The Path to Sunshine Cove (Cape Sanctuary #2) - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,55

enjoyed it,” he said, his voice gruff.

She walked him to the door, her mind suddenly filled with images from that morning when he had kissed her.

“You did great. See? Nothing to be nervous about.”

“I’m still over my head, but so far we haven’t had any broken bones or ER visits or other catastrophes. The night is still young, though.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry. If you do anything else wrong, I suspect Grace will be the first one to tell you.”

She had to laugh at how accurately he had assessed her oldest niece. “I guess every family needs one who likes to follow the rules.”

“I certainly wasn’t that person and something tells me you weren’t either.”

How had he guessed that? “Not in the slightest,” she answered.

“Yet we both joined the military, which is all about following the rules.”

She was struck by the notion that they had far more in common than she might have thought.

Maybe that was why she was so fiercely drawn to him.

Not that it mattered. He wasn’t for her, she reminded herself.

“Thanks again. You saved the day.”

“I loved every minute of it,” Nate said in a low voice. She caught her breath when he leaned forward. Was he going to kiss her again?

He did, but this time he only brushed his mouth to the side of hers with a gentleness that completely disarmed her.

“Good night. Try not to burn the house down.”

She laughed a little raggedly. “I won’t. I think we’re safe for now. Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

He smiled, waved and headed out the door, leaving her to watch after him and ache with longing for only a minute before she turned back to her nieces.

17

Rachel

As Rachel closed the door into the adjoining bedroom of their hotel suite, she wanted to collapse into a heap on the bed, pull the covers over her head and stay there for the next twenty-four hours.

The drive had been every bit the nightmare she had feared. Traffic had been backed up the whole way and then the GPS had led them the wrong way to the hotel, about twenty minutes out of their way to a similarly named hotel in a nearby community.

She had worried Silas would fall asleep on the drive and then not be able to sleep once they reached the hotel. By about thirty minutes into the drive, she was praying he would fall asleep.

She suspected he was carsick but he couldn’t communicate that. Instead, he had cried and none of the usual soothing techniques seemed to be working.

Cody had suggested they pull over and trade places so she could drive the remainder of the way to the hotel and he could try his hand with Silas.

She had ended up snapping that they were already late enough and she didn’t want to waste time pulling over.

He was only trying to help. He wasn’t trying to imply that he was better with their son than she was. She knew that but couldn’t help feeling defensive. She was with Silas all day and knew him better than anybody did. She ought to be able to calm him, if anyone could.

Cody had been right. Silas had needed the distraction of his father sitting with him, not her. Instead, he grew increasingly irritable until they finally stopped at McDonald’s to grab dinner for him in case he was hangry.

That had calmed him somewhat but they were all still upset with each other when they reached the hotel.

Nothing was going the way she had planned. So much for the romantic dinner she had planned. Cody had ended up buying something at McDonald’s, too.

She could have told him she had prearranged a dinner once they arrived but by then she had been too worn-out to care.

Instead of bringing them together, she felt more distant than ever from her husband.

“Is he asleep?” Cody asked.

“Finally. I hope he stays that way.”

She slumped into the armchair in the room, certain she looked as completely exhausted as she felt.

“You can’t keep going on this way, Rach. You need help.”

“I’m okay. It’s just been a long day.”

“Following a long week and a long month and a long two years and eight months. You’re worn-out. I still think we should hire someone to help you. A nanny would take some of the burden off your shoulders.”

And admit failure? She wasn’t ready to do that. “We’ve talked about how much it would cost to have an autism-trained nanny come in. The expense would eat away all our savings, pushing back our