ANOTHER SUNNY DAY Read Online Free PDF Page A

kind word escaped your lips. I've got a job to do here, and if we can't come to some sort of terms, then this next week is going to seem a lot longer than just seven days. I've tried my best to be nice and overlook your remarks, but you just keep on and on. . . ." she finished lamely, her large aquamarine eyes shimmeri ng brightly with unshed tears.
    "Touché," he responded, then fell silent, a confused frown furrowing his tanned forehead. Several minutes passed before he spoke again, but now his tone was friendlier and more open, as if he had struggled successfully to banish whatever it was that had been troubling him.
    "I have to admit that except for the way you dress, you're nothing like what I expected." Unexpectedly he flashed a warm apologetic smile, melting her anger and mak ing her heart skip alarmingly.
    "Which was?"
    "A bird-witted, fading beauty on a star trip, expecting to be spoonfed and babied, a service I was not eager to provide," he answered ungallantly.
    "Try not to sugarcoat it." A grin lit up her face. "I can honestly say that that is not me. In fact, I promise you that I'll be out of this business long before I become the creature you described. "Only she knew how very true that statement was. By this time next week she would be on her way back home to Kentucky, transformed from a swan back into a duckling. "So can we call a truce and try to get along for the next few days? I've been involved in the music business for years, but I'm very new at this sort of thing and need all the friends I can get, and I don't mean devoted fan-type friends either," she said almost shyly, self-consciously smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles in her form-fitted pants.
    A quick glance reassured him that her request was sincere. Impulsively he reached out and covered her small hand with his own much larger one. Although the gesture was meant only to be friendly, Sarah's breath caught in her throat, and she sneaked a look at him from beneath her long lashes, only to catch his own steady gaze fastened on her. This time, however, his eyes weren't the glittery silver that they had been last night but a soft sparkling gray, and they held in their depths an expression suspiciously like admiration, which he quickly masked. Almost guiltily he returned his hand to the steering wheel and his eyes to the road.
    After clearing his throat he said. "I don't know if you're as hungry as I am, but if you don't mind waiting a few extra minutes, we can eat a good country-style breakfast at my aunt and uncle's ranch. That's where we're supposed to meet t he other trail riders anyway."
    "I hate to just drop in on someone and expect them to fix us br eakfast," she said hesitantly.
    "Well, they are sort of expecting us," he admitted. "They said they would never forgive me if I didn't bring you by to meet them. Aunt Marie probably already has breakfa st ready to put on the table."
    "It sounds good to me. I'm starved. There's something about getting up early in the morning in the country that increases my appetite alarmingly." She laughed her naturally cheerful d isposition reasserting itself.
    When they arrived at the ranch, she demonstrated her hearty appetite by helping herself to generous portions of the delicious breakfast, which included fluffy scrambled eggs, crisp, thick bacon, snowy buttered grits, and flaky buttermilk biscuits still hot from the oven, filled with butter and homemade strawberry preserves.
    George and Marie Miller, the middle-aged couple who owned the ranch, hovered around her, watching appreciatively as she ate their food with apparent gusto. They were obviously awed to have seated at their dining-room table a singer who had appeared not once but several times at the Grand Ole Opry. None of their friends or neighbors would ever believe them, so after the meal Marie dug out an old Polaroid camera so they could have their pictures taken with Sarah, who cheerfully obliged, even autographing several record CDs they had with