Read Online The Very Thought of You by Angela Weaver - Free Book Online Page B

you, little brother.”
    â€œThere’s a nasty stomach virus going around. A few of the doctors were out today and there was a chain wreck of accidents on the highway this morning.”
    â€œSo who’s the lady?”
    Caleb gave Marius a questioning glance, and then took a long drink of iced tea. “What lady?”
    â€œThe lady who has made you deaf and put you in such a foul mood.”
    â€œYou’re not going go let it drop, are you?”
    â€œI could ask Mom.”
    Damn. Caleb’s shoulders slumped with defeat. If another sibling had made that threat, he wouldn’t have believed them, but Marius rarely bluffed. “Miranda Elizabeth Tyler.”
    Marius sat down across from him. The walnut breakfast table gleamed under the light. His eyes locked on Caleb’s like a laser beam. “I’ve heard her name before.”
    Caleb took a swig of tea before answering. “We dated in college.”
    â€œOh, that Miranda.” Marius tapped his finger against the table. “The same one you took on the skiing trip, went to school at Spellman, grew up about ten miles from our parents’ house and has an older brother who hated your guts? The same one that broke up with you after walking into your apartment and finding the half-naked homecoming queen in your bed? The one who messed you up so bad, that we had to pull you out of the bottom of a dozen Hennessy bottles?”
    Caleb’s shoulders slumped a little more with each item added to the list. By the time Marius finished summing up their relationship history, he looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. “Yeah, that Miranda. She’s back in town to help her brother recover from a car accident.”
    â€œWalk away, little brother,” Marius cautioned before coughing.
    â€œI wish I could.” Caleb sighed putting down his fork and knife. “I wish I could,” he repeated.
    An hour later as they sat ensconced in the den, Caleb leaned back in the sleek black leather recliner and relaxed. The combination of a full stomach, and a half glass of premium scotch had more than taken the edge off his day. “I’m going to get her back, bro.”
    Marius turned his attention from the flat-screen television.
    Caleb raised a hand. “Wait, wait. Don’t give me that look.”
    â€œWhat look? The one that says you’re about to make a big mistake or the one that says you should know better?”
    â€œI do know better this time and I’m going to make this work. I know she has feelings for me, and the chemistry…” Caleb licked his lips as the memory of kissing her in the kitchen flashed through his mind. “More powerful than it was ten years ago.”
    â€œYeah, yeah. The question is—how do you think that you can get around her brother this time?”
    â€œDarren knows that I know that he set me up.”
    â€œAnd you think he won’t do it again? You think that after her brother’s recovery is finished that Miranda won’t leave you like she did last time?”
    â€œThe last time I should have followed. The last time was partially my fault. This time there’s more than my precious ego involved. There’s the child.”
    Marius sat up and his eyes narrowed. “Child?”
    â€œMiranda didn’t come back alone. She has a daughter. Kelly.” Caleb rubbed his head as fury raced up and down his spine. The clinical, reasonable part of his mind understood and could reason out why she wouldn’t tell him that he was a father. The other side couldn’t deal with the fact that someone he loved could be so cruel.
    â€œJesus, Caleb. Are you telling me that I have a niece? That Mom and Dad have a granddaughter?”
    â€œNo…Yes…I don’t know. Miranda says that the little girl is adopted and I don’t want to think she would lie to me. But it can’t be a coincidence that Kelly’s eleven years