A Case for Love Read Online Free PDF

company. The first to not get married.
    Did he really want that distinction? The outlook on spending the rest of his life alone was bleak, especially once all his peer-group siblings and cousins got married and had children and started pulling away from their closely bonded group.
    “What’s wrong?” Meredith asked when he drew up beside her.
    He shook himself from his dismal thoughts. “Nothing.” He started to give her a hug in greeting, but she’d been so touchy about that the last six months that he backed off a step. He walked around the vehicle with her to join Major and Jonathan, who’d already devolved into talking about sports.
    “I ran into an acquaintance of yours Friday night, Mere.” Forbes fell into step with his sister across Maggie and Errol’s front yard.
    “Oh, yeah? Who?” Meredith, whose high heels sank into the grass, slipped her hand through Forbes’s arm for support.
    He crooked his arm and slowed his pace. “Alaine Delacroix. She said you told her.” He inclined his head toward Major.
    Meredith shook her head, a wry smile on her face. “I’d be a horrible secret agent. She called me to tell me she had tickets to an art exhibit we’d been talking about, but the way she opened the conversation, I was sure she’d found out about the—about what happened.” She glanced at Jonathan, who paid no attention to her. “So I told her because I didn’t want to lie about it. It was only after I got off the phone that I realized I was ten times a fool—that it was my own guilty conscience that made me assume she knew.”
    Forbes chuckled and squeezed Meredith’s hand. “That was how Mom could always get you to confess when we were kids: pretend she already knew, and you spilled the whole thing. Of course, you weren’t usually the one who’d done anything wrong, so you never really had a reason to learn how to keep secrets.”
    “Yeah, well, don’t forget that I’m the one who spilled the beans about the surprise party on her fiftieth birthday. She’s always known how to push all my buttons.”
    “But things do seem better between the two of you since you had that talk with them a few months ago.”
    “After someone told them I was feeling taken for granted.” She swerved into him, causing him to momentarily lose his balance.
    “Only because I knew if I didn’t tell them, you never would. You’re the least assertive person in this family when it comes to them, and I’ve never been able to understand why.”
    “It’s just the way I am, I guess.” As soon as they reached the wide, wraparound front porch, Meredith squeezed his arm, then let go of him. She laughed when she looked up at him. “Forbes, I know you’ll never understand why anyone would have a hard time trying to control every single situation she’s involved in. Just accept that we have polar-opposite personalities and let it go at that.”
    He caught the edge of the storm door as it started to close behind Jonathan and Major.
    “So, what did you think of Alaine?” Meredith asked over her shoulder, passing him into the entry hall.
    “She’s more beautiful in person than on TV. She’s little, though. I always assumed she was your height.”
    Meredith’s smile morphed into an exasperated expression. “Other than her looks, what did you think?”
    Forbes made sure the glass door latched, schooling his expression before he turned to walk toward the back of the house with his sister. “She’s nice.”
    “Just nice?”
    “Yeah. She’s a nice person.”
    Disappointment filled Meredith’s light brown eyes. “So you wouldn’t be interested in going out with her?”
    “Why?” Realization dawned. “Is she the one you wanted to set me up with?”
    “Yeah—”
    He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “Remind me in the future to take you up on your blind-date offers.”
    “What?”
    “Alaine and I sat together at dinner Friday night. By the time dessert came, I asked her out.”
    Meredith beamed