A Foreman's Unplanned Bride by Blythe Carver

Author:Blythe Carver [Carver, Blythe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BCP

13

Lewis changed into a clean shirt before going downstairs, the trunks in their respective rooms. In spite of what he knew was coming, the sound of so many energetic voices echoing through the house brought a smile.

It had been quiet there for too long. Empty, lonely. A shell.

He hung around a bit, lingering in the background, hoping to get a sense of these women. One thing he’d learned in his years of living with their father was how to appeal to a person on their level. The less he’d expected of Richard, the better. He’d taught himself to require little and expect even less.

But this was different. This was a group of strangers who for some strange reason felt the house belonged to them and he was the intruder. As if life had waited for them as the house itself had. Like nothing had changed inside or out.

He needed to know who he was dealing with.

Holly was easiest to spot. She seemed short-tempered, though it could’ve been fatigue after a long journey. He vaguely remembered Molly saying she worked as a teacher. He hoped she showed the kids more patience than she’d shown so far.

Rachel seemed clever. Sharp. Not much escaped her. She ran gloved fingertips over the surfaces of the furniture in the parlor, expecting it to be coated in dust. He would never tell any of them how Molly had worked herself into a frenzy, cleaning and dusting, and polishing.

Phoebe kept glancing his way. Studying him. It was unnerving. Really, she might have been the prettiest of all the sisters, but he’d never been overly fond of women who threw themselves at men. They always seemed to have another meaning behind their words and actions. Scheming. Maybe she wasn’t that sort of girl, but time would tell. He wanted to give her credit and let her prove otherwise.

Cate, of course, thought it was the most romantic notion she’d ever heard of, a man leaving a house sitting exactly as it was when his wife left him. “And he kept it this way, in case we came back. We would have the home we left when we were little girls, just the way it had always been.”

“All right, Cate,” Molly chided softly from the sofa. She’d sat and observed as her sisters spun through the room, like the still spot in the center of a cyclone. “I know you were too young to remember, and I hate to be the one to destroy your romantic notions, but I don’t think our father saw it that way. I think he just didn’t want to bother himself with the trouble it would take to renovate rooms he had no plans to live in.”

“You have no soul.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lewis was roughly a half-second from stepping back from the doorway and running from the house before something exploded, but Molly spotted him too soon. “You would agree with me, I presume.”

Eight eyes turned his way. Eight nearly identical grey eyes.

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