His for the Taking - By Ann Major Page 0,24

lonely, dear. But this pathetic girl—Jesse Ray Gray’s daughter, of all people?”

“You don’t even know her.”

“I know she probably came back here deliberately to flaunt herself the minute she heard Lizzie died.”

Maddie gasped.

“Lizzie has been gone nearly a year.”

“Well, the whole town’s talking about Maddie skinny-dipping on our land this afternoon just to lure you.”

Maddie’s hands shook with such outrage she nearly slammed a drawer.

“You’re wrong about everything, Mother.”

When Maddie had searched all the drawers but the locked one, she angrily grabbed the keys she’d noticed earlier, lying on his desk.

“You’re too gullible,” his mother said. “This cheap girl has set her sights on you.”

Cheap…. The word stung.

“Mother, your voice is too loud. She’s my guest.” He lowered his voice and must have persuaded his mother to do the same because Maddie couldn’t hear them for a while.

Furiously, Maddie began trying different keys. Naturally, it was the last one that worked.

Suddenly the voices in the other room rose again.

“Mother, I have a question. Did Maddie try to call me six years ago before she left Yella? Did you talk to her?”

Maddie’s heart began to beat very fast.

His mother didn’t answer immediately. “Do you think I can remember every call from six years ago? I can tell you one thing, though—if she’d called, you’d remember me giving you a piece of my mind.”

“All right. Look, I need to take Maddie back to Miss Jennie’s. Maybe you and I can have lunch before I go tomorrow.”

A sob caught in Maddie’s throat. She had to find her letters. She did not want his formidable mother threatening her, or Noah, especially since Cole seemed to believe everything his mother said.

With unsteady fingers, Maddie sifted through the endless stack of deeds and contracts in the bottom drawer. When she heard footsteps approaching the office, she jumped back.

“Have you forgotten your manners completely?” his mother said. “Are you going to show me out or not?”

His heavy footsteps retreated. The front door opened and slammed shut.

If only his mother had insisted he walk her to her car. But she hadn’t. Once again, Maddie heard his brisk footsteps heading toward his office.

In a panic, Maddie nudged the bottom drawer shut with her foot, only to let out a little cry when it jammed.

Grabbing a magazine, she whirled around in his chair and pretended to read an incomprehensible article about how irrigation affected hay yield.

“Sorry about that,” he said in a world-weary tone from the doorway.

Maddie looked up. When she saw him glance at his keys, which were still dangling from the lock of his bottom drawer, her heart began to knock.

Then his concerned gaze refocused on her. “You’re white as a sheet, and shaking, too.”

Ashamed that the woman could still intimidate her, Maddie leaped up so that she could stand between him and the drawer. “I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry you had to hear all that.”

“I know she doesn’t approve of me,” Maddie said, hoping she sounded braver than she felt.

“Well, I think you’re a wonderful person,” he said.

“You do?”

“After what you told me? Of course!”

“You believed the worst of me when I left.”

“Even that didn’t stop me from caring about you.”

Too bad he’d never made that fact known to her.

As he led her out of his office toward the kitchen, she thought he was being awfully nice even if he was a little more reserved after his mother’s visit. He caught her hand in his and pressed it reassuringly in his larger palm. “Forget about her, okay?”

“She’s right. The whole town’s probably talking about me skinny-dipping to lure you by now.”

“They’re just jealous.”

“Don’t joke.”

“Forget about her…and the town.”

“Can you?”

“Look, she’s my mother. I’m used to her trying to control every second of my life. I thought I’d learned how to handle her a long time ago, but then Lizzie died, and I went through a dark patch. Guilt, grief, regrets—I was pretty messed up. Mother wanted to move in with me, to take over. Fighting her helped snap me out of my funk. I know she loves me in her way, but I can’t allow her to get too close. She’s needy and critical.”

“I’m sorry about Lizzie,” she said again. “She was sweet. Even to me. She used to sneak down to the barn and watch me take care of the horses.”

“Yes, she was sweet to everybody. But there’s something I need to tell you. I didn’t deserve her, and I’m not sure I made her happy. It’s not always easy to be married to the town saint, you