Mail Order Miscreant Read online

  “Two coffees. . . . Are you going to have the special as well?” the waitress asked.

  “What’s the special?”

  “Every Saturday we have a turkey, dressing, and mashed potato meal with fresh dinner rolls.”

  “That sounds delicious. I’ll have that.” Charlie knew he must really be there often if they knew what he would eat before he sat down.

  “Coming up!” The waitress hurried away, and Charlie looked at Abel.

  “So I guess her knowing what you were going to drink and what you wanted to eat was a big surprise, huh?”

  “She’s amazing at guessing what customers want. Ask anyone!”

  A shadow fell over their table, and Charlie looked up to see a man who looked an awful lot like her new husband standing beside a very pregnant lady who was very close to her own age. “You must be Kane and Veronica. Abel has told me so much about you both. I’m Charlotte, but most people just call me Charlie.”

  Kane smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Charlie. I haven’t seen you around town before?”

  “That’s because until a few hours ago, I lived in Mistletoe. Your brother went there to buy some art, and he married me and brought me back with him.”

  “Married?” Veronica asked in a particularly shrill voice that was not pleasing to Charlie’s ears.

  “Yes. You know what marriage is, right? We stood up in front of a pastor in a church in my town, and he pronounced us man and wife, and then we kissed.” Charlie’s eyes met Abel’s for a moment. “I love Abel’s kisses.”

  Abel’s hand covered hers on the table. “We got married this morning. What are you two doing here?”

  Veronica folded her hands on top of her belly. “I wasn’t feeling well enough to cook supper tonight. The baby weighs heavily on me. I’m not sure how I’m going to make it through the next two months.”

  Charlie wasn’t even certain what to say to that. Normally she’d volunteer to help out, but Abel had warned her about his sister-in-law, and she knew better. “Maybe you should hire someone to help you out.”

  Veronica frowned. “Maybe we will.” She seemed to look down her nose at Charlie, who simply smiled in return.

  After being a member of the demon horde for so long, Charlie certainly knew how to handle people looking down at her. “Are you just getting here? Would you like to join us?”

  Veronica immediately took the seat next to Abel. “Yes, we would.” She left the seat beside Charlie open for her husband, Kane. “Abel, I thought you were only going to be gone for a few hours? We were planning to dine out with you on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as well.”

  Abel shrugged. “I got caught in a snowstorm and needed to take shelter. I’m sure the storm hit here as well. Weren’t you worried about me?”

  “Not particularly. Unlike my husband, you know how to take care of yourself.”

  Charlie immediately bristled, wanting to come to Kane’s defense, but she had no idea how. She turned to the man beside her. “I hope you had food to eat while you were indoors for so long. It must be hard for you having a wife with no desire to cook.”

  Abel turned his laugh into a cough. Charlie already knew Veronica well. “Thankfully, Kane is a good cook. We lived together before Kane married a year ago, and he usually fixed breakfast for us, because the diner isn’t open until noon.”

  “A man who can cook? I’ve met very few of those over the years,” Charlie said. “I’m very impressed, Mr. Burton.”

  Kane grinned at her. “Please call me Kane. Tell me all about yourself, Charlie.”

  “Well, I come from back east, and my sister owns a mail-order bride agency there. When she decided to send out a friend of mine with two small children, I was hired to be her traveling companion to Mistletoe. I formed such a close bond with the woman and her niece and nephew that I stayed on to help, because she also ran a business from her home, and doing that and caring for two small children and a house was a lot. I enjoyed being with her, and it was very pleasant for both of us.”

  From across the table, Veronica sneered. “And you couldn’t find a husband out of all the single men that would be in a small town like Mistletoe? How sad.”

  “Oh, I had six proposals in my first week, but I was holding out for someone special.” Her eyes met Abel’s, and she smiled at him. “I’m glad I waited, because I cannot imagine being married to any man other than Abel.”

  Abel took her hand and brought it to his lips. “May we always feel about one another the way we do today.”

