Page 31 of Devlin

She frowned at the reminder. "That's different. We're not rich."

"But your mother's company is successful, so you didn't have to start in the real estate business at the bottom."

"Fine, point taken. I had a leg up, and so did you."

"But what we've done after that is all on us. And, frankly, my father is creating more problems for me right now than he's solving."

"My mom has done that, too. She got in the middle of one of my deals and almost lost it for me. But she thought she knew best. I wanted to kill her."

"I know the feeling."

"Devlin, look—dolphins." Mason pointed to two dolphins frolicking in the water.

"Cool," Devlin said. "But you have to pay attention to what you're doing, Mason. You need to be ready and let me knowif the wind changes direction."

"I will," Mason promised.

Devlin stepped over to the wheel to give Mason more instructions.

The wind had changed direction, she thought.

She just didn't know if she should keep sailing into it.

They got back to the harbor a little after three and headed toward the parking lot behind the Yacht Club. "Do you have your car?" Devlin asked.

"No. I walked here."

"I'll give you a ride."

"You need to take Mason home."

"That will only take a few minutes and your house is less than a mile from the Boatworks, so it's not out of myway. Why don't you come with me?"

She really needed to start saying no to Devlin's invitations, but maybe not just yet. "All right." She slid into the front seat of Devlin's black Audi, not surprised he'd have an expensive and sophisticated car. For all Devlin's casual, back-to-nature style, he was still a Blackthorne.

Mason talked all the way to his house, jumping from one questionto the next, without waiting for an answer. But as soon as they pulled up in front of his house, he fell silent.

A woman stepped out of the modest one-story structure. She wore jeans and a knit top that revealed her thin frame. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and even from a distance, Hannah thought she looked tired. The door behind her opened and two little girls came ontothe porch. They looked to be twins, probably about three years old.

"Do you want to meet my mom?" Mason asked her, a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

He probably thought introducing her to his mother would be a good distraction and put off his punishment that much longer.

"I think I'll stay here."

"Come, say hello," Devlin urged. "Erica is a big fan of your father's. Shewas furious when he was let go. I'm sure she'd like to meet you."

Well, when he put it like that, she could hardly say no. She got out of the car and followed Devlin and Mason across the overgrown lawn.

"I'm so sorry, Devlin," Erica said immediately. "I'm really embarrassed that Mason snuck away from baseball practice and got onto your boat. And you, young man, are in big trouble,"she told her son. "Go in the house and take your sisters with you. We'll talk about your punishment in a minute. Oh, and say thank you to Mr. Blackthorne before you go."

"Thank you, Dev—Mr. Blackthorne," Mason said, then ran up the steps and grabbed the hands of his two little sisters, taking them into the house.

"I hope Mason didn't interrupt your date." Erica gave her a speculativelook.

"We're not on a date," she said quickly.

"This is Hannah Reid," Devlin said, smiling at her hasty comment. "Frank's daughter. And, as she said, we were not on a date. I was just showing her the boat."

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