Rescuing the Lawman by Cheryl Wright

Author:Cheryl Wright [Wright, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-02T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Bethany spent the best part of her morning making Christmas puddings. They were more time consuming than most other items she baked. Even using the largest pot they had, only four puddings could be cooked at one time, and each batch had to be boiled for hours.

Oscar had bought up all the calico available from the mercantile, and ordered in another ten yards. If they didn’t use it all this year, it could be stored for the following Christmas. Assuming she was even still there.

The moment word got around, they’d been flooded with orders for puddings. There was only one way that could have happened – Hunter. No one else knew.

She’d had to set up an order book, and glancing through it, wondered how she would ever make enough puddings to fulfil the orders. Either she’d be making puddings virtually non-stop, or Oscar would have to buy at least one more large pot.

She would get young Tommy Jones to ask his mother to increase their egg order by at least five times. Bethany hoped the chickens could keep up. Her arm was already aching from all the stirring she was doing.

She glanced up as the bell over the door tinkled. It was Hunter. That was all she needed.

“Good morning,” he grumbled as though what happened last night was her fault. It wasn’t.

She nodded but didn’t speak, and continued to mix. “Sure,” she finally said.

It really wasn’t a good morning. For weeks he’d treated her like a leper, which had suited her fine. Then suddenly last night, he’d asked her out, kissed her, and dumped her all in a matter of hours. What sort of reception did he expect?

“I guess I deserve that,” he said. “I came to tell you there are no prisoners for supper tonight.”

She glanced up again and stopped momentarily. “Fine. Thanks.” She was far from interested in small talk and wished he would leave.

He pushed his hat back on his head, fiddled with his gloves, and pulled his coat further around himself. It seemed like he didn’t want to leave. “I also want to apologize.”

“You know where the door is,” she said abruptly, not interested in his explanations.

“Bethany…”

“It was your choice,” she said, beginning to lose her temper. “Now please leave.”

He stared at her, sadness evident on his face. “I…”

“Not interested,” she said, then picked up the bowl and went into the kitchen. She didn’t return until she heard the bell tinkle over the door as he left.

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh?” Oscar knew something was wrong when she’d arrived this morning, and was sympathetic when he’d finally dragged it out of her. “The poor man has no idea how to treat women. He deals with criminals and thugs all day, and you expect him to be perfect.”

He looked serious, but she wasn’t sure if he was.

“Not my problem,” she said, then returned to the bakery. She laid the four wet pieces of calico across the counter, sprinkled it with flour to form a thick white coating on the cooked pudding, then divided the recipe evenly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.