Blackberry Summer by Raeanne Thayne

Author:Raeanne Thayne
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780373775934
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2011-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

Owen giggled and Riley thought how peaceful it was to be in this warm, delicious-smelling kitchen while the rain pattered against the window.

“I do not.”

“Okay, maybe only seven or eight.” He caught Macy’s eye and she grinned just like her brother.

“Just wash it off and put a bandage on it,” Owen said in an exasperated tone.

“All right, bossy. You must get that from your mom.”

“Hey!” Claire protested. “I’m not bossy. I just usually know what’s best.”

He smiled at that and risked a look at her, then regretted it when he found her watching his mouth again.

“Hey, Mom, did you know Chief McKnight used to be a bike cop?”

She cleared her throat. “I did. Alex is my best friend, remember? And Riley—Chief McKnight—is her brother. She has always kept me up-to-date on what he was doing on the Coast.”

Had she wondered about him over the years? The idea of her talking about him while he was gone made his shoulder blades itchy.

“What did she tell you about me?”

“That you were a good cop and that you sometimes did things you couldn’t talk about. Oh, and that you were shot and didn’t tell anyone in your family about it but your partner called and spilled the beans so they all played along like they didn’t know.”

“You got shot?” Owen asked, his eyes huge.

He frowned at Claire. “It was just a minor injury. I was back to work in only a few days. They seriously knew? Why didn’t anybody say anything to me?” he asked her.

“I guess they figured if you wanted to talk about it, you’d bring it up. Alex was all ready to head out to Oakland, but Angie talked her out of it.”

“Sisters can be a real pain in the…neck.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Owen said a tone of exaggerated misery, which made Macy glare at him.

“Hey, watch it,” she said.

“You think one sister is rough. Try having five, kid.”

“My worst nightmare!”

Riley laughed and stuck a large square bandage over the scrape, then rubbed the kid’s hair. “That should do it,” he said. “Now you’re ready to go take on a few more potholes. You might want to go change into clean clothes before you eat that delicious-smelling dinner your sister’s working so hard to fix.”

“Thanks. It didn’t even hurt.”

“Well, don’t forget, you’re still going to need those stitches.”

Owen grinned, then his eyes lit up. “Hey, you want to stay for dinner, if it’s okay with my mom? We always have tons of leftovers when we have spaghetti.”

The knife Claire was holding stilled, then flashed with renewed vigor, he noticed with interest.

“Thanks for the invitation but I’d better not. I’m sure you’ve got homework and your mom and Macy weren’t expecting company.”

“I did all my homework before I went over to the…” He stumbled. “Before I went to Robbie’s house. Mom, is it okay?”

Claire had a hint of color on her cheekbones and she didn’t meet his gaze. “Of course. Riley’s always welcome here. I’m sure he knows that. We owe him anyway for cleaning up after the windstorm the other day and for helping you home.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.