Daring Dylan (The Billionaire Brotherhood Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

when it’s been a month since I’ve seen you.”
    Gracie
hugged the little woman whose fragile exterior hid the emotional strength and
sturdiness of Maine granite. She held onto the embrace longer than a casual
homecoming warranted. After she’d soaked up all the emotional reassurance she
could without alarming her grandmother, Gracie straightened and fielded the
questions.
    “No, I’m
alone. Sorry, I’m late. I got caught in the rain, had some car trouble, and had
to hitch a ride.”
    Over her
grandmother’s shoulder, Gracie glanced at her reflection in the mirrored
umbrella stand. She rubbed a finger over a black streak smudged across her
nose. “Darn. Grease from the car.” With an arm around Gran’s shoulders, Gracie
headed toward the kitchen, her favorite room in the house. “How’s Granddad
today?”
    “Feeling
guilty because you’ve had to come and help out and grumpy about being laid up
due to his own foolishness. He knew he shouldn’t have tried to paint the Colony
Room by himself, but Edgar called in sick that day and your grandfather didn’t
want to wait.”
    “That’s
Granddad, all over. Be back in a sec.” Dropping a quick kiss on Gran’s cheek,
Gracie ducked into the laundry room to change into a dry flannel shirt she found
hanging on a peg and a pair of warm gray socks she fished out of the dryer.
Running a comb through the Medusa curls did nothing to control the chaos. She
abandoned the task with a shrug. No one but Gran around anyway.
    Gracie
raised her voice over the gush of running water while she washed up. “Except
for the fact that he’s hurt, I’m glad I had an excuse to get out of Hartford
for a while. With two new pediatricians at the clinic, it wasn’t any trouble to
take a short leave.”
    “Probably
more trouble than you’re admitting, but I’m happy you’re here. It would’ve been
a challenge to get the place ready for the season’s first guests if you hadn’t
been able to come.”
    When Gracie
paused in the kitchen door, Gran turned away from the stove and fixed her with
a measuring eye. “Will Baxter be arriving tomorrow? Or later in the week?”
    “No.” She’d
hoped to avoid the subject of her ex-boyfriend a little longer. Retrieving dog
food from the cupboard, she filled MacDuff’s bowl. “He won’t be arriving at
all. Ever again.”
    “Is it over
between you? I’m sorry.” Gran’s hug made Gracie feel better than the pound of
Godiva chocolate she’d consumed in the past week. “Are you all right?”
    “I’m okay.”
She didn’t want too much sympathy or she’d dissolve into another futile puddle
of tears. “At first I was mad. And then sad, and now, like Granddad, I’m mostly
annoyed that I got hurt because of my own foolishness.”
    Gran shook
her head. “Loving someone isn’t foolish.”
    “No, but
loving someone who isn’t trustworthy is.” Gracie turned away to lift the lid on
the kettle of simmering clam chowder. “At least I’ve learned that lesson.”
    “Did you
really love him?” Gran scooted her over to stir the award-winning recipe. “The
times I saw you together, you coddled him more like he was a child or a patient
than your sweetheart. It seemed like he expected to be the center of your world
and his and everyone else’s, too.”
    “Hmmm.” His
monumental self-absorption was obvious now that Gran pointed it out. “I’ve
known for a while we weren’t right for each other, but I decided to wait and
break up after he finished his cardiac residency.” She grabbed utensils from a
drawer and set the oak table with nubby blue place mats and napkins. “Turns out
it was Clarice Bennett, one of the other cardiac residents, he wasn’t finished
with. The two-timing rat.”
    Gran rapped
the spoon against the rim of the pot with unnecessary force. She efficiently
ladled the thick chowder into pottery bowls Gracie’s mother had made many years
before. “You’re better off without the