He turned in the doorway, looking as if he had suddenly aged a lifetime. “She’s my child,” he said simply. “I love her.”
With that he was gone, taking his portfolio but leaving the wrapped painting. Donovan stood in the doorway, watching until Lani’s father was out of sight. Then, pulling out his phone, he called the mainland.
10
Nate plowed his hand through his hair as the phone across the room rang. Having been working on the same chapter for the past two days, the last thing he needed was a damn interruption. Leaving the caller to get sent to messaging, Nate continued to stare doggedly out over the windswept cliffs of Sunset Point, demanding his muse to come through and help him out of the corner he had managed to write himself into.
The phone chimed again. And again. Finally, going over to scoop it up, he recognized the number and swiped it open.
“I hope you realize that you’re interrupting a literary genius at work.”
“That’s nothing compared to what you’ve done to me,” Donovan complained on a gritty tone. “I thought you sent me down here to relax.”
“That was the idea,” Nate agreed.
“So how the hell am I supposed to relax when I’m surrounded by your crazy family?”
“They’re getting to you, huh?” Nate asked with a low chuckle. “Which ones?”
“Which ones?” Donovan repeated. “Name one who isn’t. I take that back,” he said after a fleeting moment’s consideration. “Your mother, so far, has been grace personified. However, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if she dropped in at any minute with some lightly veiled warning to keep my roaming hands off your sister.”
“She’d call first. She may be an artist, but my mother could give Miss Manners a lesson when it comes to social protocol.” He paused to fill in some features on Tess, who he was absently sketching.
“Regarding my sister, have your hands been roaming since we talked this morning?”
“Like I told your father, who warned me away from her in no uncertain terms, that’s none of your business.”
“I thought it was strange when he called me a while ago,” Nate said. “Dad usually stays out of our personal lives. So what did you do to get my usually easygoing father so uptight?”
“Nothing yet.” Donovan’s voice was sharp with obvious frustration.
“Aha. The plot thickens. I assume Lani’s receptive to whatever you’ve been up to?” Nate added some fullness to Tess’s upper lip. Although his writing paid for his Victorian cliff-side home, Nate enjoyed sketching. His father had always claimed credit for that particular talent, and Nate had never thought it necessary to correct him.
“Are you asking as a friend? Or Lani’s brother?”
“That’s a rough one. A friend,” he decided. “I’ve already given you my big-brother spiel.”
“I think she does. Correction, I know she does. But every time I think I have her figured out, she throws me a curve.”
“We all have issues. She might come off like some fairy sprite at times, but that doesn’t mean she’s any different. Give her time,” Nate advised as he added an arch to Tess’s brows before using the side of the pencil to draw in long dark waves that kissed his fiancée’s cheekbones. “Get to know her. After all, you’ve only been on the island a couple days. Things move slower down there.”
“So I’ve been told,” Donovan muttered. As a detective, he was used to sifting through mountains of evidence for the single missing piece that would nail a bad guy. Since arriving on Orchid Island, he’d discovered an impatience he hadn’t known he possessed.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Hell. To tell you the truth, I’ve no damn idea why I called.”
Impulse, Donovan decided. He’d done the first thing that came to mind after Thomas had left. But that was totally out of character. Not only had he developed a respected reputation for thinking before he acted, he’d never been one to discuss his personal life with anyone, even his best friend.
He and Nate regularly discussed careers, politics, the state of the world, and sports. But they had never, in his memory, had a conversation concerning either of their dealings with a woman. Not a specific one, at any rate. Not even about Tess, whom he’d casually dated before she’d fallen in love with his best friend.
He’d assumed that she’d told Nate that nothing had ever happened between them. He’d certainly never brought the topic up, and neither had Nate. So, what the hell was Lani doing to his mind?
“Sorry about interrupting your work,” he said, feeling like some love-struck teenager crushing on a cheerleader.
“Hey, no problem,” Nate answered absently.