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calluses and a bad name to boot.
    "We'll head out, too," Lance said.
    Reid and Lance hugged Maddie, and Chase waited patiently at the porch edge while they once again offered their condolences. Chase forced himself not to look back as he headed to his truck, afraid moonlight would halo Maddie's curves beneath that white dress and ruin his don't-give-a-shit exit.
    He flicked a wave over his shoulder. "See you, kid."
    One of Maddie's heels hit Chase's backside, then clunked to the concrete behind him, punctuating her statement. "I am not a kid, Chase Holloway."
    Reid and Lance broke into laughter as they walked him to his truck. He'd barely started the engine before Lance began. "Man, I didn't know how to turn down Maddie about the decorating thing, not after what she's been through today."
    Reid crooked his arm on the window ledge. "What are we going to do? We can't work with our baby sister underfoot all the time."
    "I don't think Maddie's ready for the business world. She's just a kid," Lance complained.
    Chase frowned. His buddies obviously had vision problems. Better yet, they needed eye surgery.
    "What if she screws up this deal for us? We've been working our butts off to get this business off the ground."
    "Why couldn't she have been satisfied marrying Oglethorpe? She could have babies, stay home, throw dinner parties."
    Sounded like a miserable life to Chase, especially the dinner party part. He cleared his throat. "Uh, do I have to remind you guys that Oglethorpe turned her down?"
    "You heard what he said about her job. He wanted a businessman's wife."
    "Mama wanted that for Maddie, too," Reid added.
    "But Maddie's excited about her job," Chase said, wondering why he was defending her. Heck, for all he knew Maddie might hang tiki torches in every room or paint the studies pansy pink, or some other weird female color like fuchsia.
    "Yeah, I thought this decorating thing was a hobby, figured Maddie would use her degree to make conversation when she was entertaining at dinner parties," Reid said.
    A vision of Maddie at one of the droll society affairs, bowing down to some of the ritzy set darted through Chase's mind. He just couldn't picture it.
    "What are we going to do?" Lance asked, sounding desperate.
    "Why don't you give her a chance?" Chase suggested. "Maybe she'll surprise you and be an asset to the company."
    "Yeah, right," Reid mouthed.
    "I guess we're stuck." Lance drummed his fingers on the side of the truck. "But she won't listen to the two of us, so you have to be in charge of her, Chase."
    Chase nearly knocked the truck into gear. "I... I don't think that's a good idea. You two know how to deal with Maddie, you're her brothers, she'll listen to you—"
    "Not anymore," Lance argued.
    "Man, she followed you around like a puppy dog when she was little, Chase. You were the only one she'd let teach her to pitch," Reid argued.
    "And you're the one that talked her out of going out for the football team in high school," Lance said.
    "She only wanted to prove a point," Chase said, remembering he'd admired her for her courage. But in the end, Maddie had decided to run for school office and had tried to change things on the political level instead of getting beaten up by a bunch of hulking jocks.
    "Yeah, you can deal with her better than us right now," Lance said.
    "And someone has to handle her. You know how impulsive she is."
    She was impulsive all right. She'd stolen all the football players' jock straps and ran them up the flagpole. Then she'd taken off her own underwear and let them fly beside the boys'. Every male in school had speculated on whether she'd been panty-less at school that day.
    "So, you'll do it?" Lance asked.
    Chase gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. An X-rated image of handling Maddie flashed into his mind, nearly knocking the wind out of him.
    Lance slapped him on the back before he could argue further. "Thanks, man. You're like a brother to her. Besides, you're the only guy we trust