Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(43)

“Because Cole drained me dry.” Her voice shook with the admission of her weakness. She’d kept all this from Josiah. Sure, he knew that Cole had been bad news, but he hadn’t known just how much Elyse had let him take advantage of her. “I know you thought that advertisement for a husband was stupid. I know. But I was desperate, and I got lucky as hell when that one showed up.” She jammed her finger at Ian, who was talking to Mr. Fairway and his wife near the tractor with the baler on the back.

“Elyse, why didn’t you tell me it was that bad? I knew you were losing weight, but I thought it was a vanity thing. You could’ve told me, and I would’ve hunted for you.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of taking care of me, Jo?” She let her shoulders hunch forward and sighed. “I do.”

“As opposed to him taking care of you?”

“It’s not like that. Ian doesn’t coddle me. He’s teaching me to snare rabbits, shoot worth a damn, and can food more efficiently. I even killed and plucked my first chicken last week because he thought I should know how to do that kind of stuff. He’s not taking care of me. He’s making me stronger.”

Josiah took a step back and scratched at his beard as he watched Ian laugh and shake Mr. Fairway’s hand. “I still don’t like it,” he muttered, but the vitriol had left his voice.

“You don’t have to like it, big brother,” she said, clapping him on the shoulder as she passed him by.

“And I’m not a swamp turd,” Josiah called from behind her.

The stretch of her smile felt good. If her brother would give Ian half a chance, he would see the good man she’d fallen for. Ian and Cole were like night and day. Josiah was just being stubborn.

“Don’t eat that,” she said to Miki, who was chowing down on what looked like pebbled rabbit crap.

“He’s a good lookin’ dog,” Josiah said, walking ten paces behind her.

“He’s a hellion.”

“They all are at that age. How’s potty-training going?” There was a smile in his voice that said he already knew.

“Not awesome. How are my cows doing?”

“Fair enough. We lost one to wolves week before last. When do you want to come and get them? The temperature’s dropping.”

Like she couldn’t feel the chill. Now she dreaded the winter for all sorts of reasons. With a sigh, she turned, waited for him, and didn’t even kick his shin over the obnoxious grin on his face like she did when they were kids.

“My sister, the grizzly attack survivor. Shootin’ and huntin’ and plantin’ and cannin’. Uncle Jim would be right proud of the Alaskan woman you turned out to be.”

“Don’t tease.”

Josiah’s voice went serious when he said, “I’m not.”

When she dared a glance up at him, walking beside her, his eyes were sincere. Emotion swelled inside of her chest, and her throat went tight. “Thanks for saying that.”

Josiah hopped on his four-wheeler he’d parked at the edge of the field and pulled it toward the first row of hay Mr. Fairway was already mowing down. Josiah turned on his seat and jerked his head in invitation. With a laugh, Elyse scrambled up onto the small trailer he was hauling and bumped and bounced along behind him as her brother managed to hit every danged pothole in the field to reach his destination.

She waved to Joanna Fairway as Josiah pulled to a stop and chatted with the neighbor until Joanna’s husband was far enough ahead with the mower for her to start the baler on the line of cut hay. Elyse always paid them with a cow for their troubles, especially since Ricky had a gimp leg from getting kicked by a horse a few years back and had trouble hunting for them. Still, Elyse was extremely grateful they had been friends of her uncle’s and offered to help bale the hay when she needed it.

The morning passed quickly as Josiah drove slowly beside the new, square bales Joana left behind her baler. She and Ian hauled them up into the back, stacking them high until her arms fatigued and she switched Josiah spots driving the four-wheeler. And when they had as much as the trailer could carry, she drove it slowly back toward the empty cattle pen. The storage building for the hay was dilapidated and half the wood rotten. She jogged inside the cabin and threw together a quick lunch for everyone while Ian and Josiah unloaded the bales from the trailer.

And when she came outside with a basket full of food, she smiled when she overheard Josiah and Ian’s conversation. They were talking about fixing up the hay storage before Josiah headed back for his cabin.

They didn’t know it yet, and she’d never admit it to them out loud, but they’d just given her a moment she never thought she would have. Cole and Josiah had fought like wolverines, and the tension had always added stress, but seeing her brother and her fiancé talking cordially about how to improve and expand the wooden hay shelter had her feeling incredibly relieved. She could imagine holidays together…

Wait. Elyse frowned and gripped on tighter to the handle of the food basket, causing the wicker to creak. Ian would be in hibernation and would only be awake an hour to celebrate the holidays. And how would she explain that to Josiah? Maybe one year she could convince her brother Ian was sick, but Josiah was sharp as a tack and wouldn’t fall for that two years in a row.

A problem for another day because right now, she had a hungry bear-shifter to feed, hay to haul, and shit to do. And a puppy to wrangle because Miki was eating something unsavory again.