Ella positioned herself on the stool. Her eyes never left Sadie’s. “Nice cow.”
Sadie grunted and swished her tail, flicking Ella in the face. His wife squealed. She tottered backward, nearly falling off the stool.
Cody caught her. “Easy. Sadie’s harmless.”
“Harmless?” Ella rubbed her cheek. “Since when do cows have such strong tails?”
Cody bit his lip hard. Even so, he coughed to cover a chuckle, then eased Ella back onto her seat. “Maybe she wants to test your mettle, darlin’.”
She glanced up at him over her shoulder. Her green eyes bore into his. “Is that a term people use out here?”
He floundered for words. The endearment slipped out so naturally, he didn’t even think about it. “Uh…no.” Would his reason placate her or make her run? He swallowed. “It’s what my pa called Ma. I guess since you’re my wife, it felt like the right thing to say.” He tugged at his collar. “If it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t use it.”
Ella held his gaze. “I don’t mind. Especially if it has happy memories connected with your parents.”
Warmth shot through his gut, which rendered breathing difficult. Cody dropped his eyes, wondering at his reaction as well as his unconscious choice to call Elladarlin’. The fact that she remained open to it surprised him—but he couldn’t help being pleased.
His gaze fell to her hands. The right one still bore bandages from her burn. “How’s your hand?”
“It’s better, though it feels a bit tender. At least I can touch things without any sting.”
“Good.” He motioned to Sadie. “Squeezing the teats might aggravate it. If that happens, we can try this another time.”
Ella flexed her fingers. “I should be fine.”
“All right.” He squatted beside her. “Now, the trick to milking is to pull the teats with the right pressure. Too light won’t produce any milk, and too hard will make the cow angry.”
“Angry?” Ella’s voice pitched high.
Cody smiled and patted her arm. “It’ll be fine. Watch me.” He took hold of two teats and began to milk. The stream of white liquid pinged as it landed in the pail. After a minute, he paused. “Your turn.”
With a look of intense concentration, Ella reached forward and took the same two teats in hand. She squeezed. Nothing happened. Dismay flashed over her face as she looked up at him. “It didn’t work.”
“You have to put your thumb and index finger at the top of the teat, against the udder. The rest of your fingers go below them.” He positioned her hands. “Squeeze the top of the teat with your index finger. Use your other fingers to squeeze from top to bottom, and make sure you use a slight downward pull.”
She gave it another attempt. Still nothing. Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she tried a third time, drawing Cody’s gaze. He forced his eyes back to the cow even as a foreign desire tripped through him, a desire to take her in his arms and…
Nope. He blocked the mental image. Being attracted to his wife wasnota part of their arrangement. The last thing he needed was to daydream about kissing her. Never mind the fact that her lips looked soft and welcoming. Sharing a kiss with her would be no hardship. He’d probably enjoy it.
A growl sounded low in his throat.Get a hold of yourself, Brooks!
Ella flinched, dropping her hands from Sadie. “I’m making more work for you. I should head back to the house.”
Cody’s arms shot forward without his permission, locking her in place. “That wasn’t aimed at you.”
She stilled in his arms. Her brow furrowed. “You sounded frustrated, and there’s no one here but me.”
Angry at himself for frightening her, Cody inhaled deeply before responding. “It’s nothing you did. Something came to mind that felt…unwelcome. I’m sorry.”
Ella looked down. “You don’t have to apologize.”
Yet again, anger at the men in her past rose inside of him. A man’s strength lay in protecting the women in his life, not using it to terrorize. Pushing down the reaction so as not to frighten her again, Cody gentled his voice. “Want to try again with Sadie?”
Ella kept her hands in her lap. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
“Nothing. It just takes some practice.” When she still didn’t move, Cody squatted behind her and put his hands over hers.
Ella gasped, encircled in his arms. “What are you doing?”
