“I don’t know if I want to carry you up to the house and whale on your ass there or spank you here.”
Victoria gasped, and her hand dropped.She stared at him wide-eyed for a moment.“What?Why?”she screeched.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”Cole yelled.
Victoria cringed, and the men behind her stopped in shock before turning back when Cole sent them a volatile look.
Victoria’s chin went up, and she crossed her arms.“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to explain,” she demanded in a petulant tone of voice.
Cole took a deep breath, hoping to control his overwhelming need to yell at her, then lay her down and dive as deep as he could inside her.He needed to feel as close to her as possible because even though he saw she was fine and not under bales of hay, the fear he’d felt since getting the call from Tomas was still riding through his nerves.
“Tell me why you were out here doing the job that usually takes three or four men, preferably, to do?”
“My men were busy, and this needed to be done.I thought I’d do what I could until they could finish.”She threw an arm out, indicating the trailer.“See how much I got done by myself.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a few moments before he spoke.He looked down into her upturned face and felt his heart tighten.He looked at the trailer where she had dragged seven bales up onto it.Although he was furious that she put herself in danger, he felt pride that this little woman, who clearly had to struggle to get a bale up, didn’t give up.She stood in front of him, in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, dirty, with bits of hay stuck in her braided hair.
There was nothing to keep him from falling head-over-heels in love at that very moment with this sweet, small, beautiful, spirited woman.That made the fear turn into a desperate demand to feel all of her.Cole growled and bent, putting his shoulder to her midsection and picking her up in a fireman’s hold.
“Cole,” Victoria shrieked.“For God’s sake, what are you doing?Put me down.”
“Okay,” he said and kept walking toward his truck.He dumped her in the driver’s side front seat and pulled off her gloves to see her hands wrapped in bandages.He bit back a howl of pain at the thought of her being injured.He unwrapped them to find them raw and red with blisters.“This makes me so angry.Your little hands should not have calluses and blisters.Look how red they are, when they should be white and soft.”
Victoria tried to pull her hands back.“What do you expect me to do?”she asked in frustration.
Cole’s gaze locked on her for a long moment.His eyes ran down over her body.She had jeans and boots on, but she paired them with a pink t-shirt and put a bow on the end of her braid.She was so blatantly female.She did what needed to be done, but from what he could tell, she didn’t take pleasure in it.Now, when she was working on a meal or in the garden, her face was lit from the inside.He had her pegged but needed to confirm his assessment of her.
“Tell me this, baby.How did you see your life going when you were a child?”
Victoria looked confused.“You mean, what I dreamed about being when I was an adult?”
“Yeah.”He captured her hands again and held them gently.
She looked undecided for a moment, then shrugged.“I know this is old-fashioned, but my ultimate dream was having a family of my own and living on a ranch or farm.”Victoria looked away and bit her lip.
“Is there more?”
She sighed.“I wanted just to be a wife and mother.”Victoria smiled jokingly.“Amazingly, I am very girly.I’ve never wanted to do hard labor.”
“Like you’re doing today?”
“Yes.”She nodded.
“So, you’re not one of these libbers?”
She laughed and shook her head.“No, I’m probably more traditional than you are.I like being a woman and being treated like one.”
Cole’s heart jumped in his chest.How long had he been trying to look for a woman like this, but everyone he had met wanted a career or didn’t want kids?For some reason, they would get upset if he tried to open a door for them.The women would act like he was insulting them, instead of just wanting to treat them right, like he was raised to do.
“I like knowing this about you.”
Victoria shrugged a shoulder as a blush stained her cheeks.
Cole pushed her over and got in.He turned the truck toward her house.
He was going to show her, without words, how much she meant to him.He wanted desperately to tell her of his love but didn’t know if she was ready to hear it.
He pulled up beside the house and parked.Without a word, he got out and came around to help her down.Together, they moved through the house to the upstairs hall bathroom.
