Oklahoma Moonshine (The McIntyre Men #1)

by Maggie Shayne

  “New Jersey.”

  Why did I tell him?

  “Do you...I mean, did you look that much alike? That Selene and Edie could see a photo of her and think it was you?” he asked.

  She met his eyes, and knew she was in too far to back off now.

  “Probably,” she said. “Her eyes are green, mine are blue.” She got up and walked to the kitchen. “You have any ideas about dinner?” she asked, and her voice came out deep and thick. “I’m not a great cook, I’ll warn you in advance.” Dammit, there were hot tears burning down her cheeks. She kept her back to him, started opening cupboards and the fridge as if looking for ideas. But she wasn’t seeing anything but her sister’s face.

  Chapter Seven

  * * *

  Hearing Kendra’s name had hit Kiley like a mallet. Rob had seen it very clearly. She’d tried hard to hide her reaction, but he’d seen it. Shock had paled her skin and widened her eyes and caused her full lips to part on a soft gasp. There had been tears welling before she’d managed to shoot off the sofa and head for the kitchen. Real tears.

  Kiley hadn’t denied she was a con artist. She’d implied there could be a number of men angry and claiming she owed them money.

  She seemed to feel genuinely bad that he’d gotten into a violent altercation on her behalf, though. And she was trying, she really was, to give him a few crumbs of honesty.

  Maybe it was enough for one night. That guy, whatever else he might be, was big and damn scary to a little thing like Kiley. Rob would defend her against him whether she was in the right or in the wrong.

  The problem was, he liked her. He liked her a lot. He even liked her shady ways. And he was attracted to her, too, in a purely physical, me-Tarzan-you-Jane sort of way. He hadn’t felt like that in a long, long time.

  But the lies. God, he felt them hanging over his head like Poe’s pendulum, swinging closer with every pass. The only difference was, he wasn’t strapped down. He was voluntarily lying there, waiting for it to gut him.

  Or for her to come clean, and pull the lever that would stop its deadly swinging. She was the only one who could. His goal in life, right then, crystallized for him. He was going to win Kiley’s trust. She was going to tell him everything about herself of her own free will. Even if she never showed anyone else her true self, she would show him.

  She puttered around in the kitchen, finally putting some homemade chicken pot pies, courtesy of Vidalia, into the oven and setting the timer. While they cooked, she did other things. Noisy things. She might have been washing dishes. He was too busy trying to figure out whether Dax Russell actually knew her or not.

  Eventually, he gave up, and looked around the room. Something was different. And then he realized what. A very large television was mounted to the wall in front of him. How he’d missed it, he didn’t know.

  Yes he did. When Kiley was around, he didn’t notice much else.

  “Hey, was the TV fairy here?”

  She leaned through the doorway from the kitchen. “Isn’t it amazing? The remote’s on the coffee table.”

  He reached for it and hit the power button.

  “How did you manage to mount it by yourself?”

  She didn’t come in, just called from the kitchen. “I’m not all that handy. I called the cable company, but there’s no cable on our road. So then I called the satellite dish people. They said they couldn’t come for a week, but I asked them to come today instead.”

  “And they just agreed?”

  “Well, yeah.” She hesitated. “I kind of...talked them into it.”

  “Uh-huh. And how did you do that, exactly?” He listened intently, but all the same, started skimming channels.

  When she spoke again her voice was closer, and he turned. She was leaning in the doorway again, a potholder in her hand, looking at the big screen. “I might’ve said that my husband was going to be one of the guest pundits on Meet the Press this week. He’s a journalist and it’s his first appearance, and I promised not to miss it and....”

  “And they came right out,” he said.

  She nodded. “It was only a little white lie.”

  “And the fellow who showed up to turn things on just...decided to do the wall mount to be a nice guy?”

  She shrugged. “You may not have noticed, Rob, but I clean up kind of nice, and I can flirt pretty well. I didn’t lie at all. Not even a little bit. He just volunteered.”

