Her Surprise Sister

He shrugged, as if to dismiss the need for thanks. “Folks have been wanting to bring food out to the house, but Lupita keeps saying that’s not needed. I hope you know your whole church family stands ready to do anything that will help. The prayer chain is going strong.”

“I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.” It was on the tip of her tongue to confide in Jeb about Maddie, but she restrained herself. That was a conversation better held in the privacy of the reverend’s office.

“Now, I’m sure you haven’t had a minute to think about Teen Scene staffing for this weekend—”

“Oh, my goodness.” She stared at Jeb in consternation. “I’m afraid it went clear out of my mind.”

Surprising, since the Teen Scene program was her baby. An effort to provide Grasslands’ teens with a wholesome alternative for entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights, it made use of the church gym and adjoining lounges for activities. One of her challenges was to keep it staffed with adults she could count on.

“I’m sorry I forgot about it. I’ll get right on it—”

“No need for that.” Jeb grinned, shoving his horn-rimmed glasses up on his nose. “It’s already done. And don’t you think about coming back until life settles down a bit. We’ll muddle along, I promise.”

“I’m so grateful.” There were the tears again, threatening to break loose. “It won’t be long.”

“Well, don’t worry about it.” He glanced over her shoulder toward the racks. “I need to pick up a few things, and then I’d best drop in the office again and catch up on paperwork. I’ll be interviewing people for the secretary’s position tomorrow, and it scares me half to death.”

“You’ll do fine. Anyway, you know what you’d tell anybody else, God has the right person picked out already. You just have to identify her.”

As Jeb grinned and moved away, Violet took another look around. Everything seemed to be going all right, other than the stocking problem. And she could make those calls from home, or in person, when it came to Tom Sandy. Waving to Harriet, she headed toward the door.

Outside, she paused for a moment to adjust her hat to shield her eyes from the sun, whose rays still shimmered from the concrete. She took a step toward her car and stopped.

She must have started to hallucinate. Either that or it really was Landon Derringer, Maddie’s almost-fiancé, walking down Grasslands’ main street, coming straight toward her.

Chapter Four

Violet stiffened, remembering Maddie’s short description of her relationship with Landon. What was Maddie going to think when she realized the determined CEO had followed her here? There surely couldn’t be another reason why a man like Landon was in a place like Grasslands.

“Violet.” He touched his hat brim in greeting. “We seem to make a habit of running into each other.”

“In very unlikely places.” She managed a smile. “You don’t seem to have any difficulty today in telling us apart.”

A faint smile touched his wintry green eyes. “I should have realized you weren’t Maddie at first sight yesterday. The hair is different, of course, and the clothes.”

“Of course.” She was a country bumpkin, in other words, in comparison to her glamorous twin.

He lifted an eyebrow. “That wasn’t an insult, Violet.” He seemed to have no trouble in divining her thoughts. “I like the way you look…sort of casual and windblown.”

“More like hot and dusty at the moment,” she said briskly. What did she care what Landon thought of her appearance? “What brings you to Grasslands?”

“I’d think that would be fairly obvious,” he said.

Clearly the man enjoyed sparring with her, but she wasn’t falling for it. Especially since she had much more important things on her mind. Odd, how much more confident she felt facing him today than she had yesterday. She was on her own turf now, and he was the outsider here.

“Does Maddie know you’re coming?”

A faint frown line creased his forehead. “Not exactly. I was going to call her, but then I decided it was better just to come.” He nodded toward the store. “When I saw the sign with the Colby name, I figured this was a good place to ask for directions. Does your family run this place?”

“Not exactly,” she said, echoing his words. “The family owns it. I run it.”

“You?” His surprise wasn’t very flattering.

She tilted her head back to look up at him. “You know, Landon, I’m beginning to understand why Maddie broke up with you. If you’re hoping to win her back, you might want to try being a little less condescending.”

She had the pleasure of seeing Landon speechless for a moment. Then he grinned appreciatively.

“Score one for you. I apologize, Ms. Colby. I didn’t mean to imply anything about your capabilities by my remark. Will you forgive me?”

She felt herself weakening. He certainly got a lot of mileage out of that smile, and he probably knew it. “You’re forgiven. Just don’t make the same mistake with Maddie.”

“I’ll try not to.” He studied the sign over the door. “I don’t think you actually mentioned the Colby Ranch yesterday. Is it a truck farming operation?”

“Don’t let my brother hear you say that. As far as he’s concerned, it’s a cattle ranch, and the truck farming is just a sideline.”

“It must be quite a sideline to warrant a store that size.” Landon nodded to the building, coming a step closer to her in the process.

“We do all right.” She shouldn’t let herself be pleased that he sounded impressed.

She was beginning to feel a bit confused. Landon surely was here to see Maddie, wasn’t he? So why was he spending all this time chatting with her? He was leaning against the building as if he had all the time in the world.

“Something wrong?” he asked, apparently a little uncomfortable at her scrutiny.

“Not wrong, exactly. Just wondering why you’re here. What do you want in Grasslands?”

“Did you expect me to let Maddie just wander off with her newly discovered twin and do nothing about it?”

Those green eyes of his could have a dangerous glint in them, she discovered.

“According to Maddie, you two are not engaged any longer. I’m not sure that her actions are any of your concern.”

If he’d seemed relaxed a moment ago, all that was gone now. He frowned at her, and tension seemed to vibrate in the air between them.

“I’ve known Maddie since she was still a kid,” he said. “Even if we aren’t engaged any longer, that doesn’t mean I can turn off caring what happens to her.”

He sounded honest enough, and Violet found herself warming to him. Still, she owed him honesty in return, and she didn’t think he’d want to hear it.

“If you really care about Maddie, I admire that,” she said. “But I’m not going to do anything to upset her, either. She’s had a hard enough day, seeing her mother for the first time in a hospital bed. I won’t do anything to hurt her, like showing up with you in tow if she doesn’t want to see you.”

“You’re feeling a bond already, aren’t you? That twin thing people talk about.”

She couldn’t tell if he approved or disapproved. “We’re still just getting used to the idea,” she said shortly. “The point is that unless there’s some good reason for your being here, I don’t think you should pursue Maddie if she doesn’t want to see you.”

His eyebrows had lifted a bit at her tone. Maybe he was surprised at her quick partisanship, but Maddie was her sister, after all.

“What about if I have results from the hospitals in Fort Worth? Don’t you think she’d want to hear about that?”

“You’ve found something out already?” She could feel the energy bubbling in her, ready to burst out. “How did you do that? I thought those records would be sealed. I wasn’t sure the hospital records office would even let me look.”