With a Little Luck by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online

breathless.
    The wide lazy smile that Luck gave her quickened her pulse. “You are safe today. Toby left his baseball and glove at the house,” he said.
    “Good. I was wondering whether I should stop here or not.” Eve laughed as she lied, because she hadn’t given the broken windshield incident another thought.
    “Look what we bought.” Toby reached into the smaller sack he carried and pulled out a package of chocolate chips. “We’re going to make some the next time it rains.”
    “I hope they turn out,” she smiled.
    “So do I,” Luck murmured dryly, and touched the boy’s shoulder. “Let’s go, Toby. We’ll see you, Eve,” he nodded, using that in definite phrase that committed nothing.
    “Bye, Eve.”
    The smile faded from her expression as she watched them go. Turning away from the door, she went to do her shopping,
     
    “WHEN DO YOU SUPPOSE it’s going to rain again?” Toby searched the blue sky for a glimpse of dark clouds, but there wasn’t a sign of even a puffy white one. He sank to his knees on the beach towel that Luck was stretched out on. Grains of sand clung to his bare feet, wet like the rest of him from swimming in the lake. “It’s been almost a week.”
    “Maybe we’re in for a drought,” Luck suggested with dry humor at his son’s impatience.
    “Very funny.” Toby made a face at him and turned to squint into the sunlight reflected off the lake’s surface. “The water is pretty warm. Are you going to come in for a swim now?”
    “In a little bit.” The heat of the sun burning into his exposed flesh made him lazy.
    A red beach ball bounced on the sand near him and rolled onto his towel. Luck started to sit up and made it halfway before the ball’s owner arrived.
    “Sorry,” a breathless female voice apologized.
    Turning, he leaned on an elbow as a shapely blonde in a very brief bikini knelt on the sand beside him and reached for the ball. Her smile was wide and totally beguiling.
    “No harm done,” he assured her, and noticed the amount of cleavage that was revealed when she bent to pick up the ball.
    His gaze lifted to her face and observed the knowing sparkle in her eyes. Wisely he guessed that it had all been a ploy to attract his attention. It was an old game. Despite the beautiful packaging, he discovered he wasn’t interested in playing.
    The blonde waited for several seconds, but he didn’t make the expected gambit. Disappointment flickered in her expression, then was quickly veiled by a coy smile. Rising in a graceful turning motion, she ran back to her friends.
    “That blonde was really a knockout, huh, dad?”
    Amused, Luck cast a glance over his shoulder at his son, who was still staring after the shapely girl. “Yes, I guess she was,” he agreed blandly, and looked back to the trio playing keep-away. Then he pushed himself into a full sitting position, his attention leaving the scantily clad blonde.
    “She thought you were pretty neat, too,” Toby observed, a hint of devilry in his smile. “I saw the sexy look she gave you.”
    “You see too much.” Luck gave him a playful push backward, plopping him down on the sand.
    Toby just laughed. “Why don’t you marry someone like her?”
    Luck sighed. He’d thought that subject had been forgotten. He shook his head in a mild form of exasperation. “Looks aren’t everything, son.” Rolling to his feet, he reached down to pull Toby up. “Let’s go for that swim of yours.”
    “Race ya!” Toby challenged, and took off at a dead run.
    He loped after him, his long strides keeping the distance between them short. Wading into the lake until he was up to his knees, he then dived in. Powerful reaching strokes soon carried Luck into deeper water, where he waited for Toby to catch up with him.
    “What do you think, pretty lady?” Luck murmured in a voice that was audible only to himself. “Have you ruined me for anyone else?”
    The image of his wife swirled through the mists of his mind, her face