Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(31)

Fidgeting with the gold ring on her finger, she nodded her forgiveness, but her hackles were still up. She hated the thought of spending the winter without him. Really, she hated the thought of spending any amount of time without him. Now that was an unsettling feeling, being so attached to someone this quickly.

“Have you ever ridden in one of these things?” he asked as he helped buckle her in.

“Yes.” Most Alaskans had since bush planes were the main mode of transportation between towns and cities.

“Good, so no fear of heights?”

“I didn’t say that.” Her nerves had her heart pounding double-time.

“Don’t worry. I haven’t had a crash landing yet.”

“How long have you been a pilot?”

“Nine years. I bought my first plane when I was twenty-one and took over the business my dad had left behind when he retired to Anchorage. Well, me and my brother, Tobias, took it over. He flies deliveries, too.”

Ian closed her door and busied himself checking the plane. And when it seemed up to snuff, he got in and started flipping switches like his fingers knew exactly what to do. Seeing him so capable put her at ease a little.

The take-off was borderline terrifying, but smooth, and once they were up in the air, Ian seemed to lose whatever had kept him closed off about his life outside of Galena. “My other brother, Jenner, is a hunting guide. He’s one of the best and gets clients from all over the world.”

“What does he specialize in?” Elyse was trying her best to keep her eyes off the ground that was shrinking under them.

“Big game. Moose and caribou. Occasionally bears.” The way he’d said bears sounded as though the word was bitter on his tongue, but when she glanced over at him, his face was wiped clean of any emotion.

“Does your mom live in Anchorage, too?”

“I don’t know where she lives. My brothers and I were raised by my dad.”

“Oh.” Elyse reached over the space between their seats and rested her hand on his leg. “I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard.”

“Nah, it was fine. She wasn’t fit, and we were better off in Dad’s care. Kind of.”

“My dad wasn’t in the picture when I was growing up, so I get it. My mom was kind of overwhelmed with raising me and Josiah on her own, so she sent us to the homestead whenever she could.”

“In bush planes?”

She nodded and dared a glance at the green landscape below. “It’s been a while since I’ve been up in one of these.

“Well, you’re doing good, and we’ll be there soon. You’re a tough woman.”

A smile commandeered her face at his unexpected compliment. “Really?”

“Really. Why did you kick Cole out of your cabin?”

“Lots of reasons.”

“Tell me the last reason. The big one. The one that ended it.”

Elyse winced. “He split my lip.”

Ian’s bright blue gaze drifted to the thin scar down her bottom lip, and he didn’t look surprised at all. Perhaps he’d already guessed she was mishandled. “You kicked him out immediately?”

“Yes.” Stupid shaking voice. She wanted to be strong when she admitted this. “I loaded a shotgun and pulled it on him when he wouldn’t leave. Told him I’d blow a hole through him. He told me he didn’t mean to, that it was an accident, but that’s what they all say, you know? I don’t want to be one of those women who sticks around for that shit.”

“Like I said. You’re a tough woman. A survivor.”

“A tougher woman would’ve let him go a lot sooner. I knew he was using me, but I was scared of being alone.”

“Why?”

“Because life out there isn’t easy, Ian. Every day I run into something that could kill me, and being alone means I’d die alone. Josiah hardly ever comes my way unless we’re driving the cattle either to the good pastures or back to my place for the winter. It could be weeks, maybe months, before anyone found me. Being with Cole was hard, but it took me a while to realize I’d rather die alone than be with someone who breaks me. Lesson learned the hard way.”

“Is that why your advertisement said Romantics need not apply?”

“Yeah. I didn’t expect this.” She gave him a pointed look. “I thought it would be more like legally bound friends running the homestead. I was just so desperate for help that I did what my Uncle Jim did and put an ad out. He’d only wanted a helpmate, and Marta could’ve walked away any time, but I didn’t want that. I wanted someone I could depend on. I got lucky and got you.”

“Lucky,” he repeated low, sounding unconvinced. She understood his reaction. She had trouble accepting compliments, too.

Ian spotted a place to land, and the panic set in, so Elyse did the only sensible thing and closed her eyes tightly until the bumping plane came to a complete stop. When she opened them again, they were surrounded on two sides by towering pine forest and wild grasses that swayed in the wind like ocean waves. Wild flowers dotted the landscape, and she was rendered breathless by the mountains that towered in the distance. This place was what calendars were made of. It was what mainlanders traveled hundreds of miles to see, and it was just a short bush plane ride away from her home.

“Do you like it?” Ian asked softly, as if her answer truly mattered.