The New Year's Bride (Holiday Mail Order Brides Book Two) Read Online Free

Sheriff!”
    Spencer helped Elle to sit at the table then took a chair beside her.  No sooner had they all been seated Hank reappeared with a tray and three soup bowls on it.  “I hope you like tomato.  You didn’t say what kind you wanted!”
    “Just serve it, Hank.  This poor thing needs to eat,” Spencer told him as he watched Elle leaned to one side.  He grabbed her arm and pulled her back up straight.
    “Oh dear me …” she said as she began to lean the other way.  She bumped into his shoulder and bounced slightly off it to sit straight once again.  The smell of food was heavenly and she felt her body perk up with the last of her strength.
    She looked at the bowls of soup on the table and her mouth watered at the sight.  She began to inhale the wonderful scent then realized a spoon had been shoved into her hand.
    “For God’s sake woman, eat it before you faint!”
    Elle looked up into the concerned face of Spencer Riley.  He looked like he was about to bust a gut, that or start force-feeding her.  This was not how she planned on starting out her time here!
    “Eat something, dear.  It will make you feel better and keep you from falling out of your chair,” Mrs. Riley told her in a pleasant voice.
    Elle swore the woman could make a funeral sound cheery.  She dipped the spoon into the bowl, raised it to her lips, and tasted Heaven. The hot soup slid down her throat to her belly and warmed her toes.  She hadn’t realized she was as cold as she was.  She’d been too busy trying not to pass out!  She took another bite, and another, and all too soon the soup was gone.  Spencer watched her the entire time, and as soon as she finished her soup he pushed her bowl out of the way and shoved his own in front of her.  She didn’t miss a beat and kept spooning soup into her mouth. By the time she was done with that their roast beef had arrived.
    Elle couldn’t stop eating.  She was starved, and the food was app earing as fast as she could eat it. It wasn’t until sometime after her third portion of roast beef and mashed potatoes that she suddenly realized Spencer hadn’t eaten a thing.  He’d been shoving food in front of her and watching as she wolfed it down.
    Perhaps it had been four days since she’d last eaten.  She couldn’t remember.  Was it two, three, four stage stops ago?
    And then it happened. The absolute worst thing in the world that can happen to a lady trying to make an impression on a handsome man, not that she was, she was far too interested in the food.  But, when it did happen, she was still aghast.
    She belched.  Loudly.
    Both hands flew to her mouth as Mrs. Riley gasped in shock.  What other patrons were in the restaurant stopped eating, stopped talking, stopped what ever it was they were doing and gawked at her.
    Elle’s eyes darted back and forth to take in the looks of the people around her.  She then slowly lowered her hands, folded them primly in her lap, and looked up at Hank, the owner of the restaurant. “My compliments to the chef,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster.
    Spencer Riley looked at her, his eyes wide as his lips twitched.  She wouldn’t be surprised if he put her on the next stage and sent her packing after witnessing such abhorrent behavior.  But that’s not what her intended husband did.  Instead, he laughed. And laughed.  And laughed some more…
    * * *
     
    “Spencer!  Get a hold of yourself!” his mother cried.
    But Spencer couldn’t get a hold of himself.  The day had been too much for him and he needed the release the laughter brought.  He’d worked himself up like a worried old woman with thoughts of what kind of mail order bride he’d see get off the stage.  What was his mother going to do if he couldn’t stand the bride she’d sent away for?  What if he wanted to send her back?  But no, what got off the stage knocked any thoughts of returning his mail order bride right out of his mind.
    She was