Chapter 8: Serendipity: Chapter 8

Faith stood in the empty living room area of Ethan’s house, her mind whirling with all that had occurred. On top of the obvious—Ethan had a troubled sister dumped on his doorstep—Faith realized he also had an empty house that needed furniture much faster than either of them had thought.

He strode back into the room, cell phone in hand, his expression tight.

“Are they coming?” Faith asked about his brothers.

He’d called them both. She’d heard him explaining that they needed to come over, that it was important. She’d forced Tess into the kitchen when an argument seemed imminent. Forced because Tess hadn’t wanted to move, not when asked politely and not when ordered to do it either. Only when Faith had told her she could come and eat now or starve for the rest of the night had the teen stomped her way into the kitchen, where she’d refused to engage in any conversation at all.

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “Yeah. Once I told them it wasn’t about me, they each agreed to show up.”

Ouch. “At least they’re coming.”

Faith had stood by his side during the revelation about Tess and kept her busy while Ethan placed calls to his siblings. She’d done what she could. But she couldn’t imagine how difficult he found this whole situation, and he didn’t need her observing his family drama any further.

“Where’s Tess?” he asked.

Faith glanced at him. Exhaustion was evident in the lines around his eyes and she had a hunch it was about to get worse.

“She’s in the kitchen. I gave her some of Rosalita’s finest,” she said, leaving out the details about how rude, obstinate, and difficult the girl had been. He’d learn soon enough.

Faith placed a hand on his shoulder, finding it difficult to believe that just a little while ago, she thought they’d be heading up to his bedroom. “I really should get going before your brothers get here.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Seriously? Because it’s going to be difficult enough to break the news to them without a stranger in the midst.”

“We’re all strangers,” he muttered. “And I’d like you to stay.” He reached out and clasped her hand.

She wondered if there was a hint of desperation in the request when without warning he spun her toward him. “Do not for one minute think I forgot about what we were about to do before we were interrupted.” The heat in his gaze promised her he hadn’t.

Her body trembled at the thought of being with him. “I haven’t forgotten either.”

But she had a hunch he wouldn’t be free to act on his sex life for a while. A pang of disappointment followed that thought.

“Are you sure you want me here?” she asked.

“Positive.” He dipped his head for a quick kiss.

“Eew!”

Faith flung herself out of his arms.

“Get a room.” Tess stomped in, further making her presence known.

“Jesus, kid. Relax,” Ethan said.

“Did you finish dinner?” Faith asked her.

Tess bit her nails before finally muttering an answer. “Yeah.”

“Did you put your plate and things into the sink?” Faith automatically asked.

Tess braced her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side. “No. I left it next to both of yours on the table. Are you telling me a place like this doesn’t have a maid?”

Ethan expelled a long breath of air.

At least he was showing restraint and patience, something he’d need for the long haul, Faith thought.

When the doorbell rang, Ethan’s knowing gaze met hers. She wondered if he considered his brothers a reprieve from being alone with Tess or more like being in front of a firing squad. Neither possibility appealed.

“I’ll be right back,” Ethan said, heading for the door.

Faith turned to face the girl. “That’s probably your other brothers,” she explained. “There are two more of them.”

“Big whoop.” Tess folded her arms and glanced around. “So what’s with this place? It’s like a goddamn empty museum.”

Faith bit the inside of her cheek. “Ethan just moved in.”

“What happened? He spent all his money on the house and couldn’t afford furniture?” Tess returned to gnawing on her nails.

Black chipped polish, Faith noted. Lovely.

“Faith.” Ethan stood in the doorway, his two brothers waiting behind him. “Can you hold down the fort in here?” Ethan asked. “I need to talk to them first.”

She nodded, forcing a bright smile. “We’ll be fine,” she promised him.

I owe you. He mouthed the words.

She grinned, deciding it might be nice to make him pay.

Ethan led his brothers into the kitchen, the only other place in the house with furniture other than his room. The tension was so thick he could slice it, but there was a kid in the next room who needed them to pull it together like a family.

