gleamed white against histanned features and she thought she’d never seen a man even half as handsome.
“I’d hoped to see you today, Miss Williams.” Andrew Webb stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Reverend Mulligan and his companions. She’d been so wrapped up in watching the McLains that she hadn’t even been aware of him greeting her aunt and uncle.
“Mr. Webb.” She smiled at him and resisted the urge to try to peer around him to see where the McLains were.
“You look very pretty today, Miss Williams, if you don’t mind my saying so.” Andrew flushed a little at his boldness.
“Thank you, Mr. Webb.” He was lying through his teeth, of course. His crooked teeth, she added when he smiled. The powder blue dress she wore was a remade castoff of Anabel’s, and neither the color nor the style suited her. Not to mention the appallingly ugly hat Aunt Dorinda had purchased for her the week before. The brim dripped with ribbon roses and fat bows and made her look like an overdressed mushroom.
“I knew that hat would look a picture on you.”
“This hat?” Eleanor lifted her hand to touch the despised headgear, her attention fully on Andrewfor the first time. “Aunt Dorinda bought it from you? ”
“Yes.” Andrew smiled happily. “As soon as I saw it, I thought of you.”
“You did?”
“Yes.” His smile widened. “I’m so glad to see you like it.”
“It’s…lovely,” Eleanor said weakly. It was also the only hat she owned, at least until she could refurbish last year’s bonnet. The tattered condition of that item was the only reason she’d forced herself to don the hat at all.
“I’ve often thought it remarkable how close one can feel to someone with whom one shares one’s tastes, even in such small and unimportant things as styles of dress,” Andrew said, his watery blue eyes focused intently on her face.
Eleanor stared at him, groping for an appropriate reply. Should she admit, right up front, that she despised the hat in question? If she did, would that end the possibility of Mr. Webb being a suitor for her hand? Did she care? To her relief, she was saved the necessity of a reply by Reverend Mulligan’s arrival.
“Zeb, I’d like to introduce you to some friends of mine. This is Luke McLain and his brother, Daniel. Mr. and Mrs. Williams.”
Andrew Webb was instantly forgotten. Eleanor felt her pulse suddenly beating much too fast in the base of her throat. Luke McLain. She rolled the name around in her mind and decided that she’d never heard one she liked more.
“We’ve already met,” Uncle Zeb was saying as he shook hands with both men. “Dealings with the bank, of course. Haven’t seen either of you in quite a while. How’d your place come through the winter? Did you lose much stock?” He looked ready to settle into a lengthy discussion of ranching but a subtle nudge from his wife reminded him of his duties. “Oh, excuse me. Allow me to introduce my wife, Dorinda. And my daughter, Anabel,” he said, pride evident in both voice and expression.
“Miss Williams.” Luke smiled at Anabel, and Eleanor felt something close to despair. No doubt he’d be dazzled by Anabel’s pale beauty, just as every other man was.
“Mr. McLain. And Mr. McLain.” Anabel smiled, revealing the perfect dimples in her cheeks. “I’m very pleased to meet you.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
Eleanor was unreasonably pleased that it was Daniel and not Luke who gave her cousin that reassurance.
“We haven’t seen you at church before, have we?” Anabel asked, widening her blue eyes in a way that drew attention to their pure color.
“We haven’t attended much lately,” Luke said, and Eleanor felt the deep richness of his voice slide over her skin.
“I hope you mean to change that,” Anabel said.
“Now, Anabel, Mr. McLain is going to think you’re being bold.” Her mother’s voice was too indulgent to be called a scold.
“I was just thinking of the