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her.
    “Give me two minutes to freshen up,” she said, hurrying to wash her face, run a brush through her hair and spritz herself with a light fragrance she knew Matthew liked.
    When she walked back into the bedroom, she looked down at her clothes and frowned. “This outfit looks as if it’s been slept in, which it has. I should change.”
    “You look fine,” he assured her. “If you look too perfect, I’ll be fighting off men on every corner.”
    She laughed. “Now, there’s the O’Brien blarney in full force. Come on. I’m starving.”
    To her surprise, they were the only members of the family in the hotel dining room.
    “I thought for sure some of the others would be down here,” she said, glancing around.
    “You worried about being alone with me, sweetheart?”
    “Hardly,” she fibbed. “I just assumed everybody else would be too excited to settle down right away, too, especially Carrie and Caitlyn. They were bouncing up and down with energy on the bus to the hotel.”
    “Oh, believe me, those two were so hyped up after the flight that Trace and Abby immediately headed to the park across the street so they could run wild.” He studied her. “Would you feel better if we joined them?”
    Laila considered the offer for a split second. “No way,” she replied. “The food’s here.”
    She ordered a pot of tea, a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal with fresh berries, along with scrambled eggs and toast. She studied the menu warily. “Do I want to try some of these more traditional things?”
    Matthew chuckled. “Probably not on the first day,” he advised, then ordered the same things she had.
    After they’d ordered and the waiter had brought their tea, she sat back and looked around the hotel dining room. It could have been any hotel anywhere in the world, but it was Dublin! And, risky though it was, she was here with Matthew!
    “I can’t believe I’m really here,” she said happily.
    “Are you glad you changed your mind about coming?”
    “Yes. I would have hated to miss this.”
    He leaned forward as if he had something more to say, only to see Luke appear, pull out a chair and join them. “You don’t mind, do you?” he asked, though he was already seated.
    Matthew frowned at his younger brother. “I thought you were going to rest or go for a run or something.”
    “I ran. I showered. And now I’m ready for a full Irish breakfast,” he said, looking around for their waiter.
    “Did it even occur to you that you might be interrupting?” Matthew asked testily.
    Luke gave him an innocent look. “Interrupting what? The way you explained it to me, you two are adhering to a hands-off policy while in Ireland, which is why you’re in my room instead of Laila’s.”
    Laila nearly choked on a sip of tea. She frowned at Matthew. “You told him that?”
    “Well, I had to explain why I needed to bunk with him, didn’t I?”
    “He did,” Luke concurred. “Because I was hoping to get lucky on this trip and now my plans for a thoroughly raucous holiday are seriously thwarted.”
    Laila studied Luke’s expression and thought she detected a hint of sadness behind the cavalier attitude. “You aren’t seriously missing Kristen Lewis, are you? I thought that was over, or that it was some kind of ploy to keep her away from Mack, whatever.”
    “Kristen and I had fun, no question about it,” Luke said. “But that’s all it was.”
    Laila heard the false note in his voice and shook her head. “Not buying it. It might have started out that way, but something changed. You fell for her, didn’t you?”
    Matthew regarded her with surprise. “You can’t be serious. Luke and Kristen? It was a fling.” He turned to Luke. “Right, bro?”
    “Sort of like you and Laila,” Luke retorted, then glanced apologetically toward Laila. “No offense.”
    “None taken,” she said. “Why didn’t you ask Kristen to come along on this trip if you’re really hung up on her?”
    “And have Susie string me up