The Colton Marine. Lisa Childs

believe you’re actually admitting you can’t do everything alone.”

      She lifted her chin and bristled with pride. “I can do everything...but plumbing and fixing the AC. I need to hire someone to do that.”

      “Rafferty Construction—”

      “River offered to work here,” Edith said.

      “River?” He glanced at the house again, surprised that his brother would consider working here. That he would even want to be around this place and its memories ever again. “He’s been working at the ranch.”

      “He said you don’t really need him.”

      “That’s not it.” Thorne sighed. “We’ve been taking it easy on him. We don’t know how badly he’s injured.”

      She nodded. “He was right.”

      “About what?”

      “The pity,” she replied. “He thinks everybody pities him.”

      They had several reasons for feeling that way. He’d been hurt in the line of duty, and he’d been hurt again when he’d returned home to find out the man he’d believed was his dad wasn’t. A DNA test had confirmed Wes Kingston’s suspicion that he wasn’t River’s father. But nobody knew who was. Maybe not even Livia herself. Poor River...

      “Do you pity him?” Thorne asked. “Is that why you’d hire him?”

      “I would hire him because I don’t think he’s going to bother me to find out who my boss is,” she said. “I don’t think he’s going to talk to the press, either.”

      Thorne chuckled. “That’s the last thing he’d do.” He didn’t want any media attention. That was why they’d all promised to keep it secret that he didn’t know who his father was.

      “Can I trust him?” Edith asked.

      “I just said he won’t go to the press—”

      “I’m not talking about that,” Edith said. “I just want to know that he’s a man I can trust. We’ll be working alone together in this house.”

      “Of course,” Thorne said. “River’s a man of honor. A hero.”

      “Thanks for being my hero right now,” Edith told him with a hug. But she pulled away from him and headed back toward the house.

      Knowing he was being dismissed, Thorne headed toward his truck. As he drove away, he wondered about what he’d told her. He wondered if River could be trusted. His brother had been gone ten years. How well did any of them really know him?

      After whatever he’d been through, how well did River even know himself?