His Little Secret: Double the Trouble

* * *

Friday morning, Rafe King from King Construction was at Penny’s house bright and early. Colt was glad for the distraction. Since his brilliant plan had been shot down the day before by Penny, the two of them had been staying out of each other’s way. Which wasn’t easy in a house no bigger than a good-sized garden shed.

Carrying two cups of coffee with him, Colt strode out of the house and met his cousin as he climbed down from his truck.

“Coffee.” Rafe grinned as he reached for it. “You always were my favorite cousin.”

“And your wife’s my favorite cousin-in-law.” Colt looked past Rafe into the cab of the truck. “Did Katie take pity on me and send cookies?”

Rafe’s wife, widely known as “Katie King the Cookie Queen,” ran her own business out of her home while taking care of their daughter, Becca, and their newborn son, Braden. She also baked cookies for the legions of King cousins who adored her.

“Nice to see you, too,” Rafe said wryly. After taking a sip of coffee, he reached into the truck and came back out with a white bakery box stamped “Cookie Queen.”

Colt made a grab for it but Rafe whipped it out of reach. “Not for you,” he said, and seemed to enjoy the moment. “Katie sent these to Penny. Along with her commiseration on being involved with a King.”

Scowling, Colt pointed out, “Doesn’t say much for you, does it?”

“Nah,” Rafe said with a grin and a shrug. “She likes me.”

“Great.” His gaze locked on the pastry box. “What kind?”

“White chocolate macadamia.”

“That’s just mean,” Colt said.

“My wife’s good.”

“That she is.” Colt looked at Rafe and thought about it. Not that long ago, Rafe had been as determinedly single as Colt was and yet now he was happily married to a great woman and had two kids. He thought about taking a step back just in case commitment was contagious. On the other hand, he was already hip-deep in familyland, wasn’t he?

“How’s Katie and the new baby?”

Rafe’s grin got wider. “Amazing. He’s gorgeous and Katie’s...even better than amazing. We’re gonna have a big party for the christening. You and Con’ll be there, right?”

“Absolutely.” Colt had been to more christenings in the last few years than he had in all the years before. But every King birth was celebrated. Every new member to the family had to be welcomed with a barbecue and lots of food and laughs.

Which reminded him, he should talk to Penny about introducing the twins to the rest of the Kings. Not that they could have a King-size party at the cottage. They’d never be able to shoehorn everyone in. But they could hold it at his place. God knew there was plenty of room.

Funny, he’d never realized before that the house he bought three years ago was really meant for a big family. He’d thought at the time that it was a good investment. It still was, of course, but now he had to wonder how Penny and the twins would like it there. It would be better for them, he thought. More room. Big yard. Close to the beach.

He gave his head a hard shake. Seriously, he was beginning to worry about himself.

Rafe asked suddenly, “So, how’s your new baby? Wait a minute. Babies.”

“Not exactly new,” Colt said. “They’re eight months old.”

“Right.” Rafe leaned against the truck. “Con told me. That couldn’t have been easy.”

“No, it wasn’t.” And it wasn’t getting any easier, either.

He was feeling nothing but conflicted about this whole situation. He wanted those kids happy and safe. But to keep them that way, he knew that he couldn’t stick around. He couldn’t be here, let them learn to count on him only to risk letting them down when they most needed him. The thought of not being there to hear their first words or to watch them learning to walk tore at him. The thought of never seeing Penny again hit him much harder than he wanted to admit.

But there was no place for him here in this tiny house with a family. Because to stay would mean that they would come to depend on him. And he would, eventually, let them down. Hell, that’s the one thing he could agree with Penny on. She was worried that he would disappoint his children—and so was he.

“How you doin’ with all of it?”

“I’m all right.” And not interested in talking about this. Even with a cousin. “Really appreciate you moving on the roof this fast.”

“Not a problem. Anything for a King.” Rafe shot a look at the roof on Penny’s cottage and frowned. “That roof’s in sad shape.”

Hell, most of the house was in sad shape. He knew Penny loved it, but he had to wonder if the real reason she was living there was because it didn’t cost her anything. The rooms were too small and the twins were going to outgrow it soon. There was no room for them to play and with only one bathroom, things were going to get ugly at some point.

And why was he suddenly thinking about things like that? When did he ever do future planning or worry about yard size or whether a roof was going to make it through another winter? What the hell was happening to him?

Scowling to himself, he muttered, “Check for termites too, will ya? I’ve got a feeling this place is a buffet lunch for the damn things.”

“Okay, I’ll get the ladder off the truck, do an inspection, then come find you.”

“Like I said, I appreciate this.” Colt took another sip of his coffee and tried to put aside the disturbing Suburban Dad thoughts.

Rafe grinned. “What’s family for?” He handed over the box of cookies. “Here. Take these in to Penny. I’ll see you both in a bit.”

“Okay. How soon can you get started on the work?”

“Typical King,” Rafe mused. “Why were we all born impatient?”

“Just lucky, I guess.” Colt shrugged.

Nodding, Rafe said, “Let me take a look and some measurements. Check for termite damage. Once we’ve got that I can lay out the plan for you. But I can have a crew here by Monday if that’s what you want.”

“The quicker the better.” He couldn’t leave until he knew that Penny and the kids were going to be safe and as comfortable in this tiny dollhouse as it was possible to be. And he knew that with Rafe and his brothers’ company on the job, the work would not only be done fast, but well.

With King Construction handling the work, he could assure Penny everything would be taken care of the right way. As for Rafe—he and his brothers ran such a successful construction and contracting business that they seldom had to go out on calls themselves. But the Kings were always there for family, so it didn’t surprise Colt at all that Rafe had shown up personally.

So, if the Kings were always there for family and he was planning on getting out of his kids’ lives as fast as possible, just what kind of King did that make him?

Eight (#ulink_82c3d0a0-cb96-5259-8df3-7f8083299a1b)

Of course there were termites.

And not just a few, either. No, this was a regular condo association of termites. They had community leaders, Miss California Termite pageants and apparently, never-ending appetites for the wood holding up her roof.

Penny sighed and grabbed Riley before the baby could crawl off the quilt spread on the lawn in the backyard. Reid was busily tearing apart one of his books, but Riley wasn’t as easily contained. Absently, Penny handed her daughter a busy box and then looked up at the men on her roof. Rafe was a sweetie and yes, it was...nice of Colt to arrange all of this.

But at the heart of everything, Penny just kept sinking deeper and deeper into the “I owe Colton King” hole. But the worst part was, she wasn’t even angry about owing him. She was just too relieved to have some of the bigger worries in her life smoothed over. So what did that make her? A hypocrite?

She accused Colt of using his money to make his own path easier. She was outraged when he interfered and paid off her credit cards just before dropping a fortune into her bank account. And she’d been furious about him arranging for a new roof. Or at least, that’s how she’d acted. But the truth was, she was grateful and she hated to admit that.

She was both relieved and resentful—not exactly rational. But then she’d never been completely rational when it came to Colton King. Besides, putting her own confusing feelings aside, she knew Colt well enough to know exactly why he was doing all of this. He was taking care of everything he thought needed doing so that he could disappear with a clear conscience.