Nalin snorted. “That would be unbearable. I’ll be sure not to make it too often.”
The next second, Carter was charging her. She threw flour in his face and ran. He chased her into a corner and she shrieked with laughter as he grabbed her.
Anna smiled at the memory. Nalin had a quick wit and a fast laugh. She and Carter were good together. Out of nowhere, Anna felt tears welling up in her eyes. Although of course her grief was nothing like Carter’s, she missed Nalin too. Nalin was a smart woman who spoke her mind just like a man. Anna viewed her as an older sister, and she’d confided in Nalin throughout the years without the fear of judgment. Anna decided she’d tell Carter just that. She hadn’t expressed any thoughts about Nalin since her death out of fear that it wasn’t her place, but she felt that by now she and Carter might be in a place to discuss it.
Anna thought of Nalin on her way to the barn one early afternoon to visit Tuck. She thought of her promise to Nalin that she would be careful and not do anything silly. She felt a bit guilty then, visiting the stallion, but the memory of Nalin’s admonishment wasn’t enough to stop her.
She saw Tuck’s ears pop up and heard his familiar nicker. What she didn’t see or hear was Carter on the other side of the barn grooming one of his mares. Anna headed straight for Tuck’s stall. She unlatched and swung the door open so she could join him. She patted him on the neck and fed him three carrots, breaking each one in two so she could feed him from her hand six times. She liked the feeling of his soft nose and whiskers tickling her palm when he picked the carrot up with his lips.
She heard a noise and turned with a start to find Carter at the stall’s opening. His right hand rested on the corner of the swinging door. His left hand held a quirt. Her surprise turned to apprehension. She wondered if Carter would be angry. Carter moved into the stall and rubbed Tuck’s neck. “That’s good, Tuck,” he said in a deep, soothing voice. “Back up now.” Carter tapped the top of his shoulder with the whip. Tuck retreated away from the door, which put Anna better in Carter’s reach. He yanked her out of the stall. He closed the door and dragged her to a two-person bench against the wall of the barn, where he set her down in the middle of it, choosing to tower above her.
“What were you doing? Where’s Paddy? How long have you been visiting Tuck?” he asked. His words tumbled out quickly. He looked furious.
Anna hated to see him angry. Before, she would have only felt fear, but now she felt fear and concern that he would have a bad opinion of her. She looked down at her hands. “Paddy’s taking a nap. I’ve been visiting Tuck for a few weeks now maybe.”
He sucked in a breath and raised his voice. “That stallion is dangerous. All studs are, but him especially because he wasn’t socialized properly before I got him a year ago.”
Anna looked up and said to him in a pleading voice, “I’ve been really careful. I know stallions are dangerous, Carter.”
“I don’t think you do know. Prior to seeing you, I was planning to walk my mare straight past Tuck’s stall on the way out the barn. Do you know what might have happened if I had?” Carter’s scowl deepened. “Tuck’s stall door was wide open. You would have been the only thing standing between him and a mare in heat, and he would have killed you if it meant he could get to her a minute faster.”
Anna’s eyes filled with tears as he spoke. She felt misunderstood and wanted him to know she wasn’t ignorant. She knew the danger.
“Yes, sir. I know. I don’t know how to explain it, but I like being around danger sometimes. It makes me feel excited.”
Carter’s expression softened, but only slightly. “I know that about you, Anna. I’ve known that since a decade ago when I carried you down from that tree out front. And I do understand the feeling.” He cleared his throat. “The thing is, Anna, while I do understand, I can’t allow it. You’re not to visit Tuck again without me here. Are we in agreement?”
Anna’s heart sank. She looked past Carter at Tuck, feeling like she had just lost a friend. “Can I still give him carrots from outside the stall when you’re not around?”
“No.”
She bit her lip and looked down, determined not to cry. “Yes, sir,” she said, her voice betraying her disappointment.
“Look at me.”
Anna lifted her sorrowful eyes up to his.
