The MacGregor Grooms by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

then talked himself out of it again.
    It was best to stay away from her, he told himself. To let it go, let her go before they tangled themselves up again. Every time he came to that decision, he felt better. He’d work like a demon for hours. Then somehow she’d sneak into his brain again and leave him miserable, itchy and angry.
    Nothing could have pleased him more than the call from his father telling him his grandparents had come down for a quick visit.
    It would do him good to have an easy family dinner, he thought. To spend an evening with people he loved and understood. In fact, he could go back north with them. Spend some time with Julia and Cullum and little Travis, see some of his cousins.
    He could toss a few clothes in a bag, pack up some canvases and paints and be on the road whenever he wanted to. That, he assured himself as he walked to his parents’ home, was the beauty of his lifestyle.
    It was simple, it was basic. It was his.
    The last thing he needed was a woman clogging up the works. God knew women like Layna Drake were major complications. High maintenance, he decided, as the breeze fluttered and sent a shower of fading cherry blossoms flying.
    Across the street a leggy brunette in bicycle shorts jogged along with a sleek black Lab on a silver leash. The dog barked happily; the woman gave D.C. a long, slow smile. He watched her long enough to note she tossed a look over her shoulder that radiated invitation.
    And he cursed himself for not having the slightest interest in following up on it.
    Leggy brunettes with slow, hot smiles had always been his style, hadn’t they? So why the hell was he hung up on a cool blonde who never had a hair out of place?
    A change of scene, he told himself, was definitely in order. He’d spend a couple of weeks in Boston and Hyannis Port, play with the kids, do some work and get rid of this ridiculous obsession over a woman.
    He climbed the short set of stairs to the walkway. Vivid red impatiens were spreading on either side of the doorway. His mother would have planted them, he knew. She liked strong colors. They added a touch of flash to the dignity of the town house. Dignity and flash. It was a perfect description of his parents. It made him smile to think of it.
    The potter and the politician.
    Together they’d made marriage, home and family mean something. Mean everything, D.C. mused, then smiled again when he heard his grandfather’s laugh boom through the open windows.
    He didn’t knock, but walked in. He smelled flowers and lemon oil, heard more laughter, and the murmur of voices from the parlor. His uncertain mood lifted and steadied.
    So when he stepped in, he was totally unprepared to see Layna sitting knee-to-knee with Daniel, or the two of them grinning at each other.
    “There’s the lad!” Daniel surged out of his chair, moving with a speed that laughed at more than ninety years of living. His shoulders were broad, his hair a snowy mane that matched his beard. His eyes as they met D.C.’s twinkled blue with delight.
    Daniel hugged him like a bear trap, thumped him on the back with sledgehammer blows and noted—with pleasure—that D.C. had yet to stop staring at the lass Daniel had picked out for him.
    “About time you got here. These women have been pouring tea down my throat when any fool can see I need a whiskey. The lad wants a whiskey, Shelby, and I’ll join him.”
    “Two fingers, Shelby, no more.” Anna MacGregor’s quiet voice held authority. Smiling as her husband complained bitterly about a bairn being able to handle two fingers, she opened her arms to D.C.
    “Grandma.” He folded himself down until their cheeks rubbed. As always, he found both softness and strength. And closing his eyes, breathed her in.
    Layna looked away before it undid her. There was complete, unquestioning, unconditional love in that welcoming embrace. So much love it sparked both envy and need. She didn’t want to see it, didn’t want to feel it.
    “You