Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-16 (Gansett Island Series)

by Marie Force

  And then the devil took hold of him as he realized another opportunity that had him holding back a laugh at the thought of it. Moving stealthily and using the faint light of the moon to guide him, he found her pile of clothes in the sand and gathered them, her shoes and purse, retreating toward the dunes about a hundred feet from where she’d left her stuff. He sat to wait, holding back the need to laugh so he wouldn’t alert her to his presence.

  Maybe it wasn’t very nice to play a practical joke on her, but it wasn’t nice of her to disappear for hours without a word to him when they’d made tentative plans. It served her right, or so he told himself. His conscience was being a real pain in the ass where she was concerned.

  He didn’t have to wait long for her to emerge from the water and venture up the beach looking for her stuff. He’d bet everything he had that she was now regretting her impulsive swim when it dawned on her that she didn’t have a towel or any way to dry off before getting dressed. She had bigger problems than that, not that she’d realized it yet.

  Adam could just barely see her from where he sat, but he could tell she was looking for her stuff and becoming increasingly nervous, which made him feel extra guilty. Time to make his presence known.

  “Looking for something?” he called out to her.

  She let out a squawk of surprise. “Adam? What’re you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  “Did you take my clothes?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Oh my God! What are you, twelve?”

  “Apparently.”

  “Give them back. This instant!”

  Smiling, Adam held back a laugh that would get him into even more trouble. “Come get them.”

  “I am not doing that.”

  “Since you need what I’ve got, I think you’d better do what you’re told.”

  “This is not funny.” She might be getting madder, but she was also getting closer.

  “Yes, it is.” His eyes adjusted to the dark and feasted on the sight of creamy white skin, sweet nipples and a thatch of dark hair at the juncture of her thighs. His mouth went dry as she stopped a foot from him and held out her hand.

  “Give me my clothes.”

  “Make me.”

  “Adam!”

  Leaving her clothes in a neat pile on the sand, he got up, brushed the sand from his hands and stepped closer to her. “You’re lucky it was me who found you here and not some creep.”

  “I’m not entirely sure you aren’t a creep.”

  “I’m not,” he said as his hands landed on her shoulders to draw her into his embrace.

  “Don’t touch me. I’m mad at you.” Her words and actions didn’t jibe as she snuggled against him.

  It was all he could do not to caress every inch of bare skin. “Cold?”

  “What do you think? How did you find me anyway?”

  “Someone told me they saw you heading this way.” He bent his head and nuzzled her neck, pushing her heavy, wet hair out of his way.

  She shivered, and her arms encircled his waist as she looked up at him.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said, his voice husky and rough. He couldn’t fight the need to kiss her for another second, capturing her cold lips in a kiss designed to warm her up from the inside out.

  To his amazement and delight, she kissed him back, matching his hunger with plenty of her own. Her tongue met his every thrust, twirling and dancing in an erotic dance that made his head spin. This kiss put the earlier one to shame, he decided as his hands moved from her shoulders to her breasts.

  When his palms covered her hardened nipples, Abby gasped and broke the kiss. “Adam…”

  “What, sweetheart?”

  With her hand on the back of his head she guided him to her breast, telling him what she wanted. He was happy to oblige, drawing her nipple into his mouth and running his tongue back and forth over it. When he added a bit of suction, she cried out, and her grip on his hair became painful—not that it stopped him from doing it again.

  Only when he realized she was shivering from the cold rather than his attention did he pull back from her. “Let’s go back to your room and get you warmed up.”

  “How do you plan to do that?”

  “You’ll have to come with me to find out.”

  “I’m still mad at you for stealing my clothes.”

  “You can punish me to your heart’s content.”

  “Is that right? I’ll have to give that some rather significant thought.”

  As Adam doled out each article of clothing—stopping to take a good long look at the bra and lacy thong—all he could think about was how soon he could help her take them off again.

  “I can’t eat another bite,” Mac announced as he pushed back from a table full of lobster shells. “Even if I beg, don’t let me have any more.”

  “Right there with you,” Blaine said. “Uncle.”

  Ned chortled with delight at their pleasure in the meal he’d planned down to the last potato. They’d fed the kids earlier, and now Thomas and Ashleigh were watching their latest favorite movie, The Little Mermaid.

  Baby Hailey was snoozing in her mama’s arms. Maddie had quit eating long before her husband finished.

  “It was a wonderful treat, Ned,” Tiffany said. “Thank you.”

  The others chimed in with their thanks as Francine handed out wet wipes.

  Mac and Blaine each took a side of the table and rolled up the newspapers they’d put down on the table, scooping up the discarded lobster shells.

  “You can take that right out to the can in the driveway,” Francine said, holding the screen door for them.

  When she came back to the table carrying a plate of brownies, Ned caught her eye and nodded, encouraging her to get on with the reason for the dinner party. He opened new beers for himself, Mac and Blaine and refilled the ladies’ wineglasses.

  Mac and Blaine came back in and took turns washing their hands at the kitchen sink before returning to the table. Groaning, Mac dropped into his chair. “That was some kinda good.”

