The Liar by Nora Roberts Page B

full lips with a perfect dip at the top, and big, deep, sad blue eyes.
    His heart actually skipped a couple of beats, and his ears buzzed for a minute so he missed most of the argument between Emma Kate and her mother.
    “The kitchen’s the heart of a home, Emma Kate.”
    “The way you keep turning and twisting it, you’re lucky to have a heart left. Let Griff work, Mama, and say hello to Shelby.”
    “Shelby?
Shelby!
Oh my God!”
    She raced across the room, grabbed the redhead in a wide, swaying hug. Shelby, grabbed Shelby, Griff thought. Nice name, Shelby. Currently his favorite name ever.
    Then it clicked. Shelby—or Shelby Anne Pomeroy, as Bitsy squealed as she gave the redhead another squeeze. His friend Forrest’s sister.
    Miz Vi—on whom he had a mad crush—Miz Viola’s granddaughter.
    You could see if you stopped being dazzled for two seconds, just how Miz Vi had looked as a young woman. How Ada Mae might have looked twenty-some years back.
    Miz Vi’s granddaughter, he thought again. The widow.
    No wonder she had sad eyes.
    He immediately felt guilty for wanting to wrap her up the way Bitsy was—then reminded himself it wasn’t his fault her husband was dead.
    “Oh, I’m just sick about missing your welcome home yesterday, but Henry and I had to go to his cousin’s daughter’s wedding, clear to Memphis. And I don’t even like his cousin. Just a snooty woman, puts on airs because she married a Memphis lawyer. But it was a beautiful wedding, with the reception at the Peabody Hotel.”
    “Mama, give Shelby a chance to breathe.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry! I’m just going on and on. I’m so excited to see you. Griff, Emma Kate and Shelby here were joined at the hip, I swear, before they were so much as a year old right up to . . .”
    It seemed to occur to her just why Shelby was home.
    “Oh, honey. Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. You’re so young to have such a tragedy in your life. How are you holding up?”
    “It’s good to be home.”
    “Nothing like home. And here mine’s all torn up, so I can’t even fix you something nice. And you so thin, too. Honey, you’re skinnier than a New York model. You always were tall enough to be one. Emma Kate, do we have any Coke? You always were fond of Coke, weren’t you, Shelby?”
    “Yes, ma’am, but don’t trouble about it. I love your new cabinets, Miz Bitsy. They’re so clean and fresh, and just so pretty against that blue-gray on the walls.”
    Widow or not, at that moment Griff wanted to kiss her. Everywhere.
    “Why, that’s just what Griff said. He said they were clean and fresh. Do you really think—”
    “Mama, we haven’t even introduced Shelby. Shelby, this is my boyfriend’s partner, Griffin Lott. Griff, Shelby—it’s Foxworth, isn’t it?”
    “Yes.” She turned those amazing eyes on him, and yeah, hearts could skip a beat. “It’s nice to meet you.”
    “Hi. I’m a friend of your brother’s.”
    “Which one?”
    “I guess both, but mostly Forrest. And I might as well tell you right off, I’m in love with your grandmother. I’m working on a way to get her away from Jackson so we can run off to Tahiti.”
    That wonderfully shaped mouth curved, those sad eyes lightened, just a little. “It’s hard to blame you.”
    “Griff’s living out at the old Tripplehorn place,” Emma Kate added. “He’s rehabbing it.”
    “So you work miracles?”
    “As long as I can use tools. You should come by and see it sometime. It’s coming along.”
    She smiled at him, but it didn’t reach those big sad eyes this time. “You’ve got your work cut out for you. I need to get on. I’m due at my grandmother’s place.”
    “Now, Shelby, you come back when this is all finished and we’ll have a nice long talk.” Bitsy fluttered around her. “I expect to see you in and out of here just like you used to be. You know you’re same as family here.”
    “Thank you, Miz Bitsy. It was nice meeting you,” she said to Griff again, turned to