A Sheriff's Bride (Crest Stone Mail-Order Brides, #4) by Cahill Cat

Author:Cahill, Cat
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cat Cahill
Published: 2022-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

THE TRAIN FROM CAÑON City to Crest Stone was nearly full when Cai helped Annie board. At the very rear of the car, he found two empty seats next to one another after handing two hatboxes to one of the porters.

Annie settled by the window, arranging the folds of her one remaining decent skirt. But that wouldn’t be a problem for long.

“Thank you,” she said, for approximately the tenth time that day since she found out he was taking her to Cañon City to order new clothing from the dressmaker there. The dressmaker himself was a pompous sort of man—the kind of fellow Cai took an instant dislike to. But he was well-known for making fine clothing, or so Cai had heard when he asked Mrs. Drexel and Mrs. Gilbert for suggestions on his last visit to the mercantile.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, forcing himself to keep the amusement from his voice. The very thought of taking a woman dress shopping had always sounded like the most dull thing a man could endure. But it had been an utter delight to watch Annie’s joy at examining patterns and seeing fabrics. “Which one are you looking forward to receiving the most?”

“I don’t know.” Her blue eyes sparkled. “Maybe the pink? It’s such a lovely color.”

“My sister Olivia would agree with you. Pink is the only color she wore up until about age fifteen, and she’s still rather partial to the color.” He smiled at the memory of Olivia’s joy at receiving yet another pink dress while his mother bore her daughter’s insistence on only one color with a dignified sort of martyrdom.

“What made her change her mind at fifteen?” Annie asked as the train began moving away from the depot.

“A boy told her she looked nice in a blue and white dress she wore for a Christmas pageant as the Virgin Mary.”

Annie laughed. “I wish I’d had a sister. Or a brother. It wasn’t my mother’s choice to have only one child, but that was simply all God gave her. I hope to have several children. I want none of them to ever be alone.” She stopped speaking abruptly as her face turned a shade of pink that matched that fabric back at Mr. Trace’s dressmaking shop.

“Oh?” Cai raised his eyebrows as he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from teasing her any further.

That made her blush even more furiously. Cai grinned even as alarm bells rang in his mind. He was teetering dangerously close to something he wasn’t at all certain he wanted to fall into.

He’d already crossed that line once a couple of days ago after saving Annie from that runaway wagon. He’d pulled himself back after that, but sometimes it seemed an impossible task to keep his distance from her. Particularly when she flooded his thoughts nearly every minute of the day. And even more particularly when he was this close to her.

“I imagine you have many good stories about your childhood antics with your siblings,” Annie said quickly in a clear attempt to change the subject.

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