Oklahoma Moonshine (The McIntyre Men #1) by MAGGIE SHAYNE Read Free Book Online Page A

give her more time to come up with a believable tale.
    “They must be really nice.” She tried to remember if she’d known any of the Brands during her childhood. She was sure her father
    had—he’d known everyone in Big Falls. But she couldn’t remember Vidalia or any school friends by the name of Brand. If the sisters were
    all Rob’s age or older, then they were older than her. Maybe she’d missed them all.
    Besides, they wouldn’t be apt to recognize her, not after all these years.
    But what if they did? And what if Vidalia knew her father had been a con-man who’d left a lot of angry residents behind? And what if she knew
    he’d ended up in prison, and that she and Kendra had finished out their childhoods in foster care and grown up to be as crooked as their father
    before them?
    “Are you okay, Kiley?”
    She looked up at him quickly. “Yeah, why?”
    “You looked a little sad when I first came out, is all.”
    “Deep in thought. Not sad. Just imagining all my dreams for this place. And you know... I did have a few problems crop up today. Nothing I
    can’t handle though.”
    “Anything I can help with?”
    She smiled up at him. “I’ll let you know.” Then she pointed. “Oh my gosh, look, more of your crew have shown up.”
    The house was in sight now. Another truck had pulled in, and his brothers were piling out of it. She recognized Joey, and could tell even from a distance
    that the other one must be Jason. God, was every male in the McIntyre line gifted with leading-man genes? They looked it. A mini-van was right behind the
    truck, and two women got out of that one. No one was empty handed. One was blond and carrying a stack of familiar flat boxes.
    “Is that the pizza you mentioned?” Kiley asked.
    “Looks like.”
    She smiled. “Hot damn. I think I’m gonna like your family, Rob.”
    * * *
    Kiley wasn’t used to this sort of...involvement was the best word, she supposed. She’d have called it meddling, except that Rob didn’t
    seem to mind his entire family showing up to clean his house without being asked. For her, it felt like an invasion of privacy. But she couldn’t very
    well say so. None of them, including Rob, knew she’d been staying there.
    At least, not until Selene with her impossible corn-silk hair and glacial blue eyes, said, “Robby, it looks like someone’s been squatting in
    one of the upstairs bedrooms.”
    Kiley averted her gaze. They were all sitting outside on pickup tailgates and front steps, eating their pizza while fireflies danced to the country music
    wafting from the radio. They’d been cleaning for a while already, and she hadn’t had a chance to slip upstairs yet.
    Rob asked, “Really?”
    “Yeah, there’s a sleeping bag and some food up there. I left it alone, in case it was one of yours.”
    Rob was looking at her. Kiley could feel his eyes on her. So she said, “I’ll go take a look,” and dropping her pizza slice onto a paper
    plate, she got off the top step where she’d been sitting and hurried inside, through the kitchen to the living room and up the stairs.
    She paused at the top to push a hand through her hair. Dammit, she should’ve moved her stuff. She’d overslept, then had to rush to get to the
    auction, then returned all eager to talk to Kendra, and maybe spread her ashes down by the river, and kind of got lost in her memories down there. But she
    should’ve moved her stuff first. Practical matters came before emotional nonsense. Practical matters included keeping her cover intact. These people
    had to believe she was the woman she was pretending to be. The starry-eyed, innocent but ambitious entrepreneur with a slight crush on her business
    partner. The nostalgic local girl, reclaiming her childhood home. She could never let them see the real her. A penniless con artist sleeping wherever she
    could find a spot, while trying to figure out a way to con Rob out of his half of the ranch.
    Because that was what she had to do. Clearly.