He set his jaw, counted to ten, and turned to face his younger siblings.

“What’s so important that we had to show up when you snap your fingers?” Nash, the middle brother asked.

Unlike Dare who, along with Ethan, had inherited their father’s dark hair, Nash favored their mother, his coloring and hair lighter.

Ethan braced his hand over the back of a chair and met his brothers’ gazes. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll get right to the point. There’s a teenage girl in the other room. Her name’s Tess, and I just found out she’s our sister.”

Both men looked at Ethan as if he’d lost his mind. Sometime in the last hour, he figured he definitely had.

“Remember Leah Moss, Dad’s secretary?” Ethan asked.

Nash nodded.

“Sort of,” Dare said. As the youngest, he’d find it the hardest to remember.

“Well, according to the woman who dropped off Tess on my doorstep, and this piece of paper, we all share the same father.” He held out the envelope that held the DNA test and birth certificate Kelly had given him.

“You’re saying Dad had an affair?” Dare asked, sounding appalled, angry, and disbelieving all at once.

“I’m not saying it. This paper is.” He waved it in the air once more.

Nash, the attorney, grabbed the envelope, pulled out the papers, and did a quick examination. “Could be forged. I’ll check it out.”

Ethan nodded. “Good. In the meantime, assuming it’s all real”—and Ethan’s gut told him it was—“Tess is here and she’s ours.”

“Who dropped her off?” Dare asked.

“A woman named Kelly Moss. Says she’s her sister. Leah Moss is her mother too.”

“And what kind of sister drops a kid off with a stranger and leaves?” Nash asked.

Ethan had wondered that himself—until he’d seen the hug and flash of tears in the other woman’s eyes. “The kind who can’t handle her anymore.” Exhausted, Ethan ran a hand through his hair. “Prepare yourselves. Our little sister is a pain in the ass.”

More like an out-of-control juvenile delinquent, but let his brothers see for themselves. “Kelly said it’s time for me to step up and play big brother.” He deliberately paused for impact. “Which means it’s time for all of us to do the same.”

“What you’re really saying is she’s our problem because you don’t plan on being there for her any more than you were there for us.” Having said his piece, Dare narrowed his gaze, his expression bordering on disgust.

Ethan bit the inside of his cheek to keep from hitting his own brother. “What I’m saying is that she’ll be living here with me. You two ought to meet her. And since you both have such strong views on someone who’d bail on a kid, I’m assuming you’ll be around for her too.”

That seemed to silence the duo for the time being, so Ethan continued. “Consider my house your house. Come by when you can. The kid’s a mess. She needs all three of us.”

Nash’s expression changed from suspicious to merely wary while Dare looked at Ethan like he wasn’t sure what to make of him and didn’t want to bother figuring it out. Which had all been well and good before Tess had entered the picture.

“She’s in the living room. Are you coming to meet her?”

The two men glanced at each other and nodded.

“Let’s go.” Ethan headed for the other room without bothering to make sure they followed.

He entered the living room and found Faith pacing, Tess leaning against the wall, her expression hostile and bored. He wasn’t buying it. She’d just been dropped off on his doorstep and didn’t know a damn thing about him. She had to be scared and intimidated, not that she’d show it. The kid had perfected the defensive wall she’d put up around herself.

He met Faith’s gaze for a quick second, grateful she’d stayed, that he had one ally in what felt like a viper pit, not a family gathering.

“Tess, this is Nash and Andrew. Everyone calls him Dare.” Ethan pointed out each brother.

The three of them stared at each other. Ethan wondered if they’d noticed that beneath the black eyeliner, Tess’s blue eyes resembled their father’s.

Nash stepped up first. “Hi, Tess,” he said awkwardly.

“Where are you from?” Dare asked her.

She set her jaw and refused to reply.

“Tess, say hello to your brothers,” Faith said into the silence.

The girl glared. “Hello, brothers.”

Since the little hellion wasn’t going to cooperate, Ethan decided to focus on the adults. “And Faith Harrington, these are my brothers, Nash and Dare.” Again, he gestured between the three.

