Cowboy For Hire by Alice Duncan Read Free Book Online Page B

a
corner of her sandwich in it, let him figure that one out if
he can.
    To her astonishment, Charlie Fox threw back
his head and laughed. She scowled at him, gave up on eating her
sandwich as it was, and opened it up. If you can’t beat them, she
thought ferociously, join them. It was horribly impolite and
probably unsanitary as well, but it seemed nobody else cared about
manners. Why should she?
    Oh, dear, she was truly being corrupted.
Thank heavens Vernon couldn’t see her now. Even as she deplored her
incipient fall, Amy picked up a piece of roast beef from a piece of
bread with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. Then she
glared defiantly at Charlie Fox as she chewed. She might be going
straight to hell, but she wasn’t going to starve to death in order
to get there, Vernon or no Vernon.
    “Here, Miss Wilkes,” Charlie said after he’d
stopped laughing and wiped his eyes. “Maybe you can use this.” He
unsnapped a leather scabbard, which Amy hadn’t noticed was buckled
to his belt, and withdrew a knife that was larger than any Amy had
ever seen outside of a kitchen. She blinked at it. “Maybe it’ll
help you carve through some of that meat and bread.”
    He withdrew a clean handkerchief from his
pocket, dipped it in his mug of coffee, wiped the blade of the
knife with it, and handed the knife to Amy, haft first. Amy eyed it
warily for a minute, decided he was right, even though he probably
meant the gesture as one of contempt, and took the knife. She
handled it gingerly. “Thank you very much.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    Sweet pickles, his eyes were sparkling like
some kind of gemstones. Amy wished they wouldn’t do that, as they
affected the speed of her heartbeat alarmingly. She took out her
own clean hankie and wiped the coffee from the blade of the knife.
Then, concentrating on her sandwich, she carved a bit of roast beef
and bread with Charlie’s knife and forked it into her mouth. The
knife was very sharp. After she’d swallowed—her code of conduct
might have slipped some, but she hadn’t sunk far enough to talk
with her mouth full—she turned to Charlie again.
    “Thank you, Mr. Fox. Your knife works very
well. It’s quite sharp. You must take great pains to keep the edge
well honed.”
    Charlie nodded. He’d propped his chin on his
folded hands, which were supported by his elbows, and was watching
every move she made. Amy heaved a small internal sigh and wondered
if most of the world was like him, or if most people behaved as she
and her Pasadena friends and family did. If she herself was unique,
and not Charlie Fox, she expected she’d have a lot of adjusting to
do as she moved through life. Or perhaps she could merely return to
Pasadena and not have to face the world again.
    “Yes, ma’am. Got to keep ‘em sharp or they
don’t do no good.”
    “I see.”
    “But it ain’t hard to do. A honin’ strop, a
piece of rock, and bear grease does the job right fine.”
    “Bear grease?” Amy eyed her sandwich. But she
hadn’t tasted anything amiss, so she guessed the napkin and coffee
had eliminated any telltale traces. Probably it had been the
coffee. Amy couldn’t imagine even bear grease surviving coffee.
    “Yes, ma’am. Them bears, they’s good for lots
of things besides eatin’.”
    She squinted up at him sideways, curious as
to why he sounded so much more ungrammatical now than when she’d
first met him. Eyeing the remains of her sandwich, she wondered if
she should take another bite or two. She was feeling full, but
didn’t know when her next meal would be served—or what it would be.
She hadn’t anticipated eating foreign food when she’d agreed to
play a part in this picture.
    “Losin’ yer appetite?”
    When she glanced at Charlie again, his grin
was in place, his eyes were twinkling, and Amy decided that if one
were forced to face trials in life in order to temper one’s
character, which was what she’d always been told was the way of the
world. Charlie Fox