Having Faith by Abbie Zanders Read Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t.
    * * *
    F aith didn’t eat very much, Kieran thought, watching her surreptitiously from beneath half-lidded eyes.  Like all of his brothers, he had perfected the ability to observe without being observed.  While everyone else dug in with hearty appetites, Faith hung back, accepting only an apple and a bottle of water, and that was only when Lacie pressed her.  He had the distinct impression she wouldn’t have had anything otherwise.
    She wasn’t overly thin.  On the contrary, she had some fine curves that would catch any man’s interest.  So why did she seem so reluctant to join them in a meal?  She’d obviously been working her ass off, just like everyone else.  Surely she had to be hungry, too. 
    A loud knock sounded at the door, and Faith peeked out the window.  “Looks like our stuff’s here!” she said to Matt, and just like that, her slight frown turned up into a wide grin and her eyes lit up with excitement.  When the others went to stand, Faith waved her hand at them.  “It’s okay – you guys stay and finish eating.  This won’t take long.”
    “Is your mother on a diet or something?  She hasn’t eaten anything.” Kieran leaned over and spoke quietly to Matt when Faith excused herself to answer the door. 
    Matt shrugged, chewing the mouthful he had.  Just that quickly, his expression changed to one that looked suspiciously like guilt as he put down the unfinished half of his sandwich.  Kieran frowned.  The kid was putting it away like a champ a few minutes ago.  What had changed?
    “Had enough?” he asked.
    Matt nodded.  “Yeah,” he lied.  “But can I save this for later?”
    “Sure,” Kieran nodded as Matt wrapped up the sandwich with care and put it into the fridge.  It did not escape his notice that there was nothing else in there.  Then again, they had just arrived, and Faith had admitted earlier they hadn’t had a chance to do any shopping yet.  Still, the empty fridge bothered him. 
    “Do you think your mom will mind if we leave the rest of this stuff here?” Kieran asked suddenly.  “No sense letting it go to waste.”
    Matt’s eyes widened.  “You don’t want it?”
    “Nah,” he reassured the kid.  “Plenty more where that came from.”
    Kieran helped Matt wrap up the leftovers and put them in the fridge.  At least he knew they’d have dinner tonight.  Maybe Faith was self-conscious about eating in front of other people, or maybe she felt bad that she hadn’t had anything to offer them. 
    It was ridiculous, of course, but she seemed like the type of woman who would care about that kind of thing.  Besides being beautiful, she was also a proud woman.  Her initial reluctance to accept help demonstrated that clearly enough.  And she obviously cared a great deal for her son.  Kieran had caught her worried looks and frequent peeks all morning.  Of course, that may have been because he was watching her so closely, too.
    The woman had an unexpected way of commanding his attention; there was no doubt about that.  He’d had to put an extra effort into focusing on what he was doing lest he lose a finger or some other important body part while operating various power tools.  Even now, he couldn’t help himself from listening to what was going on in the other room.  He could hear Faith’s soft voice, along with two deeper, obviously male ones.
    He honed in on the exchange, his protective instincts surging as he moved closer to the archway separating the kitchen from the living area.  As far as he could tell, the delivery men had made only two trips from their truck to the house.  Two mattresses and two box springs sat propped up by the door.  Surely that wasn’t all?
    “If you’ll sign here, Mrs. ....”
    “Miss,” Faith automatically corrected as she signed the papers.  The delivery man’s grin grew.  He was the younger of the two; Kieran put his age somewhere around twenty-five or so.  The guy was decent looking enough, he