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Her voice was as accepting as her expression. He had no idea why she put such stock in being ‘presentable’ but she did. “You promise to put chocolate frosting on that cake and I’ll get you to the house without anyone being the wiser.”
All the hope of a green horn betting his last dime rested in her gaze. “I don’t see how—”
He clicked his tongue. The woman was the most suspicious critter he’d ever come across. “Getting you inside is my side of the deal. You just need to ante up.”
She held out her hand. “Done.”
He took it in his, the novelty of shaking hands with any female making him smile. “Done.” He nodded with his chin. “You get that hair under control, and I’ll get Shameless settled in his stall.”
Her gaze flew to Shameless. Her cheeks flushed scarlet anew. It wasn’t hard to follow where her memory traveled as she uttered a strangled “okay” and fled to the opposite side of the barn.
Damn! Asa thought. Who’d have thought having a wife would be so much fun? He looped a lariat around Shameless’ neck and led him to his stall. From the corner of his eye, he saw Elizabeth fussing with her hair. Her arms were raised, her body partly turned so the curve of her breast flowed into the curve of her hip like the elemental sweep of a river. It was a purely feminine pose that caught him by surprise with a wave of possessiveness. Along with some pure lust. The woman was his. No one else’s. And he wasn’t going to lose her. Not for any reason.
Which meant he had to find a way to make her want to stay, he decided, as Shameless clopped placidly behind him on the way to his stall. The scene in the kitchen with Aaron had given him some bad moments. She’d been so at ease with the other man. Truly confident, not that fake stuff she kept tossing his way. He hadn’t liked the feeling of standing outside looking in while she entertained the other man. He’d spent too much of his life that way.
He sighed. Apparently, this marriage business was trickier than he’d been led to believe. To hear married men tell it, a man got married and chains started locking tight as if by magic. Nights on the town were curtailed. Evenings were spent at home in front of the fire or carousing in the bedroom. A man had a wife to account for and to account to. Eventually, he had kids and his obligations expanded. A married man had responsibilities. He had obligations. He had people who cared about him. A married man was part of a bigger community. A married man belonged.
He nudged Shameless away from the grain bucket. The horse’s grunt echoed his own feelings. It was getting pretty obvious that he needed to work on his husbanding, because, married or not, he couldn’t be freer if he floated on a breeze. Elizabeth made no claims on him, chained him with no demands. She just let him be. He tossed the halter onto the hook with disgust. If that didn’t beat all. Here he’d waited his whole life for someone to sink their claws into him, and he married up with the only woman who couldn’t care less if he came home at night.
Maybe he was the only married man in history looking for the chains others whined about, but dammit, he was getting tired of drifting through life with no one caring whether he showed up at dusk or at dawn. He eyed Elizabeth using his corner vision. She was scrubbing at a smudge on her shirt. Damned if she didn’t make him smile. Too proud to want the world to know she’d been sparking with her husband, yet hot-blooded enough to have enjoyed it.
A smart man would find a way to make himself matter to a woman like that. If he did, he’d never be on the outside looking in again. Elizabeth wasn’t a woman to let someone she cared for go wanting. All a man had to do was to look at how far she’d gone to save this ranch to know that.
He stepped out of the stall, and latched the door. Yup. The key to nailing down this marriage was in finding the key to Elizabeth’s loyalty. She was a straightforward woman. It couldn’t be that hard to put a handle to. He’d just have to think on it some.
Elizabeth watched as Asa came ambling her way. His stride shouted pure confidence as he crossed the distance between them with that deceptively lazy way of moving he had. Once again, she realized he really was a fine figure of a man. Broad-shouldered, slim-hipped, and strong. Both inside and out.
Lord, how was she supposed to hold someone like that? Especially someone who simmered with such intensity. She shook her head at her own denseness. How had she fallen for his just-a-cowpoke act? Common sense alone should have clued her in to his real personality. No one accomplished what he had by the time he was thirty-two without a will of iron and the intelligence to put it to good use. Lord, sometimes she was too stupid to breathe. Thank goodness the qualities he was opening her eyes to were strengths, not weaknesses.
