Reckless Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

wrong?” she asked.
    “No. We’re just waiting for the rest,” Josh said slowly, the glimmer of a smile touching his lips, his gray eyes narrowed as he watched her. Curious to know what she would do. Give up and leave? Or had she more stamina than that?
    “The rest?” Molly’s heart dropped. A quick glance around the table assured her she had not misread the situation. There had not been enough food. Again.
    She swallowed. There was nothing else for dinner. She had thought several slices of pizza would be enough. She never ate more than two herself. God, what was she going to do? No one said a word; they all just stared at her. Panicked, she looked at Josh again. Her job depended on her doing the work to his satisfaction. On providing good service. Not on sending cowboys to bed hungry.
    A painful blush started in her chest and spread to her neck, her cheeks. The heat swamped her as the moments stretched out endlessly, silently. She swallowed again, praying for a miracle.
    It came when Josh shook his head and pushed back his chair. “Omelets. And biscuits. You can make biscuits, can’t you?”
    She nodded.
    Josh opened the industrial-size refrigerator and tallied the eggs. “Jason, go to the bunkhouse and see how many eggs you have there. We have two dozen here, bring back two dozen more if you have that many. Is there any meat?”
    “There’s some ham left over from the other night,” one of the men volunteered.
    “Bring that, too,” Josh ordered, already removing the eggs from the refrigerator.
    Four dozen eggs? Molly was astonished. Then reason quickly took over. Of course, there were almost two dozen people to feed and she already knew these men ate more than she did. Lots more. She should have figured that out on her own, especially after lunch.
    She moved to clear an area on the counter, and hunted for the flour. She'd make enough biscuits for each man to have a dozen. She would—
    “Carl, you and Pete put away the rest of groceries. Trevor, you find the onions and cut them up. Jack grate cheese. Lance—”
    “I’ll take care of the coffee and condiments, boss,” Lance interrupted, his eyes dancing in amusement. He cleared the trays from the pizzas and moved to the stove. “Dennis will hunt up some more vegetables and Steve can find the jam.”
    Reaching around Molly, the cowboy called Lance drew down the large bags of flour. “It won’t take long, ma’am, to know how much we like to eat. The pizza was a good idea, there just wasn’t enough. We could probably each eat a whole one,” he said gently.
    Josh glared at him and nodded toward the stove. Lance smiled, touched his forehead with two fingers in a mock salute and moved slowly away.
    Molly wished the floor would open up and swallow her completely. At least she had something to do and the men hadn’t complained about having to do their own cooking. Though she knew they must be mad as hornets. They'd worked hard all day and come to dinner expecting a hot meal. She’d fed them tidbits. Now they had to make their own suppers.
    She darted a quick glance at Josh. He hadn't said a word of reproach.
    In fact, he seemed to be surprisingly calm about the entire episode.
    Yet she knew it would be reason enough to fire her. More than enough after lunch. No sense in waiting for the replacement that wouldn’t come. He'd seen enough incompetence to fire her on the spot.
    Molly ignored the rough teasing and laughter the men shared. She concentrated on making the biscuits, watching each batch cook to make sure they turned out perfect. She wanted to make amends, but wasn’t sure how. She wanted to prove she could do this job, but wasn’t sure she’d get another chance.
    Josh seemed a hard man, not one given to forgiving repeated errors in judgment.
    When the omelets had been cooked and the first two batches of biscuits were on the table, the men sat back down. Josh came across the room and placed his hands on her shoulders, turning her from watching the