Heartwishes by Jude Deveraux Read Free Book Online

Colin smiled at her.
    The living room was to the right, partially walled off from the kitchen-dining area. One whole side was a stone fireplace flanked by shelves for books and a big TV. There was a large Oriental rug on the floor, but it was the only thing in the room. In fact, there was no furniture anywhere.
    “Mind sitting on the floor?” Colin asked.
    “My favorite place.”
    “But only if you have a dozen books open around you and a notebook in your hand. And how many colors of pens do you use?”
    “Seven—which is one fewer than Kirk says he uses. I’ll have to ask him what number eight is.”
    They spread the food out on the paper wrappers on the carpet and began to eat.
    “This is delicious,” Gemma said.
    “If Ellie makes it, you can bet it is.”
    Gemma looked around the beautiful room. There were glass doors along the back and they opened into a courtyard that had a garden beyond.
    She looked back at him and again thought how much she loved the look of him. In the last couple of years she’d spent so much time with athletes that she’d become attracted to larger men. Besides the boys that she’d tutored there’d been the coaches. One of the assistantsand she had dated for months. But she’d broken it off when his lack of interest about anything but sports got to her.
    She could feel that indescribable “something” that made her think that Colin was also attracted to her. However, she was very aware that he’d maneuvered the conversation so Gemma had admitted she didn’t have a boyfriend, but Colin had said nothing about his own love life. If it hadn’t been for her adviser telling her all three sons were unmarried, she wouldn’t even know that. “How does your girlfriend like this house?”
    “I told you that no one has seen it.”
    Which was a perfect nonanswer, Gemma thought, and she was damned if she was going to work to find out more about his personal life. “I like the house very much,” she said at last. “You should be very happy here.”
    Colin moved to lean back against the wall, and took his time before speaking, as though he were contemplating what to say. “In the last year and a half three of my friends . . . well, actually four, got married, and it’s made me think about my own future.” He looked at her and smiled warmly. “I’m sure that’s more than you wanted to know about me.”
    She wanted to say that she’d like to hear a lot more, but it was too soon for that.
    They were quiet for a while, then Gemma asked him about his brothers.
    “Real pests,” he said, but there was so much love in his voice that it was almost embarrassing. He talked while they ate, telling her about his family, and she saw how close they were to one another.
    He told her of his brothers Lanny and Pere, who worked in the family car business. He talked of how the development of Shamus’s artistic abilities was of major concern to their family as they wanted the best possible art schooling for him. “Our mother interviews universitiesas though she’s a general planning a battle. So far, none of them are good enough for her precious baby.”
    Lastly, he spoke of his sister, Ariel, who would soon be returning to Edilean to work as a doctor. Colin’s chest seemed to swell in pride.
    “I envy you,” she said when he finished.
    “What about your family?”
    “I have a mother and a sister and they’re exactly alike. They laugh over the same things, call each other every day. They’re a pair.”
    “How do you fit in with them?”
    “I don’t,” she said. “My father and I were best buddies, and after he died when I was twelve, I . . .” She shrugged. “Unhappy memories. The good news is that my sister married a rich man—he has his own plumbing company—and she sends me truly lovely gifts. All I have to do to repay her is babysit for whole weeks at a time.”
    Colin laughed. “So what kind of gifts does she send you?”
    “A Kindle, some sports equipment, top-of-the-line