Read Sanctuary Island for Free Online

Harrison would do. Without even breaking a sweat, because the man was a genius with finance.
    “I appreciate it. You can keep that letter—it’s a copy. I have the original at home in a safe place.”
    Expectant silence stretched between them for a long, agonizing minute before Harrison’s mouth went flat and hard. Keeping his eyes on his own hands shuffling papers around on his desk, he said, “All right, then. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
    Jo ached at the distance between them. “Harrison, this means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me.”
    He snorted out an unflattering breath. “Sure. Not enough to marry me, but enough to come running when you need something.”
    Jo stiffened, but before she could snap out the retort burning her tongue, Harrison held up a big, blunt-fingered hand.
    “Forget I said that.” His voice was gruff and tired, burrowing tendrils of guilt into Jo’s heart. “I’m glad you came. I’ll be even gladder if it turns out I can do something to help. And I’m not doing it for thanks, or to guilt you into changing your mind about us. But I suppose I’m enough of an optimist to hope this situation might show you there are some benefits to going through life as a couple, to having someone to rely on.”
    It pissed her off that she couldn’t hold his gaze. “I used to believe that.”
    “Not all men are as easily scared off as your ex-husband—”
    She stood up, unwilling to listen to the rest of that thought. “It has nothing to do with Neil Preston. This is all me. I’m just not at a place in my life right now where I can commit to anything other than getting my girls back.”
    He spread his arms wide, exasperated. “How would being with me keep you from reconnecting with your daughters?”
    “When my mother died, my father remarried so fast, it made my head spin. I was so young, already dealing with the loss of my mother, and then to have a brand-new person thrown into the mix … it was more than I could manage. It broke us. Things were never the same between Dad and me. I know this isn’t the same situation, but it’s going to be tough enough to overcome years apart without adding any more layers of complication. I can’t risk it. I won’t. And besides…”
    You’re a distraction I can’t afford.
    She stared into his eyes for a beat. “You know what? We’ve been through all of this before. You know exactly how long I’ve wanted this, and how hard it was to respect their wishes and leave my girls be when all I wanted was to camp out in front of their apartment building and hope for a glimpse of them. But every time I asked if I could come—for Ella’s college graduation, for Merry’s birthday, for dinner, for anything, they asked me not to. They weren’t ready, and I hated it, but I understood. I had to wait for them to come to me.” Moving briskly for the door, Jo kept her voice as light and steady as possible. “And now they are. Ella and Merry are arriving on the evening ferry. They’ll be here for a couple of weeks at least, and it’s the culmination of more than ten years of prayers and wishes. Let me have this time with them. And when they leave, we’ll talk. I promise.”
    “What if I find out something about the lien? Should I sit on it until your daughters leave? I mean, God forbid that in all this reconnecting and forging of new relationships, they should find out that you had a whole life—a damn good life, Jo—after your husband took them and left. You weren’t alone. You had Taylor, and you had me.”
    She flinched, hand on the cold cut crystal of the doorknob. His barb hit its target in her chest, certainly—but it was the weary pain and frustration in his voice that hurt. Worst of all, though, was the use of the past tense.
    You had Taylor, and you had me.
    Swallowing down the litany of apologies that nearly choked her, Jo managed to keep her tone admirably steady. Addressing the glossy wood of the office door, she said, “If you find