Saving a Legend: A Kavanagh Legends Novel Read Free Page B

black-and-white dog by his side. “You remember Ace?”
    Ace looked much livelier than Kieran remembered. When he’d first met Rory’s dog, he had been underweight and mangled. Now he was healthy, and most of his fur had grown back. There was a thick scar down his side that looked new, but all the previous nicks he’d first seen on the dog were faded or covered with new, thicker fur.
    Kieran placed his hand in front of the dog to sniff before scratching his head. “Hey, Ace.”
    “I’m gonna go help Ma, but I’m so glad you’re back, K,” Casey said, using his nickname as she left to let the brothers talk.
    “Same here.” Jimmy followed her.
    “So, Kieran,” Rory said with an awkward pause, extending a hand as soon as they were alone. Kieran gripped it, shaking firmly with polite disinterest.
    “Rory.”

    “How was prison?” Rory asked, an uncomfortable heaviness in his voice.
    “Fine, no thanks to you. How’s the bottom of a bottle?” He squeezed Rory’s hand tighter.
    Regret washed over him as he wished he hadn’t stooped so low and mentioned Rory’s alcoholism. Kieran had left prison resolving to become a new person, a better person. A person who was once again close to his entire family, including the one brother who had betrayed him.
    “Five months sober, asshole.” Rory dropped his hand just as a pretty young girl with blond ringlets falling down her shoulders walked up to them, wrapping an arm around Rory’s waist. Ace’s ears perked up as he, too, leaned into the woman, definitely happy to see her.
    “Hey, Kane, how are you?” she asked him, her smile kind and inviting.
    “Babe, that’s not Kane.” Rory laughed, the tension seeming to melt off him from her touch. He kissed the top of her head.
    “Oh! I’m sorry! Kieran, right? Wow, you and Kane sure do look alike, although I can definitely see the differences.” She blushed deeply, her pale skin turning crimson.
    “That tends to happen when you share a womb for nine months.” Kieran grinned back at her. “You must be Clare?”
    When his mother visited him over the last two years, they never talked about Rory much, especially after everything that had happened between them. However, she had mentioned that he had moved in with his girlfriend, Clare.
    “Yep! It’s so great to meet you. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you.” Her words seemed to bounce in the air between them, and when he offered his hand to her, she swept right past it and hugged him instead.

    He decided then and there that he liked Clare, and that maybe she was his best chance of rebuilding a relationship with Rory. He also decided that Rory probably wasn’t the one who had been saying nice things about him.
    “I don’t know who told you wonderful things, but we Kavanaghs tend to have a tenuous grasp on the truth.” Kieran laughed as he hugged her.
    “I never lie!” Dee waltzed into the room behind them and wrapped an arm around his waist, confirming she had been the one to chat him up. “All of my sons are the absolute best. And mo neacht, my niece, of course.” Dee winked at Casey, who had followed her into the dining room.
    “Can’t argue with you there.” Clare glanced over at Rory, who took it as an invitation to cover her lips with his in a very public, very affectionate display. It was both too much and perfect at the same time. Kieran had to avert his gaze not to feel like he was imposing on a private moment.
    A pang of jealousy sliced through him as he wondered if he would have that with someone one day. It had been a long and lonely two years without women, which he’d thought would make him just want a woman to take the edge off. However, seeing what his brother had made him want an actual relationship instead. He wanted someone to be there for him, to look at him the way Clare looked at Rory, and that meant a random hookup wouldn’t do.

    An image of the pretty florist darted through his mind, but he pushed it away.
    “There