“Harrington?” Nash asked.

Faith straightened her shoulders. “Yes, Harrington,” she said in her most formal—wary—voice.

Shit, Ethan thought. Now what? “I’m assuming you remember each other from high school?” He strove for familiar ground.

“I know who she is.” Dare stepped forward and shook her hand. “I heard you were back in town.”

She nodded.

“I heard too.” Nash didn’t bother with a polite handshake. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest. “From my clients,” he added coldly.

Faith pasted a smile on her face, one Ethan recognized as forced. “And what clients would those be?” she asked too sweetly.

Nash had already thrown the first punch. Faith was readying her defense.

“I’m an attorney. I represent the people in this town your father screwed over.” His brother’s arrogant gaze raked her over. “Hardworking people who didn’t deserve to lose their homes or their retirement funds. People like my adopted parents.”

Ethan shook his head in disbelief. If asked, he’d have said the night couldn’t possibly have gone further downhill.

“Oh man, you’re a lawyer?” Tess asked in disgust. “And what does this one do for a living?” She jerked a finger Dare’s way.

“I’m a cop.” Dare met her gaze, almost challenging her to comment.

“Fucking swell.”

“Watch your mouth,” all three brothers said at the same time.

At least we agree on something, Ethan thought.

Tess leaned back against the wall, her face once again a sullen pout.

Nash stepped closer to Ethan. “You asked me to come and I did. But this is a family matter, so what’s she doing here?” He tipped his head at Faith.

She flushed red. Anger or embarrassment, Ethan couldn’t be certain. By the way she folded her arms inward, she was definitely hurt.

Ethan had forgiven his brothers their bad attitudes toward him. He wouldn’t allow them to treat Faith the same way. “Who is she? She’s my guest and my friend, and I expect you to treat her with respect. She’s as much a victim as your clients, so back off.” It was the first time he’d raised his voice at his brothers since his return.

Damn, it felt good.

Faith shifted from foot to foot. “I told you I should have left earlier.” She started for the door, when suddenly Tess darted around the room and stopped her.

“Hey. Don’t leave me with them!” Her voice trembled. “I don’t know them and who knows what’ll happen to me here?” She faced Faith, treating her to the first expression of emotion they’d seen.

Damned if it wasn’t panic. Ethan couldn’t decide if this was an act or if she really was afraid of being alone in the house.

With him.

“You don’t know me either,” Faith reminded the girl. But she grasped Tess by the shoulders and met her gaze. “They’re your brothers and you need to get to know them. It might actually be kind of nice having older brothers, not that I’d know. But you should give them a chance.”

“Yeah, but one’s a cop and the other’s a lawyer! And I don’t know what he does”—she pointed to Ethan—“but it’s probably something else I’ll hate,” she muttered, back to angry and moody once more.

“For a kid with her own juvenile probation officer, you should be glad to have a cop and a lawyer on your side.”

“A what?” Dare shouted at Tess.

Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know the details on that either. Her sister dropped the bomb along with the guy’s card. That’s something else we need to get information on.”

“I’m a cop and she’s a juvenile delinquent.” Dare let out a choking sound.

“He’s a laugh riot,” Tess muttered. “Fine. So go on. You ditch me too,” she said to Faith. “Story of my life.”

Faith studied the girl, as if trying to figure her out. Finally she dug into her bag and handed her what looked like a business card. “My cell number’s on here. If they give you any trouble, call me, okay?”

Tess bit down on one of her nails before grabbing the card. “Whatever.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow to talk about the decorating,” she said to Ethan, obviously ready to leave.

“You don’t have to go.” Ethan refused to let Nash run her out.

“Yes, I do.” Faith looked at Nash, who didn’t ask her to stay.

His brother was a fool. From what Ethan could tell, Faith might be the only one who could get through to Tess. Not to mention that Ethan wasn’t finished with Faith, despite the fact that their night had imploded hours ago.

