A Cowboy in the Kitchen by Meg Maxwell

Author:Meg Maxwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The Dunkins lived in a stately Colonial just off Blue Gulch Street in the center of town. As Annabel walked beside West up the stone path, he took her hand and smiled at her—a commiserating smile, she realized. Sometimes, such as right then, she felt such a kinship with him, them against the world—well, the Dunkins. Other times, like this morning, when she’d woken up alone in West’s bed—her bed, she amended—she felt so separate from him, so aware of their arrangement and how far apart they truly were.

West must have been doing morning rounds when she woke this morning, so she’d left him a note to let him know she’d gone back to the apricot Victorian to pack a suitcase’s worth of clothes, though if she’d been honest, she’d have added that she needed to be back on her own turf for a little while. Last night, after a cleaning frenzy, she’d found a parenting book on the bookshelf and had started reading it on the couch, but West must have found her asleep and carried her up to bed...then left. Part of her knew his leaving was for the best, and without Lucy home, there’d been no good reason for him to have stayed in the room with her. But another part of her wanted him to want to, to want her the way he did on their wedding night.

At the family home, Gram had been sleeping, and Clementine had been full of questions about the wedding, which Annabel answered honestly, and then Clementine had helped her choose the right outfit to officially “meet” her stepdaughter’s maternal grandparents. They shook their heads at the jeans and shorts in her closet and went for the “Dallas clothes,” a suitcase Annabel hadn’t even bothered to unpack yet. A cute, flippy yellow eyelet skirt with a sleeveless, ruffly white top and silver ballet slippers. The tiny gold starfish necklace her mother had given her for Christmas when she was twelve and gold hoop earrings from her dad. Back at the ranch, when she came out of the bedroom, hair brushed and shiny, light dusting of makeup, West had told her how grateful he was that she “got” the Dunkins. She took that to mean he thought Raina would approve of how she looked.

West rang the bell. Raina opened the door and ignored West and took both of Annabel’s hands in hers. Across the living room, through the sliding glass doors to the backyard, Annabel could see Lucy playing outside with her grandfather, and West hurried to the back door to see his daughter.

Raina was beaming, her ash-blond hair in a stylish bob with long, side-swept bangs. She wore a pale yellow peplum top with matching silk capris and high-heeled sandals and several sparkling bracelets. “Annabel, I’m so thrilled that you’re our Lucy’s new stepmama. I just know she’s going to be in such good hands now.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Dunkin, but—”

Raina wagged a finger, her hazel eyes warm. “We’re practically family now.

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