Bring Him Home Read Online Free PDF

he countered. “Though God knows you need to.”
    She concentrated on digging a spoon into the creamy filling.
    Nate wanted to kick himself. “Sorry. I can’t see a slender woman now without worrying she’s got an eating disorder.”
    Claire glanced at his tray. “Give me your mint chocolate and I’ll forgive you.”
    He surrendered it, holding on to the silver wrapper until she looked at him. “You’re still beautiful, Claire,” he said awkwardly.
    She shrugged as if to say it wasn’t important now, and Nate changed the subject. “If you’re going to be a skipper you must have renewed your qualification?”
    “Yes, I’m certified again. Do you remember Dad’s fishing partner, Uncle Dave in Northland? Lewis and I holidayed with him and Aunt Sally last Christmas and I skippered on his charter to bring my hours up.”
    “So Lewis is keen to be involved?”
    “Heck, no!” She gave that deep-throated chuckle that always made Nate smile because it came from such a slight frame. “He already thinks I’m a slave driver for making him clean his room occasionally, let alone swab decks and handle bait. No, Lewis is concentrating on improving his grades.”
    “He’s having problems with his grades?” The kid had always done so well in school.
    “His old friends placed a low value on education— they decided it was cooler to skip classes. But the headmistress of his new private school is confident that between us, we’ve got him back on track with his studies.”
    She’d put down her spoon. Casually, Nate said, “How’s the cheesecake?”
    Claire refocused on her plate. “Excellent.” She picked up her spoon again. “So there’s no point regretting the swap now.”
    “Did you apply to the SAS trust for Lewis’s school fees?” The unit had a support system for bereaved families.
    “I’ll see how it goes,” she said vaguely.
    Nate frowned. “That’s what the trust’s for, Claire.”
    “And I’ll get them involved if I have to,” she said with finality.
    Claire finished his dessert, and shot him a sidelong glance as she peeled the plastic off the cheese. “You probably wouldn’t recognize Lewis, he’s grown so tall over the last year. I have a few photos on my phone.”
    Resisting the urge to tell her that trying to draw him into the family circle wouldn’t work, Nate accepted her cell. For a moment he didn’t recognize the gangly youth standing next to her in the picture. “He’s as tall as you.” The child had been replaced by a teenager, with the half smile of someone embroiled in the desperate battle between cool and shy. His blond hair was Claire’s, but he had his dad’s hazel eyes. Nate couldn’t meet them.
    “It was taken at Dan and Jo’s wedding,” she said. “There are a few shots there. Flick through,” she invited.
    He did so reluctantly. Jo was the picture of a radiant bride; her groom a bedraggled, bruised mess with a beaming smile.
    “What the hell?”
    “Jo had Dan dropped in the wilderness with twenty-four hours to get to the wedding.” Claire munched her crackers. “She wanted to convince him of her faith in him. I don’t entirely understand her logic, but Dan did, so that’s all that matters. He’d been beating himself up about not being with you guys through the ambush. But he’s better now.”
    And just like that she’d tricked him into caring. Why wasn’t I told Dan was in trouble? Biting back the question, Nate blanked his expression and returned the cell.
    Because he’d never asked.
    “You were missed at the wedding, Nate,” she said. “You and Jules.”
    Lee’s fiancée. Searchers had found their missing gunner’s remains the next day, spread-eagle over a boulder. The insurgents had packed explosives under his corpse and the approach of the retrieval crew detonated a trip wire. Two more men died. There was nothing to retrieve of Lee except one of his boots, found a few meters away. One of the local allies picked up a fingertip, which