Take Me, Cowboy Read Free Page B

kind of dress would you buy?” he asked.
    â€œSomething floral? Kind of...down to the knee?”
    He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re not Scarlett O’Hara,” he said, knowing that with her love of old movies, Anna would appreciate the reference. “You aren’t going dressed in the drapes.”
    Anna scowled. “Why the hell do you know so much about women’s clothes?”
    â€œBecause I spend a lot of time taking them off my dates.”
    That shut her up. Her pale cheeks flamed and she looked away from him, and that response stirred...well, it stirred something in his gut he wished would go the hell away.
    â€œWhy do you want to go anyway?” she asked, still not looking at him.
    â€œI want to talk to Nathan West and the other businessmen there about investment opportunities. I want to prove that Sam and I are the kind of people that can move in their circles. The kind of people they want to do business with.”
    â€œAnd you have to put on a suit and hobnob at a gala to do that?”
    â€œThe fact is, I don’t get chances like this very often, Anna. I didn’t get an invitation. And I need one. Plus, if you take me, you’ll win your bet.”
    â€œUnless Dan and Mark tell me you don’t count.”
    â€œLoophole. If they never said you couldn’t recruit a date, you’re fine.”
    â€œIt violates the spirit of the bet.”
    â€œIt doesn’t have to,” he insisted. “Anyway, by the time I’m through with you, you’ll be able to get any date you want.”
    She blinked. “Are you... Are you Henry Higgins-ing me?”
    He had only a vague knowledge of the old movie My Fair Lady , but he was pretty sure that was the reference. A man who took a grubby flower girl and turned her into the talk of the town. “Yes,” he said thoughtfully. “Yes, I am. Take me up on this, Anna Brown, and I will turn you into a woman.”

Two
    A nna just about laughed herself off her chair. “You’re going to make me a...a...a woman?”
    â€œWhy is that funny?”
    â€œWhat about it isn’t funny?”
    â€œI’m offering to help you.”
    â€œYou’re offering to help me be something that I am by birth. I mean, Chase, I get that women are kind of your thing, but that’s pretty arrogant. Even with all things considered.”
    â€œOkay, obviously I’m not going to make you a woman.” Something about the way he said the phrase this time hit her in an entirely different way. Made her think about other applications that phrase occasionally had. Things she needed to never, ever, ever, ever think about in connection with Chase.
    If she valued her sanity and their friendship.
    She cleared her throat, suddenly aware that it was dry and scratchy. “Obviously.”
    â€œI just meant that you need help getting a date, and I need to go to this party. And you said that you were concerned about your appearance in the community.”
    â€œRight.” He wasn’t wrong. The thing was, she knew that whether or not she could blend in at an event like this didn’t matter at all to how well her business did. Nobody cared if their mechanic knew which shade of lipstick she should wear. But that wasn’t the point.
    She—her family collectively—was the town charity case. Living on the edge of the community in a run-down house, raised by a single father who was in over his head, who spent his days at the mill. Her older brothers had been in charge of taking care of her, and they had done so. But, of course, they were also older brothers. Which meant they had tormented her while feeding and clothing her. Anyway, she didn’t exactly blame them.
    It wasn’t like the two of them had wanted to raise a sister when they would rather be out raising hell.
    Especially a sister who was committed to driving them crazy.
    She loved her brothers. But that didn’t