Free Sea Swept by Nora Roberts Page A

I’m the only one here, supervising things.”
    “The three of us will go down as guardians,” Phillip pointed out. He poured a glass of iced tea and set it casually next to the hand Seth had fisted on the table. He imagined the boy’s throat would be burning dry right about now. “I checked with the lawyer after you called. The preliminary paperwork should go through by the end of the week. There’ll be a probationary period—regular home studies and meetings, evaluations. But unless there’s a serious objection, it doesn’t look like a problem.”
    “Spinelli’s a problem.” Cam refused to let the altercation spoil his appetite and reached for more chicken. “Classic do-gooder. Great legs, serious mind. I know she talked to the kid, but he’s not inclined to share their conversation, so I’ll share mine. She had doubts about my qualifications as guardian. Single man, no steady means of employment, no permanent residence.”
    “There are three of us.” Phillip frowned and poked at his slaw. A trickle of guilt was working through, and he didn’t care for it.
    “Which I pointed out. Miz Spinelli of the gorgeous Italian eyes countered with the sad fact that I happen to be the only one of the three of us actually living here with the kid. And it was tactfully implied that of the three of us I’m the least likely candidate for guardian. So I tossed out the idea of all of us living here.”
    “What do you mean living here?” Phillip dropped his fork. “I work in Baltimore. I’ve got a condo. How the hell am I supposed to live here and work there?”
    “That’ll be a problem,” Cam agreed. “Bigger one will be how you’ll fit all your clothes into that closet in your old room.”
    While Phillip tried to choke out a response, Ethan tapped a finger on the edge of the table. He thought of hissmall, and to him perfect, house. The quiet and solitude of it. And he saw the way Seth stared down at his plate with dark, baffled eyes. “How long you figure it would take?”
    “I don’t know.” Cam dragged both hands back through his hair. “Six months, maybe a year.”
    “A year.” All Phillip could do was close his eyes. “Jesus.”
    “You talk to the lawyer about it,” Cam suggested. “See what’s what. But we present a united front to Social Services or they’re going to pull him. And I’ve got to find work.”
    “Work.” Phillip’s misery dissolved in a grin. “You? Doing what? There aren’t any racetracks in St. Chris. And the Chesapeake, God bless her, sure ain’t the Med.”
    “I’ll find something. Steady doesn’t mean fancy. I’m not looking at something I’ll need an Armani suit for.”
    He was wrong, Cam realized. This damn business was going to spoil his appetite. “The way I figure it, Spinelli’s going to be back tomorrow, the next day at the latest. We have to hammer this out, and it has to look like we know what the hell we’re doing.”
    “I’ll take my vacation time early.” Phillip bid farewell to the two weeks he’d planned to spend in the Caribbean. “That buys us a couple of weeks. I can work with the lawyer, deal with the social worker.”
    “I’ll deal with her.” Cam smiled a little. “I liked the looks of her, and I ought to get some perks out of this. Of course, all this depends on what the kid said to her today.”
    “I told her I wanted to stay,” Seth mumbled. Tears were raw in his stomach. The food sat untouched on his plate. “Ray said I could. He said I could stay here. He said he’d fix it so I could.”
    “And we’re what’s left of him.” Cam waited until Seth lifted his gaze. “So we’ll fix it.”
    • • •
    L ATER, WHEN THE moon was up and the dark water was slashed by its luminous white beam, Phillip stood on the dock. The air was cold now, the damp wind carrying the raw edge of the winter that fought not to yield to spring.
    It suited his mood.
    There was a war raging inside him between conscience and ambition. In two short