Free Bright Eyes by Catherine Anderson Page A

dune buggy? He wasn’t familiar with Barbie accoutrements but wished he were. He’d head for the nearest department store and buy Rosie’s doll some wheels.

Chapter Four
    S hortly after Rosie’s departure, Zeke returned to town and visited the ranch-supply store that he’d purchased on contract from his father. After getting updated by the night manager and making the rounds to chat with his employees, he stocked shelves until closing time at eight. When everyone had left, he spent a couple of hours in his office doing that day’s books, juggling work schedules to cover his shifts for the next three weeks, and making out orders for Monday.
    He was yawning by the time he set the security alarm and left the building. En route to his truck across the dark, empty parking lot, he thought of Rosie Patterson and the deal he’d struck with her. He should at least inform her mother of that conversation. He also owed the lady an apology. He cringed when he remembered saying that she mollycoddled her son. Like he was an expert on kids? He’d made some rash assumptions, bottom line. Chad had some problems, no question, but that didn’t mean Natalie had caused them.
    Zeke checked his watch. It wasn’t yet eleven. The Blue Parrot was only a few blocks away. He wasn’t dressed for a supper club, but what he had to say would take only a couple of minutes. Why not drop in and get it over with? He might even order a drink. The crow might go down easier with a shot of bourbon.
    A few minutes later, Zeke stepped inside the Blue Parrot. He expected a run-of-the-mill gin joint, fancied up with a grill and limited menu. Instead, it was so nice that he almost pulled a U-turn. Jeans and a work shirt definitely weren’t appropriate. The few customers at the white-draped tables were dressed to the nines, men in suits, ladies in cocktail dresses, and there wasn’t a bar in sight. Dark blue wallpaper and elegant chandeliers complemented the brass wall hangings. Candles adorned each white-draped table, the blue tapers ensconced in holders that gleamed like burnished gold. Tasteful . He felt like a weevil in a flour sack.
    Then he saw Natalie, and he forgot to feel self-conscious. She was Rosie, but all grown up, standing on a raised platform in a sequined red dress that glinted like a banked flame in the dimly lighted room. Above her, an open-faced sound-system platform supported amps, speakers, spiral lights, and flush spotlights, strategically aimed to spill golden illumination over her as she performed. Reba, take a backseat. The sounds coming from her throat were pure honey. The guitar fit over her hip as though it had been carved for her, and she moved with graceful confidence as she belted out a country ballad about a determined woman who never gave up on her man.
    Zeke had never seen anyone more beautiful—or more talented. No longer even aware of where he was, he sank onto a chair at a back table. Between numbers, Natalie laughed and chatted with her patrons as if they were old friends, as comfortable onstage as Zeke might have been at a family gathering. Every time she moved, the dress glimmered, shooting ruby daggers. Her eyes intensified the effect, large orbs of shimmering brightness in the delicate oval of her face. With her ample curves and graceful carriage, she made a man ache.
    “Before my break, I’d like to sing a special song,” she murmured into the mike. Then she laughed and smiled flirtatiously at a gentleman to her left. “It’s a little sappy. I wrote it many moons ago when I still believed in happy endings.”
    Thanks to Rosie and Chad, Zeke already had a fair idea of what had disillusioned her. He settled back to listen. She bent her head, sending her cloud of black curls forward to cover her face. The sudden silence was electrical, and Zeke tensed with anticipation. With the first emission of sound, she snapped erect, revealing a countenance to break men’s hearts. From that second on, the lady was pure