Page 12 of A Rancher's Bride
“Fine. I’ll take you home,” Luke grumbled.
No way. “I have my truck.”
“I said. I’ll. Take. You. Home.” He bit out every word as if they were torturous.
She glanced at Josiah, hoping for his support again.
Only this time, he shook his head. “I think you should go with him,” Josiah offered softly. “I’ll drop your truck off in the morning.”
Irritating males, all of them. Kelli growled out her frustration, but she handed over her truck keys before glaring at Luke. “Fine. Let’s go, sunshine.”
* * *
Luke didn’t trusthimself to say anything as they walked. It was dead quiet as he guided her across the road and down the alley to where he’d parked.
Him carting her off like this left a bit of a mess for Josiah and Kelli’s friends, ferrying vehicles back and forth. But as he yanked open the passenger door and waited for Kelli climb in, he realized he didn’t really give a crap.
Most women would’ve sensed his level of frustration and kept silent, at least for the first part of the journey.
Not Kelli.
She twisted in her seat, arms folded over her chest, and started up the instant he opened his door. “If you want to yell at me, you can do it right here. Then no one has to worry about getting my vehicle home.”
He stared at her long enough that she twitched, but she didn’t look away, matching him glare for glare.
It took forever until she flopped back in the seat and did up her buckle, staring straight ahead as if her eyes were laser beams that let her blow up shit. Probably imagining he was standing in front of her.
Fine by him. Because he was imagining more than a few explosions himself.
He made it onto the main highway before his temper eased enough to speak in a reasonable tone.
“You know, I’m the Stone brother considered to be levelheaded and cool. Caleb could go off the deep end and get far too protective. Walker was always throwing himself off of something dangerous. But I was the one who could calm the waters. I could talk everybody off the edge and get the world back on track. Would you agree with that?”
He was doing it now, the calm and cool thing. Or at least faking it well enough that she shifted her attention and instead of mainlining the road, she glanced at him for a few seconds. “Yeah, I guess.”
Luke pulled off on the side of the road in a section that had been cleared of snow and ice. The plows were using it as a turnaround, because the drifts were well over the top of the truck.
A few deep breaths later he put the truck into park then adjusted position so he could partially face her across the bench seat. “So, this is me being calm and collected and telling you if Ieversee you pull that sort of stupid, impulsive act again, I’m going to lose my ever-loving shit, and someone will get seriously hurt.”
Her mouth dropped open slightly as she stared at him, her dark brown eyes dancing over his face in a decidedly un-Kelli fashion. She didn’t seem nearly as in control as she had when facing down the bastard at the bar.
Her body trembled, shaking slightly even though she was putting on a tough act.
It pissed him off she was ignoring the truth here. She was probably going to write this all off as a blip on the map, and sure enough, when she spoke it was with a slight lift of her shoulders.
“I don’t go around answering bat-signals, and I won’t accost someone that size in a dark back alley. But I’m not about to let some guy be abusive in a public place without letting the woman know she’s got options.”
“Even if it means you could end up on the floor?” He caught her wrist, keeping his grip loose even as he raised her arm toward him. He pushed up her sleeve, and sure enough, as he’d suspected, faint red marks marred her skin. “Even if it means you’re the one who gets hurt?”
Her shoulders had gone as rigid as two by fours, and she stared at the rising bruises on her forearm as if utterly surprised to see them there.
She quivered even more noticeably, still focused on her arm. That’s when he finally clued in about what Josiah had tried to tell him earlier.
“Shit.” Luke unlocked his seatbelt and reached over to hit the release on hers. “Come here, baby girl. You’re having a reaction.”
He hauled her across the seat and scooped her up like he would’ve one of his nieces, pressing Kelli’s head against his chest and holding on tight. It was the same thing Josiah had done briefly before, but for a man who prided himself on his smarts, it seemed Luke had a wide gap in understanding when it came to figuring out what made this woman tick.
She was like a scarecrow in his arms at first, arms sticking out it awkward angles, her shoulders as tense as if there were straw stuffed up her sleeves.
