Cowboy Enchantment - By Pamela Browning Page 0,16

the place where the path divided, he stopped. “This is where I head to my own place. Thanks again, Erica.” That she had chosen to help him after so disastrous a first meeting bespoke a good heart and generous nature.

There it was again, that sideways tilt of her head. And he liked the stillness that he sensed inside her, the quietness that few women exhibited. He much preferred it to the constant talk, talk, talk that most women found necessary when in his presence.

“You’re welcome, Hank,” she said, and the words could have sounded stiff and uncomfortable if it hadn’t been for her voice, which was soft and warm and pleasant.

He felt an improbable affinity with her, which seemed absurd after only two encounters.

“Look,” he said uneasily, not knowing he was going to say anything but goodbye until the word was out of his mouth. “We got off on the wrong foot today. I hope it won’t affect the way you think of me.”

She seemed to consider this. “Really, it’s okay.”

He wasn’t entirely sure that it was, but he knew her smile meant that she’d forgiven him and that they were now on a new footing.

“Well,” he said, his spirits lifting, “I’ll see you tomorrow for your lesson.”

“Yes. For my lesson.” Behind her glasses, her eyes shone large and luminous in the darkness, and in that moment he saw how pretty she was.

To hide his confusion, he spared her only a curt nod. He watched her as she went, his buoyant feeling fading as she disappeared around the corner of one of the buildings.

He liked her. He found being around her easy, comfortable. He didn’t know why he felt that way, but he did.

HER COWBOY had a baby.

Erica had not considered the possibility that he would be encumbered. Oh, she’d thought he might be married, in which case she would have backed off in a hurry. She didn’t need the pain and anguish of being the Other Woman. But it had never occurred to her that he would have children.

She smiled to herself at his determination to complete the task of sewing on the button. He had hunched over the tiny pink pinafore, her cowboy, looking sorely out of his element and all the more attractive for making the effort. Clearly he was raising his daughter alone, and that made him interesting to her. It took a real man to take on the burden of child-rearing all by himself.

She booted up her laptop computer, which she hadn’t intended to bring along at first. Then Charmaine had insisted that Erica pack it.

“How will we keep in touch if I’m in Aruba and you’re in California and you don’t have e-mail?” Charmaine had wailed, and seeing the sense of this, Erica had brought the laptop along.

YOU’VE GOT MAIL!

Hi Erica

How’s it going? Tell, tell! I want to hear all about Rancho Encantado. There are mosquitoes in Aruba and the climate is muggy. Wish I could have come with you!

Love, Char

Char

I met the perfect guy. He’s a cowboy who is going to teach me to ride. And it’s not muggy.

Love, E.

THE NEXT MORNING, Erica had her first makeover appointment. The hairdresser and makeup artist, Tico, was a small man, stocky and squat and sporting a waxed handlebar mustache. After an analysis of her skin type, he prescribed a foundation mixed for her exact skin tone and instructed her in the use of blush, eye shadow and concealer.

“A darker lipstick is what you need! No pale tones for you,” he said busily as he set upon her with lip liner and tubes and gloss.

Despite his admonition to be still, she got in a few words between the lip liner and gloss. “Are you sure this stuff isn’t too dark? I don’t want to look like a vampire.”

This made him laugh heartily. “A vampire! Of course you will not look like a vampire. What a funny lady you are.”

When he was finished, she had to admit that he was on the right track. Who would have guessed that lipstick the exact shade of red geraniums would bring out the color in her cheeks and make her lips look full and lush? Who would have known that a few dabs of concealer on the shadows under her eyes could perk up the sallowness of her skin?

“Ah, but you have such wonderful hair,” Tico said, draping strands of it around his fingers and letting them fall into place.

“I never did before,” Erica said.

He winked. “But this is Rancho