Free How to Marry a Cowboy (Cowboys & Brides) by Carolyn Brown Page B

forehead, an apron tied about her small waist, and a smile on her face. She winked at him like Holly used to do when she was happy. And his heart swelled the same way it used to—seeing his woman happy just about made him burst. Wait a minute, wait a minute, Annie Rose wasn’t “his woman”—holy Lord, what was he thinking? Was he losing his mind out of sheer relief to have someone who seemed capable of looking after the twins?
    “You’re still here,” he said.
    “I’ve made it four hours, but I’ve got a ways to go to beat the record,” she said.
    “Okay, girls, what did you make me? Cold cereal or toast?”
    “Fried chicken,” Lily said. “And me and Gabby made the biscuits. Mama-Nanny let us do it all by ourselves.”
    “And we set the table too. Did you know the knife is supposed to face the plate so you are ready to use it when you pick it up, but that we don’t have to cut our meat if there’s a bone, like in chicken legs? We can pick them up and eat them with our fingers if we remember to wipe our hands on the napkin and not on the front of our shirts,” Gabby said.
    Lily tugged at his hand. “Come on, Daddy. We’ve got it on the table because we saw you comin’.”
    “Thank you,” he mouthed at Annie Rose.
    She smiled her answer and followed them to the table.
    The girls chattered all through dinner and didn’t even argue when Annie Rose reminded them not to talk with food in their mouths and to use their napkins. Maybe it was the mother instinct in her that reminded him so much of Holly.
    “Mighty fine dinner, and especially the biscuits. I could eat those every day.” He pushed back from the table and picked up his tea glass.
    “We have dessert,” Lily said.
    “You should have told me that before I ate that last chicken wing,” Mason said.
    Gabby cocked her head to one side like Holly used to do when she was on the verge of an argument. “We worked all morning, so you can at least taste it.”
    “Yes, ma’am. Maybe half a serving now and then more tonight,” he said.
    Annie Rose removed the empty chicken platter and set a lopsided, three-layer chocolate cake in the middle of the table. “From a mix, and two little girls couldn’t leave the oven door shut, so it’s leaning a little bit to the left,” she whispered for his ears only. He’d never had a nanny in the house who got excited over an ugly cake or who made his girls love to work or one who had such gorgeous blue eyes.
    “Well, would you look at that? We won’t be ordering cakes from the bakery for your birthdays anymore if you two can cook like this,” Mason said.
    Annie Rose cut a small slice, laid it on a saucer, and handed it to Mason. He picked up a fork and tasted a small bite. “Hmmm? It looks like cake and it tastes like cake. Guess I’d best have another bite or two before I pass judgment on the quality.”
    Annie Rose watched them as they waited impatiently, with a sweet look of pure excitement in her eyes that matched his girls’ expressions.
    “Delicious. Absolutely delicious. I can’t wait until supper to get a fatter piece,” he said.
    The girls threw up their palms and high-fived each other. Annie Rose carried his plate to the sink and he snuck a peek at her butt swaying from side to side as she walked away from the table.
    She brought back a cup of steaming black coffee and set it in front of him, her breasts barely brushing his shoulder. Other women had done the same thing, but none other than Holly had caused the reaction that Annie Rose did. Guilt washed over him again for feeling that way about any woman, but most especially about one who lived under the same roof with him.
    “Okay, ladies, how much cake do you want? Like your daddy’s or bigger?” she asked. “And remember, you are washing dishes while I put everything away.”
    “Like Daddy’s, and yes, ma’am,” they said at the same time.
    He picked up his cup and pushed back the chair, “You girls want to have dessert by the