Angel Mine by Sherryl Woods Page A

be in a more receptive frame of mind.”
    “Joe—”
    “One of these days, Heather. No need to dig in your heels now. It’ll just make it harder for you to change your mind later.”
    She laughed. “Your ego’s obviously tougher than I thought.”
    He winked. “Keep that in mind, why don’t you.”
    Just then the door opened and Jake’s secretary came in, took one look around at the mostly male crowd and silently whistled. She took an empty seat at the counter, which hiked up her tight skirt, and grinned at Heather. “If I’d known you were going to start pulling in every bachelor in town, I’d have been over here sooner,” she teased.
    “They’re here for Henrietta’s spaghetti,” Heather insisted.
    “Yeah, right,” Flo said. “Henrietta’s been serving that same spaghetti since I came to town and I’ve never seen a crowd like this.”
    Joe’s gaze settled on Flo as if he’d never seen her before. Heather seized on that promising flash of masculine interest and introduced the two of them.
    “Are you both having the spaghetti?” she asked.
    “Suits me,” Joe said, without taking his gaze from Flo.
    He was looking at her as if she were some sort of fascinating exotic bird, Heather thought. Given Flo’s short skirt and snug sweater, Heather had a very strong feeling that she wouldn’t need to worry about Joe’s unwanted attention anymore.
    “Me, too,” Flo agreed, equally distracted.
    Heather headed toward the kitchen to place the order and ran into Henrietta coming out with a loaded tray.
    “Matchmaking?” Henrietta inquired.
    “Not intentionally, but it sure looks as if it might work out that way.” Something in Henrietta’s expression suggested disapproval. “What do you think?”
    “I think he could do better,” she said succinctly, then turned right around and went back into the kitchen, food and all.
    Heather followed her. “You don’t like Flo?”
    Scowling, Henrietta put the tray down. “I didn’t say I didn’t like her.”
    “But you don’t approve of her for Joe, right?”
    Henrietta sighed. “They’re both grown people. They’ll do what they want without my say-so.” She paused, then added pointedly, “Same as you.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Take it however you want,” Henrietta said as she grabbed up two more salads, added them to the tray and left Heather staring after her.
    “Now, what on earth was that about?” she asked.
    “She gets riled up when things don’t go to suit her,” Mack answered as he expertly flipped burgers. “It’ll pass. I ought to know. She spends most days riled up at me about one thing or another. If I experiment with some spice she hasn’t personally okayed, you’d think I was trying to ruin her business.”
    Heather chuckled at the cook’s disgruntled expression. “Remember the clientele,” she said. “These folks can’t take a lot of change all at once. You have to ease ’em along. Henrietta knows that.”
    “Henrietta’s worse than the whole lot of them.” He shook his head. “Talk about being set in her ways. But like I said, her moods pass.”
    Henrietta being riled up was plain enough, but what had set her off? Flo Olsen and Joe Stevens? Was she irked because she’d wanted something to happen between Joe and Heather? That didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Hadn’t she warned Heather to stay away from him since she intended to leave Whispering Wind? Or was it simply Flo she objected to?
    Well, standing around in the kitchen wasn’t going to get dinners served or solve the mystery of Henrietta’s mood. Heather picked up salads for Joe and Flo, then went back to serve them—only to discover that Todd had joined them at the counter. From the way Todd and Flo were chatting, it was obvious that they were well-acquainted. Heather suspected she had the same scowl on her face that was plain on Joe’s. Damn, but working here was getting complicated. There was more intrigue going on at the counter tonight than