Free For the Sake of Warwick Mountain (Harlequin Heartwarming) by Charlotte Douglas Page B

has her own remedy for that.”
    Becca repressed a grin. Grace’s remedy was home-brewed and one-hundred-fifty proof. One dose and Grace felt no pain.
    “Is it true,” Sophie asked Matt, “that you’re keeping company with Anna Lisa Patton?”
    “Keeping company?” Matt said with a puzzled frown.
    “Hooking up,” Becca translated. “Hanging out.”
    She waited, interested in his reply. Anna Lisa was Hollywood’s sexiest young actress with a line of rejected lovers that would reach from Warwick Mountain to the West Coast.
    Matt cleared his throat, as if stalling for time. “I’ve, uh, spent some time with Anna Lisa,” he said with unsatisfying vagueness, making Becca wonder what his involvement with the blond bad girl had been.
    Hettie sighed. “She was beautiful in Midnight Seduction. ”
    “You saw that movie?” Becca blurted in surprise. The spinster sisters were the last she’d have expected to view the raciest film out of Hollywood in the last five years.
    “Heavens, no,” Hettie said with a laugh. “I read about it in a magazine. We haven’t been to the picture show since 1939 when Papa took us to Asheville to see Gone with the Wind. ”
    Fannie giggled. “He herded us out before the show was over. Almost had apoplexy when Clark Gable said, ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a—’”
    “Fannie!” Hettie cut her off. “Watch your language. And your memory’s slipping.”
    “That’s right,” Sophie said. “We went with the church group in 1964 to see The Sound of Music. ”
    “That’s right,” Fannie said. “Julie Andrews was so pretty, especially in the wedding scene where she married Captain Von Trapp. What a beautiful dress. And the music...” She sighed heavily, remembering.
    Becca felt a pang of sympathy for Matt, who stood listening to the nonstop talkers, probably wondering how he could escape.
    “Have you met Julie Andrews?” Fannie asked him.
    Matt nodded. “She’s a lovely, gracious lady. But I don’t keep company with her,” he added quickly.
    The three sisters tittered as if Matt had said the funniest line they’d ever heard, and Becca took the opportunity to herd them toward the front door. “Thank you for stopping in, but I’m sure you’re anxious to check on Grace. And you don’t want Dr. Tyler’s biscuits to get cold.”
    “Goodbye, ladies,” Matt called behind her. “Thanks again for bringing breakfast.”
    Relieved to be rid of the talkative trio, Becca closed the front door after them and hurried back to the living room. She took the basket of biscuits from Matt and headed toward the kitchen. He followed with the jelly and honey.
    “Do they always talk that much?” Matt set the jars on the table. “I feel shell-shocked.”
    “They were just getting warmed up. I was lucky to get them out of here so quickly. Sometimes they settle in for half a day.” Becca filled the coffeemaker with fresh grounds and water and flipped the switch. “By noon today, everyone within five miles will know you spent the night here.”
    “I should have returned to town.”
    “I wasn’t complaining,” she said hastily. “Just demonstrating the efficiency of their mass-communication system.”
    “You should have asked them about last night,” Matt said.
    “Last night?”
    “The lights in the woods. If they know everything that goes on around here, maybe they know what the lights were.”
    Becca frowned. “I’ve never seen lights there before.”
    “Thought you said it was hunters.”
    “Did you hear dogs?”
    “There was no sound, just lights.”
    “Coon hunters would have had dogs with them.”
    “Maybe it was car headlights from a highway.”
    She shook her head. “Our land takes up forty acres behind the house. Past that is national forest. No roads.”
    “Hiking trails?”
    “Not in that part of the forest. Beyond our land the terrain’s rugged, filled with deep ravines. More suited for rock climbing than hiking.”
    “You don’t believe ghosts