Free Mountain Man by Diana Palmer

of you.”
    “Me?” Nicky grinned. “Thanks, but he’s too nice a man to make a play for his secretary. I’d do anything for him, but only in the line of duty. I’m shy that way. Most men don’t appeal to me physically.”
    “Does Winthrop?”
    Nicole flushed and flapped around while Sadie burst out laughing.
    “I’m sorry, but your guilty secret is safe with me,” Sadie said with a laugh. “Oh, Nicky, what a man to get hot and bothered by. The iceman!”
    “It could be worse. I could develop a case for some married man with twenty kids.”
    “True, true.” She put the finishing touches on the table arrangement. “Come and meet Mother, and then I’ll show you where to put your overnight case.”
    “You’re nice to let me stay,” Nicky said. “You and I know that nothing would go on, but people talk. I don’t want any gossip about my nice boss.”
    “Neither do I, and I’m glad you’re old-fashioned.” The nurse narrowed her eyes. “You really are old-fashioned, aren’t you?” she asked with startling perception.
    Nicky cleared her throat. “I always thought … well, marriage is nice. They say white only meansit’s your first marriage, but it means a lot more than that to me. I had old-fashioned grandparents.”
    She didn’t add that she had wildly liberated parents and a succession of stepparents, or that her grandparents had gone to court to save her from the glitter.
    “Good for them,” Sadie said. “Her room’s through here.”
    Sadie’s mother was small and withered and very quiet. She looked like a little doll lying there, white hair and pale blue eyes and a beaten look about her. She could only move one side of her body—even one eye and part of her mouth were affected. It must have been a massive stroke.
    “Mama, this is Nicky,” Sadie introduced her.
    Gerald moved. He’d been sitting on the bed beside the little old woman, holding her hand. He got up so that Nicky could sit and take the wrinkled little fingers in hers.
    “Hello, Mama.” Nicky grinned. “Or should I call you Mrs. Todd?” She raised her eyebrows.
    “You may call me Mama if you like,” Sadie’s mother said, with the first hint of a twinkle in her eyes.
    “That would be nice,” Nicky said, smiling. “Mine died a long time ago. I don’t have one. So if Sadie doesn’t mind, I can share you. It’s a pretty big deal,” she added with mock solemnity. “I live on a tight budget, so working another person intomy Christmas shopping list is a great honor. I give Godiva chocolates as presents,” she whispered.
    The old lady actually laughed. Her thin fingers tightened on Nicky’s. “Do you?” she whispered.
    “Do you like chocolates?”
    Mama managed to smile. “I love them!”
    “Lucky you, to have just adopted me,” Nicky said. She searched the tired old eyes. “I’ll bet you were as beautiful as Sadie, at her age,” she mused.
    “Yes, I was,” the old woman said emphatically. “Sadie … show her.”
    “This was Mother at my age.” Sadie held up a small portrait study. The woman in the photograph was standing beside a tall, dark man, and she was the image of Sadie.
    “Weren’t you a dish?” Nicole sighed, studying it. “You’re still a dish,” she added, glancing down at the smiling woman. “What can we bring you to eat? I saw roast beef and mashed potatoes and a salad….”
    “Mashed potatoes and gravy,” the woman replied eagerly. “And is there pudding?”
    “Yes,” Sadie said quickly, although there wasn’t and she’d have to rush back and make one.
    “I’ll have pudding, too,” came the pleased reply. “Now go and eat,” her mother said. “Then Nicole can visit with me while you and Gerald put everything away.”
    “Nicky’s staying the night. Winthrop’s away,” Sadie explained.
    “If it’s all right,” Nicky asked.
    “It’s all right,” the old woman said fiercely. “Go and eat, child. If I adopt you, you must be fattened up. I don’t want any thin