Read Online With a Little T.L.C. by Teresa Southwick - Free Book Online

pretty soon.”
    Ruefully, Rosie looked down at her rounded belly. “It can’t be too soon for me. But I have four more weeks and the doctor seems to think I’m going all the way to term.”
    â€œI hope I’m on duty when you come in.”
    â€œMe, too.”
    Joe hoped so too. Her dedication to mothers and babies meant that his little sister and the new baby would be in good hands. He pointed to the two ruffians playing paddle tennis. “You remember them. Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber. Alex and Luke.”
    â€œWhich is which?” Liz asked.
    â€œAlex is taller,” Rosie said. “Excuse me. I need to figure out some way to convince my daughter that dirt isn’t a toy and it needs to stay in Grandma’s garden.” She looked ruefully at the washcloth in her hand. “And I think this will do more harm than good. We need a bath.”
    â€œGood luck,” Liz said. “She’s having such a wonderful time.”
    Rosie sighed. “I may need your help, Uncle Joe. No one except her father can distract her as well as you.”
    He grinned down at Liz. “I swear I didn’t put her up to singing my praises.”
    â€œYeah. And I bet you’ve got oceanfront property for sale in Arizona,” she teased.
    Joe knew she was kidding. At this particular moment. But only because Rosie’s remark had obviouslybeen spontaneous. He knew she was still wary, but he had a plan. Before the day was over, she would know for a fact that he was a nice guy.
    When his niece let out a piercing wail, he put his Liz problem on a back burner. For the next several minutes, he practically stood on his head to keep Stephanie happy and unaware that they were coaxing her away from dirt—mother nature’s plaything. When he spotted Liz again, he noticed Alex and Luke had put their paddle tennis game aside to talk to her. He frowned at the threesome. She was laughing at something Alex had said.
    If he had a jealous bone in his body he would be tempted to challenge either or both of them to paddles at twenty paces for the way they hovered around Liz. But one had to be emotionally engaged for the jealousy thing to happen. That was the furthest thing from his mind. Since he was convinced there was no such phenomenon as Ms. Right. And failure wasn’t an option for him. He’d seen too many shattered dreams, too many friends who vowed never to say “I do” again because of a painful divorce, too many lives changed for the worse after a walk down the aisle. Nope. He believed that single plus single equaled serene.
    He walked over to the threesome. “Are they behaving?” he asked Liz.
    â€œPerfectly,” she said.
    â€œThat would be a first.” He hoped no one heard the edge in his voice.
    No such luck he realized when Luke whistled. He didn’t say anything, proving that he was a class act. But Joe didn’t miss the questioning look in his brother’s eyes. Not to mention a wry expression thatsaid he’d made his own assessment of what was going on.
    Joe planned to set him straight when they were alone. Right now he tried to analyze his problem. He thought he’d just talked himself out of attitude. Not only that, he knew neither of his brothers would ever move in on a woman he’d brought. So what had made him take even a subtle verbal shot?
    His only excuse was that he’d worked damn hard and long to even begin to thaw Liz out where he was concerned. She’d known his brothers all of ten minutes, not counting that time in Rosie’s hospital room, and she acted like she would trust them with her firstborn. Why was she standoffish only with him?
    He was about to steer her aside and ask when the kitchen door opened again and Nick arrived with his fiancée. Out walked his plan to prove to Liz that he was a straight arrow, a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy. Joe couldn’t wait for Liz to meet them. After the two lovebirds