Elyse gave him a slit-eyed glare. “You aren’t the boss of me.”
“I offered you the protection of my body when I gave you that ring. You aren’t going out into the wilderness when it’s this late in the day on a fool’s errand. Your kind can’t even see in the dark.”
“My kind? My kind? I suppose you mean women.” She poked him in the chest, but jammed her finger painfully, which only pissed her off more. Irrationally, she growled out, “I’ll have you know I was doing just fine before you came along.”
“Bullshit. You’re skin and bones.”
“Stop it!” Her lip trembled, and she bit it hard. “Don’t you know anything about being nice? If you have something mean to say, swallow it down, man. I get it. I’m too skinny for your liking, but this is the only body I have, and insulting it isn’t helping. You think I want to look like this? Do you even know what it’s taken to get this bad? I was pretty once, you arrogant sonofabitch.” Stupid tear as it tracked down her cheek and stupid tremor in her voice. Furious that he’d gotten her so riled up, she made her way around him and stepped over the knee-high grass, headed back home.
She used to be strong before Cole mishandled her. She never cried or worried over the opinions of men, and now she’d been reduced to tears by a stranger.
“Fuck,” Ian muttered from behind her, but if he was following, she couldn’t tell.
At the water pump, she dragged over the biggest bucket and began pumping the handle to get the water flowing. She filled the bucket nearly to the top and hauled the insanely heavy burden toward the horses’ shelter.
“Here, let me,” Ian said in a resolved voice as he slid his hand over hers to take the bucket.
“I can do it on my own. I have been for the past three years. Don’t worry. You don’t have to have a dick to do this kind of work, Ian. Women can do it, too.”
He released her hand and walked beside her. “I was wrong for the things I said.”
“Great. Forgiven. Fight one down, only sixty more years of me pissing you off to go.” Water sloshed all over the leg of her jeans and, great gads, it was cold, but she was used to it. She always fatigued at the end.
Demon and Milo waited at the fence for her as she hoisted the water bucket to her hip and dumped it through the fence into their trough. “And just so you know,” she said, clutching the bucket handle to steady her shaking hands. “I have goats. I was working my way up to…you know…killing one.”
Ian ghosted a glance toward the barn where the goats lived, then nodded his head. “I shouldn’t make snap judgements on things. I just don’t like how thin you’ve become.”
“How thin I’ve become? You’ve only seen me one other time, and I assure you, I’m not much worse off.”
Ian opened his mouth as if to say something, then snapped it closed again. He ran his hands through his hair and admitted, “I don’t know how to talk to girls.”
“You never had one before?”
He shook his head, and if she didn’t know any better, she could’ve sworn his cheeks were turning red.
“Well, you’ve just shocked me to my bones.”
Ian leaned on the fence and watched the horses drinking deeply. “How so?”
“Because I thought a man who looks like you would’ve been with a dozen girls, at least.”
Scrunching his face up, he glanced over at the sunrise and murmured, “I didn’t say I haven’t slept with women. I just mean that I haven’t had one of my own.” He turned those bright eyes on her. “To keep happy. You understand?”
“Are you backwoods?” Being raised in the wilderness without access to girls was the only thing that explained why a big, strapping, sexy-as-hell man like Ian Silver hadn’t held down a relationship with a woman.
He huffed a soft laugh. “You could say that. And just so you know, you aren’t too skinny for my liking. I think you’re pretty enough. I just don’t like thinking you’re hungry. I’ve been hungry before. It sucks.”
“Yeah it does,” she said on a sigh as she rested her chin on the fence and watched the sinking sun beside him. “And thanks for saying that. You didn’t have to.”
“What, that you’re pretty?”
She nodded slowly, her chin rubbing her protruding wrist bone.
Ian shook his head, whatever that meant, then said, “Come on. I’ll put a few more buckets of water in the trough. You go wash up, and I’ll get dinner on.” He picked up the bucket, then turned and walked away. “You smell like chicken shit,” he said over his shoulder.
Elyse snorted, but bit her lip to hide her amusement. She really did smell rough after cleaning out the coop. Ian was one lucky man to have landed such a fine woman as herself. “Sorry I almost shot you!” she called.
She couldn’t tell for sure from here, but his cheeks looked like they swelled with a smile as he walked away. “Forgiven. Only sixty more years to go.”
Chapter Seven