The Wedding Bargain. Lee McKenzie. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Lee McKenzie
Издательство: HarperCollins
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Современные любовные романы
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781408958933
Скачать книгу
he said, pointing to his upper lip.

      Sophia handed him a napkin.

      Michael laughed. “I see that.”

      “We’ll fix the car?”

      “Not today,” Michael reminded him. “I’m going to see Aunt Ginny this morning.”

      “Ginny’s baby got lost. Me ’n’ Poppy are looking for it.”

      “Are you? Ginny must be happy about that.”

      “Yup. Dogs are good at finding people.”

      “They sure are.”

      “What time did you say you’d be back?” his mother asked. She looked more tired than usual and he wondered if she was feeling all right.

      “I should be back here by two o’clock.”

      Ben drained his glass and set it on the table with a loud thunk. “Then we’ll fix the car?”

      “Not today. But I met a mechanic in the city yesterday, and he’s going to help me find some of the parts we need. As soon as we get those, we’ll fix it. Okay?”

      “Okay.”

      “How about we take Poppy for a walk this afternoon?” He had thought that would free up some of Sophia’s time to work on the birthday dinner preparations, and her look of gratitude told him he was right. He was happy to do that for her, just as he was happy to spend the time with Ben, and it had been months since he’d walked through the vineyard here at the house.

      “Go for a walk an’ look for the baby.”

      “Good idea.” He could see that his mother was losing patience with Ben’s repeated references to the missing baby, but it was his way of processing information. Sophia had decided it best not to try to explain the miscarriage to him and that had probably been a good idea, but he had overheard her say that Ginny had lost the baby, and he had taken it literally. Ben’s preoccupation with the missing infant would last until something else out of the ordinary captured his attention.

      Sophia Morgan’s impatience was uncharacteristic, though, which caused him another little niggle of concern. He and his sisters tended to take her for granted, but she wasn’t getting any younger. If looking after the house and Ben and the dog were becoming too much for her, then they needed to find a solution. Since none of them were in a position to take on the responsibility of caring for Ben, it was time they looked into hiring someone who could. He watched the way his mother efficiently organized baking pans and utensils and the ingredients for Ben’s birthday cake, and dreaded the day he’d have to break that news to her.

      Chapter Four

      After Ben’s birthday dinner, Michael stood on the terrace outside the French doors, listening to the stillness and enjoying a few moments of solitude while waiting for Poppy to do her business and come back inside for the night. Ginny and Paul had gone home and Lexi was putting away the last load from the dishwasher. Like all of Sophia Morgan’s dinner parties, this one had been a triumphant success. Now the birthday boy was upstairs getting ready for bed, with his mother’s help, of course. It was something Ben should be doing by himself, but Sophia had been babying him for twenty-one years and she wasn’t about to stop. When the time came to hire a caregiver for Ben, this would make finding someone suitable that much harder.

      Michael whistled softly when the little white dog disappeared beneath some shrubs. She reappeared and raced across the lawn, a flash of white hurtling in his direction. “Time to come in, you little rascal.”

      Inside the house, she tore through the family room toward the kitchen, leaping and jumping around Lexi’s legs.

      “Get down!” She finished stacking clean dinner plates on the counter and closed the dishwasher. “This dog has no manners at all.” But much as she tried to feign indifference toward Poppy, Michael had caught her sneaking tidbits of food off her plate and feeding them to the little dog that sat eagerly under her chair. He also knew she’d leave her bedroom door ajar when she went to bed, with the hope that Poppy might find her way in there.