  Veronica scoffed. “Within a month, you’ll be done with each other. We were.”

  Kane frowned at his wife. He obviously didn’t like the way the woman talked about him or their marriage. “That’s enough, Veronica.”

  Veronica got quiet, but she sulked through the meal. When the waitress brought four specials, they all picked up their forks.

  “This looks delicious,” Charlie said to the waitress. “I can’t wait to start eating.”

  “Don’t wait, then!” the waitress said with a laugh. “I made the dinner rolls, so you have to compliment me on them later.”

  “You can be sure I will!” Charlie loved to be complimented on her cooking and baking, and she assumed everyone else felt the same.

  Throughout the meal, Charlie tried to ignore Veronica’s gaze. It was obvious the other woman didn’t like her, but she wasn’t sure why. She had done nothing that would offend the other girl. Not that she knew of anyway.

  As they ate, Charlie felt Veronica giving her strange looks. Charlie couldn’t help but notice that it was Abel paying the bill. She wondered why, but didn’t feel comfortable asking, even though they were married.

  When the meal was finally over, Charlie could think of nothing she wanted more than sleep. It had been a very long day, and she was ready for it to be over. She felt uncomfortable around Veronica, but she would never admit it.

  Abel held her hand as they were leaving the diner, Veronica and Kane behind them. The four of them walked together down the street, toward the house where she would be living with Abel. “So what hours is the store open?” Charlie finally asked, trying to break the silence. She felt like she and Kane would get along well, but Veronica was another story entirely. She was the kind of girl that she had once happily thrown eggs at when the girl got too close to the Miller farm. Charlie wished she had some eggs right then, but she wasn’t sure of how her new husband would react.

  “I usually open from ten to three. That’s enough hours for me to make good sales, and then I spend the rest of my time reading and trying to procure more art for the shop.”

  Veronica made a noise of disgust from behind them. “Sure, you’ll shorten your hours for your new wife, but when you were courting me, you ignored me most of the time.”

  Charlie kept smiling, but she felt like she was going to break. He’d courted that . . . that . . . snobbish idiot? There was no way he could have. “I guess it’s a good thing he married the woman he wanted to spend time with, isn’t it?” They had reached their house, and Charlie turned to the other couple. “It was so nice meeting you, Kane. I’m looking forward to getting to know my new brother.”

  Kane smiled. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you, too. I’d love to learn some tips from you.”

  “Tips?” Charlie asked.

  “Tips for standing up for myself,” Kane said, winking at her.

  Charlie laughed. “Goodnight, Veronica.”

  “Charlie.” Veronica said nothing else as she turned her back and waited on the other side of the street for her husband.

  Kane shook his head. “I’m sorry she made things more difficult for you.”

  Charlie shrugged. “I’ve known a lot of girls like her. I’ve thrown a lot of eggs and rotten apples at girls like her, too. If all else fails, I’ll start collecting eggs.”

  Abel covered his mouth with his hand to hide his laughter. “My wife was once known as a member of the demon horde of Massachusetts. Veronica is never going to be able to ruffle this one’s feathers.” Truly, that was one of the things he was looking for when he wanted a wife. Not a member of the demon horde, of course, because he’d never heard of such a thing. No, he’d been looking for a woman who wouldn’t be upset by Veronica’s theatrics.

  “I’m so glad. I wouldn’t want her to upset you.” Kane smiled. “I’d invite the two of you over for supper, but Veronica will find some reason she can’t cook, and we’ll end up having to go to the diner anyway.”

  “Why don’t the two of you dine with us on Wednesday evening, then? I’ll cook. I enjoy it, and maybe some of my happiness will rub off on your miserable wife.” As soon as she said the words, she felt as if she’d gone too far. Charlie covered her mouth with one hand. “Sorry.”

  “No, you’re just speaking the truth. We’d love to come for supper on Wednesday. Six?”

  “Sounds great.” Charlie beamed at her new brother-in-law. “I really am glad to have met you.”

