Texas Proud and Circle of Gold (Long, Tall Texans #52) - Diana Palmer Page 0,13
Not a lot of other people had any idea about Bernie’s background because she’d lived for a few years, with her parents, in Floresville before coming back here with her father just before he died. She didn’t like to think about those days. Not at all.
Jake looked behind his family at the few remaining, obviously impatient worshippers and handed his grandson back to Carson. “Ah, well, I’ll see you all at the house later. I’m holding up progress,” he added, and looked behind Carson at a man who actually flushed.
“Not a problem, Preacher,” the man said. “It’s just that the line’s already forming for lunch at Barbara’s Café...”
“Say no more,” Jake chuckled. “Actually, I’m heading there myself. I can burn water.”
“You can cook,” Carlie chided.
“Only when I want to. And I don’t want to,” he confided with a grin. He kissed her cheek and shook hands with Carson. “I’ll see you all for supper. You bringing it?”
“Of course,” Carlie replied with a grin. “We know you can’t boil water!”
He just laughed.
* * *
Bernie walked into the boardinghouse a little tired, but happy from the few hours of socializing with friends.
She wasn’t looking where she was going, her mind still on the Farwalkers’ little boy, whom she had sat beside in the back seat and cooed at all the way home. She ran right into Mikey and almost fell.
Chapter Three
Mikey just stared at her, smiling faintly as he caught her by both shoulders and spared her a fall. She did look pretty, with her long, platinum blond hair loose around her shoulders, wearing a pink dress in some soft material that displayed her nice figure without making it look indecent. He thought of all the women he’d known who paraded around in dresses cut up to the thigh and slashed to the waist in front. He compared them with Bernie, and found that he greatly preferred her to those glitzy women in his past.
“Thanks,” she said, a husky note in her voice as she looked up at him with fascinated pale green eyes. It was a long way. He was husky for his height, and his head was leonine, broad, with a straight nose and chiseled lips and a square chin. He looked like a movie star. She’d never even seen a man so handsome.
“Deep thoughts?” he asked softly.
She caught her breath. “Sorry. I was just thinking how handsome you are.” She flushed. “Oh, gosh,” she groaned as that slipped out.
“It’s okay,” he teased. “I’m used to ladies swooning over me. No problem.”
That broke the ice and she laughed.
He loved the way she looked when she laughed. Her whole face became radiant. Color bloomed on her cheeks. Her green eyes sparkled. Amazing, that a woman with her disability could laugh at all. But, then, his little grandmother had been the same. She never complained. She just accepted her lot in life and got on with living.
“You never complain, do you?” he asked suddenly.
“Well...not really,” she stammered. “There’s this saying that the boss has on the wall at work, a quote from Saint Francis of Assisi...”
“‘God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference,’” he quoted.
She smiled. “You know it.”
He shrugged. “My grandmother dragged me to mass every single Sunday until I was old enough to refuse to go. She had a plaque with that quote on it. I learned it by heart.”
“It’s nice.”
“I guess.”
He let her go belatedly. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Sorry I ran into you.”
“Feel free to do it whenever you like,” he said, and his dark eyes twinkled. “You fall down, kid, I’ll pick you up every time.”
She flushed. “Thanks. I’d do the same for you, if I could.” She eyed his height. Her head came up to just past his shoulder. He probably weighed twice what she did, and the expensive suit he was wearing didn’t disguise the muscular body under it. “I don’t imagine I could pick you up, though.”
He laughed. “Don’t sweat it. I’ll see you later.”
She nodded.
He went around her and out the door, just as she heard a car pull up at the curb. His driver, no doubt. She wondered where he was going on a Sunday. But, then, that was really not her business.
* * *
It was the next morning before Bernie saw Mikey again, at the breakfast table. He was quiet and he looked very somber. He