Driftwood Cottage Read Online Free PDF Page B

want todo?” she asked, then added gently, “Or that he won’t try at all?”
    Heather sat back with a heartfelt sigh. There it was, the undeniable truth. As smart as she knew her decision to move out and leave Connor had been, a part of her still desperately wanted him to fight to get her back. If he didn’t, the part of her heart that wasn’t already broken would finally shatter.
     
    Connor’s plan to take his rowboat out for the afternoon had pretty much gone up in smoke when he’d discovered Heather was now living in town and his son was hanging out with his grandfather.
    When little Mick tired of being outside with his cousins, Connor scooped him up and headed for the house. “I’ll make some sandwiches, Dad. Will you and the boys be up soon?”
    “A half hour,” Mick said. “Then we’re all going to take naps, right, boys?”
    Henry regarded him with a serious look that puckered his brow. “I don’t take naps anymore, Grandpa Mick.”
    “Me, either,” Davy chimed in.
    “Well, I do,” Mick said.
    “So does your cousin,” Connor told the boys. “If you’re not sleepy after lunch, I’ll play a game with you, okay?”
    “Henry’ll beat you,” Davy boasted of his older stepbrother. “He’s good at games.”
    Connor laughed. “Then I’ll need to be very careful which game I pick to play. I hold the record at some of them.”
    Mick shook his head. “Are you still that competitivekid who hated having anyone beat you at anything?” he asked Connor.
    “Sure am,” Connor replied, giving him a wink. “See you at the house.”
    An hour later Connor had fed the kids, then sent both his son and Mick off for naps before settling down in the den with Davy and Henry. Despite his protests, Davy fell asleep before he could even get the video system set up. Connor carried him upstairs, returned, then turned to Henry.
    “You sure you wouldn’t rather rest for a while?” he asked him.
    Henry regarded him eagerly. “I’d rather play,” he said at once. “Davy’s not much competition, and Grandpa Mick and Kevin don’t really understand how the game works.”
    Connor made a big show of sizing him up. “You any good?”
    “Really good,” Henry said in a rare show of confidence from a boy just starting to find his place in his new family.
    “Want to place a little bet on the outcome?” Connor taunted. “You win, I’ll take you into town for ice cream. I win, you treat.”
    “Don’t do it,” Kevin said, wandering in with a handful of cookies just in time to overhear. “Your uncle Connor cheats.”
    Connor turned on his brother indignantly. “I most certainly do not. If anyone cheats, it’s you, big brother.”
    “Since when?” Kevin said, snatching up the remote.
    Behind them Henry giggled. “You guys are crazy.”
    Kevin grinned at his stepson. “You are not the firstto notice that, my boy. How about you and me team up against this hotshot? I think we can take him.”
    Henry nodded eagerly. “Awesome!”
    “That doesn’t strike me as fair,” Connor said, “but bring it on.”
    An hour later, he’d destroyed the two of them. He regarded Kevin with satisfaction. “Who’s crying now? I see a double hot fudge sundae in my future.”
    “Okay, okay, we bow to your superior expertise,” Kevin said, winking at Henry. “Why don’t you run upstairs and see if Davy’s awake? We should probably get home.” He glanced at Connor. “I was supposed to take little Mick back to Heather, but I assume you’d rather do that yourself.” He studied him pointedly. “Or am I wrong?”
    “I’ll take him,” Connor said, his voice suddenly tight as he scowled at his brother. “So, you knew when you came to Baltimore the other night that Heather and little Mick were living here in town?”
    “Guilty,” Kevin said.
    “Yet you saw no need to mention it,” Connor said accusingly.
    “Hey, all of this is between the two of you. The rest of us are innocent bystanders.”
    “Innocent, my