  Kane leaned down and kissed Charlie’s cheek before turning and joining his wife on the street.

  “Now don’t you start falling for my brother,” Abel said. “I’m not sure I can stand to lose two ladies to him.”

  “Did you lose her to him?” Charlie asked, frowning up at Abel.

  “When I wouldn’t marry her after knowing her for two weeks, she ran off and married my brother.” He shrugged. “I’m just glad that she’s out of my hair.”

  Charlie reached up and ruffled Abel’s hair playfully. “Nope. No shrew in there!”

  Abel laughed. “I’ve never heard a word that fit her better. You might want to take your use of it up with Shakespeare, though. He might not like it being used that way . . .”

  Charlie grinned. “I’ve only seen a little bit of your home. Perhaps you should show me where I’ll sleep . . .”

  He grinned at her, spotting her carpetbag on the floor and grabbing it and then taking her hand. He led her up the stairs, thinking about the night they were about to share. Their first time together, and all he could feel was excitement. Shouldn’t he be at least a little nervous?

  He led her into the large, spacious room at the top of the stairs. “This is my room. I don’t know if you like the colors, but you can do whatever you want with it.”

  She smiled, walking to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling his head down for a kiss. “I have a feeling I’m not even going to notice what the room looks like for a very long while.”

  He laughed softly. “If you do notice, it will be due to a lack of trying on my part.” He moved his hands to the buttons on the back of her dress, and he slowly liberated each button from its hole. When he was finished, he moved his hands to touch the soft skin of her back.

  Charlie stepped away from him and let the dress fall to the floor before moving back into his arms. She was surprised she’d been brazen enough to undress in front of him, but she couldn’t just stand back and let him look at her. Even covered by her petticoat didn’t feel like it was enough.

  Within minutes, they were both naked on the bed together, and he was kissing down the side of her neck toward her breast. When he reached her breast, he sucked the nipple into his mouth, causing her to let out a gasp of surprise.

  She threaded her fingers through his hair, and then moved them down, caressing his neck and all the way down his back to his bottom.

  He groaned. “Maybe you shouldn’t do that just yet. I want to take my time with you, and you’re making that very difficult.”

  Charlie sighed. “I don’t care! I want to touch you!”

  “Do so at your own risk.” He lowered his head to hers and kissed her more deeply as his hands roamed over her body, one going to the secret spot between her thighs.

  Much later, they lay together on the bed, her head pillowed on his shoulder, both of them breathing heavily.

  “That was nice,” she said softly.

  He chuckled. “Nice? What an inadequate word for what we just shared. Next time I want to hear earth shattering or spectacular. No more of this nice stuff.”

  She grinned, kissing his shoulder. “I’ll do my best to remember. I don’t mean to offend you at all.”

  “Well, you did.” Smiling at her, he sighed. “We need to be up early, though probably not as early as you had to get up on the ranch.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I can go on just a little sleep.” She sighed. “I never dreamed being married would be so wonderful. Will I always feel like I do right now?”

  “I sure hope so.”

  Five

  At church the following morning, Abel introduced Charlie to everyone in the congregation. After the service, Veronica and Kane joined them.

  “Are you buying us lunch?” Veronica asked.

  A flash of annoyance crossed Abel’s face, before he said, “Of course.”

  Charlie couldn’t help but wonder what that was about. She knew he’d paid for the other couple’s meal the night before, but he didn’t always pay for their meals, did he?

  The four of them gathered their coats from the coat room at the back of the church before they walked the short distance to the diner. Once they were seated, the waitress came over with three drinks. It was a different waitress than the night before, but they obviously ate there often. “What would you like to drink, miss?” she asked Charlie.

  “Coffee is fine.”

  Abel smiled at the waitress, a woman old enough to be his mother. “Marie, this is my wife, Charlie. She’ll be joining me when I come from now on.”

  “But I do plan to make him eat at home more,” Charlie said with a smile.

