Page 50 of Marrying Mr. Majestic

“Hey,” I said again stupidly.

“Hi.”

Fuck.

Thankfully, Natana called out with a greeting and a few comments about Letty’s performance, giving me an excuse to pull away.

I walked to the fence to give Bunny some attention while I spoke to Natana. I felt Silas move behind me. Every square inch of my body was attuned to his. I knew where he stood, and I felt his confusion like an uncomfortable itch on my skin.

After another minute, Silas entered the ring to retrieve Bunny. He led her out of the ring and toward the barn. I didn’t even realize I’d followed him until Natana called after me with a laugh. “Guess I’ll see you later, then.”

I waved a hand at her and followed Silas into the darkened aisle. The familiar scent of the barn grounded me. Silas clipped Bunny to a nearby hook and proceeded to untack her, even though I could tell from his movements he didn’t really know what he was doing.

“Need help?” I offered, stepping up to offer Bunny some reassurance while Silas fumbled with the stirrups.

“Natana showed me what to do.”

I bit my tongue against correcting him as he forgot a few steps. It hardly mattered as long as Bunny herself was well cared for. Once he had the saddle and blanket off, I handed him a curry comb and took another for myself to start on her other side.

We worked together in silence for a while before Silas finally broke. “Are you still pissed at me for helping?”

When he said it that way, it sounded ridiculous.

Almost as ridiculous as it actually was.

Instead of firing off my mouth the way I was inclined to do, I bit my tongue and took a breath. “Maybe a little. Mostly, I’m just tired. It’s been a long week.” I let out a breath so deep it might’ve stirred the leaves in the trees. “And apparently, I’m still not getting things done the way I should since you’re finding all this stuff to help with.”

He leaned around Bunny’s long nose and glared at me. His stare was intense on a regular day, but now? Now, it would have been intimidating as hell… if it wasn’t also sexy as fuck. His lips pursed, and he uttered a single word. “No.”

“No?” The arrogant son of a bitch. Just like that, my annoyance came rushing back. “What do you mean no?”

“I mean, I have never heard anyone say something so wrongheaded in my entire life, Waylon Fletcher. You’re one man. You cannot be everything to everyone. And you know what? I don’t give a shit if you don’t want me to fix things for you. I don’t care if all you really need is my presence or whatever?—”

I scowled. What the heck was he talking about?

“—because I’ll be damned if I stand around for the next two months watching my husband kill himself trying to be everyone’s hero.”

“I don’t want to be a hero.” I stepped closer and jabbed a finger into his chest. “I’m doing the things that need done, Silas, because they’re my responsibility. I can’t ask anyone else to do them because I can’t count on anyone else to do them. Who’s gonna find a new hand to help herd two hundred head of trail horses at the end of the week, huh?” Jab. “Who’s gonna test climb Clara in the next five days?” Jab. “Who’s gonna get someone to swap out the transmission on a twenty-year-old pickup truck without fucking charging me more than the two hundred bucks I have in my checking account right now?”

Silas grabbed my hand before I could jab him again. “I am,” he growled in a low voice.

“You? You don’t know how?—”

“I already have someone coming to help with roundup. I’m sure I can get a rock climber here in twenty-four hours. I’ll pay for your goddamned transmission replacement. And then I’ll stop fucking helping if that’s what you really want.”

I stared at him, unsure exactly what he was saying. “I don’t understand.”

He stepped closer and put a hand on my chest. My heart rate didn’t slow.

When he spoke, his voice was softer. Less angry. “I don’t want to make your life harder, Way. I was… attempting to take some of the weight off your shoulders by doing what you asked. You wanted the town to think this was a real marriage, so I tried to be the kind of guy you really would have married.”

I felt a laugh bubble up, even though the timing was terrible. “I wouldn’t have married a guy at all.”

The edge of his lip twitched. “No shit. But maybe you should have married someone. If you’d been thinking strategically, a ranch hand or mechanic would have been a good choice, sounds like.”

But then I wouldn’t have gotten to marry you, I thought. And in spite of everything, I couldn’t imagine never having had this.

Instead of continuing the fight, I stepped forward and tucked my face into the side of his neck. I was so damned tired, and he looked steady and strong, like he could handle my irrational anger and all of my imperfections and hold the weight of the world off my shoulders for a little while.

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