Page 20 of Spilling the Tea

“Did your great-grandmother agree to talk to me?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes. Are you free to join her for lunch on Friday?”

“Yes, of course,” she said, smiling brightly. The most she had imagined had been telephone communication. Sharing lunch with his great-grandmother was more than she had hoped for.

“Since Chance will be tied up at the ranch Friday, I’ll take you to meet her,” Corbin said. “She’s spending this month with my grandparents.”

Zoey lifted a confused brow. “Your grandparents? Aren’t your grandparents also Chance’s grandparents?”

“No. Why would you think that?” Corbin asked.

“I assumed the two of you were brothers.”

Corbin grinned. “Our great-grandparents had seven sons.Chance’s father is one, and mine is another. That means plenty of Madaris cousins and some of us favor each other.”

“Your last name is Madaris, too?” she asked Chance.

He nodded. “Yes. I’m sure you’ve heard of my family.”

She shook her head. “Not sure. Should I have?”

She saw the exchanged glance between the two men and felt she was missing something. “Should I have?” she asked again.

“Most people have.”

“Why?” When neither man said anything, she looked from one to the other and decided to figure things out. She repeated the name out loud. Twice. “Madaris. Madaris.” Then she said. “I do recall that, after my accident, one of the nurses would come to my room and read a children’s book written by Lorren Madaris to me. The Kente Kids series. That same nurse gave me a collection when I was discharged. That was almost twenty years ago. Is that author related to you?”

“Yes,” Chance said. “Lorren is married to our cousin, Justin.”

Zoey beamed broadly. “Well, let her know I enjoyed her books growing up and that a number of my teenaged patients are reading her young adult line of books.”

“I will let her know that.”

She then turned to Corbin. “Where do you want us to meet on Friday?”

“I’ll come pick you up,” Corbin offered.

“I hate to be a bother.”

“No bother. Where are you staying?”

“The Houston Riverfront Hotel.”

Corbin grinned and winked at her. “I’ll pick you up in the hotel’s lobby at eleven. And I have another idea. How about sharing dinner with me on Saturday? Afterward, we can go dancing,” Corbin suggested.

“I’m sure Zoey will have other things to do on Saturday,” Chance said tersely.

Zoey thought dinner and dancing sounded like fun, althoughshe wished Chance had been the one to ask her out. But he hadn’t and seemed annoyed that Corbin had. More than ever, she suspected he had a girlfriend or was in an exclusive relationship. Heck, for all she knew, he might be engaged to get married. In that case, he had no right to feel any kind of way if she went out with Corbin.

Smiling at Corbin, she said, “I don’t have plans for Saturday evening and would love to join you for dinner and dancing.”

Chapter Six

“Aren’t you going to ask me how things went today, Chancellor?”

Chance paused in removing his boots to glance at Ms. Cate. She had her purse on her arm, which meant she was ready to leave for the day. It was Thursday, the day Zoey was to return. That was why he’d deliberately remained in the north pastures the entire day with his men while rounding up strays.

Of course, he was chomping at the bit, wondering how things had gone, but he refused to let his housekeeper know. It was bad enough that Corbin suspected his interest in Zoey; he didn’t need Ms. Cate getting ideas. If she did, his family would soon get wind of it.

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