Read Online The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts - Free Book Online Page A

the beginning of a job, like this one, where the potential rolled out like an endless carpet.
    He’d have gotten a kick out of this, Ryder thought as he guided Harry into measuring and marking the next stud. The big, empty space echoing with noise, the smell of sweat and sawdust.
    And he’d have loved the boy, have loved the potential of the boy, too. Nine, closing in on ten, Ryder remembered. Gangling frame and sharp elbows and feet too big for the rest of him.
    And now two more on the way. Yeah, his father would’ve gotten one hell of a large charge out of the Brewster/Montgomery brood.
    The kid engaged the crew. He fetched and carried tirelessly. That wouldn’t last, Ryder calculated, but the novelty of the day equaled that slave labor—and made the boy feel like a man. Like part of the team.
    He stepped back, took a swig of Gatorade from the bottle. Harry mimicked him, and stood, as Ryder did, studying the work.
    “Well, kid, you built your first wall. Here.” He pulled a carpenter’s pencil from his belt. “Write your name on it.”
    “Really?”
    “Sure. It’ll be covered up with insulation, drywall, and paint, but you’ll know it’s there.”
    Delighted, Harry took the pencil, and on the raw stud wrote his name in careful cursive.
    He glanced over at the sound of whoops, watched Liam scramble in.
    “They kick you out?” Ryder called.
    “Nuh-uh! I did a million switch plates, and I did a doorknob, too. Chad showed me how. Then Beckett came to get me so we can have pizza.”
    As he spoke, Beckett came in with Murphy.
    “I built a wall! Look. Me and Ryder built a wall.”
    Liam frowned at it. “How’s it a wall when you can walk through. See.” He demonstrated.
    “It’s a stud wall,” Harry said importantly.
    Instantly, Liam’s face shifted into mutinous lines. “I wanna build a stud wall.”
    “Next time.” Beckett collared him. “Watch yourself. Construction site rules.”
    “I builded a platform. You can stand on it,” Murphy explained. “Now it’s lunch break, and we get pizza.”
    He’d lost track of time, Ryder realized.
    “I’m going to get them cleaned up,” Beckett said.
    “And we get to play video games first. I got
three
dollars.” Liam waved the bills in the air.
    “Yeah, yeah.” Ryder reached for his wallet at Harry’s quiet look. “You earned it.”
    “Thanks! Are you going to have lunch with us?”
    “I’ll be over in a while. I’ve got a couple things to finish up.”
    “Owen’s over at the new restaurant, running some things with Avery. He said twenty.”
    “That works.”
    “Okay, troops, let’s go clean up.”
    Hope caught sight of them from the kitchen window, Beckett and his little men. Sweet, she thought. Heading to Vesta for lunch, she imagined.
    She should probably grab something soon herself, she decided, before her guests came back and she didn’t have a chance. She’d already done her room checks, gathering up glasses and cups and other assorted debris. And she needed to order more coasters, and guest towels for The Lobby restroom. More mugs, she reminded herself, as guests tended to walk off with them.
    But right now, the inn was quiet and empty, with all the women off getting pampered and Carolee off with Justine looking at tiles and flooring—and whatever else they thought of—for the fitness center.
    The cleaning crew would be along in an hour to turn and clean the guest rooms. Then she’d do her recheck. So she’d just finish making this pitcher of iced tea, restock the refrigerator with water and soft drinks. Then take a quick break before doing her orders and filing.
    But even as she set the pitcher on the island beside a bowl of fat purple grapes, the Reception bell rang.
    No deliveries on the schedule, she thought, but occasionally a guest forgot their key—or someone came by hoping they could wander through.
    She started around, her innkeeper’s smile in place.
    It faded completely when she saw the man through the glass of the