Read Online Reckless Heart by Barbara McMahon - Free Book Online Page A

else had Lance offered?
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Before Josh could say another word, Molly whirled around and rushed to the kitchen. She snatched up the hot pad and opened the oven door. The smell of burnt bread filled the kitchen just as the cowboys began to troop in.
    One groaned.
    Molly turned, her face stricken, holding the large cookie sheet of biscuits. Dumping the sheet on the counter, she flipped one biscuit over; its bottom was scorched. Turning, she glared at Josh as he followed her into the kitchen.
    “This is all your fault, Josh Hart,” she said, scraping them off the pan.
    “You should have set the timer,” he said, coming up behind her. Reaching around her, he scooped up one and examined the black bottom.
    “Ha. I was doing fine until you caused me to forget cooking.”
    She began to place biscuit dough on a second cookie sheet. “I was watching them. I had everything under control until you started berating Lance for being in my room.”
    Instant silence filled the kitchen.
    Molly closed her eyes and stifled a groan. Shaking her head, she resumed placing the cut biscuit dough on the cool pan. She’d watch this batch without distraction and make sure it didn’t burn. No matter what Josh got up to, she'd concentrate on cooking.
    “Pete, start dishing up. Not that it’s the business of any of you, but I went to her room to get her car keys to unload the rest of her things,” Lance said, calmly reaching for the platter of ham.
    “And then you had to jump to conclusions and make a fuss,” she whispered to Josh, trying to avoid the interested stare of the men seated around the table.
    “What was I to think, seeing a man come from your room?” he whispered in return, his back to the men.
    “Think whatever you want, just don’t jump to conclusions about me. You’ll probably be wrong.”
    She turned and almost bumped into him. Placing her hand on his chest, she pushed. It was like trying to move a mountain.
    “You’re in my way,” she said.
    “I knew you’d be a problem.”
    “I’m not the problem! If you hadn’t gotten so upset with Lance over nothing, none of this would have happened,” she snapped back.
    “While you’re here, I’m responsible for you. Think of me as in loco parentis.”
    “Give me a break! I have no need for a father, thank you very much. I’m old enough to live my own life the way I want. Move!”
    Josh slowly stepped aside and watched as she stormed over to the stove and grabbed the coffee. He peeled the bottoms off the last biscuits and tossed them into the basket, setting it in the center of the table.
    He sat at the head and heaped his plate with the ham and mashed potatoes and green beans Molly had prepared.
    There was plenty of food for everyone. Feeling proud of the fact, Molly took the vacant chair next to Josh and began to serve herself. No complaints about going hungry this night. It would have been perfect if the biscuits hadn’t burned.
    She glanced up at the odd expressions on the faces of the men. One by one they took a bite of potatoes, and then looked puzzled. Billy added salt and pepper to his, took another bite. His gaze slid across the table and met hers. Smiling gamely, he cut a hunk of ham.
    “What did you do to the potatoes?” Josh’s angry voice interrupted her musing.
    She looked at him.
    “Nothing. They’re boxed. I planned on baked potatoes, but forgot to put them—”
    He didn’t need to hear she’d forgotten to put them in the oven in time and had to resort to boxed ones.
    “We eat mashed potatoes all the time. They never taste like this.”
    She scooped up some and sampled. They were sweet! Suddenly she remembered, she'd been thinking how her heroine would never be caught in a kitchen in her story. Had she been daydreaming again and picked up sugar instead of salt to season the potatoes? Oh, good grief, couldn’t she get one single meal right?
    “They do taste a bit odd. Maybe the drying process altered the taste or the