One

"One down, two to go." Father Liam Reilly grinned at his brother, sitting alongside him, then lifted a beer in salute to the two identical men sitting opposite him in the restaurant booth.

"Don't get your hopes up." Connor Reilly took a sip of his own beer and nodded toward his brother Brian, the third of the Reilly triplets, sitting beside Liam. "Just because Brian couldn't go the distance, doesn't mean we can't."

"Amen," Aidan said from beside him.

"Who said I couldn't go the distance?" Brian demanded, reaching for a handful of tortilla chips from the basket in the middle of the table. He grinned and sat back in the booth. "I just didn't want to go the distance. Not anymore." He held up his left hand, and the gold wedding band caught the light and winked at all of them.

"And I'm glad for you," Liam said, his black eyebrows lifting. "Plus, with you happily married, the odds of my winning this bet are better than ever."

"Not a chance, Liam." Aidan grabbed a handful of chips, too. "It's not that I begrudge you a roof for the church…but I'm the Reilly to watch in this bet, brother."

As his brothers talked, Connor just smiled and half listened. Once a week the Reilly brothers met for dinner at the Lighthouse Restaurant, a family place, dead center of the town of Baywater. They laughed, talked and, in general, enjoyed the camaraderie of being brothers.

But for the last month their conversations had pretty much centered around The Bet.

A great uncle, the last surviving member of a set of triplets, had left ten thousand dollars to Aidan, Brian and Connor. At first, the three of them had thought to divide the money, giving their older brother, Liam, an equal share. Then someone, and Connor was pretty sure it had been Liam, had come up with the idea of a bet—winner take all.

Since the Reilly triplets were, above all things, competitive, there'd never been any real doubt that they would accept the challenge. But Liam hadn't made it easy. He'd insisted that as a Catholic priest, his decision to give up sex for a lifetime was something not one of his brothers could match. He dared them to be celibate for ninety days—last man standing winning the ten thousand dollars. And if all three of the triplets failed, then Liam got the money for a new roof for his church.

Connor shot his older brother a suspicious look. He had a feeling that Liam was already getting estimates from local roofers. Scowling, he took another sip of his beer and let his gaze shift to Brian. A month ago the triplets had stood together in this bet, but now one had already fallen. Brian had reconciled with his ex-wife, Tina, and, now there was just Connor and Aidan to survive the bet.

"Don't know about you," Aidan said, jamming his elbow into Connor's rib cage, "but I'm avoiding all females for the duration."

"No self-control, huh?" Liam grinned and lifted his beer for another long drink.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Connor glared at him.

"Damn right I am," Liam said laughing. "Watching the three of you has always been entertaining. Just more so lately."

"Ah," Brian said, "the two of them. I'm out, remember?"

"Didn't even last a month," Aidan said with a slow, sad shake of his head.

Brian's self-satisfied smile spoke volumes. "Never been so glad about losing a bet in my life."

"Tina's a peach, no doubt about it," Connor said, just a little irritated by Brian's "happy man" attitude. "But there's still the matter of you in that ridiculous outfit to consider."

Not only did the losers lose the money in this bet, but they'd agreed to ride around in the back of a convertible, wearing coconut bras and hula skirts while being driven around the base on Battle Color day…the one day of the year when every dignitary imaginable would be on the Marine base.

Brian shuddered, then manfully sucked it up and squared his shoulders. "It'll still be worth it."

"He's got it bad," Aidan muttered, and held up both index fingers in an impromptu cross, as if trying to keep Brian at a distance.

"Laugh all you want," Brian said, leaning over the table to stare first at one brother, then the other. "But I'm the only one here having regular—and can I just add—great, sex."

"That was cold, man." Aidan groaned and scraped one hand over his face.

"Heartless," Connor agreed.

Liam laughed, clapped his hands together, then rubbed his palms briskly. Black eyebrows lifting, he looked at his brothers and asked, "Either of you care to back out now? Save time?"

"Not likely," Aidan muttered.

"That's for damn sure." Connor held out one hand to Aidan. "In this to the end?"

Aidan's grip was fierce. "Or until you cave. Whichever comes first."

"In your dreams." Connor'd never lost a bet yet and he wasn't about to start with this one. Of course, the stakes were higher and the bet more challenging than anything else he'd ever done, but that didn't matter. This was about pride. And he'd be damned if he'd let Aidan beat him. Besides, "No way am I gonna be riding in that convertible with Brian."

"I'll save you a seat," Brian said, grinning.

"Oh, man, I need another beer." Aidan lifted one hand to get the waitress's attention.

Another beer would be good. All he had to do was not look at the waitress. Connor's gaze snapped from Aidan to Brian and finally to Liam. "This game's far from over, you know."

Copyright © 2005 by Maureen Child