Sean: (Harlequin Temptation #934) by Donna Kauffman

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Sean

Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.

Chapter One

Sean grinned and finished his beer in one long pull. "Well, Clay is too busy dating his way through the University of Louisiana's cheerleading squad. And I knew it wasn't going to be me."

"Yeah, you're already married. How is the Marshals Service treating you anyway?" he teased. "Still exciting as those early days, when the romance was fresh? Can we expect the pitter-patter of little agents' feet anytime soon?"

Sean just grinned. "Yep, just as soon as I get through with my next class out at Beauregard. I'm sure my recruits are all going to make me very proud." His grin widened. "Or die trying."

Brett winced. "Glad I don't have to impress you."

Sean looked across the yard at Haley, at how happy she was. "You already have," he said quite seriously. He grinned when Brett gave him a surprised look. "But I will admit I thought you'd play a much wider field first."

Brett shot him his trademark cheeky grin. "In the end, it's just more green grass."

Sean looked back to Haley, radiant in the simple white gown she'd chosen. "You did find yourself a right sunny patch of it, that's for certain." He glanced back at themiddle Gannon brother in time to see Brett staring at his wife of less than one hour, so totally besotted it should have made Sean want to roll his eyes and shake his head. Instead it created an odd little twinge somewhere down deep inside him.

Brett noticed his brother's frown. "Is it weird for you? Because you used to date her? I mean, it was several lifetimes ago."

"And I suppose that crush you had on her back then was just some youthful infatuation, huh?" Sean countered.

Brett was unabashed. "The only thing youthful was my inability to hold on to her. But I always knew a good thing when I saw it."

"Unlike me, I suppose." Sean had said it jokingly, but there was a thread of honesty in the statement that caused that twinge to sharpen.

"Hey, I figure you did us both a favor. She didn't want to marry the U.S. Marshals Service. And eventually I did grow up and learned to hang on to something good when I had it."

"Yeah," Sean said, his gaze shifting back to Haley, serene and calm amid the other members of the raucous Gannon clan. "And may I say, when you hang, you hang with the best." He looked back at his brother. "I'm happy for you, Brett. Truly. And I hope like hell you contribute more to the Gannon legacy than those four-legged animals you work with."

"What, you having a yearning to play uncle? Carly's brand-new little squaller isn't enough for you?"

"Carly's baby terrifies me," he said quite seriously.

"Yeah, I know," Brett said, admitting his terror for the first time. "How can something so tiny have such huge lungs?"

It wasn't the screaming that bothered him. Sean had been referring to those perfect little delicate fingers and those teeny, tiny toes. How was a guy supposed to hold something like that without breaking it? Yet his younger sister had taken to motherhood as if she'd been born to it. And, truthfully, out of the five Gannon kids, she was the one most suited for the job. Although watching the way Brett was making googly eyes at his bride, he thought it wouldn't be too long before he had another squalling niece or nephew. Brett had always been an animal lover, hence his job training rescue dogs. And Sean had to admit, the animals loved him. As far as he was concerned, that qualified him as well as anyone to be a parent.

"Ha," Brett was saying. "You just figure if Haley and I can distract Mom and Dad by popping out babies on some kind of routine schedule, they'll forget their two oldest offspring are still unwed." He snorted. "Good luck."

"Nah, we'll just sic 'em on Clay."

Brett leveled a look at him. "Are you kidding? He is a baby."

"True. Having him make more would just be redundant," Sean said, making them both laugh.

"So, you still thinking about taking the job at Camp Beauregard? Doing the full-time trainer thing for our country?"

In fact, he'd pretty much decided to do just that. But he wasn't going to announce it now. This was Brett and Haley's day. "It's still under consideration."

Brett elbowed him. "You could be closer to the family. And I'm sure Carly would love it if Uncle Sean dropped by to baby-sit every Friday night."

"You know, you're making that decision easier by the minute," Sean warned good-naturedly. "Another Denver winter is starting to look good."

His older sister, Isabel, wandered over, sipping a slender-stemmed glass of champagne. She glanced at the cans in their hands. "Beer?" She shook her head in disgust. "And we had such high hopes that a college degree would bring some element of civilization to you both."

"Where do you think we perfected our beer-drinking skills in the first place?" Sean asked.

"Champagne is for sissies, Iz," Brett added, sipping with exaggeration from his already empty can, then belching just to disgust his sister. Worked every time.

Sean contributed his share, just because he could.

Isabel sighed in resignation. "Well, it didn't seem too much like a sissy drink earlier when you were making that toast."

Sean grinned. "Yeah, but it's a lot more manly when you're sipping it from the maid of honor's satin high heel."

She shook her head. "Men."

Brett caught Sean's eye, then glanced down meaningfully at their empty beer cans. Sean chuckled. At exactly the same moment, they crushed the beer cans on their foreheads.

"Oh, jeez!" She quickly shifted so the rest of the gathering wouldn't see them, protecting her brothers even as it was clear she'd just as soon throttle them both. "Don't let Haley see you do 'frat boy' stunts. She can still get an annulment, you know." She shot a look at Sean. "And don't say a word. You're a lost cause anyway."

"You're one to talk," Sean countered, but she was already waltzing off. She did that particular exit very well. Much more effective than Carly's standard stalk-off-in-a-huff. But then, Izzy'd had plenty of practice. Just ask any man she'd dated more than three times.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Sean by Donna Kauffmann
Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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