Carter grunted with frustration. He moved to Tuck’s stall to double-check that the door was latched. He turned back to Anna who was still eyeing him with the same expression. “Blast! I don’t like seeing that look on your face. It makes me feel powerfully mean.”
His words made her forget her own disappointment for a moment, and she felt compelled to comfort him. “It’s all right, Carter. I understand why you won’t let me. Don’t feel bad.”
Carter shook his head and stared at her with disbelief. “You’re trying to make me feel better? You really are an angel, aren’t you, Anna?
Anna felt her disappointment fade a bit. Her face took on a small smile. She wondered what Carter would say if she told him another secret. She felt like opening up to him and letting him see her as she was. “I’m not an angel,” she said.
“No?”
“I found the whiskey in your cellar.”
The muscles in Carter’s face relaxed. “Is that right?”
“Yes. And I drank some of it.”
His eyes twinkled. He ambled toward her. “Anything else you’d like to confess?”
“No, sir.”
Carter face broke into his boyish smile, displaying his dimple dent. “Lucky for you I’m not one of those men who thinks it’s unladylike for a woman to drink. In fact, that was Nalin’s whiskey, truth be told.”
Leaning down, he kissed Anna on the forehead, which took her breath away almost as much as his next words.
“Stand up, Anna, and turn around.”
Her eyes widened. She stood slowly. He didn’t look angry anymore, but he was still holding the quirt. “Are you going to whip me?” she asked, her voice pitiful and far less brave than she would have liked.
“Yes, honey. Only twice, and not to punish you. It’s to communicate something very important, lest my leniency today gives you the wrong idea.”
She turned to face the wall. A few seconds later she felt the moderate sting of two smacks on her heavily clad bottom. She winced, but the strokes didn’t sting enough to make her cry out. Taking her arm, Carter guided her around to face him again.
“Think about that if you’re tempted to visit Tuck again. This is your first time doing something truly dangerous since you started working for me, so I don’t have it in me to be hard on you. However, I won’t hesitate to apply that whip thirty more times if you give me cause to fear for your safety again, and I’ll do it on your unfortunate bare bottom.”
Anna could tell he meant it. He hung the quirt next to a halter on the stall and looked at her. “I hope you don’t learn the hard way that it’s almost as dangerous to disobey me as it is to visit that stallion.”
Anna looked down at her hands. “No, sir, I won’t learn it the hard way.”
“Good girl.”
Chapter 7 - Fork in the Road
It was a pleasant, warm morning, and Anna was a half hour late. That never happened, so Carter felt uneasy and decided to go look for her. He was exiting the bedroom after retrieving his riding gloves when the door swung open and Anna stumbled in. She didn’t stop but headed straight into his surprised embrace. Carter took her arms and held her out to look at her. Upon seeing her face, he inhaled sharply. Her left eye was swollen and her nose was bleeding.
“What happened?” He cupped her chin and turned her face in both directions. Despite the initial shock of seeing her hurt, he relaxed. She wasn’t seriously injured. “You’re a bit banged up there, honey,” he said, moving his hand to rest on his hip.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said, breathing hard. “It happened at the fork in the road.”
The fork was about three-quarters of a mile from his place and theref
ore closer to her family’s cabin than to his. He wondered why she didn’t go home after getting injured instead of running all the way to his place. He would question her about that later.
Meanwhile, Carter looked around and found a clean rag. He plunged it into the basin, wrung it so it wouldn’t drip, and walked to her side. He led her to the sofa, where they sat down and he blotted the blood from her face. He felt along her nose and jaw with his fingertips.
“Nothing’s broken. Are you sore anywhere else?”
“No. He slugged me in the face, nowhere else. It was because I didn’t have any money.” Her bottom lip protruded into a pout.
Carter’s eyes froze on her. “What? I thought you fell. You mean to tell me someone hit you?”
“Yes.”
“Bastard,” he swore. “Did you recognize him?”
“One of the older Ferry kids,” she replied.
