Love Everlasting (Isle of Hope series Book 2) by Julie Lessman Read Free Book Online Page A

neighbor, Lacey’s father, and now love of her life—had kissed her goodbye in that empty hallway before Jack and Lacey’s wedding last year, a hint of loneliness had crawled into her heart.
    “So help me, Tess,” he’d said, nudging her to the wall with an agony that had shocked both of them to the core. “I am so in love with you …”
    Her answering moan had melted into his mouth before she gently pushed him away, the same torment in his face that she felt in her own. “Ben, I’m in love with you too— desperately —but this is not the time nor place.”
    And so he had left after the wedding, one of the country’s top cardiac surgeons opting for a six-month medical missionary trip a friend had been badgering him about for years. To give her time with Adam and then time to grieve. Only six months had turned into eight, so when his once frequent letters and emails tapered off to only here and there, her loneliness had spread like the vile disease that had taken Adam’s life. A sharp stab of pain wrung more moisture from her eyes. What if he had changed his mind about marrying her? What if he’d met someone else? What if he didn’t need her anymore like she needed him?
    Oh, Ben, where are you?
    “Tess.” Cam’s voice was gentle as always.
    Her eyes jerked open, so lost in her thoughts that she had to blink several times before Cam’s face came into view. “Yes?”
    She startled when he reached across the table to tenderly brush a tear from her cheek. “You know I don’t mind the moments of silence between us because I understand.” He slowly sat back down, kind eyes probing hers with a concern that had been a balm to her soul these last five months. “Because the silence is comfortable, like our friendship.” He paused, a crease above a classic nose on a face most women considered attractive, she supposed, although she’d been too depressed to notice. One side of his full lips lifted into an off-center smile that popped a dimple, and she blinked, suddenly caught off-guard by military-short sandy hair and hazel eyes the exact shade of Ben’s. “But when the friend I’ve come to care for starts shedding crocodile tears …” He cuffed the back of his neck with an adorable grimace that made her smile. “Well, I tend to revert to Navy mode, and the Rear Admiral in me takes over.”
    She caught her lower lip with her teeth, a glimmer of the former “Miss Perky”—Ben’s nickname for her—twinkling in her eyes, no doubt. “Uh-oh … should I salute?”
    He grinned and rose, downing most of his iced tea before pushing in his chair. “That might be best since we’ll be at sea.” He rounded the table and hooked her arm, plucking her up.
    “What? W-Where are we g-going?” she stammered, too aware of his commanding hold as she stumbled along while he led her down her driveway.
    “To test-drive a boat.”
    She skidded to a dead stop, her one-inch pumps digging into her red paver driveway now crisscrossed with moss. “Are you crazy, Cam? I’m not dressed for a boat.”
    He scanned head to foot and back. His slow perusal of the way -too-short pencil skirt Cat talked her into and her sleeveless lavender silk blouse was so deliberate, it toasted her cheeks. “I’ll wait. Go change.”
    She blinked, mind racing in a hundred different directions, none of them along the lines of grief counseling with a friend. He turned to buff her arms, thumbs slowly grazing the crook of her elbow. Her throat went dry as her neck craned up, up, up to a handsome face sporting a patient smile.
    Good grief, when did he get so tall?
    “It’s Memorial Weekend, Tess, and you’ve been in a funk for five months now. The sun and sea air will do you good and who knows?” The hazel eyes twinkled like topaz. “You might even have a little fun.”
    “B-But … but …”
    He glanced at his watch. “I have an appointment at 1500 hours—three o’clock your time—so we have to cut and run, Mrs. O’Bryen, because I’m