Love Restored (Gallagher Brothers #1)(3)

He wasn’t in the mood to deal with a spoiled princess who couldn’t be bothered to care about the place she’d grown up in.

“We’re taking the job,” Owen said, this time without his normal patience.

As usual, Murphy stood back and let Graham and Owen fight it out. Graham wasn’t sure what side Murphy was on, but he had a feeling it wasn’t his.

Damn it.

“We’re not taking the job,” Graham repeated.

“We’re taking the job,” Owen said right back.

“No, we aren’t.”

“We need this,” Owen said, frustration lining his voice. “This is our big break. We can make Gallagher Brothers a name in the business. We’ll be along the lines of Montgomery, Inc.. A legacy in our field, where we won’t have to worry about finding jobs because they’ll find us. We’ll be safe. Secure.”

“Not with this job, Owen. I’m the oldest Gallagher. The boss. What I say goes.”

Murphy and Owen shared a look, and Graham sighed, knowing he’d lost before he’d taken his first sip of coffee.

They were taking the damn job.

“Fine,” he growled. “Whatever.” He drained the rest of his cup and tossed it in the trash bag Owen held out. Seriously, the man thought of everything.

“Want to take a look around before she shows up?” Murphy said with a small smile. “I mean, if we have to take the job, we might as well see what we’re working with.”

“We already did,” Graham said. “And you’ve been poring over the plans for months, Mr. Architect.”

Murphy was the company’s lead architect, though all three of them worked on plans. Owen was their manager, the one that kept them organized and sane. While Graham was the foreman, the one in charge of the day-to-day building and bossing around the rest of their crew to make sure they knew what they were doing. When Jake joined them on projects, he did the classical restorations and woodworking that none of the rest of them had the talent or skills for. It worked for the four of them, even if sometimes working with his brothers day in and day out was a little much. They kept him steady, though, and that had to mean something. Especially this month.

Murphy shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s a little different when we’re about to sign the papers. Come on. It’ll be fresher for us so we can jump right in.”

“He’s right, you know. We should at least do a walk through before she shows up, in case there are any issues we didn’t address in the initial documentation.”

Graham blew out a breath but followed his brothers as they began their way through the sprawling mansion that had seen far better days.

“Like you’d let anything escape your attention before this,” he said to Owen with a small smile.

Owen rolled his eyes. “I can’t help being perfect, you know. It’s a curse as well as a gift.”

Graham punched his brother in the arm, putting a little heat behind it to make sure Owen kept on his toes. Graham might be nearing forty, but he wasn’t about to grow up fully anytime soon. Plus, Owen and Murphy were closer to thirty than he was, and he needed to make sure his baby brothers knew who was actually the boss in this company and family.

Owen reached out to punch him back, and Graham ducked, running into Murphy, who pushed him into Owen’s shoulder. Graham laughed then, a deep chuckle that surprised him. He hadn’t thought he’d laugh this month, and damn if he didn’t respect his brothers that much more for keeping him in the now, rather than always in the past.

As they neared the other entrance, he let out an oath. If anything, the cracking paint and wallpaper, as well as the molding beams, looked even worse than before. If they hadn’t already done a full sweep of the place to make sure it was safe to even stand under the damn roof, he wouldn’t even be inside. This was going to be one hell of a job, and if he’d been in any other mood, and if it had been any other place without the strings that came with it, he might have been more excited about the prospects of being part of the restoration.

The place had good bones, he had to give it that, but that was about it. And, normally, while good bones were the reason he did this job and loved it—at least, usually—sometimes, he wanted to kick someone for letting a place get to this. Yeah, he’d be out of a job in that case, but to see something that had once been so grand and intricate end up the way this place was, hurt.

Buildings needed care, and most of the time, people sucked and didn’t do it.

“You’d think with a family with this kind of money, they’d take care of their shit a little better,” Graham grumbled.

“Good to know what kind of attitude you’ll have on the job,” a sultry voice said from behind him.

Owen mumbled a curse while Murphy’s eyes widened. Graham tightened his jaw. Great. The little heiress was finally here, and now he had to deal with whatever shit she’d brought with her.

He turned on his heel, rolling his shoulders back as he did. The shock to his system at the first look of her was a jolt.

Shit, were heiresses supposed to look that good in a business skirt?

Of course, they are, he thought to himself. They spent all their money on their clothes and whatever they needed to look the way they did, rather than taking care of the important things in their possession like the home they’d once lived in. God forbid this woman get her hands dirty to clean up the mess that the people residing here had left.