Read Online Marrying Maddy by Kasey Michaels - Free Book Online Page B

name. “O’Malley. Sofware.” Then he looked straight at Almira. “Could that be J. P. O’Malley, the software genius? No, of course not.”
    Almira tried to make hers an innocent question, and succeeded in fooling one out of three of her listeners. “Why of course not, Matt? He wouldn’t be the first Philadelphia businessman to have purchased a summer home here in Allentown. I see nothing out of the usual in it.”
    â€œSummer home, Allie?” Maddy felt as if she were strangling—or maybe she just wanted to strangle her grandmother. “You can’t possibly call the Harris house a summer home. It has seven bedrooms, for crying out loud!”
    â€œAll the better to entertain, my dear,” Almira countered, much like the Big Bad Wolf as he flashed his teeth at Little Red Riding Hood. “And, yes, Matt. It definitely is J. P. O’Malley. But he’s already asked me to call him Joe. Such a nice, polite young man.”
    â€œThat’s it, I’m outta here,” Maddy said, flinging the balled-up paper towel in the general direction of the garbage can and heading for the hallway.
    â€œBe with you in a minute, Maddy,” Matt called after her, wondering what was bothering her, as she was clearly upset. Probably she didn’t want to talk about J. P. O’Malley because he’d bought the Harris house out from under them. That was understandable. “And, hey, Maddy, didn’t O’Malley graduate from Penn like you? He’s called a boy genius, so he probably isn’t more than two or three years older than you. Did you ever meet him?”
    Maddy stopped at the swinging door that led from the kitchen, her shoulders hunched defensively, her back still turned to Matt. “I may have, once or twice,” she lied, wondering, just for an instant, why she was lying to the man.
    Then she remembered why she’d lied, why she’d never told Matt about Joe, not when she’d first come home, not when they’d begun to date, not even after he’d slipped the diamond circlet on her left hand.
    She hadn’t told him because it still hurt. It still hurt way down deep inside of her. Joe, and the memory of him, were still open wounds, just barely beginning to scab over, and still far from healed. Talking about Joe, with Jessie, with Allie, with her own doctor, with anybody, was still just too painful.
    â€œYou’re staying for dinner, aren’t you, Matt?” she asked, daring to turn around, daring her betraying tears not to fall. “I’ll just go up to my kitchen and get the leg of lamb out of the fridge.” Maybe take another antihistamine, as her upper lip was beginning to tingle ominously again.
    When she had gone, Matt accepted a plate holding a wedge of brownie from Almira. “I knew losing the house upset Maddy, but I guess I didn’t realize just how much she’d wanted it. She said she’d be perfectly happy living here for a while longer, while we looked for another house,” he said, looking at Jessie.
    â€œBridal nerves,” Jessie lied quickly, feeling very protective of her sister, protective of Matt as well. “This morning I found her crying over the favors for the guests that had just been delivered, telling me they were just too pretty for words. She’ll be fine.”
    â€œShe’ll be ducky,” Almira agreed, patting Matt’s cheek as she headed out of the kitchen. “Just ducky. Everything will be perfect, I promise.”

Chapter Five
    J oe lay back on the brand-new, soft chaise longue beside his brand-new pool, his legs crossed at the ankles, his hands behind his head. It was nine o’clock in the morning, and the sun was shining, he’d already had breakfast, Maddy was next door—hating his guts—and life was good.
    Hopefully, soon to get better.
    He’d been in residence for less than twenty-four hours, and already he felt very much at