Ladd Fortune Read Online Free PDF Page A

everything he was worth. It’d prove a lot
cleaner than sparring with Delaney. Was she still as hot and
hellacious as he remembered?
    He chuckled. Time to find out up close
and personal.
     
    Jeremiah navigated the steep, narrow
trail, carefully climbing over jagged rocks and exposed roots. He
slipped on a wet patch of clay and cursed under his breath.
Grabbing a gnarled root for an assist, Jeremiah hauled himself up
another few feet higher. At this rate, his new ostrich boots would
be destroyed by the time he reached Delaney’s cabin.
    Make that her mother’s
cabin, the one his father built so she could evade the wrong end of
a belt. Her father’s. Grandpa Ladd had been a hard-drinking man
with a temper to match. He’d whip off his belt for as little as a
cross word, smacking his boys as easily as he swatted flies. It’s
no wonder Ernie and Albert never amounted to much. Their father set
the bar out of their reach, then stomped them into the mud when
they failed to achieve. But that didn’t give them the right to take
it out on their own boys. It wasn’t their fault life stunk like rot on a
carcass for Ernie and Albert. They could have left, same as he did.
But they didn’t. Neither one. They stayed, then took out their
miserable hate on him, Billy and Robby.
    Reaching the top, Jeremiah
paused, more winded than he expected to be. Glancing at the tiny
wooden structure, the basic four walls and porch that had been
etched in his memory, he inhaled deeply. The scent of evergreen and
laurel and oak permeated his being, transported him back to days
spent running through the forest, sneaking behind the cabin,
crouching in the brush to evade detection by Delaney. Visions of
Aunt Susannah flooded him. Smiling, sweeping her porch, she waved.
Jeremiah almost raised a hand in return. Delaney and he had run
circles around this place. They played hide and seek, cops and
robbers, war—whatever they wanted, Aunt Susannah let them
play. Kids were meant to be
kids , she’d tell them. Spare the rod and
love the child had been her motto. He had longed to live with her,
hide out, like she had, and live without fear of ever being beaten
again.
    But life didn’t work that way. Life
sought you out and found you without fail. Like Jeremiah’s games of
hide and seek in the woods with Delaney, one could only stay hidden
for so long. Then the night critters came to call and the fun
ended. That was how life worked.
    Jeremiah breathed in, filling his lungs
with fresh air, his mind and spirit with hope. Sometimes you caught
a break. The possibility of gaining title to Ladd Springs had come
at a perfect time for him. He owed money and a lot of it, but once
he owned this property, the money he could gain from selling it
would pay his debt, plus a truckload extra. He smiled inwardly. And
he and Loretta could surely burn through money.
    Jeremiah pulled his body
erect and stood tall. Catching glimpse of movement inside the
cabin, he swelled with pleasure. Delaney was home. Knock, knock, guess who ? None other than your old pal,
Jeremiah . With a renewed sense of purpose,
he approached the cabin.
     
    The sharp knock on the door stopped
Delaney’s heart. She flashed to it, then to Nick and Malcolm.
Overwhelmed by the thwacking in her chest, she couldn’t move.
Couldn’t breathe. The tall figure visible through the etched glass
was too familiar. Apprehension iced her blood.
    Jeremiah.
    Nick strode over to the door, checking
with Malcolm as he did so, as though silently coordinating their
battle plan. Delaney was struck by their communication. Constantly
conferring, it felt like the two men shared brain cells, spoke in
terms of ESP.
    But she was grateful. At the moment,
two defenders felt better than one.
    Nick opened the door and her nerves
caught. Taking up nearly the entire space stood Jeremiah Ladd.
Taller than she remembered, his blond hair had turned sandy-brown.
Cut in layers, it was cropped short around his face. While his jaw
was set in