LITMIR.BIZ

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they were about. Obviously, Earl Haynes wasn’t anyone’s favorite person. Were they upset because of her?

      Jordan sat with his wife on his lap. He played with her fingers. “What do you do, Nick?”

      The panic was instantaneous. Hannah opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say. Nick didn’t have any such hesitation.

      “I’m in real estate. I just finished up a project developing some residential houses on a cliff by Newport.”

      “How long have you two known each other?” Louise asked.

      Nick slid his fingers down Hannah’s back, then picked up the hand resting on his thigh. He brought it to his mouth and kissed the back. Had she been standing, the moist heat from his mouth would have driven her to her knees. Damn the man for taking advantage of the situation.

      “The time has gone by so quickly,” he said. “It feels like it was only yesterday when we had our first conversation.”

      She wanted to slap him. She wanted to scream. She wanted to disappear and never be heard from again. He held her hand loosely, circling her palm with his thumb. If she protested, everyone would know something was wrong. No doubt Nick had worked that out, too.

      “It was about five years ago,” he said at last

      “How did you meet?” one of the wives asked. Hannah wasn’t sure, but she thought her name might be Elizabeth. She had medium brown hair and pretty eyes.

      Nick smiled at Hannah. “Do you want to tell the story, darling?”

      At this moment in time, she could barely remember where she was, let alone come up with some tall tale about their meeting. “You do it so much better,” she murmured. “Go ahead.”

      The slight smile warned her he was about to pay her back for not wanting to share personal information on the drive north. She sent up a quick prayer that it wasn’t too awful.

      “We met on a cruise. Actually, we were in port at the time, St. Thomas,” he began.

      Someone sighed. Hannah breathed a sigh of relief.

      “It was very romantic,” he continued. “The sea, the sand, Hannah throwing up in the bushes.”

      She straightened and glared at him. His smile was so sweet. He was loving every minute of this torture.

      “I know you don’t like me to tell the story, honey, but this is family. They can handle it.” He glanced at her brothers. “Hannah’s not much of a drinker. A couple of those umbrella drinks and she’s under the table. Or in this case, over the bushes.”

      Hannah could feel everyone’s attention on them. A heated flush started to crawl up her cheeks.

      “I took her back to the ship and took care of her.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “For me, it was love at first sight. Hannah didn’t see it that way. She resisted me, but in the end I wore her down.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Hannah doesn’t trust easily, but she was worth the effort.”

      A couple of the women sighed. “That is so romantic,” said Jill, who was obviously nine months pregnant. “I know it’s just the hormones, but I think I’m going to cry.” She sniffed loudly.

      Kyle’s wife—Hannah wasn’t sure of her name—handed her a tissue from her pocket. “We should all have romantic stories to tell.”

      “Our story is romantic, Sandy,” Kyle said. “At least I think it is.”

      Sandy laughed. “You go on thinking that,” she teased. “No one is going to tell you differently.”

      Hannah listened to the banter. She was still stunned by Nick’s story. Everything had been a complete fabrication until the end. She really didn’t trust anyone easily. How had he figured that out?

      The conversation died down and Hannah could see they were in for another round of questions. Rather than face that, she tried to distract them. “There are a lot of children here,” she said. “You like large families.”

      Craig rubbed his wife’s swollen belly. “We seem to be a fertile group.”

      Hannah had to agree with that. It’s a good thing she’d never played fast and loose with birth control.

      “You doing all right, honey?” Louise asked.

      “I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed.”

      “If it gets to be too much, remember you can always duck outside. They’ll understand.”

      Hannah looked at the woman who had given birth to her. She was filled with questions. Why had she sent her child away? What were the circumstances around her pregnancy? Did Earl Haynes know he had a daughter?

      There were even more questions, but she knew this was neither the time nor the place. It was too public. She was going to be around for a couple of weeks. She and Louise would have plenty of chances to talk alone.

      Louise clapped her hands together. “What have I been thinking? I’ll bet the two of you drove straight through, didn’t you? Did you even stop for dinner?”

      “Not exactly,” Hannah said.

      “You must be hungry.”

      “No, we’re not—”

      “I’m starved,” Nick interrupted cheerfully.

      Louise stood up. “Come with me,” she said firmly.

      “There are plenty of leftovers. We had a potluck, so you’ll have a wide choice. Fortunately, all the boys married women who are great cooks.”

      Hannah found herself standing up and following Louise. Nick was right behind her, as was the rest of the family. She held in a whimper. It had been bad enough that everyone wanted to sit around and talk to them. Now they were going to have an audience while they ate dinner.

      The kitchen was as large and well proportioned as the living room. A huge greenhouse window stretched out above the sink. The cabinets were bleached oak, the countertops alternating white and cobalt blue tiles. One end of the center island held a cooktop, while at the other was an eating area with tall bar stools.

      “Sit here,” Louise said, ushering them toward the island. “I’ll have everything put together in a minute.”

      A couple of older kids had followed the adults in, hoping for extra dessert, but they were quickly shooed upstairs.

      Louise checked the contents of the extrawide refrigerator on the wall at right angles to the sink. “We’ve got roast beef, some ham, salads, vegetables, bread, baked beans. Anything you don’t like?”

      “I’m easy,” Nick said, sliding onto a stool.

      Hannah settled next to him. “Anything is fine. We appreciate this. You don’t have to go to any trouble.”

      Louise paused and smiled at her. “You’re my baby girl. Nothing is too much trouble.”

      She moved quickly around the kitchen, familiar with the layout. Holly, who Hannah had figured out was married to Jordan, helped. Apparently, this was their house. In less than five minutes, steaming plates were removed from the microwave, cold salad was heaped into bowls, and Elizabeth—or was it Sandy?—offered wine.

      Hannah shuddered at the thought of liquor. She hadn’t completely recovered from the previous night. Louise poured ice water for her and a beer for Nick. Just as Hannah wondered if everyone was going to stand there watching her and Nick eat, Louise said, “Baseball.”

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