Dream 3 - Finding the Dream by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online

twenty-five. This one seems to have stuck. Anyway, he came back to the area a few weeks ago."
    "Oh, really? I didn't know."
    "You and Michael never ran in the same circles," Josh said dryly. "The thing is, he took over the old place, where he grew up. His mother and stepfather relocated in Boca, and he bought the property from them. He's raising horses now."
    "Horses. Hmm." Not terribly interested, she began to walk the baby again. Josh would get to his point eventually, she knew. Sometimes he was such a lawyer, caging the meaning with words.
    'Those storms we had a couple weeks ago?''
    "Oh, bad ones," she remembered. "Almost as bad as the fateful night of Laura Templeton's birth."
    "Yeah, more mud slides. One of them destroyed Michael's place."
    "Oh, I'm sorry." She stopped walking and tuned in. "I'm really sorry. Was he hurt?"
    "No. He managed to get himself and his stock out. But the house is a loss. It's going to take some time to rebuild, if that's what he wants to do. Meanwhile, he'll need temporary lodgings for himself and his horses. Something he could rent, you know, for the short term. And I was thinking, the stables and the groom's apartment above them aren't being used."
    Alarm came first. "Josh."
    "Just hear me out. I know Mom and Dad were always a little, well, wary of him."
    "To say the least."
    "He's an old friend," Josh returned. "And a good one. He's also handy. No one's done any maintenance or repairs on that building in years, not since-" He broke off, cleared his throat.
    "Not since I sold off the horses," Laura finished. "Because Peter didn't care for them, or the amount of time I put in with them."
    "The point is, the building should be looked after. Right now it's just sitting there empty. You could use the rent, since you refuse to dip into Templeton capital to run this place."
    "I'm not going over that ground again."
    "Fine." He recognized that set to her mouth and didn't bother. "The rent from a building you're not using would help you out. Right?"
    "Yes, but-"
    He held up a hand. He would cut through the logic and practicalities first. "You could use someone around here, in the short term, to do some heavy work, to put the stables back in shape. That's something you simply can't do yourself."
    "That's true, but-"
    Now, Josh thought, for the clincher. "And I have an old friend whose home has been washed out from under him. I'd consider it a personal favor."
    "Low blow," she muttered.
    "They're always the most effective." Knowing he'd scored, he gave her hair a quick, affectionate tug. "Look, it should work out for everyone, but give it a couple of weeks. If it's not working, I'll find an alternative."
    "All right. But if he starts having drunken poker parties or orgies-"
    "We'll try to keep them discreet," Josh finished and grinned. "Thanks." He kissed her and took the baby. "He's a good man, Laura. One you can count on in tight squeezes."
    Laura wrinkled her nose at his back as he carried J. T. out of the room. "I don't intend to count on Michael Fury, particularly in a tight squeeze."

Chapter Three
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    The last place Michael Fury had expected to take up residence, however temporarily, was on the great Templeton estate. Oh, he'd visited there often enough in the past, under the subtly watchful eyes of Thomas and Susan Templeton and the not so subtly watchful eye of Ann Sullivan.
    He was well aware that the Templeton housekeeper had considered him a mongrel let loose among her purebreds. And he assumed that she'd been worried about his intentions toward her daughter.
    She could have rested easy there. As lip smackingly gorgeous as Margo was, and always had been, she and Michael had never been more than casual friends.
    Maybe he'd kissed her a couple of times. How was a red-blooded man supposed to resist that mouth? But that had been the beginning and end of it. She'd been for Josh. Even that long ago and despite the shortsightedness of youth, he'd realized that.
    Michael Fury