  He looked her over and realized that, yes, she was wearing makeup, and she’d done something sexy to her hair, flipping it all over to one side and letting those waves cascade down to her shoulders. She wore a snug-fitting tank top with a soft cotton shirt over it, unbuttoned, and jeans that fit her like a second skin.

  “Don’t judge. You promised that if I was honest, you wouldn’t judge.”

  “I’m not judging.” He shrugged, let his eyes roam down to her feet and up again, and said, “Well, I am, but only to the point of thinking how good you look tonight, and wondering how the hell it took me this long to notice.”

  “Cause I’ve been up in your face and you have one eye swollen shut,” she said. “And thanks.”

  Her cheeks went all soft pink and pretty. Then a timer pinged, and she said, “Find us something amazing to watch while we eat in front of the TV like a couple of uncivilized savages. I’ll bring dinner right in.”

  So he channel surfed, found a comedy that had something for both of them. She brought in the pot pies on giant plates, spread out to cool more quickly, and set them on the coffee table.

  “It smells fantastic.”

  “Yeah, I’m a wiz at reading instructions and setting oven timers,” she said.

  “I smell something else.” He looked toward the kitchen, following the scent. “Chocolate?”

  “I threw a brownie mix in while the pies were baking. They should be just cooled off enough by the time we’re ready for dessert.” She sat down beside him. “Are you mad at me?” she asked. “For lying to the TV people?”

  He looked at her freckles, thought about how much he liked her, in spite of the secrets she was keeping. And he said, “It’s none of my business who you lie to. I’m trying hard to win your trust, here, Kiley, in case you haven’t noticed that. The only time I’m gonna care about lies is if you lie to me. Okay?”

  She seemed to think about that for a long moment. To really let it sink in. And then she said, “There are things...I haven’t told you. Do you consider that lying?”

  He shook his head slowly. “As long as it’s not pertinent to us...to our...partnership, our friendship, our business, then you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.” He shrugged. “I’m hoping eventually, you’ll want to.”

  “I’m already starting to want to,” she said. “And if you knew how unusual that was for me, you’d be super flattered.” She looked down at her plate, moved the veggies and gravy around with her fork, and watched the steam spiral up off them. “I was telling the truth about that Dax guy, though. I don’t know who he is. He doesn’t look familiar to me at all. And I’ve never been to Jersey.”

  Rob nodded. “Okay.”

  “Okay? You got the stuffing kicked outta you, and you can just say okay, like everything’s fine?”

  “Everything is fine. And you don’t have to worry about that guy, or any other guy like him. Not as long as you’re with me.”

  She just sat there blinking, looking kind of shell shocked and stunned.

  * * *

  Caleb Montgomery’s law office was on the ground floor of a tall, old-fashioned building that looked as if it could’ve been standing back when horses instead of cars parked out front. He was married to Maya, the oldest of Vidalia Brand’s daughters, Kiley thought as she waited in the leather chair in his reception area, wondering why there was no one at the desk.

  She knew Caleb was in his office, but the door was closed and she could hear voices from the other side, so she wasn’t going to knock and interrupt. She’d just wait.

  Damn
ed if she’d ever thought she’d be sitting in a lawyer’s office, short of needing one to defend her. But here she was. Life sure did change.

  The big wooden door opened, and a very tall, beautiful blond woman came out, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. She spotted Kiley sitting there, and quickly sniffled and tucked the tissue out of sight. “So sorry to keep you waiting,” she said. “I didn’t think we had any appointments until—”

  “I don’t have an appointment,” Kiley said. “I was hoping Mr. Montgomery could sort of squeeze me in.”

  She glanced past the woman, who turned out to be the missing receptionist, through the still-open door into the office.

  The lawyer was already smiling at her from the doorway. “Kiley. Brenda, this is Rob McIntyre’s new partner. Kiley, my receptionist, Brenda.”

  “Hello,” Kiley said to the blonde. She was seriously curious about why the woman was crying in her boss’s office. Seemed suspicious as hell. None of her business, though. Odd how much it pissed her off on Maya’s behalf, though. If he was having a fling, he ought to be skinned. She hoped that wasn’t it.

