Taken With You: A Fractured Connections Novella Read online

  “Yes, I think we’re all wallflowers here,” Bristol said, sounding so serious that he almost thought she meant it. Then he looked in her eyes and saw the laughter.

  “There’s nothing wallflower about you, Bristol.”

  “Oh, that’s so sweet. Seriously. But again, I don’t really want to get married right now. You know, I would kind of need a boyfriend or a girlfriend to make that happen.”

  “Well, don’t say that too loudly, or you know Mom will just fly someone out to find you.” Ethan shook his head and grinned. “I swear she’s going to start setting us up on blind dates or bringing people to family dinners if we don’t start pairing off soon.”

  “That may be true, but Bristol would be first, right?” Liam asked quickly.

  “Oh, no. I’m not going first. You’re the eldest. You’re the one who gets to get married.”

  “No, don’t the dukes and the sons of dukes get to wait until their little baby sister is presented for her opening and pushed out into the real world without a net?” Liam asked and then paused. “Is the word opening? What is the word?”

  “Debut,” Aaron said, and everybody looked at him. “What? I happen to know a few women who read historical romance.”

  They all kept looking.

  “Okay, just because Lisa Kleypas is one of my favorite authors does not mean I lose my man card.”

  They all started laughing, and Bristol hugged Aaron hard.

  “I think that makes you the best. Because her Wallflower series is seriously one of my favorites ever.”

  “I know, right?” Aaron asked. Liam just looked at Ethan before they both cracked up laughing.

  It was good to be with the family. Good to be smiling and acting as if they all weren’t sometimes stressed with their jobs or the fact that their mom really wanted them to settle down. It was good not to think about anything but being with the people that mattered the most. His family.

  The four of them stood off to the side near the outside of the building where there was some restoration work being done, trying to stay out of the way. They tended to be loud, and this was about Craig and Cain and their day, so none of them really wanted to be the center of attention.

  Nor did they want to be near the group when ties and garters were being thrown in place of bouquets.

  Liam knew that his mother was probably hunting for them since the time for the toss was almost upon them, so they were hiding.

  A little.

  Liam looked up when he heard a scratching sound and frowned. “What was that?” he said, his voice soft.

  “What was what?” Bristol asked, and then her eyes widened. “Liam!”

  Liam looked to the right and then threw himself over his little sister as the scaffolding that had been right beside them fell. There was a sharp pain, and a deafening crunch as he heard his little sister scream, his brothers shout to him, and then he heard no more.

  There was only darkness.

  Nothing.

  Discover the World Of 1001 Dark Nights

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  On Behalf of 1001 Dark Nights,

  Liz Berry, M.J. Rose, and Jillian Stein would like to thank ~

  Steve Berry

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  Benjamin Stein

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  Chelle Olson

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  Richard Blake

  and Simon Lipskar

  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue