Sam--the MacKades are 4 brothers from a small town with a Civil War battlefield--Antietam, maybe? No bondage. Sorry. But now I kind of wonder who bondage brother is... ;-)

The older brother character is an interesting one. JT McNulty in The Boyfriend's Back is the older brother and he definitely had the "protect my kid brother" tendency. But he's also reluctant to "try" at anything so he needs to mask his caring. He's kind of a cross between the stereotypical older brother and a slacker. I had a lot of fun writing him. ;-)

My real life brother is older than me, but not by much. I never really thought of him as a protector, but I definitely engage in a bit of he-can-do-no-wrong hero worship. ;-)

Hi Karen,

I have one brother and one sister. My sister complains because I seem to kill off the sisters in all my books. She wanted us to go to therapy so I could work through my issues. ;-)

(She's actually one of the very dearest people in my world. As Bridget Jones would say, "One of my top" people.)

I have two boys myself. Their relationship fascinates me, I think because it's the one sibling relationship I've never experienced. It's been interesting to see the differences in a family without a "girl." My sister and I did a lot of covering up for my brother when it came to things like birthday cards and holiday gifts and showing up for family game night. My boys don't have anyone to pick up the slack, so they have had to take the lead in all this stuff. They'll probably be nice husbands by the time I'm finished training them. :-)

I think I've read the Jude Deveraux books you mentioned. I have to go check on Amazon and see if I recognize them.

I was trying to figure out who the MacKenzie brothers were when it suddenly hit me. I should have remembered who'd left the comment--the answer would have been immediately obvious. ;-)

Thanks for the laugh, eh?

I can't believe that you didn't intend to write about brothers. The mysterious backstory you set up in Will's book just cried out for the tormented (but redeemable) brother to appear in the next one. I'd have been bummed if I didn't get to see him work out his issues, too.

Parker was much better than Shaun.

MarcieR: Parker was better than Shaun?

I can not even take IN this type of blasphemy. ;-) ;-)

Although this does bring up one of the other bonuses of brothers. There's one for everyone!

I think I cut my brother loving eye teeth on Bonanza. Little Joe was the one for me, but that may have been more because he had the nicest horse than anything to do with his character. ;-)

I'm ignoring the Parker thing. I just don't get it. ;-) ;-)

but didn't keep up with it. I can't even think of any TV brothers... I don't watch Supernatural... I'm not sure any of the shows I watch have brothers. How weird.

And Heather, I bet if I send you the romance novels from all the gals here, you will be hooked... I mean, seriously -- look at those covers on the sidebar. Who can resist??? LOL We'll have to work on converting you, LOL.

But I still appreciate a devoted reader. *G*

Sam

edited to add: never mind -- just thought of two -- though they share an actor. In The Pretender, Jeff Donovan and Michael T Wiess are brothers (and what a pair they make, yum...), and then in Burn Notice, Jeff Donovan also has a brother, though he hasn't been on the show this season all that much. He didn't do much for me. He was a good character, but the brother dynamics were still interesting, since JD plays Michael Westen, and the other actor plays his younger, irresponsible brother, and a lot of their rather troubled past figures in to their relationship, as far as they took it on the show, anyway...

I'm not going to admit which Brother Billy I thought you meant before I read your message. It's too embarrassing.

I haven't seen Six Feet Under. It came and went during my TV-Free period. I do love a man who needs therapy, though. I think that's part of why I like Dean Winchester so much. He's totally screwed and clearly going to be unable to ever live a normal life...except, maybe, if I helped him work through his issues. ;-)

You brought up another wonderful thing about fictional brothers. They're fictional! We can imagine all sorts of rescue fantasies (both rescuing and being rescued) because it's all made up. Heather, you've obviously made an excellent choice of a non-therapy needing real life husband, so I say continue with the unstable fictional men at will. :-)

I'm with you in my ability to forgive many a flaw in favor of interesting. Intelligent and artistic on top of that = irresistible to me. ;-)

Sam--you and I should always share brothers. We'd never have an issue with wanting the same one. ;-)

Nathan and Colin are two of my favorite names. I may have to look them up!

You and Sam can figure out what to do about Phillip. I'll continue to monopolize Cameron!

I don't watch Heroes, but isn't the guy who played Jess on the Gilmore Girls one of those brothers? (Milo?) I had quite a thing for Jess. Love those intellectual bad boys. ;-)

Wow--your family dynamics must have been on a serious roller coaster there for a while! Glad the marriage is still going strong!

Ah, Jess.

My sister has a permanent spot on her Tivo for Jess and Rory's first kiss at the gas station. I've watched that particular television moment a lot and, somehow, it doesn't get old. :-)