The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

cheek.
    “It’s a good layering piece,” Jude began, then watched openmouthed as Darcy stripped off her own sweater.
    “Might as well make yourself comfortable.” Brenna stretched out on the bed, crossed her ankles, and sipped her wine. “She’ll be a while at this.”
    “Soft as a baby’s bum.” Darcy all but cooed as she posed in front of the mirror. “Gorgeous, but the color’s a bit deep for me. More you, I’m thinking, Brenna.” Cheerfully, she stripped it off and tossed it on the bed. “Give it a look.”
    Absently, Brenna fingered the sleeve of the sweater. “Got a nice feel to it.”
    Lowering herself to the bed, Jude watched Darcy try on a cream-colored silk blouse. “Ah, there’s more in the other bedroom.”
    Darcy’s head came up like a wolf scenting sheep. “More?”
    “Yes, um, lighter-weight clothes and a couple of cocktail things I brought along in case—”
    “Be right back.”
    “Now you’ve done it.” Brenna spoke in dire tones as Darcy dashed out of the room. “You’ll never be rid of her now.” Setting her wine aside, she flipped open the buttons of her shirt. As a delighted squeal was emitted from the next room, Brenna rolled her eyes and tugged the sweater over her head.
    “Oh, this is lovely.” Surprised by the pleasure the soft wool brought to her skin, Brenna got up to take a look in the mirror. “The way it fits, it almost looks as if I have tits.”
    “You have a wonderful figure.”
    Though she’d never be accused of vanity, Brenna twisted and turned in the mirror. “Be nice to have breasts, though. My sister Maureen got mine, I think. I should have had the breasts, by right as the oldest.”
    “You need a decent bra,” Darcy claimed as she came back in a black cocktail dress and carrying a heap of clothes. “Make use of what God gave you instead of letting it flop about. Jude, this dress is brilliant, but you really need to whack an inch or two off the hem.”
    “I’m taller than you.”
    “Hardly a bit. Here, put it on and let’s have a look.”
    “Well, I—” But Darcy was already wriggling out of it. Faced with a woman holding out a little black number while dressed in bra and panties, Jude took the dress. She took a deep gulp to swallow her modesty and stripped.
    “I knew you had good legs,” Darcy said with a nod of approval. “Why are you after hiding them in a dress like this? Needs a good inch off, don’t you think, Brenna?” Still half naked, Darcy knelt down and folded up the hem, pursing her lips as she studied the result. “Inch and a half, and you wear it with those spiky black shoes with the open toes. You’ll be a killer.”
    She nodded, then got up to try on a pair of gray pipestem trousers. “Just put the dress over there, and I’ll hem it for you.”
    “Oh, really, you don’t have to—”
    “As payment,” Darcy said with a wicked gleam, “for you letting me borrow your clothes.”
    “Darcy’s a fine hand with a needle,” Brenna assuredher. “You don’t have to worry.” Getting into the spirit, she found a charcoal blazer and topped the sweater with it.
    “Try this vest to jazz it up,” Jude suggested and dug out one with tiny checks in green and burgundy.
    “You’ve a good eye.” Darcy beamed approval and added to it by giving Jude a quick one-armed hug. “Now, Brenna, you finish that with a really short excuse for a skirt and men’ll be falling all over you.”
    “I don’t want them falling all over me. You just have to boot them out of the way again.”
    “When enough of them fall, you just climb over their prone bodies and go on to the next.” Darcy found a suit in slate blue and wiggled into the skirt. “You are going to give Aidan a tumble, aren’t you, Jude?”
    “A tumble?”
    “Skirt needs to be lifted here, too. A tumble,” she continued. “You haven’t slept with him yet, have you?”
    “I—” She stepped back to pick up her wine again. “No. No, I haven’t.”
    “Didn’t think so.” Darcy swiveled to check the line of the jacket from the back. “Figured you’d have more a gleam in your eye if you’d wrestled with him.” Experimenting, she scooped her hair up, turning this way and that, and imagined borrowing those pretty silver dangles she’d seen Jude wear on her ears. “You’re going to sleep with him, aren’t you?”
    “Darcy, you twit, you’re embarrassing her.”
    “Why?” Darcy let her hair fall so she could choose from two pairs of bone-colored