Marrying Maddy Read Online Free PDF Page B

old age of mine. I just seem to do the most outlandish things.”
    Jessie looked from one woman to the other. Neither smiled. Neither allowed a single emotion to show on her face.
    â€œWhy, you two sneaks! You’ve been planning this together, haven’t you?”
    â€œDarling,” Almira said reasonably, “Mrs. Ballantine and I can’t even plan menus together, not without nearly coming to blows.”
    Jessie thought about this for a moment, then pointed her finger at her grandmother, then at Mrs. Ballantine. She opened her mouth, wagged her finger a time or two as she searched her brain for something to say, anything to say. And then she let her arm drop to her side and said simply, “Thank you.”
    â€œWhatever for?” Mrs. Ballantine said, looking as innocent as a drill sergeant could, which wasn’t very much.
    Jessie rubbed at her forehead, trying to tell herself that nothing had changed, nothing would change. Then her blue eyes widened as another thought struck her. “Allie? Mrs. Ballantine? You aren’t going to say anything to Matt, are you? I mean, Maddy needs your help. Lord knows she’s been a mess, especially since Joe O’Malley’s company went public and his picture was on the cover of Newsweek— but you aren’t going to meddle in my life, right? Right?”
    Almira put a hand on Jessie’s arm. “I don’t meddle, Jessica. I never meddle. Why, I’m as surprised as you are that Joseph O’Malley bought the Harris house.”
    â€œYeah. Right. Sure.” Jessie kissed her grandmother’s cheek. “You just keep on believing that Maddy and I believe that. And then keep your meddling out of my life.”

Chapter Three
    J oe O’Malley heard the faint echo of a slamming door coming from the direction of the Chandler house. He stood stock-still, pretended for a moment he could feel the concussion of moving air and then began to count silently in his head. Twenty, nineteen, eighteen…
    When he got to twelve, he turned to one of the workmen. “I’m expecting someone shortly, Chad. Please just say I’m inside, okay?”
    Chad lifted his Phillies cap and scratched his head. “How will I know who your visitor is?”
    Joe shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know, Chad. Smoke coming from her ears. Fire sparks shooting from her eyes. You’ll figure it out.”
    â€œOh, a woman. Well, that explains it,” Chad said as Joe leisurely jogged toward the open door to his new house, stepping inside just in time to hear a rather angry bellow that had his name in it somewhere, right before the words “you dirty, rotten, miserable… ”
    He smiled, and headed for the massive kitchen. Food to soothe the savage beast, that was what he needed. He hoped this particular savage beast still liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
    He was just searching through a pile of cardboard boxes for a loaf of bread when Maddy skidded to a halt inside the kitchen. “You.”
    As openings went, that “you” was fairly ominous, and he hoped all his sharp knives were still lost somewhere inside a packing crate. He turned, slowly, and looked Maddy up and down, careful not to reveal to her how much he wanted to grab her, kiss her and make mad passionate love to her as soon as Chad and his buddies brought in the mattress.
    God, how he had missed her. How he had lain awake nights, missing her. Spent his days missing her. Missing her smile, her soft mouth, her sweetly rounded body.
    When he wasn’t madder than hell at her, that is.
    â€œYou rang?” he drawled now, holding up the peanut butter jar, which was a pretty sad defensive weapon. “I’ve always wanted to say that. Oh, and what happened to your lip? You look like you ran into something.”
    There wasn’t any steam coming out of Maddy’s ears. That had to be good, not that he’d really expected to see smoke.
    But he