But she clearly no longer wanted to be here and he didn’t blame her. “I’ll walk you out.” Ethan turned to his now three siblings. “Can I trust you all alone together?” He aimed for a joke.

“We’ll manage,” Dare deadpanned.

With a shake of his head, Ethan placed his hand on Faith’s back and led her to the front door, joining her outside on the porch for privacy. “This sure as hell wasn’t how I planned for this night to end.”

“I can’t even imagine how you must be feeling.”

“I’m reeling,” he admitted. “And I don’t have a clue what to do with her. She’s fourteen and pissed off at the world. I’m a stranger who doesn’t even have a bed to offer her.”

She laughed. “That’s easy. Give her yours for tonight. First thing tomorrow I can arrange for a bed to be delivered same day. Do you think she’d want to pick out the rest of the furniture in her room?”

“Do you?”

Faith shook her head and sighed. “Good point. Okay, I’ll just come up with something that will get here fast. As far as the rest of the house, you’re going to need a lot more furniture a lot faster than we’d planned. Do you want to meet to go over some ideas?”

“Do I want to see you tomorrow? Yes. Do I care what furniture you pick out or what you put on the walls? Hell, no. As long as the kid has a place that feels like home, that’s all I care about right now.”

An unexpected, wide smile tipped her lips. A warm, sexy smile.

“What?” he asked, confused by her reaction.

“You’re wrong,” she said sofly.

“About what?”

“You do know what to do with her,” she said, referring to his earlier declaration that he didn’t.

Admiration filled her gaze and, as usual, her faith in him took him off guard. “I just hope you’re right.”

“I am. I’ll come by tomorrow with books and decorating plans anyway. You might not be in the mood, but you should still have a say in the furniture and look you’re going to have to live with.”

As long as he could see her, he’d pick out curtains if he had to.

“You should get back inside,” she said, and he realized he’d been staring.

Acting on instinct, he reached for her, intending to pull her into a kiss—one that would hold him over and make up for what they’d missed tonight—but she backed out of reach.

Surprised, he narrowed his gaze. “What’s wrong?” Unless he was mistaken, they’d been about to sleep together just an hour or two before.

Okay, so the notion of him having a sudden family under his roof wasn’t ideal, but that didn’t mean he’d changed his mind about her.

She took another step back. “Your life just did a one eighty. You won’t have time for a fling, so let’s not set ourselves up for something we can’t have.”

She was backing away and he had no idea why. “What’s going on, Faith? Why the change of heart?”

She waved a hand, telling him she wasn’t going to discuss it. “I’ll see you in the morning. Good luck with Tess. And your brothers.” She started down the path.

“Uh, Faith?” he called into the darkness.

She turned.

“I drove you here,” he reminded her.

In the end, Dare drove Faith home, leaving Ethan to deal with Tess, who refused to take his bed, insisting the floor was no big deal.

Ethan disagreed but didn’t win the argument. Or any other one during the night. He had a feeling his version of “no big deal” and his new sister’s version were worlds apart.

Needing someone to talk to, Faith wrapped her hand around her cell phone, planning to call Kate as soon as she walked into her apartment. She stopped herself before she could dial. As much as she wanted to confide in someone, she couldn’t admit to her best friend what she could barely admit to herself.

She’d seen sides of Ethan tonight that surprised her. True, she’d been defending him to Rosalita and Nick, but even she’d been surprised by his softer side.

As long as the kid has a place that feels like home, that’s all I care about right now.

The idea of having an affair had been appealing for many reasons. Like Kate had said, she could dip her toe back into the dating game without a major commitment with a man who did it for her in a big way. But tonight Faith realized he wasn’t just a hot guy, he was a hot guy with a heart, and that scared her. Because a guy with a heart, who would open his home to a fourteen-year-old girl and put her priorities first, was a man she could fall for. And she wasn’t anywhere near ready. She’d backed off fast, but she hadn’t fooled Ethan or herself. This unresolved thing between them was far from over.

