got to admit I’ve never even heard of them. Must be some regional store or something.”

                “Or something,” Connor muttered.

                “I felt really bad, turning her down,” Dave continued. “And Maggie was devastated. She walked out of my office without even asking for her credit information.”

                Connor wasn’t surprised, but it broke his heart to hear it. Maggie’s self-esteem had taken such a beating, it figured she would simply blame herself for her inability to get a bank loan, not even suspecting that her lousy ex-husband, Alan Cosgrove, had gone and screwed up her credit rating, just to twist the knife in one more time for good measure.