  “Glad ya enjoyed it,” Ned said, delighted to be presiding over a family dinner in the home where he’d lived alone for decades. He loved everything about being part of his new family—the kids running around and making a racket, the playful bickering between Maddie and Tiffany, the razzing he and Francine withstood any time the kids caught them kissing or hugging each other. He’d never been happier in his life, and he wanted nothing more for those he loved than to see them happy, too.

  Under the table, Ned patted Francine’s knee, hoping to prop her up for the conversation she needed to have with her girls.

  Glancing at him once more, Francine said, “There was another reason we wanted to have you over tonight—other than the lobster.”

  “The brownies?” Tiffany took one of the chocolate treats, broke one in half and fed part of it to Blaine, who watched her every move like a man who was madly in love.

  Those two kids were crazy about each other, and it warmed Ned’s heart to see Tiffany so happy after all she’d been through with her ex-husband.

  “I received the divorce papers from your father.”

  “Finally,” Maddie said.

  “No kidding,” Mac added. “About time.”

  “That wasn’t all he sent,” Francine said, handing an envelope to each of her daughters.

  “What’s this?” Tiffany asked.

  “He’s established college funds for the kids,” Francine said.

  Over the sleeping form of her baby daughter, Maddie stared at her mother. “You’re kidding me.”

  “No.”

  Tiffany opened her envelope and quickly read the note inside. Maddie left hers on the table, apparently not as curious as her sister.

  “What does it say, hon?” Blaine asked Tiffany.

  “That he was glad to have the chance to see me, and he wanted to do something for my daughter because he owes me for all the years I had to do without. He says he
knows it’s not much in light of what I deserve, but it was the best he could do. He said he’d be happy to see Ashleigh and me any time we’d like to see him. All I have to do is call, and he’ll come. And he said he loves me. Always has.” Her voice broke, and she shook her head.

  Blaine put his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Do you want me to open yours for you, babe?” Mac asked Maddie.

  Her lips were set firmly as she shook her head. “I’ll look at it later.”

  “Want me to take Hailey?”

  “No, thank you.” She held on tighter to the baby.

  Ned met Mac’s worried gaze.

  “When will the divorce be final?” Tiffany asked.

  “I signed the papers and sent them back this afternoon,” Francine said. “The note from your father’s lawyer said six months.”

  “You need your own lawyer,” Maddie said. “He owes you a small fortune in back child support, not to mention emotional pain and suffering. College funds for your grandchildren are a nice gesture, but they don’t come close to what he owes you.”

  Ned reached for Francine’s hand. “We’ve talked to Dan, and yer mom and I have talked about it, too. There ain’t nothing she wants or needs from him, ’cept a divorce. We got everything we need.”

  “Still, it’s not fair, Mom,” Tiffany said. “You should get some sort of settlement.”

  “Ned is right,” Francine said. “The only settlement I want is the piece of paper that says I’m no longer married to Bobby Chester. I’ll never regret marrying him, because I got you girls out of it. But it’s time now to move on with my life, and by signing the papers and not asking for anything more, that’ll happen a lot sooner.”

  The girls were quiet as they thought it over.

  Ned cleared his throat and worked up his courage. “I wanta say somethin’ else. None a you kids will ever want for nothin’. I made a lotta money buyin’ and sellin’ houses over the years, and never spent much of it on anythin’. Mac and his siblings are my heirs, but you girls have been added inta my will as well. And yer kids don’t hafta wait for me ta kick it to have their college paid fer. If ya don’t want the money from yer daddy, send it back to him. Yer kids won’t suffer any if ya do. I waited a long, long time to have a family of my own, and there ain’t a one a ya that’s gonna want for nothin’. That’s all. That’s what I wanted to say.”

  Francine and the girls stared at him.

  “What?” he asked, squirming after a long minute of silence.

  Maddie transferred Hailey to Mac and got up. She went over to Ned. “Stand up.”

  Glancing at Francine, who shrugged, Ned did as Maddie asked. When the girl hugged the stuffing out of him, he nearly cried like an old fool.

  “We’ve waited a long time to have a dad who took care of us. Thank you.” She kissed his cheek and made him blush.

  “It tain’t nothin’.”

  Tiffany got up and hugged him, too. “It’s more than we’ve ever had.”

  “We should get the kids home to bed,” Maddie said to Mac.

  “Sure, hon, whatever you want.”

  “Thanks again for the lovely dinner, Ned—and Mom,” Maddie said.

  “Our pleasure, honey,” Ned said, glad to know both girls were in loving relationships with good men who would support them through this latest development in their complicated relationship with their father.

  He and Francine saw them off a few minutes later, helping to buckle toddlers into car seats and waving as they drove away.

  “You didn’t tell me you’d added the girls to your will,” Francine said as they walked inside to finish cleaning up. The house would smell like lobster for days. “You continue to amaze me, Ned Saunders.”

  Embarrassed by her effusiveness, he said, “I did it a long time ago. Added you, too.”

  “That’s very kind of you.”

  “It tain’t about kindness, doll. It’s about makin’ sure yer set if I kick the bucket.”

