All Shook Up Read Free Page B

goin’, kid?”
    “Goin’ cool.” Tate took the proffered hand and immediately began grimacing mightily, which told Dru he was doing his best to grind J.D.’s knuckles to dust. He simply loved the adultness of shaking hands, but they couldn’t seem to convince him that a firm grip was all that was necessary for a perfectly manly handshake. He understood the concept when it came to women, but just let a man stick his hand out and Tate immediately turned it into a test of his machismo.
    Since J.D. hadn’t exactly proven himself to be Mr. Congeniality, she hurriedly said, “And this is my uncle, Ben Lawrence. J.D. got in a day early, Uncle Ben.”
    “I see that.” Ben walked over to join them. “Tate, quit trying to crush his hand—we’ve talked about thisbefore. Go stick your head in the door and tell your grandma that J.D. is here.” He tousled Tate’s silky brown hair as the boy turned to do his bidding. “Be prepared to duck in case she’s still on the warpath, slick.” His gaze followed the boy until Tate swooped his light-saber up off the porch on his way to the front door; then he turned to J.D. and offered his own hand. “Welcome to Star Lake Lodge.”
    Dru watched the two men as they took each other’s measure. Her uncle was older and not as fit as J.D., but he was still damn fine-looking for his age. He’d spread a little around the middle, and his shoulders weren’t as muscular as they once were. But his hair, though mostly gray now, was thick and wavy, and his brown eyes crinkled at the outside corners when he smiled, which he did often.
    The same certainly couldn’t be said for J.D. He exchanged handshakes with the sober impassiveness Dru had seen since his arrival. He answered her uncle’s questions civilly enough, but didn’t volunteer so much as an extra word that might make the introductions go more smoothly. He all but bristled with no-trespassing signs, and for some reason it put her back up. Luckily, Tate and Aunt Sophie emerged from the cabin before she forgot herself and said something unforgivably snide.
    The fact that she was even tempted to do so brought Dru up short. What was it about this guy that tested all the control she’d worked so hard to perfect? This knee-jerk desire to provoke a reaction out of him was not good.
    “Grandma Sophie’s herself again,” Tate announcedcheerfully as he pulled his great-aunt by the hand toward the group in the clearing. “I don’t think she wants to put the dust mop up Grandpa Ben’s bu—”
    “ Tate! ”
    Clearly unfazed by the exasperated warning that came from three separate throats, he gave an unrepentant shrug and pinned his honorary grandmother in place with his laser-blue eyes. “Well, you don’t, do you?”
    “No,” Sophie agreed dryly. “I can safely say that impulse has passed.” She walked up to her husband and slid her arm around his waist. Patting his chest with her free hand, she murmured contritely, “I’m sorry, Ben.”
    “I know you are, babe.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side.
    Dru was aware of J.D. next to her, still and watchful, and she tried to see her aunt and uncle as they must appear through his eyes.
    She’d lived with them so long she could see them only through her own, but she was struck as always by the closeness they radiated. It was simply part of their nature to gravitate together whenever they were in the same vicinity. It wasn’t an excluding relationship, though—their natural warmth extended to everyone they cared about.
    Dru’s parents had been restless souls who’d traveled the four corners of the earth. One of her earliest memories was of them parking her with her aunt and uncle so they could go off to see the world and try something new and exciting. When she’d begun school, she’d always dreaded that moment when the bus let her offat the corner. She’d never known who, if anyone, would be there to meet her. Sometimes it had been one of her