Sweet Vidalia Brand by Maggie Shayne

Author:Maggie Shayne
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Thunderfoot
Published: 2014-12-01T08:00:00+00:00

The scene in the parking lot in front of the Long Branch Saloon was like something out of an old western film. The five daughters of Vidalia Brand stood shoulder to shoulder facing the three sons of Bobby Joe McIntyre. About ten feet of recently laid blacktop stretched between them.

Kara Brand had made the call asking for this meeting. Jason had felt bristly, like his family was about to be accused of something and had expected a hostile encounter. He hadn’t been all that worried about it, though. At least not until he’d seen them.

He and his brothers might as well have been face to face with a gang of super models. The apples had not fallen far from the tree in this family. Robert and Joey were as rocked by their beauty as he was, but he hoped they also noticed that every last one of them was wearing a wedding ring. Off limits. The McIntyre’s didn’t roll that way. If there was one thing their father had managed to drum into them during their upbringing, it was that you didn’t so much as flirt with a married woman. Hell, not even a going steady girl, when they’d been in high school. It was probably the one item in their father’s moral code that stood above all others.

A handful of cars came and went, and he didn’t miss their sudden deceleration or the rubber necking drivers.

Finally, he cleared his throat and walked closer, extending a hand to the apparent leader, “I’m Jason McIntyre.”

“Maya Brand.” She smiled a little stiffly and shook his hand with a respectably firm grip.

“These are my brothers, Robert and Joseph,” he said, indicating the two men who flanked him.

“My sisters,” she replied. “Edie, Kara, Melusine and Selene.” She nodded at each girl as she named them.

His defensiveness relaxed a little. “Those are all names of goddesses, aren’t they?”

“Mama had high expectations for her daughters,” Maya said. “Robert, are you named for your father?”

Rob said, “We all are. Dad’s full name is Jason Robert Joseph.”

More traffic passed, slowed. More drivers gaped.

“We don’t get inside soon, there’s gonna be a crowd gathered,” Melusine said. “And if we’re gonna have a shootout, it oughtta be at the OK Corral, so we might as well talk instead.”

Nodding, getting her attempt at levity, but not thinking it very funny, Jason led the way, held the door for the females and let them enter first. The youngest one, the platinum blonde with the very blue eyes, looked around in wide-eyed appreciation. “This place is amazing. Wow, is that a player piano?”

“It is,” Joey said, sounding proud. Of the three of them, he was the one who was eating all this up. He loved finally being included in one of their father’s projects and was diving headlong into the whole outlaw skit nonsense Dad had planned for them. It wasn’t surprising. Joey was the fun-loving kid of the family, and he was taking Selene to show her the piano, tinkling the keys and pointing out the hidden controls.

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