The Ferry family had ten children, give or take, all running wild. The parents were known for shady dealings in trade. The kids ranged in age from nineteen to four and most were bullies and troublemakers.
Anna sniffled. He reached over and pulled her to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, which caused her to release the cries she was holding back. Carter became angrier with every tear she shed.
After some time, Carter took her arms near her shoulders and pushed her away. “That’s enough, Anna. You’ll run out of tears for the next time you want to cry.”
Anna hiccupped. “I’m sorry about your shirt,” she said weakly, pointing to the large wet patch on his chest.
“You will be when you’re washing it,” he said with a wry smile, hoping to make her laugh.
It worked and she did, still hiccupping. He stood and found a handkerchief so she could blow her nose. He handed it to her, put his hands on his hips, and looked down at the sniffling girl on his sofa. She looked a mess. Her face was red, wet, and puffy. Her braids had weeds sticking out from them, and a side of her new dress was covered in dirt. Carter knew this meant the brute had hit her hard enough to make her fall to the ground. Rage brewed stronger inside of him with every passing second.
“Are you all right?” he asked through gritted teeth.
Anna nodded and blew her nose carefully, looking pained.
Carter’s hands closed into fists as he walked to the door. “This won’t happen again.”
“What are you going to do?”
Carter grabbed his hat. “I haven’t decided yet.” He slammed the door shut behind him and left for town on his horse.
Hours later, when Carter returned to the cabin, he entered to find Anna patching a hole in a pair of his denims. She looked clean from a bath, and the swelling on her eye had gone down considerably. Paddy was in the bedroom napping.
Carter took his trousers from her. “Please rest, honey. Don’t work today.”
She put away her needle and patches of cloth and closed the sewing kit. She looked up at him. “What happened?” she asked.
“It was the oldest kid, John Ferry, who attacked you. He’s lucky all I did was drag him to the marshal instead of breaking every bone in his body. He’s in jail now. You needn’t worry about him or anyone else from that wretched family. I made it clear…”
Carter didn’t finish his sentence. He walked to his armchair and sat down.
“Made what clear?”
Carter’s tone was low and menacing. “I made it clear that the next person who hurt you would lose a lot more than his freedom.”
He leaned back and closed his eyes. When he opened them, Anna was in the kitchen picking up the frying pan.
Carter reproached her. “Didn’t I tell you to rest? Go lie down.”
He noticed her shoulders become tense for a moment, but she responded with insistence in her voice. “I’m fine, Carter. I just want to make some supper.”
“Absolutely not,” he said. He was by her side in two seconds taking the frying pan from her hand. “You can either rest here or I can take you home to rest there. Your choice.”
Anna glared at him. She huffed and moved to a stool at the kitchen table instead of lying down, a variance to his order that he tolerated. Carter placed a pot of water over the fire. When it started to boil, he added beans. That and some leftover bread would have to do for supper. Turning, he leaned back against the counter and looked at Anna. The stubborn way she insisted on working and the brief flash of rebellion he’d seen in her eyes had riled him. Now sitting at the table, she wore such a forlorn expression that he considered taking her into his arms again, but he decided instead to give her a scolding.
“What should I do with you, Anna Brown?”
The expression on her face changed from forlorn to confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you don’t seem to know what’s best for you. You’ve come to my place in the pouring rain and tried to walk home when it’s dark. You’ve put yourself in dangerous situations multiple times with my stallion.” Carter’s scowl deepened and he crossed his arms. “Today you ran all the way here instead of going home after getting hurt, and just now you tried to work when you should be resting. I even told you to rest, but you disobeyed me.” His voice lowered to a dangerous level. “People don’t usually disobey me. At least not without paying for it.”
Anna’s confused expression evolved into apprehension as he spoke. She looked down and mumbled something he couldn’t hear.
“Pardon?”
“Never mind,” she said in the direction of the table, a trace of defiance in her voice.