  “Nice to meet you, Kiley,” Brenda said, sliding into her seat at the desk.

  “Come on in and tell me what I can do for you,” Caleb called. “Brenda, give us a few minutes, okay?”

  “Sure, boss.”

  He waited for Kiley to enter, then closed the office door. Impressive, but not braggy. Bookcases full of books and sturdy leather furniture and a gigantic shiny hardwood desk that looked like an antique. “Nice,” she said with a nod. “Thanks for seeing me, Mr. Montgomery.”

  “Call me Cal. You’re practically family.” He nodded toward a big chair and when she sank into it, she felt a little like Goldilocks. The thing was huge. “What can I help you with?”

  “It’s a small favor, really. Nothing big. Shouldn’t take you more than a phone call. But um, the thing is, I’d like you to keep it between us.”

  He nodded. “You got a dollar on you?”

  She frowned. “Sure I do.”

  “Fork it over.”

  Weird, but okay. She dug in her purse, pulled out the 50 bucks she’d conned out of that farm wife the day before, looked at it for a second, stuffed it back in and kept digging. Eventually, she’d scared up three quarters, two nickels, a dime and five pennies. He held out his hand and she dropped the change in.

  “That’s my retainer,” he said. Not a word about her scraping the bottom of the barrel to get it for him. “You’re now my client, and attorney-client privilege applies.”

  She sighed in relief, leaned back in the giant chair, and thought he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d cheat. “So, I’m sure you know about the guy who was asking about me around town yesterday?” He nodded. “I want to track him down and find out what he wants.”

  “Oh.” He grimaced and sucked air through his teeth. “I...don’t know about that.”

  “Why?”

  “Just…he seemed angry and…dangerous. And big.”

  “I could see that from the picture.” And from the condition of Rob’s gorgeous face.

  “But you don’t know him,” he said.

  She shook her head. “No. But I want to know what’s up. I guess…Rob said your brother-in-law the cop took his info. I just want his number. I want to see this photo he’s been showing around town of me and find out what he’s up to.”

  “Guess I can’t blame you for that.” He picked up a pencil and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger for a minute. “What if I could track him down and talk to him on your behalf.”

  She shook her head. “No. I need to talk to him myself.”

  He nodded, tapping the pencil on the edge of his desk. There were little marks that suggested he did that a lot. “Would you object to me going with you? Maybe standing in the shadows, out of earshot? It would give you privacy for your discussion, and protection in case he has anything…unpleasant on his mind.”

  “Not necessary. I’m not scared of him.” She’d been dealing with men, crooks as well as marks, her whole life. She’d never met one she couldn’t either outsmart or flirt into submission. “I really need to do this myself. Can you get me the information?”

  He nodded. “I can. I will. I’ll call the PD and ask for it. However, you should be aware there’s a good chance Jimmy—Chief Corona—is gonna ask why I want it. And I’m gonna have to tell him it’s for a client and therefore privileged, and he’s gonna figure it’s either you or Rob.”

  She sighed. “Well that kind of stinks for my privacy.”

  He nodded. “It does. If you’re sticking around Big Falls, and I assume you are, being that you just bought a ranch, I should warn you that there’s not much that goes unnoticed. Small town. Huge grapevine. And the family….” He just shook his head.

  “Yeah, I got that already.” She smiled involuntarily. “It’s kind of nice, actually.”

  “And kind of not,” he said. “But the nice outweighs the not, and you get used to it. You even start to rely on it. I’ll be as sly as I can, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  He picked up his phone, punched a button. “Hey, Brenda. Get me Lucy at the BFPD front desk, will you?”

