A Convenient Wife Read Online Free PDF Page B

her nonchalant description of the chores she’d been called upon to perform. “So I put you out of business, did I?”
    Her eyes were warm as she turned them in his direction. “I didn’t mind. I never much liked tending to the men. Sometimes they made me feel odd, like they were looking at me funny. You can have the whole kit and caboodle of them.”
    â€œThey looked at you funny?” He caught the offhand remark and dwelt on it. “Like men do here in town? As if they admire your pretty hair or your smile?”
    â€œI don’t have pretty hair,” she said firmly. “It’s brown and gets all tangled up and in my way. My pa won’t allow me to cut it, said the good book is against women having short hair.”
    And wasn’t that the first thing he’d found to admire about the brute? Win nodded agreeably. “I like long hair myself,”he said affably. “And whether you realize it or not, yours is lovely.”
    Ellie reached up self-consciously to smooth the stray locks from her cheek, tucking them behind her ears. “We need to talk about my working here,” she told him. “I need a place to stay, first off. Is there any chance I can have a room out back? I see you’ve got a shed on the back of the house.”
    â€œYou can have a room upstairs,” he told her. “There are three bedrooms there, and I have one down here. There’s plenty of furniture that came with the house and more in the attic if the room you choose doesn’t have what you need.”
    He held up a hand, gaining her silence as she would have spoken. “I know you think the folks in town will talk, but I don’t think they’ll trouble you. Once it’s known that your father took out his anger on you the way he did, I’ll be considered the man of the hour for taking you under my wing.”
    â€œYou think so?” She sounded uncomfortable with the idea, yet the first sign of animation crossed her face. “You don’t think they’ll take it wrong?”
    â€œLots of single men have housekeepers, back in the city where I come from,” he said firmly. But none so pretty as you. The thought flashed through his mind before he could snatch it, and he considered the idea.
    If Ellie thought herself unattractive, she’d been looking in the wrong mirror. Dark hair with red highlights, gathered from the lamp overhead, tempted him to gaze in her direction, and velvet couldn’t begin to describe the soft warmth of her brown eyes. Even the one that had a swollen lid owned a hopeful cast, and he smiled as her lips quirked just a bit.
    â€œWe could try it out,” she ventured. “Maybe see if what I do is up to snuff.”
    He nodded, gesturing to the clean kitchen that surrounded them. “You’ve done just fine so far. I expect a meal on the table in the mornings by seven o’clock and maybe a bite to eat around noontime, when I get back from house calls. Andthen when my day is over, if you could have something hot on the back of the stove, I’d surely appreciate it.”
    â€œDo you have fixings for breakfast in the pantry?” she asked, her eyes looking toward the narrow opening on the opposite wall.
    â€œNot much of anything. Just some eggs I got at Tess and John’s place. My milk’s sour and the bread I bought from Ethel Talbert, the lady next door, went moldy on me. I think there’s some canned goods, but I eat at the hotel a lot, when I think of it.”
    â€œCan they cook good? At the hotel I mean? I’ve never eaten anywhere but at home.”
    â€œNot as good as what I had tonight,” he told her. “I’ll have to watch that they don’t coax you to work there, once they find out I’ve hired the best cook in Whitehorn.”
    She smiled again at his teasing manner, and he felt the warmth of her approval. “You don’t have to say nice things about me, Dr.