Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(12)

Elyse grunted as she scooped another heaping pile of chicken poop-matted hay from the coop floor. It was late August, and the layers of scat from the winter were thawed out. There wasn’t any hope for more chickens until she could figure out how to make more money and purchase the animals plus feed, but the coop was smelling up the clearing, and she’d set aside the morning to clean it up in hopes that someday, perhaps next warm season, she would be in a better place to house hens again.

A soft noise outside made her draw up and frown, but when she listened harder, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Birds and rustling grass and the ever present sound of bugs. Shaking her head and fancying herself crazy, she bent back down and scooped another pitchfork full of smelly muck into the bucket.

There was that noise again.

Elyse set the fork against the wall and made her way out of the coop door, knee-high rubber galoshes squishing against the filth with every careful step. Her gaze was drawn down the dirt road toward the noise that was getting louder now.

The muddy nose of a brown and cream pickup was bouncing slowly toward her. Ian Silver was back.

With a gasp, Elyse wiped her hands on her jeans and patted her messy hair she’d piled high on her head. Her pants were smeared, her black rain boots were covered in an inch of fragrant muck, and she was about to see the man she’d been thinking of constantly all week. He would definitely tell her no when he saw her like this.

As he eased his truck in front of the cabin, he was pulling a trailer with a snow machine behind it, and sudden hope bloomed in her chest. The bed of his truck was piled high with belongings, and even the back seat of his truck looked full.

She patted her hair again and smelled her shirt, but scrunched up her nose at that bad decision. The scent of old chicken poop had a tendency to cling to everything. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.

Ian Silver got out of his truck and strode around the front on his long, powerful legs. He was more intimidating than she’d remembered. Was he even bigger? She thought so. More filled out and muscular somehow.

She fidgeted until he looked up from the ground and stopped her cold with those bright blue eyes of his. “I have a few negotiations.”

“Uh. Okay?”

He hooked his hands on his hips and glared. “One, I’m not marrying you.”

“Non-negotiable. I want a husband.”

“Why? I can work just as hard whether I’m your husband or not.”

“Because I want you to have incentive to stick around, Mr. Silver. I’m not looking to hire labor for a season.” She gave him an empty smile. “I want to grow old with you.”

Ian inhaled deeply and rolled his eyes. “Oh, God. Fine, but you have to go through an entire year with me before we talk marriage.”

“What? No! You’re just buying yourself time to escape. I want a husband.”

“You don’t want a husband, woman. You want loyal help.”

“I know what I want.”

“Well, you’re being unreasonable.”

“I’m twenty-six years old, have horrible taste in men, and no prospects. Galena isn’t exactly teaming with available men my age, Mr. Silver. I put an ad in the newspaper for a husband, not charity work. I want someone I can depend on to work beside me, and what reason would you have to stay if we don’t say vows in front of a preacher?”

“My answer is no. We can talk about it after you see how it is living with me through the winter season.”

“Well,” she said, crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest and swallowing the lump of disappointment down her throat, “then I’m afraid we don’t reach an agreement.”

“Dammit, Elyse Abram, why are you turning away good help?”

“Because I want more than that.” Shit, it was out there now, and her eyes were burning with tears. “I want someone to be there for me. I’m not asking for love, Ian. I just don’t want it to be so easy for a man to leave. It took ten minutes for Cole to pack up his belongings and leave my life, and just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers, “he was gone.”

“Yeah, and what if I end up to be as bad as him? Huh? You don’t know me!”

“I know you well enough. I know you looked in my freezer first thing. Cole only opened that lid when he was taking something from me. You counted how much wood I had chopped and asked about my garden and took stock of my animals and for f*ck’s sake, you even asked about the hay I’d planted. Cole didn’t care. He was on a bender in town while my brother and I planted those fields by ourselves. Will you raise a hand to me, Mr. Silver?”

“Never.”

“Then you’re all right by me. I want vows. I want a man legally tied to me. I want a man to see me and have pride that he is making something work with me, and I never want to wake up again wondering if my helpmate is going to leave.”

“Gah!” Ian barked out, his eyes blazing in irritation as he paced in front of her.

He ran his hands through his mussed hair and then flung them forward. Fuming, he turned and got back in his truck, and before she could muster up the words to stop him, he was pulling away and out of her life for the second time.

And it was back to square one. Again.





Chapter Six


Elyse dumped another bucket of water over the floorboards in the chicken coop and stood back to inspect all her hard work. It had taken well into the afternoon for her to get it cleaned on account of the stupid tears that were blurring her vision half the danged time.