Free Midnight Moonlight by V. J. Chambers Page A

didn’t want a man who was frightened of black snakes. She wanted a man who would rescue her.
    And then she scolded herself for that, because wasn’t that thought setting the women’s movement back to the 1950s?
    It was the thought of feminism that made up her mind. She took a deep breath. She was a woman, and she needed a man just as much as fish needed bicycles. She could take care of this snake on her own.
    She kept a pair of gardening gloves in the junk drawer, and she got them out, just in case the snake did decide to strike her. She knew that a black snake bite wouldn’t kill her. It would only be a tiny wound. However, she didn’t think it sounded pleasant either. Hence, the gloves.
    “What are you doing?” came Chad’s tremulous voice.
    “Getting rid of the snake.” She put on the gloves.
    “Oh, no, Calla, I don’t think you should do that. We need to call an expert.”
    She rolled her eyes at him.
    And he looked away. She could see that he was ashamed of himself for not being braver about the snake. That made her hate him even more.
    She stalked over to the snake, making sure to approach behind its head.
    When she picked it up, she got its head firmly between her gloved thumb and forefinger, pinching its mouth closed. She caught the rest of the body firmly in one hand. The snake wriggled a bit, but it wasn’t able to get free.
    Calla marched the snake outside, hurried through the lawn, and threw it down in the grass.
    The snake slithered away immediately, disappearing under the green growth.
    When she got back to the house, Chad was standing at the window where he’d been watching her. He was clutching his elbows. “What if it comes back?” he’d said, his eyes wide.
    She found that she couldn’t speak to him. She despised him then.
    Later, the hatred faded, but she always remembered it, and she was frightened of it. She was frightened it would come back, that she wouldn’t be able to feel anything for Chad but that hatred.
    Now, as she looked back on it, she realized she should have gotten out of the marriage right then and there. It was going nowhere, and she had known when she looked into his pinched and pathetic face that she didn’t really love or respect him.
    It wasn’t because he was afraid of snakes either. That was a symptom, not a cause. If she’d loved him, then she would have felt a surge of protection towards him when he was afraid. She would have wanted to soothe and take care of him. When she loved someone, she wanted to fix that person’s imperfections.
    No, the fact that his imperfection made her hate him should have shown her that she didn’t love him in the first place.
    And now she was looking at Ryder, who was far more imperfect than Chad had ever been. But yet, she still found herself captured by Ryder’s gaze. She couldn’t help but peer at him, take in his body and his expression. He was so attractive, but there was something else to her feelings for him. Because she did feel protective towards Ryder. His weaknesses made her tender, not resentful. How could it be that this man that she barely knew had roused deeper and sweeter emotions within her than the husband she’d been with for years?
    It didn’t make sense.
    The fact that it was senseless should have frightened her, but she wasn’t afraid. Not of Ryder. Not anymore.
    His dark eyes found hers, and they gazed into each other. She looked into the depths of his eyes, and she could see the animal there, but also the man. There was something expressive and kind about him, as well as something dangerous and savage. The mingling of all that made her feel lightheaded. Made her pulse quicken and her limbs tremble.
    She couldn’t deny that she was deeply affected by this man on a physical level.
    Maybe it was his primitiveness that called out to something wild inside her as well. Maybe there was a level of primal desire between the two of them. She recalled the way his kiss had felt. But that hadn’t been a savage