Read Online Sea Swept by Nora Roberts - Free Book Online

Seth?”
    “I got no place to go, do I?”
    “There’s always a choice, and I’m here to help you find the one that works best for you. If you know where your mother is—”
    “I don’t know.” His voice rose, his head snapped up. His eyes darkened to nearly navy against a pale face. “And I don’t want to know. You try to send me back there, you’ll never find me.”
    “Did she hurt you?” Anna waited a beat, then nodded when he only stared at her. “All right, we’ll leave that alone for now. There are couples and families who are willing and able to take children into their home, to care for them, to give them a good life.”
    “They don’t want me, do they?” The tears wanted to come. He’d be damned if he’d let them. Instead his eyes went hot and burning dry. “He said I could stay, but it was a lie. Just another fucking lie.”
    “No.” She grabbed Seth’s hand before he could leap up. “No, they do want you. As a matter of fact, Mr. Quinn—Cameron—was very angry with me for suggesting you should go into another home. I’m only trying to find out what you want. And I think you just told me. If living with the Quinns is what you want, and what’s best for you, I want to help you to get that.”
    “Ray said I could stay. He said I’d never have to go back. He promised.”
    “If I can, I’ll try to help him keep that promise.”

Four

    S INCE THERE SEEMED to be nothing cold to drink in the house but beer, carbonated soft drinks, and some suspicious-looking milk, Ethan put the kettle on to boil. He’d brew up some tea, ice it, and enjoy a tall glass out on the porch while evening moseyed in.
    He was in hour fourteen of his day and ready to relax.
    Which wasn’t going to be easy, he decided while he hunted up tea bags and overheard Cam and Seth holding some new pissing match in the living room. He figured they must enjoy sniping at each other or they wouldn’t spend so much time at it.
    For himself, he wanted a quiet hour, a decent meal, then one of the two cigars he allowed himself per day. The way things sounded, he didn’t think the quiet hour was going to make the agenda.
    As he dumped tea bags in the boiling water, he heard feet stomping up the stairs, followed by the bullet-sharp sound of a slamming door.
    “The kid’s driving me bat-shit,” Cam complained as he stalked into the kitchen. “You can’t say boo to him without him squaring up for a fight.”
    “Mm-hmm.”
    “Argumentative, smart-mouthed, troublemaker.” Feeling grossly put upon, Cam snagged a beer from the fridge.
    “Must be like looking in a mirror.”
    “Like hell.”
    “Don’t know what I was thinking of. You’re such a peaceable soul.” Moving at his own relaxed pace, Ethan bent down to search out an old glass pitcher. “Let’s see, you were just about fourteen when I came along. First thing you did was pick a fight so you’d have the excuse to bloody my nose.”
    For the first time in hours, Cam felt a grin spread. “That was just a welcome-to-the-family tap. Besides, you gave me a hell of a black eye as a thank-you.”
    “There was that. Kid’s too smart to try to punch you,” Ethan continued and began to dump generous scoops of sugar into the pitcher. “So he razzes you instead. He sure as hell’s got your attention, doesn’t he?”
    It was irritating because it was true. “You got him pegged so neatly, why don’t you take him on?”
    “Because I’m on the water every morning at dawn. Kid like that needs supervision.” That, Ethan thought, was his story and he’d stick to it through all the tortures of hell. “Of the three of us, you’re the only one not working.”
    “I’m going to have to fix that,” Cam muttered.
    “Oh, yeah?” With a mild snort, Ethan finished making the tea. “That’ll be the day.”
    “The day’s coming up fast. Social worker was here today.”
    Ethan grunted, let the implications turn over in his mind. “What’d she want?”
    “To check us out.