Her Passionate Plan B by Dixie Browning

okay?”
    â€œFaylene,” she said, grasping any excuse to cut short the tour. “Her name is Faylene Beasley, I told you that twice already. She worked three days a week for Mr. Snow and one day each for my two best friends, and I don’t know why I’m telling you all this because I never babble.”
    He nodded soberly and led the way, probably expecting her to collapse from overwrought nerves. If she happened to fall and break a leg, he’d be just the type to compound the fracture by sweeping her up in his arms, leaping aboard his white horse and galloping off to the nearest emergency room. God save her from amateur heroes.
    â€œMy grandmother might have sat in that rocking chair,” Kell said quietly after closing the attic door. “I don’t know if Blalock explained or not, but my dad and Uncle Harvey shared a mom.”
    â€œI believe you mentioned it once or twice.” Uncle Harvey? Daisy knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was trying to stake his claim. But it wasn’t up to her to decide.
    They reached the front of the second-floor hall, her rubber-soled shoes squeaking on the newly waxed floor, his worn, western-style boots making whispery sounds.He continued, saying, “ Half Uncle Harvey, if you want to get technical. Anyhow, Blalock said Harvey had never married and it’s usually women who save stuff. Guys just toss it or cover it up with more junk. So my grand-mom was probably the one who stashed that old trunk up there.”
    â€œSo?” She should have sent him packing when he first showed up. Let Egbert deal with him, this wasn’t part of her job description.
    Oh, sure—like housecleaning and sorting through tons of stuff was?
    â€œSo there might even be a few old pictures of her and her two sons up there, you reckon?”
    He waited for an answer and she didn’t have one. As far as she was concerned he could have any pictures he found. He could even have that box of mending for all she cared. She’d leave it to Egbert’s interpretation of Harvey’s will and whatever he found out about the cowboy’s claim.
    If he thought turning on the charm would win her over he was flat out of luck. She’d already been vaccinated. What had happened upstairs had been a momentary aberration, not a sign of weakness on her part.
    Daisy waited for him to leave. When he didn’t, she turned toward the kitchen. Let Faylene deal with him.
    His leathery-woodsy scent and whispery footsteps were right behind her. “Don’t you think it’s significant that both Harvey and Evander had names with V in them? I mean, what are the chances?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œYou don’t hear many names with V in them, do you?”
    â€œVictor, Vance, Vaughn, Virginia—Virgil.”
    â€œHmm…never thought of those. Remind me not to play word games with you.”
    If his smile was meant to disarm, it wasn’t working. “I never play games,” she informed him.
    His smile widened into a grin. “Ri-ight.”
    They were still standing there when something struck the side of the house. Daisy said, “Oh, no—it’s probably a bird. I’d better go see if it’s hurt. Sometimes in the late afternoon the sun reflects on the glass and—”
    She was hurrying toward the front door when the same sound came again. This time they stared at each other, then both looked in the direction the sound had come from.
    Kell said, “Upstairs.”
    Daisy said, “Outside.”
    â€œMight be a branch,” he murmured. “The wind’s picked up.”
    â€œOh, great. That means more raking. I’d forgotten about the yard.” In an unspoken truce, they hurried outside and looked for signs of a stunned bird among all the pecans, pine cones and broken branches littering the unkempt lawn.
    â€œWhat about a lawn service?”
    â€œSome crews came by right after the