The Playboy by Carly Phillips

Author:Carly Phillips [PHILLIPS, CARLY]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: FIC027020
ISBN: 9780759528185
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2007-05-03T16:00:00+00:00

By the time he drove up to Kendall’s house, Rick knew she must be frantic. His hunch proved right when Hannah stomped up the driveway and Kendall flung open the door and pulled her sister into a huge hug of obvious relief.

To Rick’s frustration and dismay, Hannah didn’t return the gesture. Her arms remained stiff at her sides.

“I was worried sick,” Kendall said, stepping back. “You could have gotten yourself killed or killed someone else.” Her voice shook as she spoke.

“Well I didn’t.”

Rick stood behind Hannah, folded his arms over his chest, and waited. When the young girl remained stubbornly silent, he decided to step in. “Anything else?” he asked Hannah.

“I’m sorry,” she said begrudgingly.

Kendall sighed. “I want to believe you. And we’re going to have to set some ground rules, but if you promise not to do anything like this again, talking can wait and you can get some sleep.”

“I’m not grounded?” Hannah asked warily.

“Not this time.”

In Kendall’s eyes, he saw her struggle to remain stern yet somehow let her sister know she cared.

“You’re not going to send me away?” Hannah bit down on her lip, looking more like that lost child than the defiant kid.

Once again Rick had a hunch they’d just been given access to the place where Hannah’s deepest fears resided, and Kendall must have sensed that too. Her eyebrows knit tightly and tension pulled at her jaw. “I’m here for the summer and so are you,” Kendall said.

Rick cringed. Kendall’s words might be the best she could come up with at the moment, but no way would they satisfy Hannah any more than they satisfied him.

Sure enough, the young girl turned and ran for her room. The sound of the door slamming followed soon after. Kendall flinched at the noise before she turned to Rick. “Thank you.”

To hell with distance. He held out his arms and she willingly went into them.

“I’m no good as a parent,” she said, shoulders shaking.

And she shouldn’t have to be. That job rightly belonged to Kendall’s mother and father. But then life rarely doled out what was fair. “Don’t sell yourself short. I think she just doesn’t trust anyone right now.”

“Especially me. She’s angry and I feel so bad that I let her down.”

He smoothed his hand over the back of her hair. “You’ll just have to earn her trust.”

“How?”

By taking her in and giving her a home, Rick thought. By staying in one place and providing the stability neither of them ever had. But it wasn’t his place to tell Kendall what he thought she ought to do. What he wanted her to do. Those were conclusions she’d have to come to on her own.

“Just be there for her.” He offered the best advice he could.

She tilted her head back. “And you’ll be there for me?” She shook her head. “Forget it. I had no right to ask that.”

He tipped her chin upward with his hand. “No can do. You’re admitting you need me.” And he had a weakness for females in need.

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