touched his arm lightly and offered a comforting smile. Landry gazed into her eyes, then wordlessly held out his plate. “My mom used to look at me like that, when she wanted me to do something I didn’t want to do,” he muttered beneath his breath.
Which was as close as they were going to get to verbal capitulation, Brooke thought, as she served him a slice of Hawaiian pizza. “You have to eat,” she said, using every ounce of motherly persuasion in her arsenal. “Otherwise, you’re only going to feel worse.”
Landry exhaled, bent his head over his plate, took a bite. Then another … and another.
Nate asked Cole how summer camp was going. Smiling, he launched into an account of everything he had done in the first two weeks. Brooke’s pride in her son’s outgoing nature and accomplished social skills was tempered by her concern for Landry. The orphaned child was so out of his depth here. Worse, she wasn’t sure Nate had the tools to reach him.
“Perhaps your attorney had a point,” she said half an hour later, when the two boys had gone outside to hit some tennis balls around the sport court behind the swimming pool. She cleared the table while Nate put the leftover pizza away. “Maybe you should slow this process down a bit, have Landry get to know you better first.”
“And put him where? Jessalyn’s heart is failing. She’s moving into a retirement village with round-the-clock nursing care tomorrow.”
“She can’t put it off even a short while or move in here with him temporarily?”
“I’ve already suggested both. It is Jessalyn’s opinion that Landry won’t bond with me or anyone else unless there’s no other option. She does think that he’ll enjoy academic camp. Apparently, he’s been extremely bored since school let out for the summer, and he’s as interested in computers and technology as Cole is.” Nate paused. “So I’ll work on getting that set up first thing tomorrow. In the meantime, I have to figure out what to do about the sleeping arrangements tonight.”
“What do you mean?” Brooke asked.
“Initially, I thought I would just put Landry in one of the guest rooms, and have you and Cole bunk in the caretaker’s cottage. Now I’m thinking it might be better to have you all stay in the main house this evening.”
“Or we could simply go home and come back tomorrow,” she offered hopefully.
Nate’s glance narrowed. “I don’t think Landry would like that.”
She sighed. “Probably not.”
Nate stepped closer.
She noticed the evening beard darkening his jaw. It lent a rugged masculinity to his already handsome features. Irritated to find herself attracted to him—again—she stepped back. She had a job to do here. One that did not involve lusting after the boss …
Oblivious to the desirous nature of her thoughts, Nate looked into Brooke’s eyes. “Landry’s bonding with you.”
She felt drawn to him, too. Landry needed a mom in his life again. So much so that he had immediately latched onto her.
But that was no solution, Brooke realized sadly.
She fought getting any more emotionally involved in a situation that was not hers to fix. She was trying to bring balance to her life, not more conflict. “He needs to bond with you, Nate.”
“And he will … over time,” Nate concurred calmly.
A little irked to see him treating this like just another life challenge, when it was so much more than that, Brooke murmured, “Never met a target you couldn’t charm?”
His persuasive smile faded, and with an understanding that seemed to go soul-deep, he murmured, “I never wanted to be in a situation where I had no family.”
But here he was, Brooke thought, unmarried and childless—until today, anyway.
“And I’m certain Landry doesn’t want to be in that situation, either.” Nate paused, before finishing resolutely, “When he realizes we can help each other, he’ll come around.”
Brooke hoped so. Otherwise, all four of them were in for a bumpy ride.
“PSSSST, MOM! Are you still awake?”
Her heart jumping at the urgency of the whisper, Brooke sat up in bed. “Cole?”
The guest room door eased open. Seconds later, Cole and Landry tiptoed in. Both were barefoot, clad in cotton pajama pants and T-shirts. Cole’s were stylish and vibrant: Landry’s were faded and on the verge of being too small.
Promising herself she would get Nate to take care of the clothes issue for Landry as soon as possible, Brooke turned on the bedside lamp. “Why aren’t you two asleep?”
Cole perched on the foot of her bed, then signaled for Landry to do the same. The boy came around to the other side.
It seemed being in the same boat had forged a bond between the two, Brooke noted. Realizing a first tentative step toward Landry’s future had been made, she smiled. Maybe Nate was smarter about all this than she had realized ….
“Because the place is too big and too quiet.” Hands clenched nervously, Landry sat down, too.
“It feels like we’re in a hotel—only we’re the only ones here,” Cole acknowledged with a comically exaggerated shiver. “Which is kind of spooky if you think about it too much.”
Ten thousand square feet of space was overwhelming, Brooke agreed. Especially the way the residence was decorated now, with a postmodern edge and minimal furnishings. The only television was in the master bedroom, where Nate was sleeping, so she couldn’t even offer that as a distraction.
“You boys have a big day tomorrow.” Both would be at summer camp all day. “I’ve got a lot on my schedule, too.”
“Can we hang out here for a while?” Cole asked.
Landry’s stomach grumbled loudly.
Suddenly, the mom in her kicked in, and Brooke knew what was really keeping them awake. “You guys wait here,” she told them. “I’ll be right back.”
NATE HAD JUST CLIMBED into bed when he heard the soft sound of footsteps in the hallway.
He sat up, listening. It wasn’t his imagination. That last creak had been the back stairs! He clamped down on an oath. Certain Landry was running away again, Nate flung back the covers and padded soundlessly down the hall, in the direction of the escape route.
But it wasn’t Landry he found standing in the bright light of the kitchen—it was Brooke.
Clad in a snug-fitting tank top and yoga pants, her brown hair tousled, she was standing at one of the two big stainless steel refrigerators, staring thoughtfully at the contents.
“I know,” Nate said. “I’ve got a little bit of everything in there.”
She shot him a look over her shoulder, as at ease in his home as he wanted her to be. “And here I didn’t imagine you could cook,” she drawled.
