Wishes by Jude Deveraux Read Free Book Online

greeting to Edan.
    “Good,” Kane said. “Make sure she takes those damned kids with her. Quiet down, all of you!” he yelled, but the kids ignored him.
    A moment later all three children hushed, and Jace looked toward the doorway. Houston stood there, as beautiful, as serene as he remembered. “Children,” she said, “leave your fathers alone. Go and find Uncle lan.” Obediently, the children left the room, the oldest holding the youngest’s hand.
    “Now,” she said, smiling, “what can we do for you, Jocelyn?”
    Jace winced, and behind him Kane snorted. Only his mother called him by his real name, and during his lifetime he’d bloodied several noses when anyone else called him Jocelyn. But Houston had called him Jocelyn since they’d met, and when they were alone he didn’t mind.
    “I really just came to visit,” he said, but Houston stood and looked at him. He was years older than she, but she had a way of making him feel like a child. He cleared his throat.
    Behind him Kane laughed. “You might as well tell her. If she says you came here for a reason, then you probably did.”
    Jace smiled. “All right, I’m caught. Houston, could I see you privately?” He looked at Kane. “I have a proposition to make to you.”
    “She gets propositioned often enough by me to keep this house full of kids,” Kane said, more than a little pride in his voice.
    Houston acted as though she were ignoring her husband’s words, but there was a faint blush under her skin. “Come with me,” she said, and she led Jace into a small, pretty, quiet sitting room.
    “How is your visit to Chandler?” she asked when they were seated. “Meet anyone interesting?”
    Jace laughed. “I hope it’s not that apparent to everyone.”
    “When we met you in San Francisco you were so miserable there was a gray tinge to your skin. There is a bit of a sparkle in your eyes now, and if I’m not mistaken, you look as though you’re up to something.”
    “I am,” he said with a slow, lazy smile. It was a smile not many women had seen, and those who had, had said yes. “I am going courting.”
    Houston swallowed. She was happily married, but she wasn’t dead. “I am sure you will win any woman you choose.”
    “I mean to, but I may need your help.” Jace stood and walked to the window. “What do you know of the Grayson family?”
    “Not a great deal. He’s a widower with two daughters. They’ve only lived in Chandler for a few years, and I’m afraid I haven’t had as much time to welcome newcomers as I once did. Two babies in four years has kept me busy.”
    “Yes, I can imagine it would.” He looked back at her. “Have you invited them to your Harvest Ball?”
    “Kane”—she hesitated—“Kane asked me not to invite them.”
    “Don’t tell me you don’t like Nellie?”
    “Nellie? Nellie is a dear. She is the most generous person in the world, always ready to help anyone who needs her, but last year two young men engaged in fisticuffs in the garden in a battle over the younger daughter’s favor. Kane said—well, he said some unpleasant things about the character of the younger daughter, so an invitation was not sent to the Grayson family this year. I fear that some young man will bring her, though.” She looked up sharply. “You are not one of her suitors, are you?”
    Jace smiled. “It’s Nellie who interests me.”
    Houston looked at him for a long while. She had not spent much time with Nellie, but she’d always thought men were fools not to see beyond her thick figure. Men fell all over themselves over that vain, frivolous Terel, but not one man so much as asked Nellie to a church social. Yet here was Kane’s cousin, this very good-looking man, saying he was interested in Nellie. Her opinion of Jace, already high, rose several degrees.
    “I will issue an invitation to Nellie at once. Is there anything else I can do?”
    “I don’t know much about this sort of thing, but I don’t believe Nellie has a