Sweet Annie (10 page)

She
turned and found Luke standing so close, her skirts brushed his pant legs. He
smiled, deep crevices slashing his cheeks and making him appear rakishly
handsome.

Annie
pressed the book to her pounding chest. "Luke," she whispered.

A
faded blue shirt encased his broad chest, open at the throat, and he wore a
pair of dark trousers. "Afternoon," he said softly.

A
tremor of excitement passed through her. She glanced behind him, seeing no one.
"What are you doing here?"

"I
saw the Renlows' horse and Burt told me you and your cousin came over
here."

And
he'd come away from his business to see her? His interest flattered her like
nothing else could. Her neck and cheeks warmed.

"Shouldn't
I have come?" he asked, doubt etching his brow.

"I—I'm
just surprised," she managed. "I'm glad you came."

"And
I'm surprised to see you standing."

"I've
been practicing," she told him.

"Any
problems?''

She
shook her head. "A few aches in the unused muscles, but it's getting
better—and easier. I can stand for longer periods of time now."

"I'm proud of
you."

Everything
inside her warmed at those words, but the sentiment embarrassed her, too.
"Nothing most people don't take for granted."

"Most people don't
have the same challenge."

She smiled, his
appreciation for her small achievement a joy she felt all the way to her toes.
“I guess not."

"Maybe you could stay
in town for supper?"

"Aunt Vera is
expecting us back. She would worry."

His expression fell.
"Oh."

“But
tomorrow. We could plan it for tomorrow and tell her ahead of time."

He
raised a brow as though having second thoughts. "What if someone sees us
and tells Burdell or your parents?"

"Someone
will see us, that's for sure." She thought a moment. "What comes
after that, I don't know."

"Maybe
we shouldn't then. If you're afraid of what will happen."

Annie
studied the concern in his sky-blue eyes, the scar on his lip, weighing her
parents' anger against the pleasure of spending time with him. "I'm only
afraid for you."

"I'm
not afraid," he replied. "I was never afraid except that I thought
they might send you away."

"I'm
a big girl now," she said, a soft declaration, a pronouncement of the
maturity and independence she craved. "Even if they don't acknowledge the
fact."

“Then
you want to? Meet me for dinner?''

There
had never been a doubt. "I want to."

"And
if they find out?"

"Then
we deal with that."

"Okay, Annie." He
took a step closer. Her heart skipped a frantic beat. She looked up into his
eyes, glad she was standing on his level and not staring up from her chair. His
slow smile turned her insides to liquid.

A footstep sounded in the
next row of books. Mrs. Krenshaw's loud whisper echoed from the desk, instructing
someone where to find a volume.

The sound of swishing fabric
and footsteps came up behind her, and Annie stepped away from Luke.

Charmaine rushed to her
side. "Mr. Carpenter! What a pleasure to see you."

"You
too, Miss Renlow."

"I
didn't know you came here."

He glanced from Annie to
her cousin. "It's a library. A lot of people come here."

Charmaine
giggled. "Of course. How silly of me."

"I was wondering if
you and Annie would meet me for dinner at Mrs. Edgewood's cafe tomorrow night?
Not very fancy, but the food is good. I would sure like your company."

Charmaine blushed to the
roots of her hair. “Why, that would be delightful! Wouldn't that be delightful,
Annie?"

"Shhh!" came an
admonition from the front of the library.

"Yes, it would,"
Annie whispered. "What time, Mr. Carpenter?"

They settled the details
and he wished them a good day, turning away and walking toward the door, his
boot heels loud in the echoing silence.

"Oh,
my gracious, Annie!" Charmaine said, leaning on her cousin's arm and
nearly toppling her over. Annie grabbed a shelf for support. "Oh, oh, I'm
sorry. You must be getting tired. Here." She retrieved Annie's chair from
the end of the aisle and Annie picked up her books and settled into it.
"He invited us to dinner! This is the most thrilling event! Can you even
imagine?''

"Shhh!"
came the expected admonition from the front of the building.

"Keep your voice
down," Annie shushed her.

"I've
never been invited to dinner before." She glanced at Annie. “Well, of
course, neither have you, but it's ever so flattering. He's not even a boy,
he's a grown man!"

Annie
had been flattered, too; naturally Charmaine would be ecstatic. She thought
Luke was a prince. And she had no idea that Luke had invited them so that he
could see Annie. Hadn't he? Or was Annie attributing too much meaning to the
kisses that had passed between them? It was almost too good to be true that he
thought of Annie as fondly as she thought of him.

Perhaps
he shared kisses and dinners with other young ladies all the time. Or perhaps
it was actually Charmaine who'd captured his interest and Annie was a harmless
distraction.

No,
no, he had voiced his interest on more than one occasion. He genuinely wanted
to see her in spite of her family's disapproval. She almost wrapped her arms
around herself and laughed.
Her!
Luke
Carpenter was interested in
her!

"We'll
have to decide what to wear," Charmaine said from behind, pushing her
toward the loan desk. "We'd better go home and plan."

