Read Online The Best Man's Bride by LISA CHILDS - Free Book Online Page A

his pants. “Ol’ Lolly doesn’t bite.” From the way she pulled her hand back and replaced it in her lap, however, maybe she thought he would.
    And, man, she tempted him.
    “But the boys…” Had terrified that poor kitten he’d brought them. But not Colleen. She’d handled the twins better than he could have imagined. If Josh had just been looking for a mother for his sons, he’d probably proposed to the wrong McClintock sister. Nick’s gut tightened, his jealousy for the father instead of the sons this time. He didn’t want to imagine Josh kissing Colleen, touching her. He could imagine only one man holding her the way a man held a woman he loved. Himself.
    “Lolly is so old she barely has any teeth left,” Colleen continued. “The boys are safe.”
    Maybe the boys were okay, but Nick wasn’t so sure about himself.
    “You were brave to bring them to the park by yourself,” she mused as she packed up the book and the leftover crackers in her backpack.
    He laughed. “More stupid than brave.” How had he intended to talk to her with the boys around? He hadn’t been worried about talking, though. He’d been focusing on what else he might have done with Colleen if he’d come to see her without his twin chaperones. But the presence of TJ and Buzz hadn’t mattered; she’d still gotten to him more than he had to her. “I don’t know how I thought I could have managed them on my own for two weeks.”
    “What?”
    “I was supposed to take care of them while Josh was on his honeymoon,” he explained. “So I guess I really owe your sister a thank-you.”
    “Nick!” she admonished.
    At least she didn’t take lightly the fact that her sister had left her groom at the altar, humiliated in front of their guests. And if she didn’t approve, maybe she would share Molly’s whereabouts. He could have flat out asked her, as he’d asked Brenna, but with Colleen he figured finesse might work better than bluntness.
    “But since I can’t thank her—” yet “—I’ll thank you. Meet me back here this afternoon,” he said. “I’ll pay you back for the crackers and the story.”
     
    C OLLEEN DIDN’T WANT ANYTHING from Nick Jameson—she didn’t trust him. His interest in her couldn’t be genuine. But she was enormously flattered that he wanted to see more of her. She bit her lip, reminding herself of what had happened the last time a guy had flattered her. She’d ended up hurt and humiliated and she’d given away something she could never get back. Her innocence. She feared Nick could take more than that from her. Her heart. She stood up and turned away from him, toward the boys, gesturing to the one with the shorter hair. “He sure recovered fast.”
    “Yes,” Nick agreed with a weary-sounding sigh as he hauled himself to his feet.
    Kids were so much more resilient than adults. Rory, being the youngest of the McClintock’s, had handled his father’s death the easiest of all the siblings. Or so Colleen had thought until he’d started smoking and spiking punch bowls. “What’s his name?”
    His voice warm with affection, Nick answered, “That’s Buzz.”
    She laughed. “I know, and understand why he’s called Buzz, but what’s his real name?”
    “Nicholas James, and TJ is Thomas.” His voice warmed even more as he stepped closer, his body nearly brushing her back. “Thomas, for my dad, and Joshua, for Josh’s. Josh is named after his dad, too, and he didn’t want his son to be a third. Not since the kid’s already a double.”
    “You and Josh go back a long way,” she said as she stepped forward, edging away from the heat of his body. “You’re really close.”
    “Yes.” He followed her, eliminating the small space her step had put between them.
    “You’d do anything for him, wouldn’t you?” Or anyone. That was why he’d turned on the charm with her, when for so long he hadn’t even noticed her. Apparently even before Molly had disappeared, he’d been looking out for