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Anna’s mouth fell open and Garret got a glimpse of that Jennings in her. She’d always pretended to be so sweet, but she lunged forward in a flash and grabbed Eliza by the hair before he could stop her. Three things happened almost at once. One, Garret grabbed Anna’s hands to try and pry her away from Eliza’s hair. Two, Eliza let off a very human-sounding growl and grabbed Anna’s shoulders. Three, she drove her knee upward and connected directly with Anna’s groin.
Now, it was until this moment that Garret truly thought that wouldn’t hurt a woman, because they didn’t have balls, but the effect on Anna was immediate. She doubled over, gasped, and definitely released Eliza’s hair.
One quick glance around, and half the damn town was watching the show.
Okay, it was time to go.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Miss Jennings. It was…uuuuh…nice to see you again.”
And by nice, he meant grating.
He grabbed Eliza’s hand and led her around the still-doubled-over Anna Jennings, toward the direction of the stables.
“Have the day you deserve!” the auburn-haired hellion beside him called over her shoulder.
Anna let off a shriek of rage behind them.
“I don’t even want to know where you learned that,” he said, unable to keep the snarl from his voice.
“From my uncle, who snuck me away for self-defense lessons.”
“You just racked her.”
“Would’ve stabbed her if I had my penknife.” Eliza had said it low, but he heard it easily enough.
“What is wrong with you?”
“You mean what is right with me?” she hissed out, rounding on him and yanking her wrist from his grasp. “I come here to tell you I’m scared, and I find you in a whorehouse, and then you run into your mistress, and I’m in the wrong?”
He wanted to argue her down so she would shut up for two minutes, but that bit in the middle had made both him and his wolf perk up.
“Why are you scared?” he asked, pulling her inside the door of the stable and out of view of the townspeople.
“Well…” Eliza looked around. “Something just happened that I didn’t want to handle without a man around.”
It must not have been that bad if she was stalling on telling him. “Woman,” he growled, leaning down to eye level. “If you tell me some blasted story about how you got scared of a spider in the cabin or some shit, I will lose it.”
Eliza crossed her arms over her chest, and her eyes narrowed to little green slits of anger. “You know what? Never mind. I should’ve known better than to come here asking you for any help. I bet if it was Anna telling you she was scared, you would drop to your knees begging her to tell you—”
“Eliza—”
“I bet you would kill the bloody spider for her!” Eliza stomped her heeled boot in the dirt.
Part of him wanted to throttle her, and part of him was so damn turned on right now. Why? Because she actually looked fetching with all that red in her cheeks and that fiery look in her eyes, and the scent of her adrenaline up after kneeing Anna Friggin’ Jennings in the lady nuts. That last part would probably make him chuckle to think about. Later. When Eliza wasn’t standing here posting up against a werewolf like she had neither brains nor sense, but good God, the woman was bold. She was confusing him. “I don’t know what to do with you,” he admitted low, so the stable boy who was sitting on a bale of hay a couple stalls down wouldn’t hear their conversation.
“I’ll give you a hint,” she gritted out. “If you think your woman needs a spider killed, you don’t shame her for it. You kill the damn spider!” She shoved him in the chest with a grunt, but he didn’t move because, well, she was human and didn’t have much strength.
That seemed to piss her off, so she turned around with a dramatic arm flail and began marching off, nearly rolling her ankle twice on the uneven ground. Those shoes were atrocious and not functional.
“A lady shouldn’t use language like that,” he called after her.
“Cockchafer,” she threw out over her shoulder.
Garret followed her a couple of steps, his fists clenched at his sides, baffled by the war that was happening in his chest. “Where are you going?”
“Why do you care?” she yelled.
“Just…stop! Wait outside. I’ll bring our horses around.”
