Forever a Hero by Linda Lael Miller

Author:Linda Lael Miller [Miller, Linda Lael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-03-21T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

THAT NIGHT AT SUPPER, Mace’s brothers were in rare form, mainly because Kelly was there, he supposed. They’d all gathered around the kitchen table, instead of the one in the dining room: Slater and Grace, Drake and Luce, Blythe and Red and Harry, plus young Ryder, Grace’s ex-husband’s boy, and three of his friends. Raine, Slater’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of his first child, Daisy, had joined them for dinner, although Daisy herself was at a friend’s place. Will was there, too, strapped into his high chair and gleefully plastering himself with mashed potatoes.

As usual, Slater and Drake brought up just about every dumb-ass thing Mace had ever done in his life, but he didn’t mind. Let them have their fun; he’d have plenty of chances to get back at them.

“So Mace here decides,” Drake said, “if he can’t have a pinto pony like the one he’s seen Little Joe Cartwright ride in all those reruns of Bonanza he used to watch, then he’ll improvise. So he got some house paint from one of the sheds and splattered a bunch of spots on Red’s old white mule, Jethro.”

“Took me the better part of a day to clean up poor ol’ Jethro,” Red lamented, but there was a twinkle in his eye.

“I was seven at the time,” Mace pointed out mildly.

Nobody remarked on this statement. Instead, Slater jumped in with, “How old were you when you tried to join the circus?”

Mace leveled a look at his brother. “That,” he said, “was Drake.”

Blythe broke in good-naturedly. “That’s enough,” she decreed. “Believe me, when it comes to telling embarrassing stories—about all of you—I’ll take the prize every time.”

Drake and Slater instantly subsided.

Mace grinned.

Kelly did, too. She was concentrating on Harry’s incomparable pasta, but he knew she’d taken in every word.

Eventually, the teenagers disappeared into the family room to watch a game on TV.

Will fell asleep in his mashed potatoes, and Slater lifted him from the high chair while Grace wiped the baby’s face and hands with a damp paper towel.

Once he’d been put to bed and the adults had gathered around the table once again, Drake resumed the conversation. “Speaking of embarrassing stories, I got a tongue-lashing from Dad after you broke his golf club because you thought it would make a great rudder for the sled so we could go down that slope he told us was too steep.”

“Yeah, but it worked pretty well,” Mace said defensively, since everyone at the table was laughing, even him. “I just needed to get the hang of it. I even let you sit in front.”

“So I could die first?” Drake said. “I appreciate your consideration. But let’s face it, Dad was right, we were wrong, and no one should ever have gone down that slope.” He grinned. “But you have to admit it was damned fun.”

Slater snorted in disgust. “I can’t believe you didn’t invite me.”

“Mr. Responsibility?” Mace said. “I don’t think so. You would’ve talked us out of it.”

“The hell I would.

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