Free The Lover by Genell Dellin Page A

we’ll talk over all the decisions except when it’s life or death—at which point, he’ll gag and tie me and throw me in the wagon—”
    Maynell chuckled heartily. Susanna refused to dignify that with an acknowledgment.
    â€œâ€”yet he decides we need extra help with the branding so we can get on the trail fast, and then he scares me half to death to make me agree to it. He’s paying for it, now I’m in his debt.”
    â€œHmm,” Maynell said. “Sounds like a sensible man.”
    Susanna set her glass down, hard, and frowned at her.
    â€œWhose side are you on here, anyhow, Maynell?”
    â€œDoes he have brown eyes?” Maynell asked.
    â€œWhat difference does that make?”
    â€œI always did like a brown-eyed handsome man.”
    â€œYou’re acting like a silly schoolgirl, Maynell.” Then Susanna smiled. “He has a grin that could melt an iceberg,” she confessed.
    â€œWell, thank the Lord,” Maynell said. “Up till now, I was thinking you’d plumb lost all your senses.”
    â€œHe’s a charmer,” Susanna said. “He’s used to getting his way with women. And so he doesn’t know what to do with me.”
    Maynell gave a low chuckle.
    â€œOh, I’d bet he does, honey. All you have to do is give him a chance.”
    Susanna was horrified.
    â€œMaynell! You’ve lost your senses.”
    â€œWell, I know I told you hiring a stranger to pretend to be your husband was foolishness, but now I’m thinking you’ve made a right fine choice.”
    â€œGood Lord, Maynell! You’re only saying that because he’s brown-eyed and handsome.”
    â€œAlways did like a brown-eyed handsome man who’d speak right up and tell you how it’s gonna be,” Maynell said. She fixed Susanna with that look again. “He’s one in a million, girl. You oughtta nab onto him.”
    Sometimes Susanna wondered why she’d ever let Maynell and Jimbo live in the other end of her cabin. This was one of those times.
    â€œListen to me, Maynell. My ‘right fine choice,’ Mr. Brown-Eyed Handsome One-in-a-Million, has just gotten me in a whole lot of trouble. He insulted Mr. Adams and insisted on buying that whole remuda and now I’m in even more debt to him. Big debt.”
    Maynell listened, wide-eyed.
    â€œMr. Adams has an interest in the bank. He can probably make them foreclose on this place if I don’t come back from Abilene with enough money.”
    â€œWhy did he insult old Adams?”
    â€œAdams was implying that he’d rather take his pay in another way than money.”
    â€œAlways did like a handsome man that’d step up and take a handle on any situation,” Maynell said.
    â€œMaynell! Listen. Worse than putting me two hundred and fifty dollars in his debt is that he didnot consult me. He took over, don’t you understand that? He overturned a decision that I had already made.”
    Maynell just looked at her and kept on peeling potatoes.
    â€œI can’t let him take over my herd and my life,” Susanna said, the urgency rising in her again. “What if he takes over and doesn’t consult me on any decision and I’m just the cook all the way up the trail and when we get to Abilene he takes over the sale of the cattle and everything?”
    â€œYou jist said he ain’t the kind of liar to steal your cattle.”
    â€œWell, he’s not. Actually, he isn’t really a liar…in a way. He just keeps changing his mind about—”
    â€œAbout what to do with you,” Maynell said. “Well, you can’t blame him for that. It’s a big question, missy, because you are a handful, if I do say so myself.”
    â€œThank you so much.”
    Susanna’s tone was sarcastic but she really didn’t take offense. Maynell, whom she’d never met until two years ago, was the closest thing to a mother that