Read Online Nantucket Romance 3-in-1 Bundle by Denise Hunter - Free Book Online

hands on her khaki shorts, and he followed the long line of her legs before meeting her eyes again.
    “I like mowing.”
    Caden ran up then, her hair hanging in wet strings alongside her face. With her brown eyes and button nose, she was a miniature of Sam, and something caught in his gut.
    “Can we go now, Mom? Can Landon and Max come?” Caden asked.
    “I have to finish the yard first.” Sam looked at him. “We’re taking some food up to Brant Point.” Sam lifted a shoulder. “You’re welcome to come along.”
    “A picnic on the beach,” Caden added. “Can you come?”
    “It’s about time you took a break,” he said to Sam. “I can finish the yard if you want to grab a shower.”
    She quirked a brow, and he quickly added, “Not that you need one.”
    To his surprise, Sam agreed to the help. By the time he finished mowing, Sam and Caden had packed a bag of food and changed into bathing suits. They all piled into his Jeep, along with Max, and headed the few miles to Brant Point, where they spread a blanket on the sand. He’d been wanting to ask Sam on a date all week. He’d tried at least a dozen times, but when he opened his mouth, the words stuck in his throat. Dating would change the dynamics of their relationship. He was ready for that, but was Sam?
    The sunbathers had left for the day, and the trio had the beach to themselves. After they ate, Landon showed Caden a few of Max’s tricks, and she rewarded the dog with chunks of bread. When Max ran to the water, Caden peeled off her shorts, put on a fluorescent orange swimming cap, then followed Max toward the water.
    “Don’t go out too far,” Sam called. She lifted her hand to shade her eyes from the sun and said to Landon, “I told her about riptides, but you know how kids are. They think they’re immune to danger.”
    They watched Caden plunge into the cool water.
    “Is she a good swimmer?” he asked.
    Sam nodded. “Our last apartment had a pool. It wasn’t much more than a cement hole in the ground, but she loved it. Used to turn flips off the side and scare me to death.”
    “I haven’t seen her flip-flopping down the pier yet.”
    “Give her time.” The wind blew a strand of hair across Sam’s face,
and it caught between her lips. She tucked it behind her ear. He hadn’t seen her hair down since she’d come back, and he found himself wanting to draw his fingers through the length of it.
    Caden followed Max into the shallow water, where Max shook, splattering the girl.
    Unlike Sam, Caden was small-boned and pixie-faced, but she seemed mature for being so young. “She seems like a good kid.”
    He saw rather than heard Sam sigh. “She is. Lately she’s been kind of snippy. I think she’s going through some adolescent stuff.”
    “She’s awfully young for that, isn’t she? What is she, nine or ten?”
    Sam stilled. The wind ruffled the corner of the blanket, and Landon stretched his legs, holding it down.
    “She’s eleven.”
    He looked at Sam, then at Caden. Eleven. He did the math and felt his gut clench. If Caden was eleven, Sam had gotten pregnant right before she left the island or shortly after. Either before he told Sam he loved her or after, depending on when Caden’s birthday was. He didn’t want to know. Had she been pregnant the last time he’d seen her, at Bailey’s funeral?
    He could still see her beside his brother’s grave site. She hadn’t looked like herself. She wore her hair down, and it was the only time he’d seen her in a dress other than at the prom. She stood beside him, and when he took her hand, it was steely cold despite the August heat. She was a sickly shade of white. He wished he didn’t have to leave for college the next day, but he’d already delayed his departure for the funeral. His parents wouldn’t hear of him missing the first days of college.
    All this time, he thought Bailey’s death had somehow shaken Sam and made her leave the island. Now he wondered if it was the