Carter’s voice took a warning tone. “I’m tempted to teach you a lesson right now about your reckless behavior and what may come of disobeying me.”
Anna looked up. “What kind of lesson?”
“I think you know.” Carter opened a drawer and picked up a wooden spoon. He slapped it against the palm of his hand several times and fixed a hard look on her.
Anna stood and glowered at him. “Are you saying you’re going to spank me with that?”
“I have half a mind to. Don’t you think you deserve it?”
“No! I’m not a child, Carter. You seem to have forgotten that.” She straightened her back and moved toward the front door. “I don’t have to listen to this,” she threw at him over her shoulder.
“Actually,” he said, leaning forward and catching her arm. He pulled her back with minimal effort and got in her face. “You do have to listen. Don’t forget who’s in charge here. I’m your boss, and when I tell you not to do something, it’s more than a suggestion.”
Anna looked at him with her mouth slightly open and her eyes flashing between anger and worry. She shook her arm out of his grasp and held her head higher. “Do you threaten to spank all your employees, Carter?”
Carter’s anger subsided and he almost smiled. That was the exact moment he realized he loved her. He loved the way she asked that question haughtily but with trepidation in her voice. He loved that she had run to him for help when she’d been hurt. He loved the way she cared about every person and creature around her with so much devotion that he’d been compelled to start caring again too.
“No, I don’t threaten to spank all my employees. Only a certain young lady I happen to care about. Now stop fuming and go sit down. Smoke’s going to come out of your ears in a minute.”
Anna let out an affronted sigh. She sat back down and kicked a leg of the table.
“Oh, honey…” he said slowly. It hurt him not to turn her over his knee for that. “I promise you don’t want to test me right now. Certainly don’t be kicking the furniture if you care to sit for the rest of the evening.” Carter put the wooden spoon back in the drawer. He checked the beans and began to slice the bread.
A few minutes passed before Anna spoke in a small voice. “Carter?”
“Yes, Anna?” His back was turned to her.
“You’re not really going to punish me, are you? I didn’t mean to do anything wrong.” Her voice was meek.
There she is, Carter tho
ught, smiling to himself. His angelic Anna was back. His Anna. It was the first time he allowed himself think of her possessively.
Chapter 8 - Serious Talks
Anna’s heart pounded. She had never raised her voice to Carter, and she was unsettled by how angry she’d gotten when he came close to giving her a real punishment. The truth was that in addition to feeling angry, she also felt exhilarated. The detached, grieving side of Carter had been ebbing for some time, but today it had disappeared completely and had been replaced by the passionate, fearsome cowboy slicing bread in front of her.
For so long she had wished for him to pay attention to her and care about what she did. Today she’d gotten more attention than she’d bargained for. Carter comforted her in his arms when she was hurt. He shook with anger when he found out she’d been attacked. He ordered her to obey him, scolded her, and threatened her with punishment. To Anna, all of his words and actions were exciting because they showed her that he cared for her like she cared for him, but they were also frightening to experience. In the not-too-distant past, he had barely looked up from his pipe and paper when she walked in the room. It was impossible for her to manage appropriately all of the feelings she was having in response to this change between them, so she reacted with anger, the strongest emotion in her reach.
She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. She wanted to please Carter, and she worried that he was disappointed in her and might still spank her. He had put that awful spoon away, but maybe he intended to use something else to punish her with. She was coming close to crying again, overwhelmed with conflicting emotions, when she felt his hand on hers. His touch settled her thoughts. Every touch of his was imprinted on her memory. A brush on the shoulder, his hand holding hers when she exited the buggy, his arms wrapping around her earlier that day, and, most breathtaking of all, the kiss he gave to her forehead.
Carter’s voice was gentle. “Anna, it was a bit hard of me to give you a dressing-down after what you’ve been through today. You’re a very good girl, and your offenses are minor except for the stallion visits, which we’ve already settled. I’m not going to spank you.”
The Unbraiding of Anna Brown (Lone Star Love Book 2) Page 5
