Read Online Second Chance With the Rebel: Her Royal Wedding Wish by Cara Colter - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cara Colter
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to sound careless, but didn’t quite pull it off.
Suddenly it didn’t seem funny. Lucy had changed. Deeply. And that change had not been accepted by the people around her. He suspected it went a whole lot deeper than her painting her house purple.
Well, so what? People did change. He had changed, too. Though probably not as deeply. He tended to think he was much the same as he had always been, a self-centered adrenaline junkie, driven by some deep need to prove himself that no amount of success ever quite took away. In other words, when Lucy had called him a jerk she hadn’t been too far off the mark.
The only difference was that now he was a jerk with money.
She had helped Mama when he had not, and for that, if nothing else, he was indebted to her.
But now Lucy seemed somehow embattled, as if she desperately needed someone on her side.
Not me, he told himself sternly. He wasn’t staying here. He owed Lucy nothing. He was getting a few of the more urgent things Mama needed done cleared up. Okay, it wouldn’t hurt to stay a few more days for Lucy’s party. That would make Mama happy. It wasn’t about protecting Lucy from that barracuda. Or maybe it was. A little bit. But tangling his life with hers?
It occurred to him that he may have lied to himself about his reasons for never coming back to Lindstrom Beach. He had told himself it was because it was the town that had scorned him. The traditional place full of Brady Bunch families, where he’d been the kid with no real family and a dark, secret history.
He’d played on that and developed a protective persona: adrenaline junkie, renegade, James Dean of the high-school set. It had brought a surprising fan base from some of the kids, though not their parents.
Not the snooty doctor’s daughter, either. Not at first.
But now, standing here looking at Lucy, it occurred to him none of that was the reason he had avoided returning to this place.
Had he always known, at some level, that coming home again would require him to be a better man?
But would that mean looking out for the girl who had rejected him?
“May I use your phone?” he asked. “My cell got wrecked in the lake.”
Her expression asked if he had to, she suddenly seemed eager to divest herself of him. But she looked around and handed him a cordless. Now that he had decided to be a better man, he was going to follow through before he changed his mind.
He could look at it as putting Claudia in her place as much as helping Lucy.
“Casey?” he said to his assistant. “Yeah, away for a few days...My hometown...You didn’t know I had a hometown?...Hatched under a rock? Thanks, buddy.” He waggled his eyebrows at Lucy, but she was pretending not to listen.
“Look, I need twenty thousand dollars of clothing products, sizes kid to teen, delivered to the food bank, boy’s and girl’s club and social services office of Lindstrom Beach, British Columbia. Make sure some of it gets to every agency that helps kids within a fifty-mile radius of that town...Yeah, giveaways.
“Of course you’ve never heard of Lindstrom Beach. When that’s done—if you can have the whole area blanketed by tomorrow—take out a couple of ads on the local TV and radio stations thanking the Lindstrom Beach Yacht Club for donating their facilities for the Mother’s Day Gala.
“Thanks, buddy. Don’t know when I’ll be back and don’t bother with the cell. I made the mistake of not bringing the Wild Side waterproof case. Oh, throw some of those in with the other donations. I’ll pick up another cell phone in the next few days.”
Lucy was no longer pretending not to listen. She was staring at him as he found the button and turned off her phone. He handed it back to her. If he was not mistaken, she was struggling not to look impressed.
“Just admit it,” he said. “That was great. Two birds with one stone.”
“Everybody does not call you Mr. Hudson,” she said, pleased. “Two birds?”
“Yeah. Claudia’s
Suddenly it didn’t seem funny. Lucy had changed. Deeply. And that change had not been accepted by the people around her. He suspected it went a whole lot deeper than her painting her house purple.
Well, so what? People did change. He had changed, too. Though probably not as deeply. He tended to think he was much the same as he had always been, a self-centered adrenaline junkie, driven by some deep need to prove himself that no amount of success ever quite took away. In other words, when Lucy had called him a jerk she hadn’t been too far off the mark.
The only difference was that now he was a jerk with money.
She had helped Mama when he had not, and for that, if nothing else, he was indebted to her.
But now Lucy seemed somehow embattled, as if she desperately needed someone on her side.
Not me, he told himself sternly. He wasn’t staying here. He owed Lucy nothing. He was getting a few of the more urgent things Mama needed done cleared up. Okay, it wouldn’t hurt to stay a few more days for Lucy’s party. That would make Mama happy. It wasn’t about protecting Lucy from that barracuda. Or maybe it was. A little bit. But tangling his life with hers?
It occurred to him that he may have lied to himself about his reasons for never coming back to Lindstrom Beach. He had told himself it was because it was the town that had scorned him. The traditional place full of Brady Bunch families, where he’d been the kid with no real family and a dark, secret history.
He’d played on that and developed a protective persona: adrenaline junkie, renegade, James Dean of the high-school set. It had brought a surprising fan base from some of the kids, though not their parents.
Not the snooty doctor’s daughter, either. Not at first.
But now, standing here looking at Lucy, it occurred to him none of that was the reason he had avoided returning to this place.
Had he always known, at some level, that coming home again would require him to be a better man?
But would that mean looking out for the girl who had rejected him?
“May I use your phone?” he asked. “My cell got wrecked in the lake.”
Her expression asked if he had to, she suddenly seemed eager to divest herself of him. But she looked around and handed him a cordless. Now that he had decided to be a better man, he was going to follow through before he changed his mind.
He could look at it as putting Claudia in her place as much as helping Lucy.
“Casey?” he said to his assistant. “Yeah, away for a few days...My hometown...You didn’t know I had a hometown?...Hatched under a rock? Thanks, buddy.” He waggled his eyebrows at Lucy, but she was pretending not to listen.
“Look, I need twenty thousand dollars of clothing products, sizes kid to teen, delivered to the food bank, boy’s and girl’s club and social services office of Lindstrom Beach, British Columbia. Make sure some of it gets to every agency that helps kids within a fifty-mile radius of that town...Yeah, giveaways.
“Of course you’ve never heard of Lindstrom Beach. When that’s done—if you can have the whole area blanketed by tomorrow—take out a couple of ads on the local TV and radio stations thanking the Lindstrom Beach Yacht Club for donating their facilities for the Mother’s Day Gala.
“Thanks, buddy. Don’t know when I’ll be back and don’t bother with the cell. I made the mistake of not bringing the Wild Side waterproof case. Oh, throw some of those in with the other donations. I’ll pick up another cell phone in the next few days.”
Lucy was no longer pretending not to listen. She was staring at him as he found the button and turned off her phone. He handed it back to her. If he was not mistaken, she was struggling not to look impressed.
“Just admit it,” he said. “That was great. Two birds with one stone.”
“Everybody does not call you Mr. Hudson,” she said, pleased. “Two birds?”
“Yeah. Claudia’s
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