Reilly's Return by Tami Hoag Read Free Book Online Page A

Darn, she had always been one to take in strays. When Reilly’s beautiful eyes took on that haunted look—however brief—she wanted to wrap him in her arms and take care of him.
    What a lot of hogwash, she told herself as the moment passed and he was suddenly the same old Reilly, cocky and full of himself. She had beenimagining things. Reilly needed a caretaker about as much as he needed a third eye.
    “You’d really be in my play?” she questioned.
    “Sure,” he said with a nonchalant shrug, as if he hadn’t been sweating bullets over the idea just a second ago.
    Jayne hugged herself and sighed. She could ill afford to turn him down. Pat Reilly’s name on the marquee would mean a lot of extra money for the theater group and for the young artists. Having Reilly in the play would surely generate interest in the project. People would be eager to get involved and would hopefully stay involved on a long-term basis once they discovered how enjoyable theater was. And this was her chance, wasn’t it? This was her chance to do what she’d dreamed of doing since the first time she’d seen Reilly in a little-known Australian film in which he’d had no more than two dozen lines. This was her chance to direct him, to coax out the phenomenal talent she was sure was lurking under his handsome hide.
    She nodded slowly, then tipped her chin up and treated him to a sparkling sweet smile. “All right. We’ll give it a shot.”
    Reilly had to fight the sudden urge to give a whoop and do a victory dance. He hadn’t realized how important it was to him that Jayne consentto see him. The enormous sense of relief that sluiced through him left him feeling almost giddy.
    He gave her a roguish grin that flashed his dimple at her. “Good girl, Jaynie. Now let’s go to your place, and I’ll get settled in.”
    “You’ll what? Where?” Jayne asked dimly, her head swimming.
    Reilly swung the bathroom door open and held it. His expression was as innocent as an altar boy’s as he looked back at her. “I can’t very well stay at a hotel. The minute word’s out I’m stayin’ in town, I won’t have a moment’s peace. Since we’re gonna be mates now, I reckoned you’d let me bunk at your place.”
    “Oh, did you?”
    Jayne couldn’t help but smile. The stinker! He’d no doubt had that little plan in his head all along. She tried to tell herself deviousness was not an adorable quality, but, somehow, in Reilly it was. At the moment the worst his behavior stirred in her was a deep sympathy for his mother. What that poor woman must have gone through raising Reilly!
    “Well, sure,” he said, keeping his angelic look firmly in place. Boy, this was going to be good. If they were staying in the same house, there was no way they could go more than a couple of dayswithout succumbing to the sexual attraction that sparked between them. His mouth was literally watering at the memory of the taste of her. His fingers itched to trace over her petite curves.
    Jayne gave a shrug of acquiescence, picked up her bucket, and sauntered out the door. “Okay.”
    Reilly felt as if she’d just smacked him between the eyes with a hammer. “Okay?” he mumbled dazedly. Had she just said okay? He rushed to catch up with her and hovered over her from behind, nearly clipping her heels with his size twelve boots. “Did you just say okay? I can stay at your place?”
    “Yes.” Jayne beamed a smile up at him, thinking it was kind of fun being sneaky. Then she turned and continued down the hall toward the exit with a spring in her step.
    Reilly shot a look heavenward. His heart was hammering in his chest. “Thank you,” he whispered, raising his hands in emphatic praise to a benevolent God. “That was almost too bloody easy.”
    Jayne grinned to herself as she walked ahead of him. “You’ve got that right, mate.”

FOUR
    R EILLY FOLLOWED J AYNE home, keeping his Jeep a discreet distance behind the red MG—just in case. Jayne’s driving was enough