“Why don’t I give you half an hour?”Suzie stood before Niall could offer an argument.“Since arriving in Scotland, I’ve developed a taste for tablet.It’s a bit like the condensed milk fudge we make at home.We call it Russian fudge.The sweet shop stocks it, so I’ll grab some now.Oh, and I want a couple of postcards.”She smiled sweetly at his brothers, but her eyes remained cool.“Thirty minutes.”
Niall took a moment to admire the sway of her backside before she disappeared outside.His gaze raked his brothers.“Clock’s ticking.”He took petty pleasure in seeing Euan’s mouth drop open.
“Aren’t you gonna invite us to sit?Buy us a drink?”Colin demanded.
“No.”
Colin blinked.
Niall picked up his beer.“Buy your own drinks.”
Euan jerked his head at Colin, and he slunk toward the bar.He returned with two pints of frothy ale.
Niall scrutinized his brothers.They had changed little, and their brawling had stamped their faces with scars.Their clothes bore dirt and wrinkles, suggesting they’d slept rough.Finally, when neither uttered a word, he said, “I thought you wanted to talk.”
Euan and Colin exchanged an uneasy glance.Euan checked the men and women nearby, but no one was paying them attention.“We need money.”
“No,” Niall said without hesitation.He knew his brothers well.They’d keep pushing if he gave in to them, even a little.He doubted they’d changed.“How did you find me?”
“We’ve always known,” Euan said.
Niall snorted.Until now, they hadn’t thought him valuable.His mind went straight to his honey, and he wondered at their timing.“Is the rest of the family here?”
“Not yet,” Euan said, his words a veiled threat.
“Why won’t you give us money?”Colin asked.“We’re family.”
“When it suits you,” Niall said.“I won’t give you a penny, so I suggest you leave.”
Euan and Colin exchanged another of those glances.Niall, who’d become excellent at reading body language, frowned.If he didn’t know better, he’d assume someone or something had scared his brothers.And that didn’t jibe with his memory of them.
“Was there anything else?”Niall prompted.
“Can we stay with you?”Euan asked.
“No,” Niall said.“You made my life hell when I was younger.You made me eat last, and I had to sleep on the floor.When I got a job, you stole my wages.Why would I give you anything now when I escaped that?”
“Family sticks together,” Colin said.
Niall didn’t rein in his snort of derision.“Really?That’s the line you’re gonna take with me now?I’ll make this even clearer for you.I have worked for everything I own and continue to work to support myself.Unless you’ve changed radically, I doubt you have a job, which is why you want my money.How did you obtain the airfare from Canada?”
His brothers refused to meet his gaze, which tweaked his suspicions.He made a mental note to call a contact in Canada because knowledge was forearming.He wouldn’t trust his brothers, no matter what assurances they gave.Experience had taught him well, ensuring no foolish repetition.
“Never mind,” Niall said.“Listen well.You are not welcome in my home.You stole my childhood pocket money.It won’t happen again.”
“But we’re your brothers.We were joking around,” Colin said.
“I don’t care what schemes you have going.Leave me out of them.You showed no concern for me as a cub, and nothing has changed.”Niall spotted Suzie.“Goodbye.”
His two brothers hovered, shock flashing over their faces before they went expressionless.
Colin took half a step closer.“But we’re—”
Euan closed his meaty fist around Colin’s forearm, stopping him from saying more.“Let’s go.It’s obvious Runt thinks himself too good to associate with us now.”He whispered something to Colin that Niall didn’t catch, and Colin ceased his fight.He went willingly with Euan.Niall watched them until they vanished out a side door, every muscle in his body tense and ready for flight.
For a moment, his brothers’ arrival had tossed him back to his childhood, and the same feelings of inadequacy and helplessness had filled him.Hatred and shame.Determination to remove himself and not get sucked into their lives.
Yeah, he’d felt like theruntagain until Suzie had squeezed his knee.The reassuring touch had righted him and made him rememberRunthad been past Niall.The Niall he’d grown into was the man he wished to remain.
