Taking On Twins. Carolyn Zane

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ his throat a noisy clearing in hopes that he didn’t sound as screwed up as he felt. “Yeah. As far as I know.”

      Lucy sighed. “Hello? Guys? Remember me? Who is Annie?”

      “How long has it been since you two saw each other?” Rand asked his brother.

      “Not since college.” Wyatt passed a hand over his forehead and rubbed at the familiar ache that settled in his brow every time he thought of the life Annie led without him. Just speaking about her marriage turned him into a melancholy mess. “She got married and had a couple of kids. Twin boys, I hear.”

      “I’m gathering somebody named Annie has twin boys. Don’t feel like you owe me any explanation or anything. After all, I’m just standing here,” Lucy fumed.

      “Wasn’t her husband killed in an accident of some kind a few years back?” Rand asked.

      “Yeah. I thought you told me that.”

      Rand shrugged. “Can’t remember.”

      “Maybe it was Austin.” Unfortunately, Wyatt hadn’t learned of the accident that took her husband’s life until long after the funeral, and by then, his condolences seemed untimely. Misplaced. At least that was the excuse he used to explain away his fears of contacting Annie. “Anyway, as far as I know she hasn’t remarried.”

      With a moan, Lucy buried her face in her hands. “I’m invisible.”

      Rand laughed. “Lucy, honey, Annie was Wyatt’s first—” he arched a brow at Wyatt “—and only love.”

      Lucy peeped between her fingers. “You were in love once?”

      “You don’t need to sound so shocked.”

      “Excuse me? Mr. I-Don’t-Need-Nobody-Nohow-Never was once in love? Oh, baby. This is juicy.” She hooted, then her eyes narrowed and she gently probed his cheekbones with her fingertips. “And, by the little flush in your cheeks, may I deduce that she still has your heart?”

      Wyatt looked askance at Rand. “How do you put up with her meddling?”

      Rand laughed. “With Lucy, it’s an art form. Her talent at digging up dirt is one of the main reasons I fell in love with her.”

      “Aw, honey. You’re so sweet.” Lucy stepped into her husband’s arms and met his mouth for a solid kiss. Soon, happy moans were rumbling from their throats.

      Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Don’t you two have a room of your own?” he groused. For crying in the night. Sometimes they could be so obnoxious. Not to mention thoughtless. It wasn’t like he had anyone of his own to turn to when they skipped off to their room to do whatever came naturally to newlyweds.

      “Honey,” Lucy said as she nuzzled Rand’s neck, “why are you going to Keyhole? Don’t you think we should make Wyatt go? After all, he has more reasons to go than you do, don’t you think? Besides, I don’t want you to go. Stay with me. I’ll make it worth your while.”

      “I can’t think straight with you kissing my ear that way,” Rand groaned.

      “That’s it. Get out of here,” Wyatt ordered and, striding to the door, yanked it open.

      With one smooth move, Rand lifted Lucy and carried her to the hall.

      “Don’t worry, Wyatt,” Lucy called. “You can be back in time for Liza’s wedding. Bring a date back with you!”

      Their laughter echoed down the hall and into their suite. And then it was silent.

      Wyatt kicked off an insanely expensive pair of Italian leather shoes and, wiggling his toes, allowed his gaze to travel leisurely around his suite. Never—not even in his wildest dreams—would he ever have believed that he’d build a decent life for himself on this old planet. But he had.

      Thanks to the fact that Joe had been a foster child himself and remembered how it had felt to be taken in and loved when the people who’d brought him into this world had been unable. The fact that Wyatt hadn’t been in Prosperino for nearly five years, then could sit down at the table and pick up where he left off as easily as if it had been five minutes, proved that family was about far more than blood. It was about shared history. About caring. Love.

      As Wyatt leaned back into the pillows that were propped against the headboard, his thoughts moved to Annie.

      Always to Annie.

      Her family came from Keyhole. The same small town where his foster sister Emily had gone. Lord have mercy, what were the odds of that? Some astronomical number, he decided as he considered the bizarre coincidence.

      Keyhole, Wyoming. The quaint little village came to life in his minds’ eye. It had been years since he’d been there. To visit Annie. To meet the family. To mess up the best thing that had ever happened to him.

      His mind, like a runaway locomotive, churned and screamed with thoughts of Annie. He’d learned a long time ago that once he started thinking about her, he couldn’t stop. It made him miserable, left him sleepless. But there didn’t seem to be any cure. It was almost as if, after their first kiss, she’d become entwined with the ladder of his very DNA. Even after all these years, memories of her made his mouth go dry as the Mojave desert and his face feel the burn of his changing blood pressure. With a tortured groan, Wyatt shifted his position and covered his head with a pillow.

      Fool. Fool. Fool. The downy feathers couldn’t seem to drown out the incessant refrain.

      His eyes slid closed and he entertained a vision of Annie’s delightfully expressive face. She could have been a poster child for the musical that bore her name. Curly and carrot red, Annie always said that her hair was the bane of her existence. She wouldn’t believe that it had been one of the things that had first drawn Wyatt. That, and her clear ivory skin and fresh wholesome features. But the thing that he’d most loved were her amazing green eyes. Almond-shaped eyes that tilted slightly up and lent her otherwise all-American face an exotic look.

      Eyes that could see through to his soul.

      Wyatt pulled the pillow off his face and stared at the ceiling.

      The very first time he’d met Annie, ten years ago, they’d been working together in the dish room at one of Prosperino State College’s many cafeterias. A conveyor belt carried the dirty trays toward a giant dishwasher. Along the way, student workers would remove the silverware, the paper, and the glasses. Then the trays traveled to the garbage disposal where more student workers scraped the scraps and sprayed the dishes and loaded them into the mouth of the dishwasher. The machine would haul its load, in a never-ending car-wash style, to the other end where more workers would unload. It was a hot, dirty job, but it helped to pay the bills his scholarship wouldn’t cover.

      Wyatt’s job had been to load the dishwasher.

      Annie’s had been to make sure all the silverware was taken off the trays before they reached Wyatt.

      Her first day on the job she’d grown flustered as the trays came speeding by and, when a piece of silverware had jammed the garbage disposal for the third time, Wyatt had gotten mad. Turning off the belt, he’d marched down to the silverware station brandishing a mangled spoon.

      “What the СКАЧАТЬ