Fannin's Flame Read Free

we do. Mimi sneakily hired Helga in here to keep Mason occupied. But now Mimi’s married, so Mason is free to shake loose of those shackles. I say this is the right solution for everyone. And I want to get up in the morning and look at a face that’s young and beautiful and smiling. Instead of scouring me.”
    “Scouring you?” Bandera asked. “Do you mean souring you?”
    “No. I mean scouring me. I put my elbows on the table and she scours me with her eyes. I put my feet on the coffee table, she scours me. I leave clothes lying on the floor in my room, and she scours me. It’s like being assaulted daily by a Brillo pad.”
    “She doesn’t have to clean our houses, just Mason’s,” Calhoun pointed out. “She doesn’t have to take care of anyone except Mason, since he’s really the one who wants her.”
    “Archer has a good theory,” Last said slowly. “I never thought of it before, but with four less of us on the ranch, we don’t need as much help as we did. Mimi’s got her sick dad and a baby on the way. We could offer Helga’s services to the Cannadys.”
    Archer sighed with relief. “I just knew you’d see it my way.”
    Fannin walked in, tossing his hat on the table.
    “Any luck?” Last asked him. “Call out the harpist yet to serenade the hooved lovers with romantic music?”
    “Shut up,” Fannin demanded.
    “We’ve got a plan we need your vote on, ornery one,” Bandera said. “How would you feel about us giving Helga to Mimi as a baby gift?”
    Fannin grinned. “Now that’s the first positive thing y’all have said all day. The sooner the better!”
    He fixed himself some lunch, feeling much better about life in general. The phone rang in the kitchen. “Fannin Jefferson,” he said.
    A soft voice said, “Mr. Jefferson? This is theHoney-Do Agency calling to confirm and fill your order.”
    He scrambled with the phone, the sandwich he’d fixed and a notepad into the farthest corner of the kitchen so his nosy brothers couldn’t hear. The minute they realized he was trying to have a private conversation, they grouped around him, listening.
    “Do you mind?” he demanded of them.
    “Mr. Jefferson?” the voice asked.
    He couldn’t help noticing that the voice was sweet. But confident. “Just a moment, please. I’m having some interference here.”
    “I’m on a cell phone,” the sweet voice said. “I’m afraid the line is breaking up. Can you meet your date in town, to help her get to the ranch?”
    “Absolutely,” he said. “How about we meet at Lampy’s Bar on the square?”
    “I’ll tell her,” the voice said. “Nine o’clock all right?”
    “It’s fine.” He shooed his brothers away. “Um, does that mean that tonight is the one night she’s going to be my personal companion?”
    “Well, no, Mr. Jefferson,” the voice said with a laugh. “You can keep her as long as you need to, if you accept her,” the woman said. “This is just an interview, is it not? Since your needs were pretty specific.”
    He recognized he was being teased and wasn’t sure what to think about it. The woman’s voice was givinghim a strange buzz, almost as if she were blowing kisses into his ear.
    “Normally, billing would begin in the morning, at eight o’clock. However, we feel it’s important that your assistant finds you to her liking, as well. You understand.”
    There was that subtle laughter in her voice again. Fannin turned to face the kitchen wall so that his brothers couldn’t read his expression. “It’s business, not pleasure,” he stated, lying through his teeth but not wanting to seem like a man who needed to call up for a private companion. Damn, but this was getting complicated. He’d have to find her some typing to do.
    Why did I let my brothers goad me into dialing up a date?
    “Goodbye,” the voice said, and the line went dead.
    “Oh crap!” Fannin said to himself. “I forgot all about my date tonight!”
    “You have a date?” Last asked