Mail Order Minx: Fountain of Love (Brides of Beckham) by Kirsten Osbourne Read Free Book Online

but she'd be more careful this time.
    He raised an eyebrow at that but showed her how to measure the coffee into the tin pot.  "There.  Now just set it on the stove and it'll cook."  He watched her as she did as he told her, hoping that she was better in the kitchen than it looked like she was.  What kind of woman didn't know how to make coffee?  From what he could tell, every American had coffee with their breakfast every day of the week.
    He'd started a fire in the coal stove for her while she was getting the eggs and bacon and watched her as she laid the bacon in the still cold frying pan.  He could see she hadn't done as much cooking as she'd let on.  "The bacon will turn out better if you warm the pan up first," he said.  He gave her the advice calmly as if he didn't mind at all that she had no clue what she was doing, but he could see that she knew nothing about cooking.  Why hadn't she simply told him the truth?
    "Oh, all right." She took the bacon back out and set the pan on the stove, waiting for it to warm.  While it was warming, she cracked several eggs into a bowl, having to keep fishing out egg shells. 
    "Millie?"  Connor's voice was soft, but demanding as he said her name.
    She nodded, afraid to look at him.
    "You said you cooked." 
    "I didn't say I did it well."  She bit her lip, looking down at the eggs that she'd already mangled beyond recognition.
    He sighed.  "I'll teach you."  He had never been so disappointed in his life.  She'd seemed so perfect to him, and now he could see where her flaws lay.  She couldn't cook.  At all.  He'd asked for a wife who was an experienced cook, because it's what he needed.  How was he going to be able to make this work?  "While I'm teaching you, I'm going to need for you to spend most of your time waiting tables.  Do you mind taking orders from people and taking them their food?"  There was no going back now.  They were married, and he truly didn't think he'd not marry her if he'd known, but he did wish she'd have told him.
    She dashed a tear from her eye as she nodded.  "I'm sorry!  I was going to tell you, but I just couldn't.  I was afraid you'd send me back home."   She sniffled loudly as she admitted why she hadn't told him the truth.
    "I may have," he said.  "We'll make it work, though."  He continued mixing the bread, picking up the pace a little.  They'd slept later than they would have if he'd known he'd be doing the majority of the cooking alone.  He'd have to work harder to have everything ready by the time the restaurant opened.
    He finished mixing the bread and went over to stand beside her, carefully dumping the eggs into a slop bowl.  "We give all of our scraps to one of the pig farmers outside of town, and he feeds his pig s with them.  In return, he gives us a reduced price for the slaughtered pig when the time comes."
    She nodded.  "I'm sorry I'm messed up the eggs."   She looked down, unable to meet his gaze, because she knew she'd see disappointment in it.  He didn't know yet how good she was with people.
    "It's fine."  He turned to the stove.  "The pan is hot enough now, so let's start the bacon."  He laid the bacon across the pan and she heard the sizzle.  Then he turned back to the bowl she'd used to mix the eggs.  After checking that there were no pieces of shell left, he cracked six eggs into it, using just one hand.  She watched carefully, knowing she wanted to be able to do it herself the next day.  She should have paid better attention when Berta was trying to teach her.
    "I want you to mix this together."  He handed her a fork.  "Hold the bowl against your belly with your arm and mix it fast with the fork."  He watched her for a moment, before he nodded and walked to the stove to turn the bacon.  "Always cook the bacon first, because then you can use the grease to cook the eggs.  If you're not making bacon or sausage with your eggs, use butter or a little lard to grease the pan."
    She nodded,