“What are you talking about?” Cecelia looked shocked that Maggie would dare to defend herself.

“The way you’ve spoken to me my whole life, Mother. As if I could never quite make the grade because I didn’t look like you and Janie. It’s quite an achievement to win pageants and I’m happy and proud of both of you. But there’s more than one kind of achievement in life. I graduated second in my class at college and first in graduate school. I had full ride scholarships for all six years. I have a good job. I have nice friends, a good life. Mother, why can’t you just accept me for Margaret and not as someone who isn’t a carbon copy of you?”

“The boyfriend thing is new.” She eyed Kyle up and down.

Leave it to Cecelia to focus on that instead of everything else. Maggie sighed. “First of all, I’ve dated since I came back to town to teach four years ago. If you had ever bothered to ask me about my life, you’d know that.”

“A bit of a make-over I see. Now if you’d just go blonde you could really look good. Although I must admit that even Jane Marie never landed a Chase brother.”

“Don’t talk about him like he’s a grade of meat.”

“Darling, he’s much better looking than you are. You must be doing something right. Maybe I underestimated you.”

Kyle exhaled sharply. “Ma’am, I was raised by Polly Chase to never be rude to a woman but in the last day, between you and your oldest daughter, I’ve been put to the test something fierce. Maggie is beautiful. She’s funny and smart as all get out. She’s compassionate, strong and generous. How dare you talk to her like she’s not?”

Cecelia Wright’s eyes opened wide. “Margaret, are you going to let your young man speak to me like that?”

“Hell yes, Mother. Good bye. Oh and I do so appreciate you asking if I’m okay after my home was vandalized last night.”

Cecelia Wright gasped and stormed out of the house.

“Oh my god, Kyle Chase.” Maggie turned to him, lips in a tight line, hands on her hips.

“I’m sorry, Red. I didn’t mean to be rude but I couldn’t believe how she was talking to you.”

Maggie threw her head back and laughed. She laughed and laughed until tears ran down her face and she had to sit down right in the middle of the floor. “Oh my lands! I’ve never seen her with that look on her face, I hope it freezes,” she gasped out her laughter.

A smile cracked Kyle’s worried face. He joined her on the floor and pulled her onto his lap. “Girl, you are something else,” he murmured into her hair.

“Question is, what exactly is something else?” she asked, looking up into his face.

“Something special,” he said softly, leaning down to kiss her upturned lips. “Something sweet,” he added and nibbled on her chin. “Something sexy.” She tipped her head back to give him access to her throat and he kissed down to the hollow there.

“Mmm. That’s nice.”

He looked down the line of her body, over the curve of her br**sts, down her stomach, her small hands fisted in his shirt. “Yes, very nice.” God he wanted to see her naked. To feel her bare flesh against his own. To taste her.

Maggie laughed then, a low, sexy sound. This woman was trouble. She made him want to jump inside her skin. Wanted every day memories like going camping and working in the yard. Yearned to hear her voice, smell her skin. See if she had freckles anywhere else.

For years he’d avoided such trouble, liking the single life very much. But Maggie Wright was the best kind of trouble he’d ever been in and he wanted to gorge himself with more.

Trailing the tips of his fingers down her belly he traced circles around her navel, slightly easing the hem of her blouse up. She shifted then and ran her fingers through his hair, dragging her fingernails lightly across his scalp. “Oh god, please touch me. I need your hands on me,” she whispered.

“Hey, girl! You in there?” They both jumped at the sound and Kyle reluctantly sat Maggie up, smoothing her shirt down.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and he laughed and shrugged. “In here, Liv,” Maggie called out, having to clear her voice.

Liv walked into the living room and saw them both getting up off the floor. “Whoops! Sorry. I can come back later.”

“No, I need to finish installing those motion lights, anyway.” He turned and kissed Maggie’s nose and whispered, “I’ll get back to where I was later on.”

“You’d better.” She smiled at him and watched him walk out of the room.

“Well,” Liv said with a grin on her face.

“Yeah, turns out I had the wrong Chase brother to start with but now that I’ve corrected my mistake things are much better.” She snorted, starting to laugh.

Liv tossed her bag into a chair and crossed her arms, looking at her friend. “So what happened with Alex? By the way, I’m parched. Can I get some tea?”

“Yeah, come on through.” Maggie motioned her into the kitchen, giving her the basics on the way. “They let him out on bail today. He’s home! I can’t believe that. Oh, and they’re charging him with possession of stolen property for having ten pairs of my underwear, three bras and a teddy, a bustier and a silk robe. It was my favorite robe, too! I thought it was at the dry cleaners. It’s not like I can wear any of that stuff again, god only knows what he did with it all.”

Both women shuddered in disgust. “Eww. What about the pictures?”