Free A Man for Annalee by Vonnie Davis Page B

fighting gives you an appetite.”
    From the back of the restaurant came, “ Anything gives that man an appetite!”
    “You’re fired, Minnie.” Boone shoveled in another bite, his brown eyes softened with obvious fondness for the waitress.
    Minnie walked to the table, coffeepot in hand. “You fired me yesterday.” She topped off his mug. “A gal kin only git fired but so many times. Even a good-lookin’ one such as me.” She smiled broadly, showing several gaps no longer occupied by teeth.
    Boone snatched the gray-haired waitress’s chapped hand and brought it to his lips. “What’s on the menu for tonight, gorgeous?”
    Minnie sniggered and slapped Boone’s shoulder. “Baked chicken and beans, you rascal.”
    He turned his coffee-colored eyes on Annalee and smiled. Her heart did a somersault. This guy was danger pinned to a badge, so he was. “Annalee, care to join me for supper?”
    His dimpled smile caused her insides to do a twitchy thing. “Cora will be expecting me. Plus I have some curtains to make tonight.”
    Minnie removed an empty plate. “Ya wants me ta bring your supper now, boss?”
    He took a sip of coffee and shook his head. “Later, after I escort this lovely lady home.”
    Heat flushed Annalee’s cheeks. “Really, there’s no need. The Maguires’ house is just around the corner.”
    “Oh, he knows where their house is, but does he know the way back, that’s the question.” Minnie cackled as she bustled back to the kitchen. “I know how easy these young bucks can get waylaid around a female.”
    Annalee watched the cook return to the kitchen. “She seems rather fond of you.”
    Boone finished the last bite of pie and set his fork down. “Minnie’s a good woman. Her husband died in a blizzard a couple years ago. It was two weeks before the snow melted enough that we could find his body.” He drained the last of his coffee. “Minnie claimed she’d had enough of living out on the range alone and put her ranch up for sale. My brother and I bought the property. I offered her a job here and the little apartment upstairs. The deal worked out for all of us.”
    He settled his hat on his head and stood. “You ready?” At her nod, he reached for her packages lying on the table.

Chapter Nine
    The western sky was stained vivid orange and streaked with purple with the oncoming sunset. Boone cupped Annalee’s elbow. “Days are getting shorter now. Dark comes early. Best a lady like you doesn’t venture out unescorted after dark.” He slowed his gait to match hers.
    She’d allow him that remark since he hadn’t made it an order. “You mentioned a brother, earlier. He’s a rancher?”
    “A rancher and a lawyer, although he has few clients. Remember I said I was taken in by another family?” She nodded. “Well, I was adopted by Cheyenne. They raised me.”
    Annalee stopped in her tracks. “You were raised by Indians? Bloodthirsty Indians?” Could this man possibly have lived with savages? What horrors he must have endured. “Oh my goodness, it’s a wonder you weren’t scalped.”
    A muscle bunched in Boone’s jaw. “All Indians are not bloodthirsty. There’s good and bad in all groups of people.”
    “Not from what I’ve read in my Beedle dime novels.”
    “Surely you aren’t naive enough to believe the trash they write in them. If I thought you were, I wouldn’t have bought you one the other day. They’re made up stories, Annalee. Like fairytales for women. Silly women, at that.”
    “How dare you insult me!” Oh, he was arrogance in a buckskin jacket, so he was. Annalee jerked her arm away from his grasp. Head held high, she turned the corner from Main to Washington Street, marching toward the Maguires’. He could make her so angry. Yes, she enjoyed her dime novels, but she was not some silly woman.
    She knew those books with the salmon-colored covers weren’t real happenings. Still, they were excitement and action bound in print that transported her to worlds