“Splendid. And please, call me Lilian.” Her mother smiled. “If you and Shep have concluded your conversation, why don’t you take Shannon and Ollie out to the porch and check out the swing? It’s a beautiful day and it’ll give me a chance to clear the table and get ready for lunch. Shouldn’t be more than a half hour or so.”
Oliver rose and smiled at Shannon. “I don’t know that I’ve ever sat with a pretty woman on a porch swing before.”
Shep shoved back his chair. “I’ll join you.”
“Honey.” Lilian covered the sharp tone with a laugh. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying right here and helping me.”
“I can help you, Mother.”
“No, no. Your father will help.” Lilian turned to her husband and looped her arm through his. “Shep, sweetie, I think I may have a bottle of Thousand Island in the pantry after all. Why don’t you look for it while Shannon and Oliver head outside?”
Shannon thought about telling her mother she knew exactly where to find the salad dressing, but kept her mouth shut. Her mother had it in her head that she and Oliver were going to have some time alone on the swing, and there was no getting around that.
Besides, Shannon was curious about what Oliver and her father had been discussing when she arrived. For that matter, she wanted to know exactly what had brought Oliver to the Singleton ranch this morning in the first place.
At this moment, she hadn’t a clue. Oliver was a difficult man to figure out. Like last night at the dinner party. They’d been having a perfectly lovely conversation when he’d ditched her. Once he’d left the table, she hadn’t seen him again all evening.
She’d enjoyed a couple of dances with his cousin, then headed out. Now she arrived home to find him shooting the breeze with her dad.
“Oliver.” She looped her arm through his and shot him the same sugary-sweet smile her mother had offered her father only seconds earlier. “Let’s swing and you can tell me what brought you all the way out here this morning.”
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