Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire Book 1) (13 page)

“I learned my lesson from Cole, you swamp turd.”

Josiah’s judgy little eyebrows jacked up even higher. “Did you?”

“Yeah, Jo, I did. You want proof? That man you just insulted has filled the hen house, fixed my snow machine and four-wheeler, and brought his own snow-machine, just in case you’re comparing him to my moocher asshole late-boyfriend. Ian has been working himself to the bone chopping firewood, and he gets up earlier than me every morning and has my breakfast warming on the stove. He works until sundown getting our place ready for winter. He’s gone on two hunts, has my once-empty freezer half-filled, and he protected me from a fucking
bear
attack without a thought for his own safety.” She yanked up the hem of her pant leg and showed him the scabbed over claw marks. The stitches were still in the worst one. “And it’s him who’s been doctoring me without me ever asking, and no he doesn’t need the money or the land, you snooty dick-weevil. He has a plane and runs a successful bush pilot career that he put on hold to come prepare me for winter. And,” she growled, stomping past him, “I love the guy, so there’s that.”

“You were attacked by a bear?” her brother called after her.

“That was your only take-away from that entire tirade?” Elyse asked. “Seriously?”

The sound of Josiah’s boots became louder and louder as he jogged to catch up. “When?”

“Two weeks ago. We were fishing, and a brown bear sow and her cubs went after our fish. And then after me.” The memory still made the blood in her veins run cold.

“Why were you fishing in brown bear country in the first place?”

“Because my freezer was empty, Jo. I missed the big salmon run, and it wasn’t hunting season yet, and we needed meat fast.”

“Why was your freezer empty? Hey!” Josiah pulled her arm, yanking her to a stop. “Why were you that hard up for meat?”

“Because Cole drained me dry.” Her voice shook with the admission of her weakness. She’d kept all this from Josiah. Sure, he knew that Cole had been bad news, but he hadn’t known just how much Elyse had let him take advantage of her. “I know you thought that advertisement for a husband was stupid. I
know
. But I was desperate, and I got lucky as hell when that one showed up.” She jammed her finger at Ian, who was talking to Mr. Fairway and his wife near the tractor with the baler on the back.

“Elyse, why didn’t you tell me it was that bad? I knew you were losing weight, but I thought it was a vanity thing. You could’ve told me, and I would’ve hunted for you.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of taking care of me, Jo?” She let her shoulders hunch forward and sighed. “I do.”

“As opposed to him taking care of you?”

“It’s not like that. Ian doesn’t coddle me. He’s teaching me to snare rabbits, shoot worth a damn, and can food more efficiently. I even killed and plucked my first chicken last week because he thought I should know how to do that kind of stuff. He’s not taking care of me. He’s making me stronger.”

Josiah took a step back and scratched at his beard as he watched Ian laugh and shake Mr. Fairway’s hand. “I still don’t like it,” he muttered, but the vitriol had left his voice.

“You don’t have to like it, big brother,” she said, clapping him on the shoulder as she passed him by.

“And I’m not a swamp turd,” Josiah called from behind her.

The stretch of her smile felt good. If her brother would give Ian half a chance, he would see the good man she’d fallen for. Ian and Cole were like night and day. Josiah was just being stubborn.

“Don’t eat that,” she said to Miki, who was chowing down on what looked like pebbled rabbit crap.

“He’s a good lookin’ dog,” Josiah said, walking ten paces behind her.

“He’s a hellion.”

“They all are at that age. How’s potty-training going?” There was a smile in his voice that said he already knew.

“Not awesome. How are my cows doing?”

“Fair enough. We lost one to wolves week before last. When do you want to come and get them? The temperature’s dropping.”

Like she couldn’t feel the chill. Now she dreaded the winter for all sorts of reasons. With a sigh, she turned, waited for him, and didn’t even kick his shin over the obnoxious grin on his face like she did when they were kids.

“My sister, the grizzly attack survivor. Shootin’ and huntin’ and plantin’ and cannin’. Uncle Jim would be right proud of the Alaskan woman you turned out to be.”

“Don’t tease.”

Josiah’s voice went serious when he said, “I’m not.”

When she dared a glance up at him, walking beside her, his eyes were sincere. Emotion swelled inside of her chest, and her throat went tight. “Thanks for saying that.”

Josiah hopped on his four-wheeler he’d parked at the edge of the field and pulled it toward the first row of hay Mr. Fairway was already mowing down. Josiah turned on his seat and jerked his head in invitation. With a laugh, Elyse scrambled up onto the small trailer he was hauling and bumped and bounced along behind him as her brother managed to hit every danged pothole in the field to reach his destination.

