Free Oklahoma Moonshine (The McIntyre Men #1) by MAGGIE SHAYNE Page B

cook
    before?”
    “My dad cooked all the time. He just didn’t seem to enjoy it like you do.”
    His senses went on alert. She’d told him precious little about herself, other than her sister’s recent death, which was too raw a topic to
    really try to discuss. He tried to act casual, dropped his eggs onto his muffin, turned off the burner, carried his plate to the table and sat down.
    “So your dad did the cooking?” he asked.
    She looked up fast, like she had only just realized what she’d said. “Who’s texting you?”
    “Family.”
    “They the only ones who ever text you?” she asked.
    “No.” He tipped his head a little to the left. “Mostly. That particular text tone, though, that’s theirs.”
    She got the joke, and smiled a real smile. “They can probably get to be a lot. I mean, being that there are so many of them.”
    “They can. I love ‘em anyway.”
    “I could tell last night. Just the way you are with them. And those women. Holy smokes.”
    “What about them?” he asked.
    “They’re like…I don’t know. Unreal. Smart and kind and gorgeous and….” She tipped her head sideways and said,
    “They’re like what I imagine when I try to  remember my mom. And like what I envision when I think about who I want to be.”
    He was gonna have to remember that compliment and share it with the Brand half of the clan. They would appreciate it. “You close with your family,
    Kiley?”
    Her smile turned false. She picked up her second half muffin, took a big bite and shook her head left and right to answer his question without saying a
    word.
    That was okay, he thought. She’d tell him about herself when she was ready. There was no hurry.
    Some little voice in his head insisted that there was a hurry. That he was in danger of getting a little bit too fond of her, maybe already was, and she
    was still keeping a whole lot of secrets. He could see them in her eyes, and everything in him wanted to know everything about her.
    He ate in silence for a while, waiting for her to pause between bites, and then he decided it couldn’t hurt to try to nudge her just a little bit.
    “I don’t even know where you’re from, you realize that?”
    “Yes you do,” she said. “I’m from here. Oh, hell, look at the time. I gotta run. Busy day!” She got up, took a big gulp of
    her remaining coffee and ran right out the front door, finger combing her hair on the way.
    He’d pushed too hard. Miss Kiley Kellogg was a mystery to him. Maybe that was what was so attractive about her. He’d always had a curious mind.
    His phone bleeped. He picked it up this time, frowning to see that Selene had texted him a photo of a WWE wrestler… or someone who looked like one.
    Frowning, he read the message that followed.
    Dude was just in diner. Flashed pic of Kiley. Asked if we knew her. Rude, impatient, angry
.
    A rush of protectiveness pushed him up out of his chair, and his brain went dark and beamed out the message:
That guy gets within a mile of Kiley and I
’ll kick his oversized ass back where he came from
.
    He tried to tell himself it wasn’t an overreaction, even though a part of him knew it was.
    He was from Texas and he lived in Oklahoma, two places where it was still okay for men to be protective of women. Besides, she was his business partner,
    and he hoped, his friend.
    Who was he kidding? He hoped for a lot more than friendship.
    Her dilapidated car had already gone bounding away down the road, out of sight, and he wished she’d told him where she was going so he could make
    sure she’d be safe.
    He hurried through the rest of his breakfast and threw the dishes into the sink for later attention. It occurred to him that this guy must know something
    more about Kiley than he knew himself. It would be an invasion of her privacy to give him the third degree. But that didn’t mean he might not
    volunteer something before Rob kicked his ass out of town.
    Once he found him, but finding him wasn’t going to