Page 4 of Wanting a Family Man

But there would be a cost. That was the second tunnel that closed around him even as he was shaking hands and grinning with accomplishment.

The complexity and government layers on this deal meant that the capital Trystan and his brothers had invested in the resort would be tied up a lot longer than they’d anticipated.

Trystan had promised Reid and Emma that he would stay until Raven’s Cove was ready to sell, thinking he would at least have the promise of reclaiming his investment by the end of the year. They’d come a long way since April, when Raven’s Cove had been hovering on bankruptcy.

They’d thrown their own money—and backs—into completing the remodel at the house and the upgrades across the resort. Reid had operations running like a clock and Logan had the marina back to turning a profit.

Trystan had worked out the initial bugs in the whale-watching tours and already had one local captaining a boat. It shouldn’t take long to find his replacement for the other.

As for their baby sister, Storm was thriving in Reid and Emma’s care. Trystan would always be an involved uncle, but he was comfortable signing off on Reid and Emma taking full custody of her while they applied to formally adopt her.

Theoretically, he ought to be able to leave and go back to filming.

Except he couldn’t afford to.

Into their small celebration, Logan turned on his phone and bit back a curse.

Trystan shot him a sharp look only to have Logan thrust the phone under his nose. Trystan read the text from Sophie.

Tiffany’s sister is here. Em’s freaking out.

“What?” Trystan’s blood turned to ice.

This was exactly what they’d been fearing could happen.

Back in April, when they had learned their father had died in a small plane crash on his way to eloping with Tiffany, Trystan and his brothers would have welcomed any interest that Tiffany’s sister might have shown in taking custody. Not one of them had been prepared to become a father.

Tiffany’s sister had been AWOL, though. When they did learn her name, Cloe, they also learned she was in trouble with the law.

Since then, they had been caring for Storm themselves—with Emma’s help. She was the only mother Storm knew now. There was no way they would let anyone take their sister from them, especially a stranger with a questionable past.

Wasthat why Cloe was here? Trystan and his brothers had been striving to bring Raven’s Cove back from the brink of bankruptcy to give them the capital they might need if a custody suit manifested, but mostly to provide Storm an inheritance.

Did Cloe think she was entitled to Tiffany’s share in the resort? They had just agreed to sell it! In a way that could take years to finalize.

Trystan stood by this decision, but damn it, timing was everything and this timing was the absolute worst.

“No one is hurt, but we have to get back to Raven’s Cove,” Trystan told the council members before he and his brothers hurried back to the borrowed bowrider tied at the wharf.

Logan took the helm for the short trip across the passage. Reid was still talking to Emma, reassuring her that “Everything will be fine.I’ll make it fine.”

Reid must have lost service because he swore and pocketed his phone.

“Emma left Cloe at the house and took Storm to my office. Sophie has gone up to make sure Cloe isn’t looting the place,” Reid said.

Sophie had grown up with the three of them here in Raven’s Cove. She was basically family. Maybe more. Trystan eyed Logan. Yesterday, Trystan had gone to Sophie’s, where Logan wassupposedto be renting a room. The pair had emerged from her bedroom looking very sheepish. He was trying not to think about that, mostly because if Logan broke Sophie’s heart again, Trystan would actually have to kill him.

“Did she threaten Em?” Trystan asked Reid.

“No. But Em’s been worrying about this for a long time. It hit her pretty hard, having Cloe show up on the doorstep without warning.” Emma had been quiet-spoken when they’d first taken custody, but she was not afraid to kick their collective asses if she thought Storm’s well-being was on the line. In all the ways that counted, Emma was Storm’s mother.

Except legally, Trystan acknowledged dourly. That would happen once her permanent residency was sorted.

Also provided Tiffany’s sister didn’t interfere.

As the wind rippled his shirt and tousled his hair, Trystan couldn’t help wondering if Cloe was the woman he’d seen while he was casting off this morning.

He clocked any new face in Raven’s Cove. He’d grown up here, and even though he’d been away several years and had only been back a few months, he still had a sharp radar for who belonged versus those who were passing through.

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