She waved to Joanna Fairway as Josiah pulled to a stop and chatted with the neighbor until Joanna’s husband was far enough ahead with the mower for her to start the baler on the line of cut hay. Elyse always paid them with a cow for their troubles, especially since Ricky had a gimp leg from getting kicked by a horse a few years back and had trouble hunting for them. Still, Elyse was extremely grateful they had been friends of her uncle’s and offered to help bale the hay when she needed it.

The morning passed quickly as Josiah drove slowly beside the new, square bales Joana left behind her baler. She and Ian hauled them up into the back, stacking them high until her arms fatigued and she switched Josiah spots driving the four-wheeler. And when they had as much as the trailer could carry, she drove it slowly back toward the empty cattle pen. The storage building for the hay was dilapidated and half the wood rotten. She jogged inside the cabin and threw together a quick lunch for everyone while Ian and Josiah unloaded the bales from the trailer.

And when she came outside with a basket full of food, she smiled when she overheard Josiah and Ian’s conversation. They were talking about fixing up the hay storage before Josiah headed back for his cabin.

They didn’t know it yet, and she’d never admit it to them out loud, but they’d just given her a moment she never thought she would have. Cole and Josiah had fought like wolverines, and the tension had always added stress, but seeing her brother and her fiancé talking cordially about how to improve and expand the wooden hay shelter had her feeling incredibly relieved. She could imagine holidays together…

Wait. Elyse frowned and gripped on tighter to the handle of the food basket, causing the wicker to creak. Ian would be in hibernation and would only be awake an hour to celebrate the holidays. And how would she explain that to Josiah? Maybe one year she could convince her brother Ian was sick, but Josiah was sharp as a tack and wouldn’t fall for that two years in a row.

A problem for another day because right now, she had a hungry bear-shifter to feed, hay to haul, and shit to do. And a puppy to wrangle because Miki was eating something unsavory again.

But when she pulled the puppy away from the horse-crap snack he was partaking in, she really looked at the homestead around her, and it became impossible to rush away from such a profound moment. Her brother and fiancé were talking low, the homestead was clean, the garden tidy and producing, and the hay was building up by the trailer-load. The woodpile was stacked high all along the side of the cabin and, in the distant barn, Momma Goat screamed her contentment. Sure, Miki’s breath smelled like the south end of a northbound horse, but he wasn’t nipping her anymore, and he stuck like glue to her and Ian wherever they went. And off in the field behind the cabin, she had kind neighbors who were helping out.

Elyse smiled at how far her life had come in such a short amount of time. It was because of Ian that she wasn’t struggling and panicking right now, a mere month before the first snowfall would blanket this place in white.

Ian smiled at her as if he could tell she was thinking mushy thoughts about him, and she melted under his appreciative gaze.

Not even the chill or the threat of winter could dampen a moment like this.

For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was bone-deep, canyon-wide, ardently, and utterly happy.

Elyse gave Joanna a tight hug and waved to her husband as he drove the tractor back toward their own property.

“I’ll bring the cow next week if that’s all right.”

Joanna smiled kindly and dipped her head. “That would be much appreciated. You have a good night now.”

Elyse grinned up at Joanna as she climbed into the tractor with the baler on the back. “I think I’m going to sleep like a log tonight.”

“It was a long day, but a good day. You keep those boys in line.”

With a snort, she waved Joanna off. Elyse had as much a chance of keeping a grizzly-shifter and her half-wild brother in line as she did of controlling the Alaskan weather.

Her muscles had cooled as she’d said her farewells to the Fairways, so she zipped her jacket up to her chin and strode toward where Josiah and Ian were loading the last few bales into the trailer. “I will shamelessly bribe you to fix my hay storage,” she said through a grin.

Ian gave her a grin and asked, “Bribe how?”

“Uncle Jim had this recipe for rabbit stew—”

“Sold,” Josiah said, hoisting another bale. “I’m in. Dinner invitation accepted.”

Ian let off a single booming laugh as he adjusted the stacked hay. “Well, get on then, woman. Josiah and I will be in later.”

With a giggle, Elyse jumped into his arms and planted tiny pecking kisses on his cheeks until he chuckled warmly and hugged her waist.

“Bossy,” she teased.

Ian’s blue eyes sparked in the dim evening light as he leaned in and kissed her soundly. He set her on her feet and gave her backside a swat as she trotted away. And as she left the men in her life behind to bring in the rest of the hay, over Miki’s puppy barks, she could’ve sworn she heard Josiah laugh low. And damn, it felt good to hear that. He’d always been a quiet man, more observer than participant in silly antics, but today, she’d seen him smile more than she could ever remember. Perhaps he’d been as lonely as her trying to make a life out here, or perhaps his worry over her had been heavier than she’d realized. And maybe, just maybe, Ian being here was good for Josiah, too.

