Wife for Hire Read Online Free PDF

half a day on the road to get away from my mother and Aunt Marvina, and now I find out your mother is blackmailing you to get married, and your father thinks your choice of lifework is ridiculous. I’m not going to have to get involved in any of this, am I?”
    â€œMaybe a little. Mom and Dad are coming over for dinner tomorrow night.”
    Maggie stood so quickly, her chair tipped over and crashed to the floor. “What? No way. Uh-uh. Forget it. I barely know you. How am I going to convince them we’re married?”
    â€œNo problem. I’m known for being impulsive and obstinate, and indulging in harebrained schemes. My parents will believe any thing about me.”
    â€œWhat will I wear?” Even as she said it, she cringed at her classic female reply.
    â€œSurely there must be something in all those boxes we packed in the back of the truck.”
    â€œBoring teacher’s clothes.”
    â€œGood,” he said. “That’s great. Be a typical teacher. My mother will love it.”
    Maggie grimaced and wondered how to break the news to him. She’d been a good teacher, but she’d never been typical. She’d had a hard time sticking to the syllabus, sometimes her classes got a tad chaotic, and she didn’t always have the patience to be diplomatic with parents. In the past two years she’d spent more time in the principal’s office than Leo Kulesza, the only kid in the history of Riverside High School to repeat tenth grade four times. “What about food? I’m not the world’s greatest cook.”
    â€œElsie will take care of the food.”
    â€œDoes Elsie know your father is the president of the bank?”
    â€œElsie arrived the day I left on my wife hunt. There wasn’t much time for nonessential conversation.” He lowered his voice. “Maybe we should wait until after the dinner party to tell her. Tact doesn’t seem to be her strong suit.”
    â€œThis isn’t going to work.”
    â€œIt has to work. I need that loan. I need it fast.”
    â€œWhy don’t you go to another bank to get a loan?”
    â€œThe banking community up here is verysmall. I doubt if anyone would want to step on my dad’s toes. And the truth is, I’m not all that solvent. I’ve already taken a mortgage on the farm to expand the orchards. Giving me another loan is going to be an act of faith. In all honesty, I can see my father’s point of view. If I were in his position, I’m not sure I would loan me the money either. He has no way of knowing I’m capable of making a long-term commitment to a project. He told me to prove I could commit to something long-term; he told me to settle down and get married.”
    â€œWhat happens when I leave?”
    He shrugged. “They’ll have to deal with that.” Just as he would, he thought grimly. “They’re going to have to accept my failures as well as my successes. In the long run it’s my opinion of myself that really counts anyway.”
    Maggie righted her chair. She took a chunk of potato salad and chewed it thoughtfully. He was no dummy. He had his ducks all in a row. He could be faulted for finding weird solutions to his problems, but he had strength of character. And that was a good thing for a husband to have.

Chapter 3
    Maggie sat at her desk and stared, dreamy eyed, out the open window. There was a broad expanse of lawn, and after that there were rows of green-leaved apple trees stretching out over the low hills. The air was fragrant with smells of grass and earth, the sky was a brilliant, cloudless azure, the computer screen in front of her was blank, except for one phrase—“Once upon a time…”
    Elsie knocked on the door and poked her head in. “You been up here for hours. What are you doing?”
    â€œWatching apple trees grow.”
    â€œAren’t you supposed to be writing?”
    â€œI’m getting