20
with a grin. “I’m Ezra. You must be Mary.”
21
“I am. It’s very nice to meet you, Ezra. Damien talks about
22
you all the time.”
23
“He does? Well, I hope you know Damien is full of crap
24
a lot.”
25
She laughed and Damien just watched, sort of stunned, as
26
she sat in the dirt, a pig on her lap and his gruff older brother
27
seemingly just as charmed as the demon pig.
28S
“It’s all been nice. I promise. What have you been doing to
29N
this sweet piglet that she’s been mad at you?”
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“Existing, apparently.” He sighed. “Maybe it is that she was
01
mad that I called her Pork Chop. I’m afraid to be left alone with
02
her to see if she reverts.”
03
Damien snorted. “The people at the shelter know Ezra is a
04
soft touch. The pig was abandoned and they knew he’d taken
05
in others, so they called him and he brought P—Violet to live
06
here with the other pigs he’s got.”
07
“Aw. Violet, he gave you a home. This is your daddy. You
08
need to be nice to him.”
09
Violet looked back to Ezra, not entirely sure that anything
10
Mary was saying had any truth.
11
“I think you should give him a chance. There are other pigs
12
here too. Better than being left alone with no one to care for
13
you, don’t you think? Plus all these Hurley boys are awfully
14
pretty to look at.”
15
Mary stood with Ezra’s help. The pig still cradled in the
16
crook of her arm, she dusted off her ass with her free hand and
17
Damien had to work not to hum his satisfaction. Damn, she had
18
a nice booty.
19
“All I’m saying is that you should give Ezra a second chance.”
20
The pig looked to Ezra and grunted, clearly not convinced.
21
Mary laughed and put the newly named Violet down. The pig
22
trotted next to her happily. Ezra sent him a raised brow and
23
Damien just shrugged. Hell, of course she was good with ani-
24
mals. He shouldn’t be surprised.
25
“Let’s go up to the house. See if she has similar powers
26
with Mom.”
27
“Damien tells me you have horses?”
S28
“I do. Do you ride?”
N29
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01
“I haven’t in many years. I used to when I was a kid, though.
02
I love horses. So smart and strong.”
03
Loopy, Ezra’s dopey Lab, came loping up the lane toward
04
them.
05
He yipped at Violet, who grunted but didn’t seem afraid. But
06
when he saw Mary, the dog danced around her, barking happily.
07
She scratched him behind his ears. “Hello to you too.”
08
“That’s Loopy.” Ezra snorted a laugh. “Hey, Loop, this is
09
Mary.”
10
Loopy, tongue out, head butted her a few times until she bent
11
to grab a stick.
12
Loopy’s eyes lit and she barked several times. Mary threw
13
the stick and Loopy ran after it, Violet in her wake as well.
14
“Jesus. You’re like Dr. Doolittle.” Ezra looked her up and
15
down.
16
“I like animals.”
17
Which seemed an understatement.
18
“But you don’t have any at home,” Damien said.
19
“My mom has really severe allergies, and even when I moved
20
out I was working all the time and it didn’t really seem fair to
21
have them if I couldn’t give them the time they needed. Miles”—
22
she looked to Ezra—“that’s my friend’s son, he’s sort of like my
23
godson. Anyway, he has a menagerie and I do a lot of pet sitting
24
when they’re gone.”
25
“Well, Ezra has plenty of animals you can love all over when
26
you’re here.” Damien put an arm around her shoulders.
27
The dog came back several times and she threw the stick for
28S
her each time. Violet stopped chasing after a bit, content to trot
29N
along as they went up to the main house.
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She’d never been nervous to meet someone’s parents before.
01
His brothers had all been pretty nice. But she’d heard about his
02
mother and wow, Sharon Hurley sounded formidable.
03
Mary saw the woman on the front porch and knew instantly
04
it was Damien’s mom. He raised a hand to wave, but kept his
05
arm around Mary’s shoulders, which made her feel a little better.
06
Sharon Hurley was long and lean like her sons. Her hair a
07
deep brown, again like her boys. Her eyes fl icked up and down
08
Mary’s body, judging. She didn’t know if Damien had brought
09
girls around before. She got the feeling that he didn’t.
10
“You’re Mary.” Sharon came down the steps and gave her a
11
closer once- over. “Walk with me.”
12
Panic swept over Damien’s features, and instead of panick-
13
ing
her
further, it only made Mary laugh. She patted his arm 14
and held her hand out to Sharon. “Yes, I’m Mary Whaley. It’s
15
nice to meet you.”
16
Sharon shook her hand and neatly pivoted them to walk in
17
the other direction. Violet trotted along with them and Mary
18
fi gured if Sharon got violent, she could sic the pig on her.