      Carefully hidden beneath Lexi’s tough, no-nonsense exterior was a soft heart and a generous spirit that few people ever got to see. She had always been the studious one in the family, bookish, really, with an artistic flair. While Ginny tended to be a little flamboyant at times, Lexi had a quieter, more casual elegance about her. Ginny was all laughter and warm hugs and put family first. Lexi was more reserved and 100 percent committed to her career. At thirty-one she was already one of San Francisco’s up-and-coming architects. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about the family, Poppy included. She just didn’t wear her heart on her sleeve.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4SAVRXhpZgAATU0AKgAAAAgADAEAAAMAAAABAfQAAAEBAAMAAAABArwAAAECAAMAAAADAAAA ngEGAAMAAAABAAIAAAESAAMAAAABAAEAAAEVAAMAAAABAAMAAAEaAAUAAAABAAAApAEbAAUAAAAB AAAArAEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAExAAIAAAAgAAAAtAEyAAIAAAAUAAAA1IdpAAQAAAABAAAA6AAAASAA CAAIAAgADqYAAAAnEAAOpgAAACcQQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIENTNiAoTWFjaW50b3NoKQAyMDE1 OjA4OjEyIDE3OjM1OjU2AAAEkAAABwAAAAQwMjIxoAEAAwAAAAH//wAAoAIABAAAAAEAAAXcoAMA BAAAAAEAAAg0AAAAAAAAAAYBAwADAAAAAQAGAAABGgAFAAAAAQAAAW4BGwAFAAAAAQAAAXYBKAAD AAAAAQACAAACAQAEAAAAAQAAAX4CAgAEAAAAAQAAHo8AAAAAAAAASAAAAAEAAABIAAAAAf/Y/+0A DEFkb2JlX0NNAAL/7gAOQWRvYmUAZIAAAAAB/9sAhAAMCAgICQgMCQkMEQsKCxEVDwwMDxUYExMV ExMYEQwMDAwMDBEMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMAQ0LCw0ODRAODhAUDg4OFBQO Dg4OFBEMDAwMDBERDAwMDAwMEQwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAz/wAARCACgAHID ASIAAhEBAxEB/90ABAAI/8QBPwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAwABAgQFBgcICQoLAQABBQEBAQEB AQAAAAAAAAABAAIDBAUGBwgJCgsQAAEEAQMCBAIFBwYIBQMMMwEAAhEDBCESMQVBUWETInGBMgYU kaGxQiMkFVLBYjM0coLRQwclklPw4fFjczUWorKDJkSTVGRFwqN0NhfSVeJl8rOEw9N14/NGJ5Sk hbSVxNTk9KW1xdXl9VZmdoaWprbG1ub2N0dXZ3eHl6e3x9fn9xEAAgIBAgQEAwQFBgcHBgU1AQAC EQMhMRIEQVFhcSITBTKBkRShsUIjwVLR8DMkYuFygpJDUxVjczTxJQYWorKDByY1wtJEk1SjF2RF VTZ0ZeLys4TD03Xj80aUpIW0lcTU5PSltcXV5fVWZnaGlqa2xtbm9ic3R1dnd4eXp7fH/9oADAMB AAIRAxEAPwDni6sVumNGn8ioNoupoqZdU+p+we2xpaYnn3K1judXcx91T3VscC4Fjogd3afRb9Ny 1s7L6AM7IGd03Kyi4MDLKXkGuK3tsaHBrK73eq+p3qbK/wD0U+pCAMJS4gDxRFfSToTmROMeAkGM jxDzjo8taNSh8H5LonZP1TIsYej5+zcDU8WEWQY9RljnOe3Y33egxv8A171kS7I+pjDdTR0zqF1Z cTu3QJb6jcdzHP8A1qqvZbvdT6n6T2et6vpMengD94Is38snm2THyRq3QouZa57nig1hxJ9NjH7G z+ZXv3v2N/N3vTiu7/Rv/wAx3/kUw0vAPZtMtIhDsfJUQ23T9G//ADHf+RSe20kfo3/5jv8AyKaI 62v4uje6Br1G7ufT0+bwu3xbwwBo0IC4v6v1XDOvIrfPpCDsd+//AFV01RvHt9N8x+67/wAis/nY iU6voGxhHp26u63NcGwSgXZJMmdfwVOs3iBsefi0/wByg4WkuGx+7+q7+5URj13XiA7MciwuGup8 VRtsIcR3CsWMvAAFdh89jp/Iq7qXglzq3NMTq0j/AKpWYUEEFFNn4pKXpWefj/sSUljwR9r/AP/Q 5r9odQ/7l3/9u2f+TWlg0dRtrrfbmZU5DXOxcWixz77GtPp/aHepbXTiYfrfovtFzt9z/wCj49v8 4sr7Zgc/YbNP+7P/AL6q7j/WS4Y9TKaX1iuv06rBcwXsrkuFDM1uF9sZS1z37K2Xq7Ln8NemVeYa 2P4fnv1RvTQCTrYXSuqV2Pd1rOvxKccGzKpqyN+QyprfVsvtY22z7NTt9jPZbk3XWVVV4/6T167H Uen/AFptrGYQ/Bw2Na3Gwm22epW149SvHfWN1+R1C6yyll/qb7rcvJ/0NV32bnKcvFpbY9mI+oPY WWkZJ9zH/TY6cX3b3bf7aF/zpNVz31U5TXz7n/brA4+83mXtpb/2od6//G/pP5xIc7jlK4zBr+pp 9FS5LJGNSgRfafqejPSPrAwtbZ1Btbnglpdk2uBLWG/IaDU2zf8AY2f0q6v9Xrss9L1rLUw6d1u5 1r8fKvZjUh7rnX2XB1IY0PFeX6LXs+12z7cPG+0ZFP8ANZPo2rmv+d3vdYcfI9QsNTnfbbNxrcd7 6d/o7vRe873V/wA2iH67X7hYWZe8Elp/aFu4EjaXD9F+c1qk++D94bfusX3P+qf8d6jF6J1m6+nE yOpW42RksD2MY6691cnZ+uimxjcPbb+g/S/9qGW1/wCCssWj1/p1XTOpsxcK7Lzc3NLTidN9W5tT WRsfZbeyxr7f0ldtn9Io9Jn87+i/SLh8f62Fjq210X1mncaG/bXgMLg/1HUtNH6Ox/q2/pGfpP0i tP64ce