Page 41 of The Cowboy Takes A Bride

“By what? The snake or the killing?” He made a large circle around her, heading toward the gate.

“All of it I guess.” She folded her arms around herself.

Jace held the gate open for her, the snake still wiggling in his hand.

“You go on ahead,” she said.

He sighed then looked at the snake. “I can’t let him go. He’ll be back.”

“I’m not asking you to let him go.” She waited for him to walk away before going to the gate. Jace went to his truck and took out a shotgun before heading toward the copse of trees down on the east side of the prairie.

“Where are you going?” she called, walking behind him but keeping a fair distance.

Jace turned and stopped. “Listen. I’m sorry you find all this disturbing, but this is life on the ranch. You don’t like it, you should go now because this here is nothing compared to what can happen. I’m sure there’s an angry tirade about our antiquated ways and cruelty to animals but—”

“Are you telling me to go home?” She stopped in her tracks.

“I’m saying that you should leave sooner than later if this kinda thing is gonna bother you.” He nudged the snake with the tip of his gun.

Meredith searched for words, but most of the ones that came to mind were some she’d never said before. Clearly, she was feeling strongly about something, and it wasn’t the killing of a snake.

“You’re an ass.” She swiveled on her heel and marched home,mumbling those stronger words she wanted to say earlier. She’d hit the first step of the porch when the shotgun firing caused her to jump. She looked out across the prairie and found him looking in her direction, the gun pointing toward the ground. She stomped up the stairs and slammed the door, hoping the sound would echo across the range as much as the gun had.

She paced the house, looking for something, anything, to channel her anger through. She should leave? Is that how it worked here? They had a deal, and he was backing out of it? Her reaction was more disturbing than making his father happy? It made no sense.

She thought they were becoming friends, but now she should leave over being grossed out by a snake?

Men were weird.

She stomped into the kitchen and stared at the stove. As if she was going to make him any breakfast. She ate a banana and two pieces of toast while she gathered cleaning supplies, finding long latex dish gloves under the kitchen sink.

She stomped back outside and refused to look for the dumb-dumb. Passing the chicken coop, her footsteps faltered. Any eggs that had been gathered were on the ground, but there were five houses left to be cleared of eggs. She really wanted to get them. She didn’t like leaving the chore hanging. Setting the bucket of supplies on the ground, she put the dishwashing gloves on and went back to collect the eggs, pausing to check out each coop before sticking her hand inside.

Once the eggs were collected and stored back at the house, she went into the cabin. While taking down the curtains, she let the bucket in the sink fill with hot water. With the light shining in, she could see the areas that needed the most work and was making a mental list of where to start and how to progress when the front door flung open.

Jace stomped in with the shotgunin hand.

He didn’t frighten her, though. Now, had her father done the same thing, that might have scared her.

“Come with me,” he demanded.

“Please.”

He paused and looked around like he thought she didn’t hear him correctly. “Ah, um, I said come with me,” he repeated.

“No, I mean you should say please.” She’d been bossed around enough to last her a lifetime. She mixed cleaner into her water then dragged the bucket to the corner. After dipping her rag and wringing it out, she began to wash the windows and sills.

“What are you doing?” She heard him shift behind her but refused to look at him.

“I’m cleaning the cabin.” She pointed to the bucket. “This is cleaner.” She pointed to the window. “This is a window. I’m trying to get the two of them to work together since they both sort of need each other.” She finally looked at him when she said. “So far so good. Let’s hope the window doesn’t think the cleaning towel is judgmental and made from thin, useless fibers.” She swung back to the window and scrubbed until it squeaked.

“Ah, am I the window or the towel? Because earlier outside I was an ass.”

Meredith hesitated, wondering if she should back down. In reality, they barely knew each other. Though she knew he’d never get aggressive like her father, and after the finger-in-face incident on their wedding day, he seemed to mindfully choose his actions. He set the gun to lean against the side counter and tucked his hands in his pockets, his Stetson not so low on his face she couldn’t see his expression.

She bit her lip, the anger so ready to spill from her. He’d negatively judged her, and it had hurt.

Jace sighed. “Why don’t we get in the habit now of sayingwhat we think and feel and worry about the collateral damage later.”

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