19
“You’re the fi rst woman Damien has brought to meet me in
20
fi ve years. The last one was a twit. Lord above, you put some
21
knockers in front of a man and he thinks he’s seen God. She
22
had ’em. Even I was impressed.”
23
They kept walking. “This was where we lived in a tiny little
24
trailer while we built the house. My husband is good at most
25
things, including carpentry; that’s why it’s still standing today.
26
What do you do? For a living, I mean.”
27
“I have a catering business and a supper club two nights a
S28
week.”
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
“What’s that? A supper club? I know what a caterer does.”
02
“People pay a subscriber’s fee to get a certain number of meals
03
each year. I make dinner for them. They come eat and pay me
04
for it. It works for me. I like to try new menu ideas.” She shrugged.
05
“How’s that working out?”
06
“I’m booked nearly a year into the future. I have a Wednesday
07
dinner once a month that’s open to reservations so people can
08
check me out to see if they like me enough to subscribe. Those
09
are also reserved eight months in advance. Catering is good too.
10
Helps when you have lots of friends who love your food.”
11
“And when they’re famous like my son and Adrian Brown.”
12
Mary turned, giving the other woman a hard look. “Cer-
13
tainly when your best friend’s husband can throw label party–
14
type business your way, it’s helpful. But I had a business long
15
before I met Adrian Brown. And long before I met Damien. I
16
don’t need your son’s success to run my business, and any impli-
17
cation that I would is uncalled for.”
18
“You should be mad at me. That
was
rude. I wanted to see
19
what you’re made of.” She indicated a bench under a big oak
20
tree. “Sit. Please.” She glanced at the pig. “Is that the demon pig?”
21
“Violet’s just misunderstood. She’s going to be giving Ezra
22
a second chance.”
23
Sharon laughed. “The music business has done a lot for my
24
children. Far as the eye can see, other than the original piece of
25
land, is because of their success. They’ve been able to travel all
26
over the world. Makes them happy too. Mostly. But it’s also
27
brought a lot of pain. Ezra, well, he’s had his struggles. Vaughan’s 28S
babies being raised in a home apart from their daddy. Paddy,
29N
well, he’s Paddy so he’ll go his own way. And Damien. I won’t
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let anyone hurt them if I can help it. I can’t always help it, which 01
is the worst part of being a mother, let me tell you. Damien is
02
the one who always wore his heart on his sleeve. And then after
03
a few years in the business he sort of, well, he hardened up. Got
04
himself a tough outer shell. Need one really to survive of course.
05
But then he stopped bringing anyone around. Stopped dating.
06
He just had fl ings.”
07
Mary stared out over the land. Violet rooted in the dirt
08
nearby.
09
“You’re not a fl ing.”
10
“I started off that way. I want to be honest with Damien
11
because I like him. I respect him. I did not intend to meet his
12
parents and hang out with his pig.” She shrugged. “I don’t like
13
some very pervasive aspects of his life. I don’t like cameras on
14
my every move. I don’t like tabloids. I don’t like stumbling over
15
one woman after the next that he’s been with either.”
16
“What made you change your mind?”
17
“He’s persuasive. He makes me laugh. He loves his family
18
in much the same way that I love mine. He respects my life and
19
my business. I tried to resist. Even when he fi rst started to push 20
for more. But he’s irresistible.”
21
Sharon laughed. “Of them all, he really is. When they were
22
growing up their dad and I had to go down to the school at least
23
once or twice a month. When you have four sons it’s sort of
24
expected that you’ll have to deal with it at least once or twice.
25
But my boys got an extra helping in the trouble department. We
26
couldn’t keep sitters. Oh, all the teenage girls would be charmed,
27
but by the time we got back from dinner they’d be weeping and
S28
swear to never set foot on our land again.
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
“Damien actually convinced a few to come back more than
02
once. One of them even came back three times. So I can see why
03
you’d be unable to resist his charms. He talks about you a lot.
04
I like that you have your own life. I like that you’ve made your-
05
self a success on your own. Would you sign a prenup?”
06
Mary started laughing. “Prenup? I’ve known Damien since
07
June. That’s like three and a half months. We’re nowhere near
08
marriage.”
09
Sharon nodded. “Come on down and meet my husband. I
10
made him promise to stay in the house long enough for me to
11
have a private conversation with you. I expect all the boys are
12
worried I’ll chase you off. But you’re not that easy to chase away, 13
I wager.”
14
She stood and Mary followed.
15
“I’ve got some freshly brewed tea. Want some?”
16
And just like that, Mary passed the Sharon Hurley test.
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28S
29N
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