Read Online My Dearest Cal by Sherryl Woods - Free Book Online Page B

waist. He had to fight an almost irresistible urge to circle that waist with his hands and kiss every one of those faint marks left by the sun. As he passed by, he caught the scent of roses, sweet and all too alluring. Strappy little sandals that had no business on a farm showed off her ankles. She had fine ankles, he observed with a catch in his heartbeat. When he saw Chaney regarding them appreciatively, he had to restrain the primitive, proprietary impulse to slug him.
    Keeping his purely masculine response under control might have been more difficult if he hadn’t been drawn toward the pots simmering on the stove. Chili, thick with meat and beans and spices bubbled in one. In another, ears of sweet corn tumbled in the boiling water. In the last, greens simmered with a ham hock. As he drew in a deep, satisfying breath, he realized that it had been twenty years since he’d had a real home-cooked meal. Hell, maybe longer. His mother hadn’t been much of a cook. She’d grown up in a house filled with servants. His daddy’s income, once the oil business crashed, hadn’t even been enough to support a cleaning woman once a week. After that his mother tended to serve complaints instead of decent meals. The fancy restaurants that had eventually takenthe place of frozen dinners as his own career took off were more likely to serve beef Wellington than chili.
    “Smells good,” he said, recalling the last time he’d eaten real Texas chili. It had been in a diner near the bus station an hour before he’d left home for good. Joshua had been sitting on the stool next to him, talking a mile a minute, coming up with every reason he could think of to keep Cal from running. Not a one of those reasons had been worth a tinker’s damn once he’d made up his mind to go. He wondered what Joshua would have to say when he heard about his new, temporary housekeeper.
    Marilou turned at the sound of his voice and greeted him with a radiant, unhesitating smile that almost took his breath away. Any sane man would fly home from work for a welcome like that.
    “I hope you like chili,” she said, a hint of nervousness in her eyes. “I made enough for an army. This kitchen looks as if it were built for the entire crew. I wasn’t sure if you’d want some for the other men.”
    “Not tonight. They’re used to going out on their own or cooking out in the bunkhouse. If it looks like you’re going to stick around, we’ll see if they want to change that.”
    “They might want to sample my cooking before they make up their minds.”
    “If that corn bread that’s baking tastes half as good as it smells, I can almost guarantee they’ll want to join us,” he said.
    “Amen to that,” Chaney agreed, walking in justthen and eyeing the big golden squares she was cutting and putting into a basket lined with a bright red-and-white checked napkin. He was reaching for a piece before she could get the corn bread on the table.
    “I think you may have found a way to his heart, after all,” Cal observed wryly as he sat at the big round table that she’d set with a red-checked cloth and the sturdy white everyday dishes. It occurred to him again that she had an instinct for making things homey instead of fancy. She’d left the previous owner’s fine English bone china and expensive Irish crystal in the cupboard where they belonged.
    Marilou grinned back at him. “Cooking is a tried and true method. My mother swears she got my father to marry her by baking him mouth-watering lemon meringue pies.”
    Chaney coughed and shot a warning glance at Cal. “Did you hear that, boss? I guess she’s put you on notice. There’s a lot to be said for a woman who don’t play games.”
    Marilou blushed prettily at the taunt, but met Chaney’s gaze evenly. “Who says it’s not you I’m after, you handsome devil?”
    Chaney’s eyes went wide as half-dollars, and he gobbled down the rest of his meal as if he had to get to a fire. Cal and Marilou both burst