Read Never Let You Down: The Connaghers, Book 4 for Free Online Page A

long enough to shake Jeb’s hand. He hadn’t seen either of them since the funeral, both big, strapping young men though they couldn’t match him for height. Both of them were successful and well mannered—as if Virginia and Ty would have allowed them to grow up rude or shiftless. Ty must be beaming with pride at them both.
    “So that’s why you insisted we set an extra plate.” Virginia’s only daughter smiled at him. “Welcome, Mr. Garrett. If you need to wash up, come on into the kitchen.”
    Sharon hadn’t wanted kids. At the time, he’d regretted the decision, always hungering for the chance to be a father. But after their ugly split, he was relieved they hadn’t had children in the mix, even though they would have been adults by then. He hadn’t expected all of Virginia’s children to be home, but knowing the family, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course they’d all rally around her after the accident, even though Conn and Miss Belle lived in Missouri.
    They all know me. I’m just an old family friend.
    Which was true, but as Jeb washed his hands and prepared to sit down at the Connagher table, he had a feeling he ought to be upfront with at least Virginia’s boys.
    How are they going to take the idea of me courting their mama?
    Virginia’s sons helped her settle into her chair at the head of the massive table. The girls had outdone themselves. Ham and roast beef with mashed potatoes and creamy mac and cheese, green beans and two kinds of salad. It all smelled and looked appetizing, which confirmed that the young women had done the cooking, not her own mother.
    Miss Belle could open a can of green beans and turn it into something even the dog wouldn’t eat.
    All her children were laughing and gathering around the table. Victor and his girlfriend sat by Conn and his. On the opposite side of the table, Vicki sat between her two men, Jesse and Elias. There were two open seats remaining: the opposite head of the table and the one immediately to her right. Staring down at the far end, her throat suddenly clogged with emotion. Ty’s seat. How he’d love to come tromping in from the fields, plop his filthy, dusty butt into his chair and grin down at everyone gathered around his table. Airs and pretense hadn’t been his way. He’d have washed his hands, sure, but his old boots would have been caked with mud and God knows what else, his jeans faded and stained, his shirt streaked with sweat and dirt, and he wouldn’t have cared.
    A big hand touched her right arm, startling her. She turned her face up, surprised to see concern on Jeb’s face. “Are you all right, Ginny?”
    “Fine,” she muttered, grabbing the sling with her right hand to adjust her injured arm, pretending it was paining her and not her lonely heart.
    He moved around to her other side and adjusted the pillow they’d used against the arm of the chair to provide support. “Better?”
    “Yes, thank you.” She glanced down the table and noticed everyone staring at her. “What?”
    “I’ve never heard anyone call you Ginny before.” Vicki had a speculative look on her face that instantly sent Virginia’s hackles up.
    “Of course you haven’t,” she said tartly. “You weren’t in school with me about forty years ago. Everyone knew me as Ginny growing up.”
    “You went to school with Mr. Garrett?”
    “Jeb,” he said in a low agreeable voice. “She sure did, though I was a year ahead.”
    “Did you ever date?”
    “Beulah Virginia Connagher, that’s none of your business,” Virginia retorted, trying to put a halt to this conversation with the lowest blow she could manage in front of company. Vicki hated her real name. “But no, we never dated.”
    “Not for trying,” Jeb replied again in that agreeable voice.
    Stunned, she couldn’t even muster a glare. He’d never tried to date her. Sure, they’d been friends her whole childhood. Everybody had assumed they were an item. But they’d never ever actually