Stand-In Father (Intimate Moments) Read Online Free PDF

for now. One day, though, he’d hopefully be able to do those things again, and more. It was high time he resumed his life at full tilt. Past time.
    Rising, he walked to the bank of windows and stared out at puffy white clouds. A Santa Ana was in the making, bringing hot, dry winds and unseasonably warm weather for late April. There were a few hardy souls in the water upshore, probably tourists. Except for a few surfers, the locals rarely wandered into cold ocean water even though the air temperature hovered around eighty.
    Surfing. Something else he’d enjoyed once upon a time.
    Alex rolled his shoulders, then patted his hard, flat stomach. His twice-daily walks that had gradually turned into jogs along the beach had paid off. He’d regained the weight he’d lost and was lean and trim. The scar had faded to a pinkish hue, no longer an angry red. He took his medications religiously and hadn’t experienced any of the side effects of bloating and increased hair growth he’d been warned of, not so far anyway. He wasn’t restricted to a special diet, nor did he feel he should be hampered by Benson’s limitations after all this time.
    In other words, he was about as healthy as he would ever be and it was time to stop acting like an invalid. And time to look into something that bothered him. A lot.
    Turning, Alex strolled back to his desk and picked up the newspaper article he’d been reading. A parcel of land had become available for possible development either as a residential or a commercial building site. It was his job to scout out such parcels and ascertain if any would meet the requirements of Shephard Construction. The fact that this land was located in a small city twenty miles from Los Angeles made it appealing since Ron didn’t like to acquire too far from home base. But that wasn’t its greatest appeal.
    The fact that the city was Twin Oaks was.
    Twin Oaks where Neal Delaney had lived and died almost a year ago. The city where Neal’s family presumably still lived. The town where Delaney’s Bed & Breakfast was located.
    Obviously, Alex needed a place to stay while scouting locations for his company. Most likely there were hotels and motels in and around Twin Oaks. But on the trips when he stayed for a week or so, he tried to book a room at places that had a cozy, home atmosphere. He’d never liked motel chains or formal hotels. A B and B would be perfect.
    Sitting down, Alex sighed. Who was he kidding? The site inspection was a secondary reason for going. For months, as he’d recuperated at home and even after he’d returned to the office, not a day had gone by that he hadn’t thought of the Delaneys. He wasn’t sure what he hoped to accomplish by visiting Twin Oaks, but he knew he had to go. He had to find some sort of closure to this whole thing before he went stark raving mad.
    Both his father and Mitch would think he’d gone around the bend if he told them his plans. So he simply wouldn’t, saying only that he planned to drive up the coast on a scouting expedition and he’d check in from time to time. The two men had fallen into the habit of humoring him since his surgery, and while it often annoyed him, today he would use it.
    Alex studied his calendar a moment, then picked up the phone, checked with Information and dialed the number before he could change his mind.
    When he hung up four minutes later, he was frowning. The voice at the other end had been female with a definite hint of Spanish. A name like Megan Delaney didn’t sound Spanish. Of course, she could have sold the business by now, added the check to her insurance money and relocated to any number of places.
    He should have asked for her directly, he thought, scowling at the phone. But what would he have said if she’d asked where he got her name? Maybe the woman was only the desk clerk. Oh well, it was only a two-hour drive. He’d made an open-ended reservation, so if the Delaneys were gone, he’d check out the parcel of land,