Meant to Be Read Online Free Page A

lawyer and make partner, and Beth wanted Lucas to be happy. Which meant she wanted those things, too.
    “I see,” Joe said, returning attention to his dinner. “You’re made for each other.” The sarcasm was lost on no one. Lucas looked ready to argue but Beth quieted him with a hand on his arm. The meal proceeded in silence, animosity hanging in the air like the smell of saltwater that permeated the island.
    Lucas had mentioned Joe could be difficult, and though he’d phrased it as “Joe’s an asshole,” Beth assumed he was exaggerating. Siblings were always harsh on each other, or so she’d heard; being an only child meant she had no personal experience to go on. But it turned out Lucas wasn’t exaggerating in the least.
    Joe really was an asshole. Nothing like the nice guy she’d met on the ferry. Beth blamed the pheromones and her traitorous libido for missing the obvious. Too bad she hadn’t introduced herself as the gold-digging, blonde bimbo and put him in his place.
    Not that she’d ever put anyone in their place before, but Joe made her long to do so.
    For the rest of the meal, Patty and Tom directed their questions to Lucas, ignoring Joe and seemingly choosing not to return Beth to the line of fire. Which she appreciated, but it didn’t keep Mr. Cranky Pants from shooting her the occasional dirty look.
    She’d thought they might laugh about the whole ferry debacle someday, but based on her limited time with him so far, Beth now believed Joe Dempsey never laughed about anything.

    “You can’t let Joe bother you,” Patty said a short time later while she and Beth did the dishes.
    “Excuse me?”
    Patty rinsed another plate. “He’ll come around eventually.”
    Patty Dempsey was close to Beth in size, but that didn’t seem to matter when it came to ruling the men in her family. With short auburn hair and coffee-colored eyes, she was as quick to deliver a set-down as she was to offer a hug. The latter she’d offered to Beth upon arrival; then two hours later she greeted Lucas with a whack to the back of the head for allowing his fiancée to make the long drive alone.
    “He and Lucas are so…different.” Beth added the dry plate to the stack in the cupboard and picked up the next one. “It’s hard to believe they’re brothers.”
    “Lucas has told you how this family came together, hasn’t he?”
    Beth blushed. “Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
    “No apology necessary. I just wanted to make sure my boy wasn’t keeping you in the dark about anything.” Patty leaned a hip against the counter. “Lucas was three when his father died in action. Five when I married Tom. That child settled into a new family like a duck strolls into a pond.”
    Lucas had a knack for adapting to his surroundings, whether blending in with the wealthy and powerful or entertaining the locals at the corner bar. Not surprising he’d been born with such confidence. “Lucas talks about Tom a lot. I know he loves him.”
    “I got lucky when I found Tom.” Patty stared out the window over the sink. “Thought I was crazy for going out with another sailor after losing Steven. But I knew by the end of that first date I’d marry Tom Dempsey.” She smiled, revealing a resemblance between mother and son. “Within a month, he proposed.”
    “That fast?”
    “When it’s right, it’s right.”
    “And Tom had Joe?”
    Patty sighed. “Joe was ten, still mourning his mother, and resentful of anyone who tried to get close. Needless to say, he was not happy about a new stepmother.”
    Beth’s heart went out to the little boy missing his mother. She knew the feeling.
    “But he came around.” The older woman went back to washing dishes. “The boys may not have the same blood, but they were as close as any blood brothers could be.”
    “What happened? I mean, Lucas doesn’t talk about Joe much, at least not in positive terms, and the feeling seems to be mutual.” Though most of Joe’s contempt had been