Free The Marine's E-Mail Order Bride (Heroes of Chance Creek Book 3) by Cora Seton

main floor where there was a large kitchen, a formal dining room, a living room, and an office that Mason had taken over. He liked touching her, he realized. Guiding her through a doorway. Taking her elbow. Putting a hand on her waist. He wanted to belong to Storm like this. He couldn’t wait until they went to bed tonight.
    When they stepped out of the Hall’s back door into the yard, Storm looked vastly out of place in her skirt and strappy sandals, though. It was late September and a fresh autumn breeze swooped down from the distant mountains, flooding his heart with old memories of past autumns when he was a child and his father was still alive. He could see Aaron walking back from the barn at dinner time, all four boys rushing out of the house to dogpile on him in an impromptu wrestling match. They’d been so young then—four, five and six, maybe. So full of fun. So ignorant of the hard times to come.
    Storm shivered even though she wore her jacket, and he came back to the present.
    “Are you cold?”
    “Yes. I guess I should have brought something heavier.”
    “Here.” He shucked off the jacket he’d thrown on and placed it around her shoulders. After a moment’s hesitation she threaded her arms through the sleeves and pulled it tight around her. Its rough material clashed with her skirt, but she still looked heartbreakingly beautiful in it.
    “Thanks. I’ll need to buy a few extra things, I guess.”
    “I’ll take you into town soon for a shopping trip. How about right now we go see the cattle?”
    What would his father have thought of his marriage to Storm? Aaron wouldn’t have liked the lie it was based on, that was for sure. What would he have counseled Zane to do about it?
    “Meet the situation honorably,” he could almost hear his father say. “You pledged to love her, so do your best to do just that. Be willing to be true to your vows. Let time take care of the rest.”
    Storm kept quiet as they walked and Zane didn’t try to force a conversation. Instead, he tried to plan a course of action for the weeks ahead of them. He would honor his vows and he would definitely stay open to all possibilities, including the one in which Storm would stay when her six weeks were up. Meanwhile, there were all sorts of things they could do in between his chores—even things that didn’t involve making love. Horse-back riding, for example. Campfires, hikes, heck, even a little mountain climbing if she felt like it.
    As they approached the wire fence that surrounded the closest pasture, the nearest steer ambled over to check them out.
    “He’s wondering if we have any food.”
    “Are you sure he isn’t wondering if we are food?” Storm held back, looking alarmed.
    Zane chuckled. “Nah. If he was a bull, we might want to keep our distance, but this big boy’s as gentle as a lamb.” He reached out and patted the beast’s neck a time or two.
    Storm still held back. “I didn’t realize they were so big.”
    “They’re bred to be big.”
    “So people can eat them.”
    “That’s right,” Zane said carefully. “This is a cattle ranch. We raise beef here.”
    Storm put a hand out tentatively and touched the steer’s neck with her fingertips. After a moment, she smoothed her hand down its hide. “Hello, beastie.”
    The steer shook its head and she pulled back.
    “It makes me sad to know he’ll die,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever met my food before.”
    “It’s sad that anything has to die,” Zane said softly. “But that’s the way this world goes. We don’t slaughter the animals here. You’ll never have to see it. What we do is keep them well fed and well-tended through their lives.”
    “And then you cut those lives short.”
    “I’m not going to apologize for what I do, Storm. This is me. This is who I am.”
    She pulled his jacket more tightly around her shoulders as if she was still cold, and Zane got a glimpse of how all this must seem to a California girl. Alien.