Serendipity Read Online Free PDF Page A

closed her eyes and shook her head. “The clothes belonged to Faith Moreland.”
    â€œI know. Faith Harrington preferred—”
    â€œHer cheerleading uniform?” She tried for a laugh.
    Kate wasn’t buying. “No. Funky jeans. Denim jackets. Anything she could get past her mother and still like for herself.”
    Faith swallowed hard. “I lost myself somewhere,” she admitted.
    â€œBut you came back to find her. You told me as much. Otherwise I wouldn’t have said anything, but I know this isn’t you .”
    Kate was right. Faith couldn’t expect anyone in town to welcome her if she was presenting herself as someone above them. Someone who thought they were better than the average person. Someone who still lived in the house on the hill.
    â€œAre you mad?” Kate asked.
    â€œNot at you.” Faith pulled her friend into a long hug. She was mad at Faith, the girl she used to be, for allowing herself to change, to become someone she didn’t recognize and no longer liked.
    She’d told herself she was coming back to Serendipity to find herself. Apparently she’d have to dig deeper than she’d ever imagined.
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    Ethan sat down at his desk, one of the few pieces of furniture he’d purchased and moved into the house right away. That and a bed. Shows where my priorities lie, he thought wryly. He liked the dark wood paneling in this room. Besides, it was the only place in the house without oppressive ornate wallpaper crowding him and making him uncomfortable.
    He kicked off his shoes and prepared to look over the government paperwork for upcoming contracts, but he couldn’t concentrate on business. Couldn’t see the papers in front of his face. Couldn’t think or visualize anything except Faith Harrington.
    She hadn’t been dressed for summer, no visible skin or body parts for him to drool over, and yet he’d been drawn to her in so many ways he couldn’t begin to count them all. Their brief shared past. The road not taken if she’d just said yes all those years ago. Her unexpected wit. The brief glimpses of a sadness he could relate to. And the sexual attraction that had only grown stronger over time.
    Then there was the fact that he was sitting here in her old family home, which was now his empty house. He’d bought the place expecting to feel a strong sense of satisfaction when he’d moved in here. Bad boy made good or some such cliché. Instead, he’d discovered he owned an echoing mansion.
    Reminding himself he’d come here for family, he thought about approaching his brothers again. Nash, a lawyer, had purchased a town house on the edge of town; and Dare, a cop, was living with Nash until he finished renovations on an old house he’d bought and was working on in his spare time. His brothers were close; he was the outsider.
    Self-imposed and self-created, he knew. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone and called Nash at the office—Ethan didn’t have his home number and it was unlisted. He hoped they could meet somewhere on neutral ground. Dinner, maybe.
    Luckily, his brother answered the phone himself. “Nash Barron speaking.”
    Ethan cleared his throat. “Nash, it’s Ethan.”
    â€œNot interested,” his brother said, ice in his voice.
    Ethan gripped the phone harder. “Just give me a chance . . .”
    â€œYou had yours ten years ago,” Nash said, and hung up in his ear.
    Ethan winced. No way was he calling Dare right now. Maybe tomorrow, when the rejection wasn’t as fresh. He balled up a sheet of paper with old useless notes and tossed it into the trash across from the desk.
    He missed.
    â€œMake sure you pick up after yourself,” his housekeeper said, poking her head into the room.
    The woman had eyes everywhere.
    â€œAnd Mr. Ethan, didn’t I tell you to take your shoes off before you come into the house?”
    If any of his