  “Wow. I didn’t think either of you boys would marry someone who could cook. That’s just crazy.” Marie smiled at them all. “It’s good to meet you, Charlie.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So what can I get everyone to eat? Special on Sunday is pot roast with mashed potatoes, carrots, and a beef gravy. Comes with biscuits.”

  Charlie shrugged. “Special sounds good to me.”

  “So four specials. I’ll be right back.”

  “You three eat out way too often if the waitress can take one look at you and know what you want.” Charlie sighed. “I’m going to be cooking for all four of us, huh?”

  Veronica narrowed her eyes. “Well, I certainly can’t cook. I was raised with servants. I thought that I’d have servants after I married, and then I find out Kane isn’t wealthy after our wedding.” She shook her head. “How else am I going to eat? I’m eating for two, you know.”

  “I’ll teach you to cook if you’d like.” The words were out of Charlie’s mouth before she realized what she was saying.

  “I have no desire to learn to cook. I expect it to be done for me.”

  Abel frowned and looked at Veronica. “You won’t take advantage of my wife. If you want to learn to cook, that’s just fine. If you don’t want to learn, you may have to find a way to get a servant or two. Charlie will not be your servant or your chef.”

  Veronica frowned at him, but she took a drink of her coffee to mask it. “What do you expect us to do, then?”

  “I expect you to figure out how to cook. It’s not my wife’s job to keep you fed. I’ve let you two eat with me and I’ve paid for it for the past year. No more. If you want free meals, you’re going to have to figure out how to be really nice to my wife so she’ll invite you.” Abel smiled when Marie came back with their food. “Thank you, Marie.”

  “You’re very welcome.” Marie hurried off back toward the kitchen, and Charlie took a bite of her beef.

  “This is good.” She could make better, but it really was good.

  “Not as good as your stew. Or your chicken and dumplings. Or your cake or cobbler.”

  Charlie laughed. “Don’t name everything I’ve ever cooked for you now. It would take too long.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.” He reached out and took her hand in his, and Charlie could see a cloud roll over Veronica’s face. She didn’t like affection between Abel and Charlie, even though she’d married his brother. Odd.

  After the meal, they all walked together toward Abel’s house. Charlie couldn’t think of it as hers yet. When they went into the house, she was surprised when Veronica and Kane followed. “Are you visiting this afternoon?”

  “We usually stay until after supper on Sundays. It’s not good for me to walk so far out of town, and then have to walk back in again.”

  Charlie frowned. She’d been looking forward to a long leisurely day with Abel. Her mother had always said the more she walked during her pregnancies the easier the labor was, so she was sure that Veronica was full of bull manure. “So you’ll be going to supper with us, I take it?”

  “We will.” Kane frowned at his wife. “I should start making our meals, but she complains about them, because I can only make breakfast foods.”

  “Would you like me to teach you to cook?” she asked Kane. “I’m sure Veronica would trade places with you and manage the ranch.”

  Veronica glared at her and went to the parlor, sitting down and folding her arms across her chest. She said nothing, but her looks were trying hard to kill Charlie.

  Kane grinned at Charlie. “I think that’s a great idea. I’ll learn to cook and clean, and she can manage the cattle. One of us has to do each thing.”

  “That would work for me.” Charlie went into the kitchen and searched for any traces of food. She looked in the ice box and the pantry, but she found nothing she could cook. “I’m going to have to spend most of the day tomorrow shopping so I can start cooking here. I’ve never seen a house quite so devoid of food. I could make some coffee, but that looks like all I could muster up.”

  Abel smiled and shook his head. “I don’t care for any coffee right now. Join us in the parlor, and maybe we can play a game of some sort. I have a deck of cards.”

  Charlie shrugged, following them into the parlor but feeling like a wastrel. It was rare that she didn’t have things to do.

  Kane and Veronica had taken chairs, so Abel sat down on the sofa with Charlie sitting close to him. He put his arm around her shoulders, wishing they were alone.