LOVING ELLIE Read Free

fire. 
    No one knew to expect him.
    His body tensed.  His dark brows knitted together.  “What the-”
    A soft sigh drew his gaze from the bright orange embers to the sofa that sat in front of it.  A puddle of water gathered on the floor at the foot of the sofa.  Above it, worn boots peeked out from beneath a colorful throw.  Who they belonged to he couldn’t tell as the floral piece faced the fireplace, away from where he stood staring in disbelief.
    One thing he could tell from the boots was that it was definitely a man asleep on his brother’s sofa.  A vagrant?  Possibly.  Yet the front door had been locked.  Whoever he was, he was trespassing.
    He rounded the sofa to confront the man curled up, head and all, beneath the colorful throw.  The lounging lump stirred slightly, causing the blanket to slide away from the interloper’s face.
    Lucas’s breathed hitched.  It wasn’t a man lying asleep on his brother’s sofa.  It was a woman.  Young with long blonde hair and soft pink lips parted in sleep. 
    As the shock of his discovery wore off, Lucas frowned.  Pretty or not, she was still trespassing in his brother’s house.  He moved to stand in front of her, arms crossed.  “I don’t know who you are, but you’d better have a good explanation for being here.”
     
    Ellie stirred, drawn from sleep by a hauntingly familiar voice.
    “Jarrett?” she mumbled tiredly, forcing her eyes to open.  She needed so badly to see her friend again.  In the fading light of day that filtered into the room through the window, it took a bit longer for her eyes to adjust. 
    She focused on the worn denim in front of her, following it up over muscular, denim-clad thighs, past the hand clutching a camel-colored sheepskin coat to the clinging cotton drawn taut over unexpectedly broad shoulders.  Shoulders too wide to be Jarrett’s.
    Her gaze slid further upward.  Eyes the same shade of sapphire blue as her fiancé’s stared back at her from beneath the brim of a snow-dusted hat.  But the unruly, dark brown hair and chiseled jaw covered by a five o’clock shadow weren’t Jarrett’s.  His hair had been a lighter shade of brown with streaks of gold mixed in and he was always clean-shaven.
    As the haze of sleep cleared her mind, the seriousness of the situation struck her.  She sat up with a gasp.  “Who are you?” she demanded, her heart pounding.  “What are you doing here?”
    A dark brow arched sharply.  “I seem to recall asking you the same thing before you fell into that blank stare.”
    “I...,” she said, struggling to find the words.  “I thought you were...” her words drifted off as she stared up into a face so much like Jarrett’s she wondered if she were dreaming this moment. 
    “The police?” he answered for her.
    “What?”
    He looked down at her, his face unsmiling.  “There are laws against trespassing, you know.”
    The faint scent of peppermint teased her senses when he spoke, confirming that this wasn’t a dream.  This man was real.  Very real.  
    “Are you going to explain what you’re doing in my brother’s house or do I call the police?” he demanded impatiently.  He crossed his arms, his body a virtual wall in front of her. 
    Her head snapped up to meet his impatient glare.  His brother’s?  Was it possible...?  She sat up and swung her booted feet off the sofa, the throw clutched protectively in front of her as she stood.  “Jarrett only had one brother and he’s in Brazil.”
    “Was,” he corrected.
    There was no denying the resemblance.  This had to be Lucas.  But why had he come home now? 
    “Nice of you to take your time coming home,” she said, furious that he hadn’t cared enough to come back in time for Jarrett’s memorial service.  Even more so that he’d broken his brother’s heart by stepping out of his life the way he had.  “The memorial service was nearly three weeks ago.”
    “I don’t know who you are, but I do know one