lost her mind? Right?”
“Rest easy. Miss Sarah wasn’t crazy. She just grew up in the Depression, Nell.” Billy Ray shrugged as though he could make her understand a vital element of her grandmother’s personality. “It’s not uncommon for people from that time to hoard everything they could. At least she didn’t stuff the money in her mattress. She put every penny she could into CDs, money markets and stock. Miss Sarah had a pretty shrewd grasp of the stock market and wasn’t afraid to take a few risks.”
Billy Ray opened a manila folder on top of his desk and picked up a pink envelope. “I think this might help you. She made me promise I’d give it to you after I told you about the money.” He held it out to her. “She had me write it out for you. She had the shakes so bad toward the end all she could do was sign.”
Nell’s hand shook as she took the envelope. Her first instinct was to refuse the letter. Part of her didn’t want to know. She could smell a hint of lavender on the heavy paper. Her grandmother had always smelled of lavender. “Should I read it now?”
He nodded. “I know what’s in the letter.”
He actually blushed. Was the letter embarrassing? What other secrets could her grandmother have? Carefully she slid her finger under the sealed flap. That way she could use it again, just like her grandmother used to do. The pages crinkled in her cold fingers as she unfolded the letter.
My Dearest Nell,
For so long I’ve kept you tied to me. I didn’t start out that way, but as I grew older, I was afraid of being alone again. I lost my husband. I lost my daughter when she ran off, and I survived both of those hardships. When your mama dropped you off as a baby, you were my second chance to get things right. I held you so tight I didn’t let you take a breath without me next to you. I don’t think I could have lost you and lived another minute. Please forgive me for manipulating you into keeping an old woman company. You are young and full of dreams, ones I tried to keep you from fulfilling. Forgive me. Know this, I love you with all my heart. I hope this helps you find your place in the world. Go to New York. Go to college. Be the woman you are meant to be.
Grandmother.
Nell’s bottom lip began to tremble. Her throat went dry. Her grandmother did love her, but she’d deceived her. How could Nell make up for all this wasted time? She’d put her dreams aside to take care of her grandmother, to keep her company, to be a good girl. A hot tear slipped down her cheek. Who was she supposed to be now?
Nell Evans: Heiress. That didn’t fit right. And she wasn’t sure it ever would.
Chapter 1
Nine Days Later
Riley Martin heard his black Labrador, Chester, bark. Tucked beneath the undercarriage of his truck, oil dripping down his neck, he turned his head, straining to see what, or who, Chester was barking at.
From between the passenger-side wheels of his truck, he watched a pair of sensible white shoes beneath shapely legs and calves the color of warm clover honey making their way up his driveway. His heart raced.
The only woman in Wayloo who had sexy calves and sensible shoes was Nell Evans. Sweet untouchable Nell. He felt a stirring in his groin and almost groaned. When had he sunk so low that waitress shoes could give him a woodie? Damn, how embarrassing. He had no control over this. “Down, boy,” he murmured. He wasn’t some thirteen-year-old boy in the throes of hormonal rampages anymore. He was twenty-five years old, almost twenty-six, and old enough to know better. But then this was Nell, the source of any number of wet dreams over the years and awkward silences when he was with her. Nell did that to him. Unless he was ordering dinner from her at the diner, or chitchatting about the weather, he was never quite sure what to say to her when he really wanted to ask her to go out with him.
Chester’s black-furred legs joined Nell’s on the strip of smooth pavement. “Hi, Nell,” Riley called.
After a few seconds of silence, she bent down and peered beneath the truck. Tendrils of curly blueblack hair fell forward across her pretty cheeks. “Hi, Riley.”
He smiled. “What can I help you with?” Thoughts of what he wanted to help her do ran through his head at lightning speed. Massage oil came to mind. His palms started to sweat, so he put his wrench down before he dropped it on his head.
Nell pushed a stray tendril behind her ear. “Do you have a minute?”
She wanted a minute with him. Only a minute! To do her properly he’d need five days and fifty cans of whipped cream. Like that would ever happen. But he could dream. “Yeah, give me a second and I’ll be right with you.”
He worked his way out from beneath his truck and stood. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out an old rag and cleaned off his hands.
Nell had an attractive flush to her light brown cheeks. She chewed her bottom lip. Her hands were stuffed in the pockets of her bubblegum-pink waitress uniform, but he could see her fingers flex inside them. Wisps of curly black hair had worked their way loose from the tight bun at the nape of her neck. Despite the heat, the front of her uniform was buttoned up tight to her throat.
Just once before he died, he wished she’d flash him some of that spectacular cleavage she always kept hidden. Scanning her ripe curves, he had to stop his tongue from falling out of his mouth. She had one hell of a body. All curvy and round and womanly, it was a body crafted for a good time. She was the eighth deadly sin wrapped in pink polyester. And he so wanted to sin.
Hell, he’d dreamed about her luscious body for twelve of his last twenty-five years. And twenty-five years from now, he’d still be dreaming about that body. What he would do for a glimpse. Of course, Nell would have something to say about that.
What was he thinking? Her answer would be a polite but firm no. That was Nell in a nutshell. Buttoned up and hemmed-in didn’t come any better than Nell.
He stuffed greasy hands into the pockets of his coveralls and rolled back on his heels. “What can I do for you, Nell?” Kiss you? Bed you? Lick you all over? Be your sex slave? I’m open for suggestions.
“Can we go into the house?”
Nell alone with me in the house? This was a straight-up dream come true. Sweet. “Sure.”
“Thank you.”
She walked ahead of him, which gave him a prime opportunity to watch the seductive sway of her heart-shaped butt. Beyoncé, eat your heart out.
“Riley?”
He jerked to a stop and realized they were on the veranda and she seemed to be waiting. “Yeah?”
“The door?” she asked, her eyebrows raised.
Riley tried to bring himself out of his Nell-induced daze. “What?”
Nell faced him, an odd expression on her face. “Are you…are you going to open the door for me?” She raised her eyebrows and clutched her Texas-sized brown vinyl purse to her chest.
Riley wondered how long he’d been so deeply mired into Nell fantasy nine hundred and forty-seven that he’d forgotten where he was. Holding up his dirty hands, he said, “Could you get the door handle? Dirty hands.” He didn’t want to touch his brand-spanking-new antique brass handle with greasy hands. Of course, not opening a door for a lady would have sent his dead great-grandmother running for her leather strap so she could pop him on the butt for bad manners.
Nell tilted her gaze away, her cheeks going a darker red. “Of course.”
He loved making her blush. Somehow she seemed more alive. More touchable. And how he wanted to touch. “I have some sweet tea in the fridge. Would you like a glass?” he asked as they entered the cool interior of the house.
“That would be nice. Thank you.” She gave him a shy smile. “Would you like some, too?”
“That would be great.” Always so polite and ladylike, she never ceased to amaze him. “Go sit