Behind the cabin, the sunset painted the sky in vivid shades of pink and orange. Today had been one of those days that felt like summer. Not because it was warm. On the contrary, there was a nip in the air. But when she was a child, she’d looked forward to summers at the homestead all year long. The months in school would drag on and on, and the closer to summer it became, the more she was filled with the glowing feeling that soon she would be in the place she belonged. This place was magic. Here, mom’s yelling and frustration with her and Josiah didn’t exist. Uncle Jim was a patient sort of man, and Marta treated her and Jo like they were her own kids. It wasn’t the impatient love that Mom forced herself to feel for them. Marta and Uncle Jim seemed to always have a smile when they watched them. The unforced kind that said they were really enjoying spending time with her and Josiah.

After Marta died, and then Uncle Jim, this place hadn’t felt the same. It wasn’t a retreat anymore, but instead a responsibility. But today had felt different. It felt like the old homestead again.

Miki bounced up the stairs behind her and into the cabin. She didn’t run the generator unless she needed it, so she turned on the lanterns instead and built a fire in the stove with the pile of wood and tinder and newspapers Ian kept stocked by the door as a habit. She’d left the rabbit out to thaw when she’d made lunch, so she discarded the head and feet and chopped the rest up into twelve pieces. With a private smile for the sound of the four-wheeler and men’s voices outside, she climbed down into the root cellar with one of the lanterns and filled a small basket with the things she needed. Thankfully, the garden had produced more once she’d gotten a hold on the weeds strangling her vegetable plants, and Ian had taken her around the property and showed her blueberry patches and a pair of apple trees that his oversensitive bear nose had picked up. The man had already eaten a tree’s worth of the apples in his constant need to eat right now, but she’d preserved the rest along with a few buckets of ripe blueberries and would have jam and fruit for pies in the winter. She’d never had that before, nor had she known how to can and smoke salmon. Ian had proven himself invaluable.

She picked an onion, the smallest of the potatoes, and pulled a few cloves of garlic from the strands hanging from the rafters, then frowned at an unfamiliar coffee can that sat on the shelf with the jars of salmon. The can made a hollow clunk when she set it down on the small prep table. Inside was a wad of cash, mostly five and ten dollar bills, and a note.

If food gets low, don’t go hungry.

I love you.

Ian

She read it several times to familiarize herself with his scrawled handwriting. She was both flattered and scared at the meaning of this coffee can. Ian was making sure she was taken care of. He was preparing for worst case scenarios, and for that, she adored him even more deeply.

But…

It was early to be making preparations like this, wasn’t it? She still had a month with him, but he was already filling a coffee can with extra money. Maybe he was afraid his hibernation would come early this year. Last night’s pillow talk had brought to light that he didn’t control when he went to sleep, and that some years it snuck up on him.

She stuffed the money and the note back in the can and replaced it on the shelf. She would need that letter from him in dark winter when she was fighting off cabin fever and waiting for him to wake up for their mere hour of time together. Reading his note would be a good way to feel a connection to him when the loneliness became unbearable. That little scribbled paper was the closest she’d ever gotten to a love note. Sure, it was short and simple, but it was the meaning behind it that curled into her heart and warmed her blood. Ian was thinking of every way possible to help her through the cold months, even if he would be as good as a ghost.

Basket of vegetables in hand, she climbed up the steep stairs out of the root cellar and back into the kitchen. Thyme, parsley, bay leaves, butter, sugar, salt and pepper gathered, she seared the rabbit. Once the meat was ready, she got the stew simmering on the stove and finally removed her jacket.

Her muscles were so tired her limbs felt numb, but it was the good kind of exhaustion. It was a fatigue that said she’d had a productive day and would be stronger for it once the soreness left her in a couple of days. She hung her jacket on the coat rack, then strode into the bedroom and scrutinized herself in the mirror. She did this lately because for the first time in a long time, she enjoyed the way her body was changing. There was no wasting away or new bones protruding. She was on the mend and putting on weight that would cushion and insulate her in the cold months.

Ian liked the changes, too. She could tell because he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her curves now—her ass in particular. God, that man could make her feel beautiful with a touch.

Missing him, she meandered into the kitchen for a quick stir of the stew simmering in the cast iron pot before looking out the window. It was full dark now, and Ian and Josiah had lanterns lit on hooks around the hay storage. The sound of the chainsaw was loud in the stillness of the evening, and she could make out Ian making cuts into posts he must’ve dragged up from the old wood pile. Uncle Jim had always reused everything so he’d torn down the old horse shelter five years back and piled the wood behind the barn. His foresight meant Ian and Josiah weren’t going off into the night searching for wood right now. Her brother was digging a posthole several yards outside of the shelter. Neither were talking, but they both seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Capable Alaskan men—there was nothing quite like them. She was proud of how self-sufficient her brother had become and proud that Ian had chosen her to share his life.

She refilled Miki’s water and food bowls in the corner near an old blanket he usually slept on while she puttered around the cabin in the evenings. With cute little puppy snorts, he ate hungrily.

