Read Online With a Little Help by Valerie Parv - Free Book Online Page B

whatever troubled them. It also wasn’t her job to socialize with them, but she’d done it tonight. And sat with him in his favorite café while the sun set around them. And wished he was with her because he wanted to be.
    Get a grip, she instructed herself. Nate was already so focused on his call, he’d forgotten she existed. So what if he was disappointed with her? She hadn’t wanted to work with him from the start. Being around such a physically attractive man had distracted her from reality, that was all. Their priorities were still light-years apart.
    With the truth staring her in the face, she stood up then remembered she had no money with her for a cab, and her only way home was in Nate’s car.
    He lifted a hand, gesturing for her to wait.Resentment flared until she saw the look on his face. Instead of calm, medical competence, she read something like fear.
    She sat down again and linked her hands on the table. His side of the conversation suggested something was wrong, but she didn’t know him well enough to put the pieces together. When he closed the phone, his look was shuttered. “I’ll call a cab to get you home.”
    â€œI don’t have…”
    He got to his feet. “I know. This should cover the fare.”
    She had no choice but to accept the notes he held out, although the dismissal rankled. “Can I do anything to help?”
    â€œSee yourself home.”
    As if she hadn’t already worked that out. “I mean with whatever’s happened.”
    His arctic look raked her. “For what it’s worth, you were right when you said my family life wasn’t up to much. The proof is my messed-up half brother, Luke. He’s taken off in my mother’s car.”
    â€œYou think he might come to you?”
    â€œIf we’re lucky. If not, he’s risking his neck with the tough kids he hangs out with when he should be at school.”
    Her breath escaped in a rush. “I had no idea, Nate, or I wouldn’t have forced my scheme on you.”
    His hands skimmed her shoulders, the touch fiery.“You didn’t. I have to help find Luke, but I’ll go over your proposal as soon as I can and be in touch.”
    â€œThanks.” No way would he accept her ideas after this. She felt foolishly disappointed.
    When the cab arrived, Nate hurriedly helped her into it, and Emma struggled not to feel bitter. She didn’t expect him to choose between her and his brother. The truth was she wanted to stay and help him, not be sent away. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do,” she said, wishing she had more to offer.
    â€œSure.” He closed the door. But instead of heading for his car, he waited while the cab pulled away, cutting a solitary figure in the light spilling from the Flying Fox Café.
    A powerful urge to have the driver turn around and take her back to Nate made Emma catch her breath. There was nothing she could do. She’d be in his way. Leaving him alone was the only sensible option. At the same time, it didn’t seem right.

CHAPTER FIVE
    A N ODD EMPTINESS WRENCHED AT Nate as he watched Emma’s cab accelerate out of sight. He should be with her, not heading off on another wild-goose chase to bail out his brother.
    Nate had been twenty when Luke was born. Rather than develop in his own time, Luke had wanted to keep up with Nate. Trying to compete at sports when sheer size gave Nate the advantage was the least of Luke’s problems. At twelve, he’d linked up with a street gang, drinking and acting tough, thinking he’d found a shortcut to manhood.
    In sight of the Branxton, Nate pressed the remote and was soon pulling out into the traffic with only a rough idea of where to start looking. His mother and stepfather had to take some of the blame, he knew. His half brother’s life had been very different from Nate’s. More time, money and attention were lavished on the younger boy,