His fault. His own damned fault.
When Charlotte bustled out of the kitchen a few moments later, the red nose and additional mascara streaks down her cheeks said she’d spent her time the same way Lucky had.
Sniff.“How about the tour now?” She wiped her hand across her face but only smeared her makeup even more.
Yeah. Stay busy. Best thing to do to keep from thinking and regretting too hard.
She turned around in the living room, sauntered over to the backdoor, and screamed. A wall of white hit the glass. The scream turned into a giggle. “Richie, your horse wants in.” She squatted down by the door, tapping the glass and cooing at Moose. “You raising goats now, or what?”
“Found him at the pound. Couldn’t leave him behind.” Not when Moose wriggled his way into Lucky’s heart, reminding him of the Great Pyrenees he’d grown up with as herd dogs for the family’s goats.
Charlotte shot him a “who are you and what have you done with my brother” look. “Can we let him in?”
“Not if you want to stay upright. He’s a bit of a handful right now.” The drool pit of doom whined through the glass, turning adoring eyes on Lucky.
“A handful. Ha! Takes after you then, don’t he?” After a bit of circling, and stopping by the bookcase to admire Bo’s dragon statue collection, Charlotte marched to the hall and waited.
Bo took the hint and shot to his feet. “The bedrooms and bathrooms are back this way. Here’s your room.” He opened the door to the guest bedroom, furnished with Rett’s hand-me-down air mattress and a half dozen boxes waiting to be unpacked. “We’re still moving in.”
Charlotte flipped on the light switch. “This is nice. And bigger than my bedroom back home.”
“The bathroom’s this way.” Bo strolled off down the hall.
Their voices faded. Oh crap. Getting quiet must mean they’d started talking about him. Lucky dashed down the hall and into his and Bo’s bedroom, too late to stop Charlotte from opening the door to the room he and Bo didn’t speak about.
“What a cute nursery!” Charlotte winked at Lucky. “When y’all planning on using it?”
Lucky turned to stare at Bo, who stared back with the same dumbfounded, wide-eyed silence.
Charlotte’s smile fell. “Oops, hit a nerve there, did I? Sorry. Don’t mind me. I’ll just be over here prying my foot out of my mouth.”
Lucky opened the bathroom door, getting a chance to change the subject. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do on the house, but this room’s pretty much finished.”
“Lordy, what a bathroom.” Charlotte poked her head into the walk-in closet. “I got closet envy like all get out.”
Her mouth dropped open again in the garage while circling the Harley. “When’d you get a bike?” She managed to hike her leg high enough to hop onto the seat, and sat gripping the handlebars. “Wroom! Wroom!”
Again Lucky exchanged looks with Bo. How much should they tell?
Bo saved Lucky from lying. “I went undercover in a biker gang, and got a sweet deal when the case ended.”
What a relief. Lucky had never been able to lie to his sister—she knew him too well. And Bo hadn’t outright lied. Having a former drug lord hand over the keys to one hell of a ride counted as a sweet deal, didn’t it?
But one day soon, the “drug lord” might call in the favor.
Damn. Lucky might still have reasons to keep Charlotte and her boys at a distance.
Chapter Eleven
“Sure you got enough covers?” Lucky searched the closet for another blanket while Bo trekked out to Charlotte’s car for her suitcase.
Charlotte stopped Lucky’s digging with a hand on his arm. “Any more and I’d never find my way out of the bed.”
“Need another pillow? We got extra pillows.” If not, he’d have more in twenty minutes or so after a trip to the local Wal-Mart.
“Richie?”
“Need a glass of water?”
