Sinful by Joan Johnston Read Free Book Online Page A

with the wrong last name. About losing buddies who shouldn’t have had their lives cut short.
    He fought back the anger, which a very good army therapist had told him he needed to deal with sooner rather than later.
    It was the unpredictability of war that had finally gotten to him, the sheer arbitrariness of who lived and who died in battle. Even when a good man survived the war, he wasn’t home free. There were inner demons to be battled, the consequences of killing other humans or holding some buddy in your arms as he died an agonizing death, torn apart by bullets or a bomb. Worst of all was the guilt you felt for being fiercely glad that you were still alive when your buddy was dead.
    It was a friend’s death that had given Connor the idea to buy a ranch and run it as a sanctuary for returning vets. Any soldier who needed a quiet place of peace where he could let go of the horrors he’d witnessed in war was welcome.
    Connor had several friends still in the army who’dbeen willing to refer vets to him. Over the past two months, three dozen returning soldiers had come and gone from Safe Haven. Some of them only stayed for a weekend, some for a week, and some were still there two months later.
    Connor hadn’t decided yet on a time limit for how long a man could stay, but he’d realized he was going to need some support, so he’d hired a couple of the visiting vets, one of whom had been a therapist in the army. Each soldier worked for his supper doing chores on the ranch, everything from feeding chickens and milking cows to mending the barbed wire fence that defined his property. But there was no other charge.
    Connor was pretty sure this wasn’t the way his father had expected him to use his trust fund, but so long as the money held out, he was determined to help as many vets as he could. Eventually he was going to have to come up with a way to fund his sanctuary, but his trust fund would keep the ranch in operation for a long time.
    Connor had built an addition to the small ranch house to make sure there was plenty of space for the children and a room for the nanny he was planning to hire. For the short term he planned to do all of the child care himself. He wanted to reestablish his relationship with his children, and that meant spending time with them.
    Connor retrieved the papers he needed from the court clerk and turned to get a few last hugs from his brothers.
    “Call if you need us,” Aiden said.
    “Aw, Aiden,” Devon complained, “you shouldn’thave said that. Now he won’t call because he’d be admitting he needs our help.”
    Connor grinned. “You are so right!” Now that he had custody of his children, it felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The future felt bright and full of possibilities. “I’ll be fine. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go get my kids.”
    He didn’t want his brothers around when he picked up Brooke and Sawyer, because he was afraid he might end up teary-eyed again. Before he left, he searched the courtroom looking for Eve, to thank her for speaking on his behalf, but she’d already gone. Maybe he’d see her in town sometime and thank her. He wasn’t going to call her. He wasn’t going anywhere near Eve Grayhawk if he could help it.
    He’d just finished that thought when he opened the door to the room where his children were being held and found himself face-to-face with her.
    Eve was down on one knee and had both children in her arms. Her eyes were brimmed with tears and her chin was wobbling as she tried to smile at them. She rose, the children still clinging to her, and swiped at a tear that spilled over. She shot a woeful look at him and said, “I’ll get out of your way. I was just leaving.”
    She’d only taken one step before Brooke gripped her at the waist on one side and Sawyer wrapped his arms around her hip on the other. Both children were crying. She shut her eyes and caught her lower lip in her teeth as she put a