Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(15)

“Judgmental beast, am I?” His animated eyebrows quirked up. “Fine. Since you have me so pegged, you’re too damned skinny.”

Elyse let off an offended sound. “Well, you’re too muscular and probably require eighteen thousand calories a day. I do not. I’m not skinny. I’m efficient.”

“Horseshit. I can see your bones poking out through your shirt, and your stomach’s been growling since I got here.”

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest like a shield. His words hurt. There. There it was. Him calling her skinny burned her pride. Oh, she knew she’d lost weight. She was the one who saw herself withering away in the mirror, but Cole had taken all of her damned seed potatoes, bartered them for God knows what, and left her so low on everything she was struggling to get ahead. And she hadn’t lied. She was shit at hunting. That was one lesson Uncle Jim failed to teach her before he passed, and Josiah had never offered to show her how to track animals. She had more pride than to beg people to teach her something a good Alaskan woman ought to know by instinct.

Furious at Ian for being harsh, and even angrier with herself for caring, she brushed past him, knocking against his irritatingly firm arm, and strode for the living room. The rifles were hung on wall pets in the front corner beside the door, and she picked the one that recoiled the least, then stomped out of the house.

She made it deep into the woods before Ian’s voice called out from behind her. “Where are you going?”

She bit back a curse that he followed her. “Hunting. Obviously.”

“No, not obviously. What the f*ck are you planning on taking with that pea shooter? It’s good for muskrat and ptarmigan. Rabbits maybe. And you’re rushing off pissed with no supplies and no pistol.”

“Why would I need a pistol, Ian? I have a rifle.”

“If you can call it that. And as to why you would need a pistol…slow down. Elyse Abram!”

“Stop calling me that!” she fumed, rounding on him. He backed up from her, step for step. Wise man.

“It’s your name.”

She shoved her ring finger in the air like she was flipping him off. “We’re engaged. You can drop my last name.”

A low rumble emanated from his chest.

“Did you just growl at me?”

“No.”

“Yes you did!”

“Give me the gun, and let’s go back to the house before you find a pack of wolves.”

“Piss off. I’m going to bring home dinner, honey.”

“I brought food with me. We don’t need to do this tonight and, anyway, it’ll be dark before you find any game. Just…” Ian grabbed the barrel of the gun over her shoulder and yanked. Only she wasn’t ready. He startled her, and she jerked the trigger.

A deafening boom echoed through the woods.

Ian’s bright eyes looked downright terrifying as he yanked the gun from her grasp. “Are you f*cking kidding me? You had it loaded with the safety off? You could’ve killed yourself or somebody else.”

“I wasn’t pointing it anywhere near you or me. It was up in the air.”

“Gun safety basics, Elyse Abram. Safety on until you’re ready to pull that trigger, and furthermore, your finger shouldn’t even be on that trigger unless you have your intended target in the crosshairs. Now get your ass back to the cabin before I carry you my damned self. I’m mad enough to do it right now.”

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.”