LITMIR.BIZ

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Then she felt a pang of pity for the woman facing her with such a brave front. If she wanted to pretend her son might stay in Texas, who was Annie to disillusion her? “Wouldn’t that be nice,” she said.

      “I’m glad you think so.” Lily’s tone was bland, her expression innocent. Surely, in the midst of everything else she was going through, she wouldn’t be contemplating anything as ridiculous as a little matchmaking on the side, would she?

      There was no way Annie could ask without looking like a complete fool. Frustrated, she bid Lily goodbye and climbed into her car. The interior was like an oven, the vinyl seat burning through the thin cotton of her slacks. At least the sudden discomfort was enough to distract her from the awkward and potentially humiliating idea of Cole’s mother playing Cupid.

      Considering the circumstances, that would have been a real recipe for disaster.

      Three

      “Hey, bro, working hard as usual?” Hannah Cassidy asked in a teasing voice from the doorway to Cole’s borrowed office.

      Cole looked up from his notes with a grin. He and his sister had always gotten along well. “How’s the wedding business?” he asked.

      Hannah owned a shop called The Perfect Occasion. “Business is slow,” she replied. “I got tired of my own company, so I thought I’d come down and visit you.”

      “Bull,” Cole responded mildly. “You came to check on your fiancé. All I am is a convenient cover story.”

      Hannah blushed, and Cole wondered why he had ever thought she was plain. Perhaps it was because next to their mother and youngest sister, with their dramatic coloring, Hannah had appeared merely pretty. Now he had to admit that love had transformed her. Her gray eyes shimmered with quiet happiness and her normally pale cheeks were flushed a soft pink. “I wanted to see you too,” she protested. “You’re my favorite brother.”

      “Your only brother,” Cole pointed out dryly before he relented and got to his feet. “Come on in.” He gave her a brief, hard hug. “How’s Mom today? Have you talked to her?”

      A shadow flickered across Hannah’s face. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. On top of everything else she’s got to deal with right now, Mom’s worried about Maria.”

      Cole clamped down on his annoyance. Their younger sister was as different from gentle Hannah as night from day. For as long as he could remember, Maria had been a huge pain—difficult, lazy and self-centered. Apparently it was too much to hope that for once in her life she’d put someone else’s needs ahead of her own.

      He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “What’s our baby sister done now?”

      Hannah closed the door behind her and took a seat, placing her leather purse in her lap. “Am I keeping you from your work?” she asked when she noticed the papers scattered across his desk.

      Cole shook his head impatiently. “I’m just making a list of things for the investigator to look into.” He’d paged Annie, but so far she hadn’t responded. “Tell me about Maria.”

      Hannah folded her hands neatly on her purse. “Ever since she got back from California last year, she’s been acting odd, even for her.”

      “How so?” Cole prompted.

      “For one thing, she’s always criticizing Ryan, insisting that he’s just taking advantage of Mom and that he’ll never marry her.”

      “Good grief,” Cole exclaimed. “All men aren’t like the jerks Maria hangs out with. Ryan adores Mom. What’s Maria thinking?”

      Hannah shrugged. “Mom hardly sees her, and then, when she does, Maria goes on about how Ryan will end up breaking Mom’s heart.”

      Cole swallowed a curse. “From the beginning, she’s been dead set against Mom and Ryan’s relationship. Maybe she’s jealous because our mother has found a good man who genuinely cares for her.”

      “Maybe,” Hannah agreed. “Maria’s so full of anger and resentment, as if Mom was the one with all the money and Ryan was some gold-digging bum, trying to take advantage of her. Mom’s the one who broke up with him a long time ago and married Daddy instead.”

      Because she was pregnant with me, Cole thought, but he didn’t say anything to his sister. When their mother was young, she’d listened to Ryan’s brother’s lies and been seduced by him, even though she was in love with Ryan. Afterward she was too ashamed to tell Ryan that she’d not only slept with his brother Cameron, but was carrying his child. That shame had kept the two of them apart for more than thirty years. Cole had grown up believing the man his mother married when she realized she was pregnant was his biological father. It had only been since Lily’s arrest that she finally told Cole and Ryan the truth—that Chester Cassidy, who’d always loved Lily from afar, had agreed to marry her and pretend the baby was his. No one else knew yet, and Cole intended to keep it that way until after the murder case was resolved.

      “All Ryan wants is for Mom to be cleared of these charges so they can get married,” Cole told Hannah. “He’d marry her now if she’d agree, but you know how stubborn she is. Maybe Maria’s biggest beef is that for once she’s not the center of attention. She always wants to grab the spotlight away from anyone else.”

      A shadow of pain crossed Hannah’s face. Maria had tried to ruin her happiness by coming on to her fiancé, Parker. Lucky for Maria that Hannah wasn’t one to hold a grudge, even though she’d been deeply hurt by her sister’s betrayal.

      “Since she got back from California, she’s gotten downright secretive,” Hannah contradicted him with a frown. “She’s practically forbidden us to visit her trailer without an engraved invitation. Mom’s afraid she may be in some kind of trouble.”

      “What else is new?” Cole demanded. “Sounds to me like she’s gotten mixed up with some man. That’s Maria’s usual style.”

      “But why would that make her act so strangely?” Hannah asked. “When she does come around, she’s so tense you’d think she was going to snap, she’s skinnier than ever and she looks worn-out. I almost feel sorry for her.”

      “That’s pretty generous of you,” Cole said.

      Hannah shrugged. “Parker loves me. It’s getting easier to forget what she tried to do.” Absently, she fiddled with her engagement ring. “If Mom dares to ask Maria any questions, she throws a fit and accuses her of prying.”

      “Usually whenever Maria has a new man in tow, she can’t wait to show him off,” Cole commented. “I keep waiting for her to strap one of them to the hood of her car like a trophy deer.”

      Privately he wondered if resentment of Hannah’s happiness had sent her over the edge. In school Hannah had been the quiet one, while Maria, all flash and flirt, had a line of men sniffing after her. Maria had liked nothing better than to rub her older, less popular sister’s nose in her success with boys. But Parker was an attorney with a lucrative practice—attractive and athletic. Anyone with eyes could see that he adored Hannah. Maria had really misjudged him by thinking he’d respond to her advances.

      Cole envied them their obvious devotion to each other. He hadn’t felt that way about a woman since…since Annie Jones. The realization was a sobering one.

      “Maybe Maria’s gotten herself involved with a married man this time,” he suggested. “One who insists on keeping a low profile.”

      Hannah’s frown cleared. “You think it’s something as simple as that? It sounds as though she’s turned into a recluse down in Leather Bucket. She hardly comes to town at all.” She let out a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right.”

      “Have you tried talking to her?” Cole asked. Despite Hannah’s comment to the contrary, he knew her wedding consulting business kept her very busy. She and Parker had delayed their own ceremony until after Lily’s trial, but she had

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