If they were the only two people involved, she’d find it easier to wrestle with her personal demons and discover a way to be with him, but there’d been another reason she’d backed off tonight. Nothing meant more to Ethan than mending his relationship with his brothers. He’d said as much himself. Not even the successful business he’d built and the money he’d acquired meant more to him than Nash and Dare.

And Nash had made his feelings about Faith perfectly clear. He disliked her father and Faith by extension. As long as Faith was in the picture in any personal way, she’d be another obstacle standing between Ethan and his goal of reuniting his family. His new sister gave him an in with his brothers, a reason for the three of them to be together in a meaningful way.

Faith was grateful to Ethan for standing up for her, but she couldn’t live with herself if she came between them. If that meant she had to give up an affair with the one man she’d always wondered about, so be it.

At least she’d be able to look in the mirror and know she’d put someone else’s needs in front of her own.

Ethan woke up, took a quick shower, dressed, and headed downstairs to find Tess. His stomach was growling and he didn’t have much in the way of food. He figured they could eat at the diner and then go grocery shopping together. He had no idea what a teenage girl liked to have in the house.

Nothing about Tess had been easy. She refused to talk to him and had insisted on crashing on the floor in the carpeted family room, unwilling to take his bed.

He walked into the room in silence in case she was still asleep. The blanket he’d given her lay in a heap on the floor, but no Tess. He tried the kitchen second. No Tess there either. He strode from room to room, his stomach sinking with each unsuccessful attempt.

“Son of a bitch.” He couldn’t take care of her for one single night.

The kid didn’t know the town, so he couldn’t imagine where she went. Then he remembered her begging Faith not to leave.

He grabbed the phone and made the most embarrassing call of his life.

“Hello?” Faith’s voice did little to soothe his panic.

“I lost her,” he said into the phone.

“Ethan?”

He gripped the receiver harder in his hand. “Yeah. I lost Tess. Woke up and she was gone. I searched the entire house. Any chance she came to find you?”

“No, but don’t panic, okay?”

“Easy for you to say. I’d call the police—”

“Except they’d make you wait twenty-four hours before filing an official report,” she pointed out logically.

“And my brother Dare would have more proof of why I’m not worth believing in,” he muttered under his breath.

“He’d be wrong,” Faith said, her voice filled with a certainty he couldn’t feel.

Dare had taken the job of looking into Tess’s past. Nash had agreed to check into the family connection, and Ethan was supposed to look out for the kid.

Helluva job he’d done so far.

He grabbed his car keys. “I’ll take a ride and see if she walked to town. Call me if by some miracle she shows up at your place?” he asked Faith.

“Of course. She’s probably just testing you.”

If so, he was failing. He broke the connection and hung up. Cell phone still in hand, he started for the front entrance. He’d left the car outside after picking Faith up last night, so he didn’t need to go through the garage.

He opened the door . . . and nearly tripped over his missing sister, sitting on the front porch, smoking . . . “Is that a joint?” he asked, shocked down to his toes.

He shoved the phone into his back pocket and stared at the kid. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting fresh air, what’s it look like?” Tess scowled at him. “Is there a law against sitting in the great outdoors?”

“There’s a law against possession of marijuana.” He reached out and snagged the joint from her hand. He snuffed it out beneath his shoe, grinding the rest of it into the ground.

She jumped to her feet. “Hey! That stuff’s expensive!”

And he was sure he didn’t want to know where she’d gotten the money to pay for it. But he did. He needed to know everything about her if he had any hope of turning the kid around.

Ethan pulled in a deep breath before dealing with her. “I thought you ran away.”

She eyed him warily. “I considered it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

“Kelly’s smart. She left me with no cash, no credit card, and you sleep with both right next to your head. I figured I wouldn’t get far.” She shrugged. “So I came outside for a hit instead.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “Sit,” he ordered.

She folded her arms across her chest in blatant defiance.

“Sit down, Tess.” He took a step closer to her, hoping his size would force her into complying.

To his shock, she did.

Begrudgingly, but she lowered herself to the stoop, glaring at him the entire time. “What now?”

“Now we talk.”