When A Cowboy Asks (A Rancher's Bride Book 2) by Chula Stone

Author:Chula Stone [Stone, Chula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blushing Books Publications
Published: 2017-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

At noon two days later, with an amused smile Treli faced an extremely irate Shep outside the cottage. She had just finished brushing the last of the tinted whitewash she had mixed up and was feeling rather pleased with herself. “See, I told you I could sneak off and do it in daylight as easily as you!” she declared stoutly.

“Treli…” He let the word trail off in the time-honored manner of a school principal calling out an erring pupil. In his tone was an incredulity mixed with certainty that could not be denied.

She had expected his anger and was blithely ready for him. “Oh, don’t take on so! I’ll fix it. That’s why I did it! So you’d have to let me help!”

“Treli…” That same inflection, a kind of long, drawn out rising pitch at the end combined with his flexing his fingers and leaning forward as he strode toward her with what could only be described as menace.

“It isn’t at all dark, you know,” she argued. His reaction was stronger than she had calculated.

“Treli…” Softer, yet all the more threatening for that. She was confident he wouldn’t hit a woman, but she had first-hand experience with his other options. Options that she had thought he wouldn’t exercise once he had gotten over the initial shock of discovery. It had been no part of her plan to be on hand when he first got sight of her handiwork. He hadn’t done anything about the painting on the first day and it had irked her. She had decided to teach him a lesson. It seemed now that she might be the one being taught a thing or two.

She backed away. “It probably won’t even show when it dries. At least not much.”

“So just a little is okay, you think?” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Just a little red in the whitewash, yes. You said yourself that red is a good sturdy color.”

“And I had enough of that good sturdy color to paint a door. Not the whole front of the cabin.” Shep stepped closer, his arm swinging wide to indicate the small structure.

“But it’s still the same color. Red is red.”

Shep gave a snort of derision. “Combined with all that white, it isn’t red anymore.”

The giggle escaped. She couldn’t contain it any longer. “I’ll go over it again. There’s plenty of whitewash left. I was just trying to prove a point and I did. I got down here before you did and in daylight, too. You should have let me help in the first place.”

“But why pink?”

“Because I wanted you to know I’d been here.”

“Well, you got your wish there, little bit. I know for sure it was you who did this.”

“That wasn’t exactly part of my plan,” Treli admitted sheepishly.

“Neither was turning over a pink cabin to my boss, who could come checking my progress at any minute.”

“Your boss? He doesn’t know about this place!” Treli’s smile slipped from her face.

“He sure does! He ordered me to fix it up.

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