Free Sweet Annie by Cheryl St.john Page B

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.
    "Annie,"
Charmaine whispered, "it's Mary Lou with her parents and that awful
brother of hers." Charmaine almost squirmed in delight. She sat up
straighter, and Luke wondered what was so exciting about the arrival of the
people she'd mentioned.
    A
glance told him it was Daniel Holister with his wife and children. The girl,
Charmaine's age, stared wide-eyed at. their trio. Luke smiled politely and her
cheeks turned crimson.
    Dora
brought their meals, and the attention moved to the savory roast beef and new
potatoes.
    "Annie's
mother has someone to help with the cooking, but my mother only has me,"
Charmaine said. "You don't know how nice it is to eat away from
home."
    "Sure
I do," Luke replied. "I get tired of food out of tins, so I eat over
here a lot."
    "What's
your favorite dessert?" Charmaine asked, glancing at the chalkboard on a
wall.
    "Apple
pie." It had become his favorite when Annie had baked one just for him.
And since she'd said his kisses tasted like cinnamon. He couldn't repress a
smile at the memory.
    Annie
wouldn't meet his eyes. She dabbed her mouth with her napkin and folded it into
a neat square.
    "Annie,
you're positively scarlet!" Charmaine said, and touched her cousin's cheek
with the back of her fingers. "Are you feeling well?"
    Annie caught Charmaine's
wrist and lowered their hands to the tabletop. "I'm fine. Can we change
the subject?"
    "From apple
pie?" Her voice held puzzlement.
    A
laugh worked its way up from Luke's chest and he tried to hold it back by
taking a sip of coffee. But Annie's red face and Charmaine's quizzical look
struck him so funny that the laugh rumbled out, and he choked.
    He
coughed to cover his amusement, making the situation worse, and covered his
mouth with his napkin.
    Annie
leaned sideways in her chair and slapped her palm against the center of his
back a few times. "Are you all right?"
    He
glanced down at the warm touch of her other hand on his forearm, able to think
of nothing but her hand on him.
    She caught herself and
snatched it back.
    "Yes, thanks," he
managed to reply finally.
    She met his eyes then, and
leaning close this way, he could see the tiny green flecks that circled her
gray irises like sunbursts. Her brows were delicately shaped and tinged with
red like her hair, her lashes a spiky fringe.
    His
focus lowered to her mouth, a lovely smooth pink bow with a full lower lip.
He'd kissed those lips.
    The
corners twitched. She was fighting laughter now, too.
    She
chuckled and straightened, pulling away from him. One glance at her cousin and
laughter spilled out.
    Luke
joined her, and they laughed until his side hurt.
    Charmaine
glanced around the room with a halfhearted smile.
    Finally,
the mirth subsided and Dora came to remove their dinner plates. "Will you
be having dessert?"
    "I
guess apple pie is out of the question," Charmaine said owlishly.
    Luke
didn't look up. "I'll have the bread pudding, please."
    His
dinner companions agreed with his decision, and Dora cleared the table. She
returned with their desserts, filled Luke's coffee cup and set a fresh pot of
tea on the table.
    "This
is delicious," Charmaine said. "I wonder how you make it."
    "Eggs and bread
and...cinnamon," Annie replied. "I—I saw a recipe in a
cookbook."
    "Well, it's
delicious."
    She glanced over and he
knew her thoughts. Cinnamon. Lord,
he had it bad for this woman when he thought of nothing but kissing her, even
when they were sitting in a restaurant surrounded by other people.
    Too
soon, the meal was over. Luke paid the bill and escorted the