Harlequin Love Inspired March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Patrice Lewis (i read book txt) 📖

“Ice cream!” Mason jumped up and down. “Before lunch?”

“Just this once, we’ll have a late lunch.” She winked. “But that includes no jumping.”

Mason quickly stilled.

“We’ll be extra good,” Madison promised. “Won’t we, Mason?”

Mason nodded. Always the weak link. It wasn’t that he was bad. Just mischievous, full of energy and easily bored. Which usually got him in trouble. A lot like his mom had been.

She ushered the children ahead of her and they dutifully returned to their seats behind the counter.

Daddy hurried toward her, lowering his voice to a whisper. “He wants to talk to you. Hasn’t browsed or anything, just patiently waited for you. Maybe he’s here about a job. An answer to our prayers.”

“I hope so. Waverly wants the coffee bar and all five of the claw-foot tubs we have finished. Plus she ordered ninety-nine more bars and ninety-five more tubs.”

“That’s awesome.”

“She wants all of it in a month.”

“Tell me you didn’t agree to those terms.”

Stacia winced. “I’ve got a nice check in my pocket.”

“Aye yai yai. You better hope he’s here for a job.”

The man waited at the counter, his gaze still riveted on the twins. Nothing new there. Both strawberry blond, freckled, large blue-green eyes, obviously twins—carbon copies of one another except for gender. Double the cuteness factor.

“I’m Stacia Keyes.” She offered her hand.

He tore his attention away from the children. “Ross Lyles. Nice to meet you.”

The last name sent a jolt through her heart. No. Ron didn’t have any family.

Intense green eyes scrutinized her as his hand engulfed hers in a firm grip.

“Are you interested in the ranch hand position? Or the furniture handyman position?”

“Huh?” His gaze darted back to the kids.

“Do you have experience in either?”

“Actually both.” He cleared his throat.

Daddy chuckled. “You’re hired.”

“Daddy.” This guy was way too focused on her niece and nephew. “We usually get references on new hires.”

“I know, but we’re in a real pickle. Can’t afford to be too choosy.”

“Why don’t you take the kids to get ice cream? I told them you would if they were good in the store.” Both had been quiet as a mouse, staring back at Ross Lyles. She wanted them out of his sight. And rid of Daddy’s big mouth.

“Sounds like a plan, once Angel gets here.”

“Shouldn’t she be here by now?” Stacia checked her watch.

“She called, said her car’s still in the shop and her mom had to go in to work early, so she’s driving their farm truck and it didn’t want to start this morning.”

A pickup badly in need of a new muffler sounded out front. “Sounds like she just pulled up.”

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.” Daddy waggled his eyebrows at the twins, eliciting a fit of giggles.

“Shh.” Madison caught herself, tried to shush Mason. “No giggles in the store or we don’t get ice cream.”

“I don’t think that rule counts when I’m the one who made you giggle.” Daddy came out from behind the counter. “Let’s go. What flavor do y’all want?”

“I want cotton candy.” Mason darted for the door.

“No running,” Madison cautioned. “I want bubble gum.”

“It was nice to meet you, Ross.”

“Likewise, Maverick.”

He was already on a first-name basis with her dad?

The door closed behind them. And only then did Ross Lyles’s gaze return to hers.

Was he somehow related to Ron? Here on a spy mission for him? Or was Lyles even really his last name? He could be some random nut who’d gotten wind of a scandal. An obsessed fan, reporter or blackmailer. Foreboding crept up the back of her neck. She squelched a shudder. There’s no way she could hire him.

“I’m afraid I already hired someone for both positions this morning. My dad didn’t know, so I’m sorry if he got your hopes up.”

He did a slight shake of his head. As if to wake himself up from a trance. “I’m—”

Nothing else came out of his mouth. This guy was creeping her out. And there were no other customers in the store. Angel, the eighty-pound teenager, wouldn’t be any help, if she ever made it inside. Stacia needed to get rid of him. Fast.

* * *

Ross tried to focus. It was tempting to pretend he was here for the jobs. Since he’d worked at his grandfather’s ranch and his parents’ furniture store, he was qualified for both. And he had an inkling both positions were still open. If not, surely she’d have told her dad. Or at least taken the sign out of the window. And she wouldn’t have asked him about experience. But he’d already gotten her suspicious. Did she know who he was?

No. Ron hadn’t used his real name in years. Except maybe on legal documents. Like when he signed the twins away. They looked similar, but Ron wore thick black eyeliner and kept his dark hair dyed blue, which would throw anybody off.

So tempting to play his name off as a coincidence. Talk her into hiring him. That way, he’d have a direct window into her interactions with the twins.

“Can I help you with anything else?”

Best to come clean. “Are you familiar with the name Ronny Outrageous?”

She caved in on herself, as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. “Why?”

“Because he’s my brother.”

“Oh.” Something akin to fear shone in her pale aqua eyes.

“Last week, he was in a really bad bus wreck with an eighteen-wheeler on the way to a concert.”

“I heard about it on the news.” She tried to recover, act all calm, cool and collected. But it was too late. Her reaction to Ron’s stage name told the tale.

“One long, dark, pain-filled night he made a confession to me. That he’d had a one-night stand, which resulted in twins.” The more information he gave, the more certain he was that he’d found the right Stacia Keyes.

“That he signed custody over to the mother. That she died three years ago.” The children’s pale coloring had thrown him off since his family had olive skin and dark hair. “That her sister has them now. Sounding familiar?”

“What do