  “Don’t talk like that. I don’t like it. I plan to make your life complicated for many years to come.”

  “I’ll look forward ta that.” Smiling at her sauciness, he squirted liquid soap into the big pan they’d used to boil the lobsters. “Maddie seemed ta take the latest news from Bobby kinda hard.”

  “It’s always been hardest on her. She remembers him living with us and remembers him leaving. Tiffany had no memory of him.”

  “I’m certainly no fan a his,” Ned said in what had to be the understatement of his lifetime. “But he didn’t hafta do what he did for the kids. I gotta give him credit for that.”

  “Yes, I suppose we do, but I don’t want to talk about him anymore.”

  “What would ya rather talk about?”

  “Our wedding,” she said with a smile for him. “Where would you like to have it?”

  “Anywhere you want, doll. Tell me where ta be, and I’ll show up with bells on.” He couldn’t wait to marry her, to put his ring on her finger—finally—and have the rest of his life to spend with the only girl he’d ever loved.

  Maddie didn’t say much on the ride home, and Mac decided to leave her be until they got the kids bathed and off to bed. It took three bedtime stories to lull Thomas to sleep. Mac tried to remain patient with the boy, but he was anxious to be with Maddie.

  When Thomas finally stopped chattering, Mac moved carefully to get up from the “big boy” bed that his son was so proud of. Clicking on the night-light, he left the door propped so they could hear him if he woke up in the night. Luckily, both their kids were pretty good sleepers, but he still wanted to be able to hear them if they woke up, and he didn’t trust those baby monitors Maddie swore by.

  At times, Mac still couldn’t believe the changes in his life over the last couple of years. He’d gone from being the most happily unencumbered bachelor in the world to the happiest family man any guy could be. He wouldn’t trade one second of his new life to go back to the way he used to live.

  In the master bedroom, he found Maddie propped up against a big pile of pillows, breastfeeding their daughter. The letter from her father sat on the bedside table, unopened.

  “Is she asleep?” Mac asked in a whisper.

  “Think so.”

  “Want me to take her?”

  “Sure.”

  Although they were old hands at this by now, they still moved carefully so as not to wake the sleeping baby. Mac lifted Hailey into his arms, loving the way she snuggled her little face into his neck. He didn’t move for a long moment, waiting for her to settle again.

  Knowing how much he loved snuggling with Hailey, Maddie smiled at him. That smile turned him to mush every time, reminding him that she’d made his new life possible.

  Mac walked the baby into her room and put her down in the crib, tucking blankets in around her.

  Hailey’s eyes opened for a heartbeat of a second, and Mac froze, waiting to see what she would do. She popped her thumb into her mouth, turned on her side and drifted off.

  He released the deep breath he’d been holding and tiptoed from the room after making sure the baby monitor was on.

  “All set?” Maddie asked when he returned.

  “Yep. Two for two. I got the touch.”

  “You’re a regular baby whisperer.”

  Mac stretched out next to her on the bed, turning on his side to face her. “Are you going to read it?”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Want me to do it for you?”

  Rolling her bottom lip between her teeth, she contemplated his offer. “I suppose one of us has to look at it.” She reached for the envelope and handed it to him.

  Mac opened it, looked over the paperwork that set up college trust funds for his children and then scanned the letter her father had enclosed. “Do you want me to read it to you?”

  “I guess…”

  Mac took her hand and held it against his chest. “Dear Maddie, I hope this finds you doing well. It was so good to see
you recently and to be able to spend some time with you. While I know it was difficult for you to extend the overture to me, I thank you for having me to your home. I like knowing where you live and that you are happy with your new family.”

  Mac glanced up and saw that she was staring intently at the wall, her face expressionless as she listened to him.

  “I realize it’s rather inadequate after all this time to say I’m sorry for what I did. It’s inadequate to admit that I probably had no business getting married or fathering children when I was far more concerned with partying and hanging out with my friends than I was with changing diapers. That, of course, is no fault of yours. It’s my fault and mine alone. All of you deserved far better than you got from me, and seeing each of you again has brought home to me just how much damage my immature behavior did to people I loved.

  “Believe it or not, I did love you. I do love you. I always have. I thought of you and your sister all the time. Seeing you again has also brought home just how much I missed with you both. For years after I left, I thought about going back and trying to fix what I’d done, but I lacked the courage to face you—and your mother—and for that I take full responsibility. It’s important to me that you know I thought of you every day and will continue to do so for as long as I live.”

  A small whimper of distress escaped from her tightly clenched lips.

  “Maddie—”

  “Please finish. Please.”

  Mac forced his attention from her back to the letter, hating the pain it was causing her. “I want you to know the funds for the children were not done to assuage my guilt, which is not insignificant, but rather to perhaps make life a bit easier for my grandchildren than it was for my children. That’s all. I promise the money is given with no strings attached.

  “I also promise that you’ll not hear from me again, unless you wish to. I’ve enclosed my address and phone number, and my door is always open to you and your sister as well as your families. If I had my life to do over again, I never would’ve left. I shall always regret that and the pain I caused you. With all my love and best wishes, your dad, Bobby Chester.”