  He waited a second, drumming his fingers, then sat up straighter. “Hi, Lucy. It’s Cal at the law office. Fine, and yours?” Smiling, laughing. Was everyone in this town friends with everyone else? “Listen, Lucy, I need the info on that guy who got into the fight at Gregg’s Gas & Go yesterday.” There was a pause, and then he was scribbling on a notepad. “No, not for vengeance,” he said with a laugh. “This is strictly business. Thanks, Lucy.” He hung up the phone, tore the sheet off his notepad and handed it across the desk to her.

  Kiley turned it over and looked at it. Dax J. Russell’s address, cell phone, and home phone numbers, along with his birthdate, driver’s license ID number, and the make, model and plate number of his car were written in easy-to-read block letters. “Wow. That was easy.”

  “It was, and Lucy didn’t ask who it was for, just whether I was out to avenge Rob’s black eye.” He smiled. He was genuinely nice, she thought. This town was apparently full of unicorns. “Now I have a question for you.”

  “Shoot,” she said.

  “You want a job?”

  Her brows shot up high. It was the last thing she’d expected him to say. “What, here?”

  “Yeah. My secretary just gave notice. She’s moving to Memphis. Her husband got a job offer he couldn’t turn down. You probably noticed the tears. She’s been here a long time, and she’s feeling guilty as hell about leaving me in the lurch.”

  “But I don’t…know anything about…law.” Other than how to break it, that was.

  “You can answer phones and emails, yes?”

  “Well, yeah. Anybody can do that.”

  “You’d be surprised. Look, my business is small. Local cases, nothing complicated. The main qualification is trustworthiness. Nothing that happens in this office, not even who comes and goes, is to be discussed with anyone besides me. Ever. Can you handle that?”

  “Sure can.” She sighed. “But I mean, there’s going to be so much to do at the ranch.”

  “There will be. But there’s not yet. It’s the middle of summer. Too late to plant pumpkins or corn for the corn maze.”

  “You know about my plans?”

  “Rob told me. He thinks you’re brilliant, and so do I, by the way.”

  “He does?” Why did she suddenly feel warm all over?

  He smiled wide. “He does. Look, take two weeks to think about it. I’ll look for other options in the meantime. No pressure. Okay?”

  “Sure. Okay.”

  All the way back to the ranch, she kept replaying Caleb’s words in her head. She had to be trustworthy. That seemed to be a running theme in this family. Truthfulness. Honesty.

  Going straight had been kind of an abstract notion to her. In her mind it had meant making enough money in legal ways to allow her to quit having to make it in illega
l ways.

  But now it was starting to become really clear to her that she’d had it wrong. It wasn’t about money at all; it was about people. About being honest and truthful with people. Which meant trusting them enough to make herself vulnerable to them. It was about being the kind of person others could think of as trustworthy too, the kind they felt they could make themselves vulnerable to.

  Her father’s voice whispered through her memory. Being honest with other people is like showing your belly and trusting them not to slice it open. Never tell the truth when a lie will do.

  But that was what real honesty seemed to require. Exposing your belly and trusting.

  And maybe that had to come before the rest of it. She had to trust people enough. And too, she was starting to think she had to quit the old life completely before the new one could open up for her.

  She turned onto Pine Road, but when she got to Holiday Ranch she drove right past, and kept going another half hour north, to that thriving farm where she’d been the day before. She pulled the car off onto the shoulder, took the fifty bucks from her purse, and tucked it into the mailbox.

  And then she drove away, feeling as if the weight of the world had lifted from her shoulders. She felt light. Almost giggly, she felt so light. It was some kind of high.

  It occurred to her that she would probably get that same feeling again and again if she paid back every person she’d ever conned. And all of the sudden, it didn’t seem like such an impossible idea, or a stupid one.

  Was that it then? Was she finally going straight? Had she actually gone straight already, instead of just intending to? She thought so. If felt like a defining moment in her life. It felt so important that she had to pull over to the side of the road, because there were tears in her eyes and she couldn’t see.

  She sat there, mulling, and nodding, and realizing that she had never felt this good about herself in her life. That made her so confident, she decided to face her next challenge head on. She took the note Caleb had given her out of her jean’s pocket, and tapped the stranger’s number into her cell phone.