Read Nantucket Romance 3-in-1 Bundle for Free Online Page B

water into Max’s dish. His thoughts had been fastened on Sam all day, and the previous night he’d tossed about like a fish in the hull of a boat.
    “Here you go, buddy.” Max began noisily lapping water.
    Landon paced the living room. She was back on the island, two doors down, one hundred yards away. Even with twenty-four hours to absorb the shock, his mind still reeled. He thought of all the times he’d tried to find her. And she’d been only hours away. In Boston .
    The phone rang, and he answered. His friend Scott greeted him.
    “Hey, how’s it going?” Landon asked.
    Scott told him about a show he’d watched a few nights before on common foods and plants that were toxic to house pets.
    While Landon listened, he sat on the sofa and pulled the curtain back, looking toward Sam’s house. All was still. He wondered if she was home. It was Friday night, so maybe she’d gone out to eat. He was the only one with no life.
    “I taped it for you,” Scott was saying. “Maybe you can run it in your lobby for your clients or something.”
    “Oh, thanks.”
    “Are you all right?” Scott asked. “You seem distracted.”
    Landon weighed whether to say anything about Sam. She and Scott had a long, complicated history. But no one knew his feelings for Sam better than Scott.
    “Sam’s back on the island.” The connection crackled quietly in his ear before he heard Scott’s muffled curse.
    “What the—?”
    Landon
let the curtain fall back in place. “Emmett left the house to her. She came back to get it ready to sell.”
    “Did she mention why she disappeared without a trace?”
    It was only natural for Scott to be defensive. He’d helped Landon pick up the pieces when Sam left. “She’s been in Boston.” He decided not to mention Sam’s daughter.
    “Is she married?” Landon wondered why Scott asked.
    He stood and paced the room again. “I don’t know. I didn’t talk to her long.” Max looked at him, licking his chops.
    “Whatever you do, don’t get involved with her again. You know she’s nothing but trouble.”
    Landon wished he’d never mentioned Sam. Scott was incapable of being objective about her.
    When Scott said he needed to go, Landon hung up and made a roast beef sandwich from the deli meat in the fridge. After that, he went outside and stood on the tiny back porch, casting glances at Sam’s house. It was hard to tell if anyone was home. The sun still shone, and the curtains in her room blocked his view, though they fluttered lightly in the breeze.
    Should I stay or should I go? What if Sam was married? How would it feel to find her wrapped in another man’s arms? The thought carved a hole in the middle of his gut. She never mentioned a husband, Reed . But she hadn’t said anything about a daughter either, until Caden came running around the house.
    He went back in the house and washed the utensils he’d dirtied making his sandwich. “What do you think, Max?”
    The Labrador stared up at him, questioning.
    Landon set the dish towel on the counter and ruffled Max’s ears. “You think I should wait until tomorrow, don’t you?”
    Did Sam want him to come over? He’d tried all day to analyze her response to him the night before. Maybe he’d caught her off guard. Of course, it wasn’t like she didn’t know where to find him. Besides, he’d waited eleven long years to see her again. One more night wouldn’t kill him.

Six
    S am dipped the wide paintbrush into the five-gallon bucket, letting it soak up the white paint, then slathered it on a thirsty shaker shingle. Caden had been eager to help and enthusiastically applied herself to the job—for about thirty minutes. Now she was somewhere in the backyard, probably turning back handsprings. Hopefully not down the pier, as Sam used to do.
    Though most of the island’s homeowners let their shingles turn to weathered gray because of the unrelenting abrasion from the wind and sand, she knew a freshly painted cottage made for curb