Tupelo Gold: Sweeter than Honey (Eclipse Heat Book 4) Read Free Page B

produced Jacob.
    He’d kept his son’s existence secret for six months, trying to figure out how to tell his wife. He hadn’t intended to tell Comfort in this way, but the last visit had called for quick action. And here he was with two kids in a buggy, sitting outside the CQ Boardinghouse and wondering if he’d even get through the front door.
    Hamilton assumed that Comfort would be watching for him from the front window of the boarding house and expecting him to return, riding his saddle horse. Instead he’d trotted the buggy up to the hitching rail and halted. He saw the curtain twitch, but no smiling face welcomed him through the glass.
    Jacob jumped down from his perch on the bench and efficiently tied the lead rope to the post. Feeling hollow inside, Hamilton faced the little girl.
    “Guess we’re here.” Behind him he watched Naomi come out of the front door.
    “Good afternoon, Hamilton,” Naomi said as she started for the buggy.
    “Charlie, the kids need to meet my wife, before they meet your wife. Comfort and I need to sort things out first.”
    Hamilton sighed in gratitude when Charlie dismounted. 
    “Naomi gets upset when Comfort’s upset. ’Spect you best get to sortin’.” His glance swept from Hamilton to the kids beside him, then he crossed from the buggy to head his wife in another direction.
    Hamilton had a feeling Naomi wanted to flay the skin off him. Her lips were pressed tight and Hamilton didn’t have to be a genius to know she had scathing criticisms she wanted to fling his way.
    “Time to go home, mi corazón.” Charlie murmured.
    At Charlie’s softly-spoken words, Naomi’s expression gentled and she hushed. When Charlie lifted her onto her horse and patted her thigh affectionately, Naomi smiled down at him.
    She loves him. Well hell, he loves her too. Her face glowed and her eyes sparkled. It was the first time Hamilton had ever seen a resemblance between Charlie’s plain wife and Hamilton’s own beautiful bride.
    Sam remained mounted, staring with interest at the house, and showing no sign of leaving.
    “You can go on home now, too” Hamilton growled.
    “Smart and good to look at. Like I said, Quince. Rare.” Warning in place, Sam turned away from Hamilton to follow his cousin and wife toward the MC3.
    Hamilton climbed from the buggy, turning back again to lift Jacob’s sister to the ground. But his son was there before him.
    “I’ve got you, Ladybug,” the young boy crooned to the smaller child as he swung her down.
    Hamilton would like to have lingered outside, but curtains in town were already twitching at the unusual site of one of the Quince brothers driving a rented buggy with two kids beside him. 
    “Jacob, bring your sister and come with me.” Hamilton motioned for his son to join him on the porch steps. 
    Comfort didn’t come out to greet him, but she didn’t bar the door either. Hamilton took that as a good sign.  She was waiting in the front room, silver coffee urn ready with a tray of sandwiches beside the cups.
    Whatever he’d expected, it wasn’t this calm acceptance, although he shouldn’t have been surprised.  Comfort met every crisis with serene composure. Sometimes Hamilton wished she’d just break loose with a tantrum, swear at him, and maybe throw a vase or two. But that wasn’t her way of doing things.
    “Hamilton, introduce me to the children.”
    Ham flinched at the unexpected request. Worse yet, he didn’t know the little girl’s name.  
    “Comfort, we need to talk.”
    She ignored his words and turned to Jacob with her hand outstretched. “Hello. I’m Comfort Quince, your father’s wife. I’m very glad to meet you.”
    It pleased Hamilton mightily when his son shook Comfort’s hand.
    “I’m Jacob,” he said gruffly, apparently waiting for Comfort to make the next move. 
    She knelt on the floor to face the young girl clinging to Jacob’s side. “And what’s your name?”
    “Sally,” the little girl whispered,