Free Hunter's Bride and A Mother's Wish by Marta Perry Page B

on with his work. He wanted—He wasn’t sure what he wanted, and that was an odd feeling.
    Erasing the pain he’d seen in Chloe’s eyes might restore his balance. Then they could go back to their usual businesslike relationship, with no more delving beneath the surface to discover unexpected facets of each other. That would be far safer.
    Two figures sauntered down the lane. The smaller one stooped to pick up a shell, then skimmed it out across the water. Sammy and Theo, obviously home from school. They turned, saw him, and seemed to hesitate, as if his presence disturbed their usual routine.
    The yellow pup raced around the house, throwing himself at Sammy in an exuberant greeting. The boy dropped his knapsack and tussled with the puppy, then boy and dog raced toward him, with Theo following at a more sedate pace.
    â€œHey.” Sammy’s gaze fell on the plate of cookies. “Molasses. Bet my momma made those. She always makes them for guests.” He was obviously too polite to ask for one, but his eyes spoke for him.
    â€œYou’re right about that.” Luke slid the plate toward the boy. “I’m plenty full, but I don’t want to hurt your mother’s feelings by not eating these. You could do me a favor by taking some.”
    Sammy nodded solemnly. “I guess that would be okay.” He took a handful of cookies, then smiled. “Thank you, sir.” Clutching the cookies, he whistled to the dog and then charged inside, the wooden screen door banging behind him.
    Theo mounted the porch steps and leaned against the rail. “Sammy always acts like he hasn’t had a cookie in a week, but I happen to know Miranda put three in his lunch bag.”
    Luke tried to picture a childhood in this place, where someone put homemade cookies in your lunch bag and you came home to the same welcome every day. He was watching it, but he couldn’t quite believe in it. People didn’t live like this anymore, did they?
    Apparently the Caldwells did.
    He expected Theo to hurry off, as Sammy had, but instead he lingered. Something self-conscious in the boy’s manner made Luke look more closely at Chloe’s little brother.
    Theo had the height of his brothers, but his weight hadn’t caught up yet. He had the sun-bleached hair, too, falling on his forehead, and his father’s hazel eyes. But where the older man’s gaze was confident and unhurried, Theo had the eyes of a dreamer. A certain vulnerable something about his mouth reminded Luke of Chloe.
    The silence stretched uncomfortably long between them. “So, how’s school?” A stupid thing to say, probably, but he didn’t seem to have any common ground with the boy.
    Theo shrugged. “Okay, I guess, sir. Pretty boring, most of the time.”
    â€œI remember that.” He’d usually found ways of livening things up that probably would never occur to Theo, and Chloe certainly wouldn’t thank him for bringing them up. “What do you do after school? Any sports?”
    â€œNot this time of year.” The boy shifted uneasily against the railing. “Actually, I was thinking about getting an after-school job.”
    Luke was faintly surprised at that. “I thought they kept you pretty busy around here.” Certainly the rest of the Caldwells seemed occupied with the family business.
    â€œGuess they do.” A flush touched the boy’s high cheekbones. “A person wants to do something without his family once in a while. Didn’t you?”
    He hadn’t had a choice in the matter. “I guess so. What’s this ‘something’ you have in mind?”
    Theo looked at his scuffed sneakers. “There’s a job down at the yacht club. They’re pretty busy just now with lots of colleges having spring break. I could work there.”
    Luke pictured the glistening white boats he’d seen moored at the yacht club, imagining the kind of people who