The Lonely Heart by K.M. Mahoney Read Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t whining.”
    Micah clutched his hands to his chest, widening his eyes dramatically. “Oh, God, I’m starving to death. It’s been three whole hours since I last ate. How will I ever make it until morning? Oh, woe is me!”
    Grady cracked up, almost snorting soda out his nose. “He didn’t.”
    “Oh, I kid you not.”
    “You’re exaggerating,” Tommy protested.
    “Hardly. The ‘woe is me’ part is an actual quote, if you may recall.”
    Tommy shrugged. “All right, so I might have been a little peeved.”
    “You covered Joseph’s bed in mayonnaise.”
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    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 36
    Grady snorted again, spilling his drink. He grabbed a napkin. When he was finished dabbing, Josh snatched it. He, too, was laughing loudly.
    “How much mayonnaise did that take?” Grady asked, still chuckling.
    Tommy shrugged, his own smile a bit wild and wicked. “Only about five jars.”
    “The industrial size,” Micah corrected.
    “I assume Joseph took the padlock off after that?”
    “Nope,” Tommy stated cheerfully. “He did yell a lot, though.”
    “Tommy went in through the window,” Micah said.
    “Dang near got stuck, too. They just don’t make windows big enough these days.”
    “That’s because they expect most sane people to use the door,” Micah teased.
    “Who said I was sane?”
    “You telling that story again?”
    Their little group turned, none of them having heard Isaiah and Joseph join the party.
    “What story?” Tommy asked innocently, looking at the pair with wide eyes. It was an odd look for him—the man was simply too large and muscular to pull off the innocent look with any success.
    “The Great Kitchen War,” Isaiah drawled with dry humour.
    “Is that what we’re calling it now?” Tommy smiled. “I like that, it has style.”
    Joseph was the only member of the group not smiling. In fact, his scowl was quite fierce. “Don’t remind me,” he said. “I dang near broke my neck sliding on mayonnaise. It gets damned slippery on top of a wooden floor.”
    Tommy shrugged. “What can I say? It was a messy job. So I might have spilled a little bit.”
    “A little—”
    “All right, boys, that’s enough.” Isaiah broke in before the argument could escalate.
    Putting Joseph and Tommy together was a little like throwing gasoline on a lit fire.
    They fed off each other, Tommy doing his best to irritate and Joseph taking the bait. Joseph had quite the temper and no one was able to prick it with quite as much success as Tommy.
    Isaiah got Joseph calmed down with the impressive ease of long-standing practice. The rest of their break was spent in companionable conversation. Josh snuggled in next to his big brother when the wind picked up, very much a part of the gang. Grady was proud of his men. They were good guys, one and all, going out of their way to make sure Josh was www.total-e-bound.com

    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 37
    included in the conversation as much as possible. And Josh, for his part, contributed with his expressive face and even more expressive hand gestures. They should have a game night some time. Josh would be deadly at Charades.
    Grady and Josh had grown pretty close lately. They spent the majority of each day together, doing odd jobs around the ranch. Heck, the kid was even helping him out with some of the computer work. Grady didn’t do much of it. Isaiah was the ranch’s business manager and handled most of the records, finances—all the pesky details that made up Grady’s head throb. For only being ten, Josh was amazingly good. He had been helping Grady sort mail and print out schedules. Grady was actually dreading when Josh started school.
    It would be quiet around the yard during the day. Lonely. Again.

    Isaiah grinned, watching his brother interact with the guys. It was good to see the little boy so happy. In the past two weeks, Isaiah had been getting glimpses into what Josh’s life had been like, and he didn’t like it.