An hour and a half later of hammers on nails echoing through the homestead, she had fresh biscuits made, and the stew had thickened up nicely. Apparently Ian could tell the main course was almost done because he led Josiah inside at just the right time and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. Resting his chin on her shoulder, he tasted a spoonful of the broth she offered him. The groan of ecstasy he elicited gave her a deep yearning in her stomach. Cheeks flushed, she nuzzled her cheek against the scruff of his jaw and murmured, “You go wash up. Dinner’s on.”

Ian leaned closer and clamped his teeth on her neck for just a moment before he eased away from her, leaving her back cold where he’d been so warm before. He did that a lot, and when she’d asked, he’d told her simply that his bear liked having his teeth on her neck. That it made her feel more like his. She didn’t know what it said about her, but she thoroughly enjoyed him getting territorial and laying those sexy teeth on her skin. There was a sense of danger about it, having the mouth of a wild creature like Ian on her, but at the same time, she trusted him completely. With her life even.

Miki was passed out on his blanket by the time they filled their plates and sat down at the table. It was late, and the day had been long and hard, but that didn’t seem to stop Josiah from stirring the shit. “If you saw Elyse when we were younger, you would run for the hills.”

Elyse kicked her brother under the table and pulled more rabbit meat from the bone with her fork. “Piss of, Jo. I’ve been a looker all my life.”

“What was she like?” Ian asked through a trouble-making grin as he slathered butter on his steaming biscuit.

“So one summer, Elyse decided she wanted to have a boy haircut like mine, so she begged Uncle Jim to cut it. Begged and begged.”

“Josiah, stop it.” Elyse was doing her best to hide her laughter. Her brother didn’t need encouragement, and she had a sneaking suspicion where this was headed.

“So Marta told her she wouldn’t look good with a boy cut and forbade Uncle Jim from going anywhere near her with the scissors. But Elyse here, being the head-strong person she is, decided she didn’t need Uncle Jim, and she cut her own hair in the bathroom mirror before everyone woke up one morning.”

Elyse’s shoulders shook uncontrollably with her laughter now, and she set her spoon down with a clink on her metal bowl. “I was sixteen and had always wanted to try short hair. Marie Dryver had her hair cut in school, and she looked so cool I imagined I was going to look the same.”

“Except Elyse shaved entire notches out of the back of her hair, and she was in braces for a pair of impressive buck-teeth at the time. She’d fallen off the porch a few days before, so she was sporting one helluva shiner to boot.”

“And when Marta saw my hair, she burst out crying. I mean…body wracked with sobs kind of crying, and she said my mom was going to kill her. I’d done it at the end of summer and there was no saving the haircut without burring my head completely—”

“Which Uncle Jim did—”

“Okay, but in my mind, it was going to be short on the sides,” she explained, gesturing to her hair, “and longer up top. I wanted to look like a badass.”

“Yeah, but you used sheep sheers.”

Ian was leaning back in his chair belly laughing now, and Elyse’s cheeks were on fire.

“That was the year of no boyfriends at school.”

“That was the one benefit to you looking like a deranged beaver,” Josiah muttered.

“Oh God,” Ian groaned, wiping moisture from the corners of his eyes. “I’m so attracted to you right now.”

Elyse made a single clicking sound from behind her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Thanks a lot, Josiah.”

Gold eyes dancing, her brother murmured around a bite of stew, “Anytime. I’ve got pictures at my cabin. I can show you them when you come pick up the cattle.”

“I’d sure appreciate it,” Ian said, dodging a swat from Elyse. “I want a picture of her to put in my plane anyway.”

“Fantastic,” she muttered.

“When are we driving the herd?” Josiah asked.

“Mmm,” Ian murmured, looking thoughtful as he chewed. “I want to take Elyse up to Afognak in the next couple of days. Maybe get a deer or two. If we can get some venison, I’d feel a lot better about our freezer.”

“Afognak?” Josiah asked, sandy brows rising high on his forehead.

“Have you been there?”

“Can’t say I have, but I’ve heard things about that place. Haunted as shit if rumors are right.”

“Nah,” Ian said, ghosting Elyse a glance. “I’ve spent a lot of time there. No ghosts but there is wildlife as thick as the woods themselves.”

“You have a boat to get there?”

“Yeah, I parked it on Kodiak Island in April. There are a few cabins on Afognak for hunters, and I figured Elyse and I would hole up there for a day or two and see if we can’t fill a couple hunting tags.”

“It’s brown bear territory,” Josiah warned. “Elyse got lucky the first time, but you can understand my concern, yeah? Besides Mom, she’s all the family I have left.”

“I get that. I respect that you are protective of her, and I promise to keep the risk as low as possible. I’m seeing zero sign of big game around here, though, and we need red meat.”