Rumor Has It Read Online Free PDF

she thought, not holding it against him. No man could be as handsome as he was and remain totally unaware of his effect on women. “I'm very busy here, but I'd be glad to call ahead and talk to them for you.”
    The back screen door banged, heralding Maggie's arrival. She came in through the stock room, jabbering a mile a minute about why she was late. She was always late. The story about the knotted lace on her low black boots stilled on her tongue as she stepped into the office.
    “Maggie!” Katie greeted her. Turning her backto Nick, she gave her partner a meaningful stare. “This is Nick Leone. Mr. Leone, my partner, Maggie McSwain.”
    Maggie pulled her sunglasses off and gave Nick her best Southern- belle look, complete with batting lashes and sweetly pursed lips, her head tilted just so. She offered him her hand. When she spoke her voice was all magnolias and honey. “Why, Mr. Leone, it's such a pleasure. Katie just went on and on about meeting you the other day!”
    Immediately Nick saw he had an ally in this little charmer with the hourglass figure. He was a man who read people very quickly and very accurately. He caught the mischievous gleam in Maggie's eyes—and the dire look in Katie's. “Really?” He smiled. “I was hoping Miss Quaid might accompany me to the historical society in Charlottesville today, but I guess she's too busy.”
    “Oh, pooh!” Maggie waved off the notion. “Don't be silly, Kathryn. Didn't you want to take those quilts of Emma Sweet's down there anyway?”
    Katie ground her teeth and spoke through them all at once. “Mary Margaret,
darlin’,
I just wasexplaining to Nick, I'm much too busy, what with having to spend the day helping Mrs. Pruitt.”
    “I'm
working with Mrs. Pruitt, sugar,” she said, pressing a hand to her substantial bosom. She beamed a smile at Nick. “It must have slipped her mind.”
    Nick Leone was a dangerous man to be in a car with, Katie decided. It had nothing to do with his overwhelming masculinity or his boyish smile and everything to do with the fact that he drove like a maniac. The drive from Briarwood south to Charlottesville was lovely, the road winding up and down hills through sun- dappled woods. Nick attacked it with all the enthusiasm of a grand- prix driver.
    “You wouldn't be practicing to try out for one of those car commercials, would you?” Katie asked dryly, grasping the armrest as the wine-colored Trans Am sailed through yet another S-curve. “You know, the ones that have little disclaimers down on the bottom of the screen. Do not attempt this with your own vehicle.”
    Nick winced, easing his foot off the gas. “I'mso used to city traffic, when I get on a nice stretch of road, I tend to get carried away.”
    “You've lived in a city all your life?” she asked, deciding small talk was preferable to sitting there getting hot over the play of his thigh muscles beneath his jeans as he piloted the car.
    He nodded. “Atlantic City and New York.”
    “I've been to New York,” she said, remembering her trips to the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden.
    “Did you like it?”
    She gave him an apologetic smile. “ ‘Fraid not. I guess I prefer small towns.”
    “Me too.”
    She studied him openly for a moment, deciding he meant those words even if they did sound funny coming from a former New Yorker. She also decided he had the most sincere eyes of anyone she knew. It was impossible for her to dislike him. The trouble was, she was going to like him too much. Why couldn't he have been arrogant, obnoxious, unscrupulous—something closer to Maggie's rumor of a ruthless spy?
    “What did you do before you decided to go into the restaurant business?” she asked.
    Nick glued his gaze to the road and repositioned his hands on the steering wheel. He didn't enjoy the idea of being evasive with her. “A little of this, a little of that.”
    “I didn't mean to pry,” Katie said. “You're probably tired of people asking. I guess