“Why?”
“Because there are five.”
Elias began laughing.
It startled them both.
Lara stared.
He stopped.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Look at me like that.”
“I didn’t know the Iron Wolf laughed.”
His expression darkened.
“Who called me that?”
“Silas.”
“Silas talks too much.”
“Silas says you once stared down six cattle thieves alone.”
“Silas exaggerates.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
Lara laughed.
Elias watched her.
The sound filled the kitchen.
He had begun noticing things he should not notice.
The loose curls near her neck when her braid slipped.
The way her entire face changed when she laughed.
The fullness of her body moving beneath her white night wrapper when she crossed the hallway early in the morning.
He hated himself for noticing that last one.
Not because Lara was undesirable.
Because she was becoming dangerously desirable.
The arrangement was temporary.
The contract was false.
She would return east once the weather cleared.
He reminded himself of that every night.
Then Lara would say something from the kitchen and he would forget.
On the fourth evening, she found him repairing a leather harness near the fireplace.
“May I ask something improper?”
Elias looked up.
“That depends.”
“Why aren’t you married?”
He returned to the harness.
“Because I’m not.”
“That answer would impress a lawyer.”
“I’m not trying to impress you.”
“Good.”
He looked up again.
Lara smiled sweetly.
“You would need better material.”
Elias shook his head.
“There was a woman once.”
Lara’s smile faded.
“Ah.”
“Her name was Abigail.”
“What happened?”
“She married someone else.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.”
“That sounds true.”
“She wanted town life. I wanted this ranch.”
“So you became the Iron Wolf.”
“No.”
“What did?”
Elias worked the leather.
“Everybody leaves eventually.”
The words came out before he could stop them.
Lara studied him.
“Sometimes people leave because they are pushed.”
He looked at her.
She was no longer smiling.
“Is that what you intend to do with me?”
Elias set the harness down.
“You deserve a choice.”
“That was not my question.”
He stood.
Lara did not step back.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
“You’re leaving when travel is safe.”
“You keep deciding that for me.”
“You want to stay?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer surprised him.
Lara continued.
“I don’t know you.”
“Exactly.”
“But I know Boston.”
Her voice weakened.
“I know the room my brother will give me if I return.”
“I know the visitors pretending not to stare.”
“I know Thomas telling everyone my frontier marriage failed because no man could tolerate me.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“Your brother’s an idiot.”
She laughed softly.
“That may be the first romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“It wasn’t romantic.”
“Pity.”
Elias took one step closer.
Lara’s breath changed.
He noticed.
She noticed him noticing.
The room suddenly felt small.
“Lara.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Look at me that way.”
Her voice dropped.
“How am I looking at you?”
Elias did not answer.
Lara stepped closer.
The fire cracked behind him.
“You brought me here because you said you don’t leave strays in the snow.”
He winced.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No.”
She tilted her face upward.
“But I have been wondering.”
“What?”
“Whether you still see a stray.”
Elias looked at her mouth.
Then the scar.
Then her eyes.
“No.”
“What do you see?”
“A problem.”
She blinked.
His gaze dropped over her body and returned.
“A very difficult problem.”
Heat rushed across Lara’s cheeks.
“That does not sound flattering.”
“It wasn’t supposed to.”
She smiled.
Elias stepped back abruptly.
“Good night.”
Lara laughed behind him.
“You are running away.”
“Yes.”
“From me?”
“Yes.”
That stopped her laughter.
Elias turned at the hallway.
“Because if I stay here another minute, Miss Higgins, sleeping on opposite sides of this cabin becomes considerably more difficult.”
Then he disappeared into the sitting room.
Lara stood beside the fire smiling so hard her cheeks hurt.
But winter did not allow happiness to remain uncomplicated for long.
The next morning, Elias found three cattle dead near the southern fence.
Not frozen.
Poisoned.
Silas knelt beside one.
“Same as last winter.”
Elias’s expression hardened.
“Ryland.”
“No proof.”
“Never is.”
Then they found the fence.
Cut deliberately.
Tracks led west toward Caleb’s grazing land before the snow covered them.
Elias returned to the house after dark.
Lara saw his face and immediately knew something had happened.
“What is it?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
She crossed her arms.
“I dislike that sentence.”
“Three cattle.”
“Dead?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He hesitated.
“Poison.”
“Ryland?”
Elias looked at her.
“You learn quickly.”
“I spent three days hearing Silas complain about him.”
Elias removed his coat.
“Stay near the house tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
Lara’s eyes narrowed.
That was a mistake.
“You are not my husband.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then don’t give orders like one.”
Elias stared.
“I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“Try explaining instead.”
He exhaled.
“Caleb wants this land.”
“Because of the river.”
“Yes.”
“How far will he go?”
Elias looked toward the window.
“Far enough.”
Lara stepped closer.
“And sending me?”
“Was meant to humiliate me.”
She looked down.
Elias immediately regretted the wording.
“No.”
He took her hand.
It was the first time he touched her deliberately.
Lara froze.
Elias did too.
Her fingers were warm.
He continued more quietly.
“You were never the humiliation.”
She looked at him.
“What was?”
“His belief that another person could be one.”
Lara’s eyes filled.
She looked away.
Elias squeezed her hand once.
Neither mentioned it.
The following week brought clearer weather and new trouble.
A rider arrived from Deadwood carrying a letter addressed to Lara.
Thomas.
She opened it in the kitchen.
Read silently.
Then folded it.
Elias watched.
“What does he want?”
“Nothing.”
“That means something.”
She handed him the letter.
Thomas wrote that Caleb Ryland had contacted him.
The forged marriage agreement had apparently included a clause requiring Elias to pay Thomas five hundred dollars once the marriage was recognized.
If Elias rejected Lara, Thomas expected her to return immediately so he could seek another arrangement.
At the bottom, Thomas added:
Do not make yourself more difficult than necessary. You have already cost this family enough.