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“They’ve been running this store for a month without us. They’ll be fine. We need to set some ground rules.”
    “What about the discounts?”
    Hearing the question from the would-be shoppers, he stopped, turned. “What discounts?”
    The little blonde said, “Now that Piper’s in charge I heard we’d be giving discounts, cutting prices. I don’t know what to cut.”
    “Prices stay exactly as they are. Get to work.” When nobody moved, he added, “Now!”
    Furious again, he pivoted and encouraged Piper through the cashier’s cage and into the office, all but slamming the door behind her. “What was that all about?”
    “I have no idea, but…” She winced. “Three or four of those people were from the food pantry. They had a meeting last night, and my mother’s on the board. I’m guessing she told them I’d inherited half the store and they got carried away.” She pointed at her chest. “ I didn’t promise them anything. I didn’t even talk to them about anything. That’s what happens in this town sometimes. People get carried away. Rumors start.”
    Oh, didn’t he know that. The gossip was so bad the day he left Lonnie that his dad had gone ballistic, and Cade had had to leave town, following in Devon’s footsteps and joining the Marines.
    In his head, he counted to at least fifty. If he and Piper were going to get along well enough to run this damned store, they would have to talk through some things.
    He rounded the desk that was still cluttered with invoices, memos, and order sheets. Sadness nearly overwhelmed him. His grandfather had been here one day and was gone the next. Grief squeezed his heart, and he swallowed. He’d missed the last twelve years with his mother, with his grandfather, with his brothers because he didn’t want to come home and hear the snide comments of people who believed he wasn’t supporting his child.
    Somehow his grandfather felt his running the store would provide a way to mend his reputation. Plus, after the will had been read and his mom had gone home, he and his brothers had decided that the best way to keep their dad off the scent of their inheritance would be to run the store and feed the illusion that O’Riley’s had been their grandfather’s only asset. Technically, Jeb Donovan had no right to his wife’s money, but as Attorney Franklin had said, their dad could use refusing to sign divorce papers as leverage to demand a settlement.
    There was no way Cade would let the man who’d beaten him, his brothers, and their mom get one cent of this money. No way he’d let an O’Riley get the store. Plus, there was the potential positive of cleaning up his reputation if he stayed the entire year.
    All he had to do was get along with one beautiful brunette who just happened to be his enemy.
    He’d survived boot camp and Afghanistan and led forty rowdy cowhands. Surely to God, he could handle her.
    He pulled the tall-backed chair from beneath the desk and pointed at one of the softly padded chairs in front of it. “We need to work some things out.”
    She nodded and almost sat without thinking, but she stopped and glanced at him as he sat in the chair behind the desk. From the look in her eyes, he could tell she wasn’t happy that he got the chair of power.
    He primed himself for a fight, but instead of making a big deal out of it, she quietly sat.
    Maybe her mom and friends really had embarrassed her?
    And maybe he could use that?
    “Here’s the deal. As much as I’m sure you’d love to hire your mother—” A thought occurred to him and he decided to run with it. “And as much as I’d like to let you hire her as a sign of good faith, we can’t do that.”
    She lifted her chin. “Why not?”
    “Because even without looking at the books, I can tell you we’re one employee over our limit.”
    “Our limit?”
    “Let’s do the math. My grandfather died, leaving the store short one manager. We inherited the store together and both of us want to