Guiltily, she hoped
Charmaine's feelings wouldn't be hurt when she realized that it was Annie whom
Luke wanted to see. Perhaps she should tell her. But that would seem as though
she were full of herself— and she wasn't. She could hardly believe it herself.

What
would her cousin think if she knew about the kisses she had shared with Luke?
She'd better wait and see what happened next. She could be wrong about his
intentions.

And if she was, she would
die of disappointment.

Her
emotions were in turmoil for an entire day. Charmaine told her mother about
their dinner plans and proceeded to try on every dress she possessed, as well
as arranging her hair and holding earbobs to her ears and turning this way and
that before the mirror. Annie felt like a traitor. She didn't want Charmaine to
get her hopes up. She didn't want to get her own hopes up. She didn't want
Charmaine to be embarrassed. She didn't want to be embarrassed herself.

What a predicament she'd
landed in.

By
the time they were dressed and ready to take the wagon into town the next
night, Charmaine's whirlwind chattering and primping had Annie's nerves
frayed. She surveyed the scenery between the ranch and town and took slow calm
breaths, tuning out her cousin's continual stream of girlish talk.

They
entered Copper Creek and Annie's heart kicked into a frenetic beating. Luke,
dressed in dark trousers and a white shirt and black string tie, met them at
the livery. "Evenin', ladies. Aren't you the prettiest creatures in these
parts?"

Annie
had borrowed a blue shirtwaist dress from Charmaine. Charmaine thought the
dress was too plain, but that was exactly why Annie loved it. She didn't feel
like a child in the garment.

"Stay
where you are," he said and climbed up to sit beside Charmaine. "I'll
leave the wagon in the alley while we eat."

He
drove the horse and wagon to the cafe and assisted the ladies to the door, then
left to move the wagon.

"Isn't
he charming?" Charmaine asked breathlessly.

Annie nodded.

"I
wish Mary Lou could see me," she said. "She's always bragging about
that Nelson boy calling on her."

"This
isn't exactly calling," Annie dared to mention.

"Of
course it is," her cousin argued. "He's courting minded."

"But there are two of
us," Annie reminded her.

"That
keeps it proper. Watch how outrageously he flirts."

"He's simply being
nice."

"No.
He's of an age to be married. Don't be so dull, Annie. When a young man shows
interest in a young lady, it's courting."

Luke
came toward them and the conversation ended. He led them into the cafe, held
Charmaine's chair while she sat, and moved a chair aside to wheel Annie up
close.

Noting
the high color in Annie's cheeks, Luke sat between the cousins and glanced from
one to the other.

Annie
was lovely in a dark-blue dress with a ruffled collar standing up around her
ivory throat. The color set off the red-gold highlights in her curly hair and
brought a sparkle to her eyes. "You look—you
both
look so pretty."

Annie
smiled and blushed, and Charmaine thanked him.

Dora
took their orders and brought the ladies cups of tea and Luke coffee. He
stirred in a spoonful of sugar.

“Rachel
Maye said she ate at an elegant restaurant when she went to Denver with her
family," Charmaine said. "Have you been to any of those types of
places?"

"Restaurants,
you mean?" he asked.

She
nodded.

"I've
eaten in some nice places. Dora's cookin' is right up there with the best,
though. 'Course it was always just Gil and me cooking for each other, so I'd
probably think anything was good if we didn't fix it."

"Your
uncle doesn't have a wife?" Annie asked.

"Guess
he had one once, but she ran off. He never talked about her. I never knew
her—that was before I came here."

Annie's
gray-green eyes studied him as he spoke, her sincere interest obvious.
"You weren't born here, were you? In Colorado?"

"No.
I was born in Illinois. My father worked in a newspaper office. My mother died
when I was about six or seven, and my father was killed when I was fourteen.
That's when I came to live with my Uncle Gil."

"It
must have been awful for you, losing your parents like that," Charmaine
said.

“My
mother and my younger sister died of whooping cough. After that I sort of took
care of myself when I wasn't in school. I was fortunate that Gil asked me to
come out here. I'd been workin' at the paper, just doing the clean-up jobs, but
when I got to Colorado I discovered how much I loved horses."

"You
didn't get Wrangler until you moved here then?" Annie asked.

"Actually
we found him on the way from Illinois," he replied. "We stopped over
at a stage station near Wichita and Gil bought him from a trader for me."

"A Swedish
Warmblood," she said.

Luke raised his brows. “You
remembered that?''

She
nodded and changed the subject. “Your Uncle Gil sounds nice."

"He is. You'll have to
meet him."

"I'd like that."

Charmaine glanced from Luke
to Annie curiously.

Annie's
face turned pink and she looked down at her hands. What had been said that had
embarrassed her?

She glanced up again, and
the cousins exchanged a look.

Annie's
gaze turned to other patrons in the room, and Luke followed her glance. Five or
six other tables were filled, mostly town people he knew because he did
business with them.

She was obviously wondering
who would notice them together and take the news back to her family.

The door opened and closed.