Mail Order Misfortune by Kirsten Osbourne Read Free Book Online Page A

chest.  "I can't work for you!  You're not married, and it wouldn't be proper at all."   Why hadn't she thought to ask the name of the man needing a housekeeper before she'd walked all the way from town.
    "Why would I hire a little spitfire like you?  I need someone who knows how to coo k and clean, not a little hoity-toity school teacher."  He looked her up and down as if he didn't think she had any idea how to work.
    "I know how to cook and clean.  I'm very good at it actually.  I just can't work for an unmarried man.  It wouldn't be proper.  Even if he is the one who got me fired from my job." 
    He grinned, looking like he was trying not to laugh.  "How'd I get you fired?  I didn't do anything."   Why would she blame him for whatever had gotten her fired?  From what he'd seen she was always flying off the handle about something.  How could it be his fault?
    She was so angry with him, she couldn't see straight.  She forgot all about having an audience and walked closer to him until she was all but standing on his feet.  "You're the one who grabbed me and kissed me in the schoolhouse.  Did you forget we were seen?"
    His eyes widened.  He had forgotten.  She was without a job and it was his fault.  "Well, you shouldn't have let me kiss you then, should you?"  He was just being belligerent by saying the words, knowing he was going to have to help her find a solution.
    She was so angry she couldn't contain it another minute.  She kicked him.  She'd never done anything violent in her life, but she kicked him as hard as she could, and it felt so good, she did it again.  "I hate you!  You come here with your disobedient, out-of-control child, walk into my school and kiss me, getting me fired.  Now I'm in a strange place, where I know no one!  What am I supposed to do?  You've cost me my job and lost me my place to live !"
    He looked at her, feeling more attracted to her than he had to any woman since Deborah's death.  "I can't hire you.  You're right, it wouldn't be proper."  He looked over and realized one of his cowboys was watching their exchange.  He waved him away.  "Get out of here.  This is private!"
    Anna took an immediate step back.  "You're not going to try to kiss me again are you?"  Her heart was already beating faster, just at the idea.   She hated herself for liking the idea as much as she did.
    He shook his head, but waited for the cowboy to get out of range.  "Look, I do feel responsible for you losing your job.  I can't hire you, because people would talk."  He took a deep breath, wondering if he was doing the right thing, but having no idea what else he could possibly do.  "How 'bout marrying me instead?"
    She stared at him in shock.  Had he really just offered to marry her?  They'd only met once before.  "I...I don't know how to even answer that, Mr. Hoover.  You're a stranger to me."  A stranger that she enjoyed kissing.
    "I'm not asking you to share my bed.  It would be a business arrangement.  I'm not ready for a real wife, but I do need someone who can cook and clean for me, and I need help with Ernie.  You'd do everything a wife does except share a room with me.  The house is big.  There are plenty of bedrooms.  You'd just pick one and it would be yours."
    "So you're asking me to be your housekeeper, and help you raise your son, but with the cloak of marriage to protect my reputation?"  It truly wasn't a bad idea if they could keep from killing one another...and keep their hands off each other, of course.
    He nodded.  "Yeah, that's pretty much it."
    She thought about it for a moment.  It's pretty much what she'd thought she'd be getting with Tom, but she wouldn't have to share his bed.  "What happens if one of us falls in love with someone else?"
    He shrugged.  "I have no idea what we'd do then.  I really don't.  We'll both have to try not to let that happen, and if it does, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."   He knew he wasn't endearing