Breaking Him(38)

She sighed. “If that’s true, honey, then why did you keep this a secret from me?”

I had my reasons, reasons I believed were good ones. Now, though, they didn’t seem good. They seemed like I was ashamed of Eli, of what we were doing, and that wasn’t how I felt. God, I’d messed this whole thing up completely. “That was a mistake,” I said quietly. “Our relationship is not a secret, it’s just new. I just…”

Eli walked in then. He didn’t stand there and wait. He walked right up to me, crowding me, surrounding me with his scent, his warmth. Cassie had started on her rant again, and I didn’t hear a word; all I could focus on was the man in front of me, the determined expression on his face.

“Say good-bye,” he said quietly.

“Cassie? I have to go.”

“We’re not done talking about this.”

“I am. I’ll call you in a couple days.”

“Abi…”

“Good-bye.” I ended the call and looked up at him, desperate to touch him but not sure if he wanted me to. An ache began in the center of my chest. “Are you still mad?” I whispered.

He shook his head, took my hand, and led me outside. He carried on across the dry, scorched earth that was my yard and toward the barn. Our horses were saddled and standing out front. We stopped beside them, and I stroked Bess, saying hello to my horse, then looked at Eli and waited for him to tell me what was going on. He didn’t say a damn thing. Instead, he wrapped his fingers around my waist and plonked me in my saddle, passed me my hat, then climbed onto Gus and headed out.

Elijah was a man of few words; I knew this, and I was getting used to our conversations. When he spoke it was because whatever he wanted to say was important to him, so I listened. But his silences could be equally telling. Right now, I didn’t think he knew what to say, how to express the way he was feeling. He was going to show me. He was also asking me to trust him.

And I did. Every part of me trusted every part of him.

So I followed. I didn’t need to know where we were going. Elijah would take care of me, protect me, make sure I had everything I needed. I realized in that moment that I’d follow him anywhere. That thought should have freaked me out. It didn’t.

We rode for a long time, maybe a couple of hours, and we were nearly to our destination when I realized where he was taking me. The old trapper’s hut came into view a few minutes later. It had been here since before my grandfather owned this ranch. I used to come here with my dad sometimes when I was a kid. He and the ranch hands would use the place to sleep or cook when they were working on this side of the property. The ranch was big and not all of it could be used for grazing. Some of it was wild and untamed. The hut was in our farthest field, where the pasture ended and nature took over.

I always thought it was so beautiful, but I hadn’t been out here in years.

Elijah dismounted, walked over to me, lifted me off Bess, then led her and Gus away. I stood there watching as he removed their gear, went to the small shed by the cottage, and came back with some hay.

Leaving them to graze, he returned to me and held out his hand. I took it without question. I could tell this pleased him.

When he pushed open the cabin door, my jaw dropped. The rough-sawed walls were cobweb-free, and there was a large striped mat on the floor. The old couch had a gray woolen blanket over it, and the two small steel-framed cots that had always been there had been replaced with a full-size bed. The frame was rustic and chunky, and I could smell new linen and wildflowers. My mouth went dry. “Did you make the bed?”

“Yes.”

My heart fluttered, squeezed. The quilt covering it was yellow, my favorite color, with a delicate floral print, frills around the edge, similar to my own. “And the quilt…”

“I know you like flowers.”

There was a chipped crystal vase there as well, filled with straggly wildflowers, looking a little worse for wear. I swallowed the lump in my throat. God, to me they were the most beautiful flowers in the world.

He was standing behind me now. I turned to him, and he was studying me, a flush of color darkening his cheeks.

I pulled off my hat and flung it on the couch. “This is where you come? Those nights that you’re away?”

He dipped his chin. “Sometimes.”

“When did you do all this?”

“Last time I came out.” He was looking at me from under his thick lashes. “Wanted to bring you out here…have for a long time.” His eyes turned midnight. Fathomless pools that went deep, so damn deep. “Thought a lot about what it’d be like to bring you here. Ever since the day I first saw it after I showed up at the ranch and your father took a chance on me, gave me a job.”