What a Bride Wants Read Online Free PDF Page A

eat.
    Samuel T. Emerson was a good looking man, with eyes almost as blue as his daughter’s. He wore the same sort of well-worn work clothes as his employees, something that lifted him a notch in Sawyer’s estimation. Sawyer’s own father wouldn’t be caught dead wearing anything but a hand-tailored suit.
    “ So you’re Sawyer,” the older man said, and Sawyer nodded and examined the skin on his apple. It had been a long time since he’d offered up a yessir. “And you met my daughter last night.”
    Another nod as Sawyer bit into the apple and chewed thoughtfully, and then swallowed before answering. Manners and all that. “I’m meeting her again for lunch today.”
    “ Are you buying or is she?”
    Sawyer smiled, slick and fast. “How ‘bout I get back to you on that?”
    The older man eyed him coldly but Sawyer remained unperturbed. He’d grown up with colder stares than this one. Meaner ones. He took another bite of his apple. And chewed.
    “ I know about the ad my daughter put up on the saloon bulletin board. I know how contrary she can be.”
    Again, Sawyer took his time chewing and swallowing before answering. “Something you might have considered when writing your ad.”
    “ Perhaps.” Samuel T. smiled mirthlessly. “What brings you to Marietta, son?”
    “ The road, mostly. Work I like. Real pretty little town.”
    “ Are you looking for more work, Mr. Sawyer?”
    He could have told the older man that he only had three more weeks left at the bar before Reese ’s regular bartender returned from his break, but in Sawyer’s experience handing over that kind of ammunition never ended well. “Why? You got any?”
    “ What can you do?”
    “ Jack of all trades.”
    “ Do you have an education?”
    “ Ivy League, can’t you tell?”
    Ray snorted. Sawyer smiled and continued to eat his breakfast. Happens he did have a Harvard education, courtesy of his mother’s American connections and his family’s abundance of money. His father had wanted him to have a business degree so that’s what he’d enrolled for. His father had once been of a mind to position Sawyer somewhere within the family’s extensive brewery holdings. Right up until his older brother had stopped that line of thinking dead. “I may know a little something about the liquor business,” he offered. “Running a bar and the like.”
    “ Grey’s already has a manager. A good one.”
    “ Noticed that.”
    Samuel T. looked him over again, with eyes that missed nothing. “Do you know cattle?”
    “ I know what they look like.” Sawyer sighed. “Samuel, can we cut to the part where you tell me the bunk room is no longer available and you try to run me out of town?”
    “ What makes you think I’m going to do that?”
    “ You’re here.”
    Samuel snorted. “Son, I know my daughter. Last thing I’m going to do is run you out of town, even if I could. She can get real ornery if you take her toys away.”
    “ That a warning that your daughter’s a spoiled princess?”
    “ Well it should be. She has a good heart though, and there’s nothing I’d like more than to see her in love and happily settled.”
    “ Hey, woah! I answered the other ad.”
    “ So you did.” Samuel reached for his hat. “Pay for lunch, Sawyer. Get to know my daughter, if that’s what you both want. Court her if you’ve a mind to. I’ll give any man a chance to earn my respect and hers – even a casual worker living out of one of my bunkhouses.” He put his hat on and fixed Sawyer with a steady gaze. “Just don’t play my daughter for her money, because that won’t end well for anyone.”
    “ I’m not that money driven.”
    “ Maybe you’re after permanent residency.”
    “ Australian father, American mother.” Sawyer studied his apple core, decided he’d had enough and tossed it in the freshly emptied office bin. “I’m already a citizen.”
    Samu el stared at him long and hard. Sawyer stared back.
    “ Are we done?” Sawyer