Free Forbidden Dreams by Judy Griffith; Gill

don’t admit him. Places like that also the research potential residents’ credentials before they are allowed to purchase a home. He’s the genuine article, and he’s also the best thing that’s happened to my grandmother in many, many years.
    “And he can’t be a con-man,” she added in triumph. “He comes from a good family back East, a family my grandmother has known since she was a girl. They went to the same high school. She attended college with one of his sisters.”
    He lifted a hand. “Shell—”
    She shook her head violently. “No. You’re completely wrong about him, and I won’t have my grandmother upset by you or anybody else making unfounded accusations about a man she’s very, very fond of. Dad and I both hope the two of them will get married soon.”
    Jase braced himself on the back of his chair. “They won’t be getting married, Shell. Sterling Graves, as he calls himself this year, never marries his marks. He simply charms the pants off them and takes their money and disappears.”
    “Ma-arks?” She made two angry syllables of the word. “You’re crazy, you know, if you think my grandmother is a ‘mark’ for anybody! She’s a bright, canny lady who’s been around the block more than a time or two, and she’s been protecting her money quite successfully since my grandfather passed away. Believe me, if she didn’t trust Sterling Graves implicitly, she wouldn’t have a thing to do with him, no matter how charming he might be.”
    With a haughty tilt to her chin, Shell grabbed their plates and cups off the table, swept the remains of her sandwich into the garbage, and all but dropped the dishes into the sink.
    Spinning around with a wet cloth in her hand, she glared at Jase. “And one more thing. ‘Lady’ is the operative word in that description of my grandmother, O’Keefe. Evelyn Briggs Landry is a lady of the old school, and no man would charm ‘the pants,’ as you so crudely put it, or anything else off her, unless she was his lawfully wedded wife.” She didn’t quite add so there, but it was implicit in her tone.
    Angrily, she scrubbed the tabletop, then paused in midswipe with the cloth, shooting him a frowning look. “What do you mean, ‘calling himself this year’?”

Chapter Five
    J ASE TOOK THE CLOTH from her and tossed it over her shoulder to the sink. “Sit down, Shell. Please?” She complied, still scowling, and he gratefully eased himself back onto his chair. “The man who calls himself Sterling Graves was not born with that name,” he said quietly. “Maybe your grandmother knew a boy by that name when she was a girl, but he’s long dead, and she obviously doesn’t know it. I do, because the minute I learned what name he was using, I checked it out. I have the written proof in my Jeep.”
    “Convenient,” Shell said, “since your Jeep is facedown in the middle of the creek, and all Ned was able to pull out was your bag and computer.”
    Jase’s look of consternation broke on a smile. “Computer, right. I’ve got all the stuff on that too. Just wait one minute, and I’ll show you.” He opened the lid and switched on the computer. After a moment he sighed disgustedly and flipped the switch back and forth several times. “Dead!” He slammed the lid shut. “Dammit, Shell, you have to believe me. He’s merely assumed that persona so he can earn her trust.”
    He seemed so sincere, Shell wanted to believe him. Only she knew Sterling, liked him. “Jase, honestly, your theory’s crazy. Nobody would take such a stupid risk. If my grandmother really did attend the same school as Sterling Graves and go to college with his sister, then anybody other than the real Sterling would be off his noodle to pretend to be him. I mean, what if she’d kept in touch with the sister and been told of Sterling’s death?”
    “I believe the man does his homework well before he ever approaches his mark.” When her mouth compressed and she sucked in an angry breath,