She lifted her chin, and this time, the eyes meeting his were as bold as a charging bull’s. “If I agree to stay, do I have your word that you will not try to claim your physical rights as a husband?”

He studied her with keen interest. Never had he met a woman of such extremes. One moment, she appeared vulnerable, and the next instant, she looked ready to fight him tooth and nail. “You have my word,” he said. “And I trust that I have your word that you won’t get jealous, should I assert my husbandly rights on another?”

He wouldn’t, of course. Due to his father’s will, he had to take this sham of a marriage seriously. He also happened to believe that marriage, even one as precarious as this one, deserved fidelity. Still, he couldn’t resist challenging her as she’d challenged him.

Much to his chagrin, she didn’t blink an eyelash. “You wouldn’t risk the ranch for a meaningless dalliance,” she said, her expression daring him to contradict her.

It irritated him that he was still trying to figure her out, and she already had him fully pegged.

“Should you demand…marital privileges, our deal is off,” she added with meaning. “Do I make myself clear?”

Confound it! The woman was beginning to sound like a Philadelphy lawyer. Still, she was offering him a chance to save the ranch, and he’d be a fool not to take it. “Oh yes,” he said tersely. “Quite clear.”

“So?” she asked, taking the bull by the tail. “Do we have an agreement?”

“Depends,” he said, studying her.

She narrowed her eyes. “On what?”

“Whether I can trust you to ride for the brand.”

“I told you, I don’t ride.”

Not used to having to explain himself, Chase tried not to let his irritation show. “‘To ride for the brand’ means to put the ranch first and foremost. Long as you’re here.”

She hesitated. “If that’s what you want,” she said at last and held out her hand like a man accustomed to closing lucrative business deals.

The woman continued to amaze. She might be afraid of mice, but there was definitely more to her than met the eye. As much as he hated to admit it, Chase was intrigued—and that was what worried him. Not only was she as unpredictable as the weather, but she was unlike any other woman he’d ever met. Their marriage might not be a conventional one, but neither would it be dull. His only hope was that they made it through the next twelve months without killing each other, as unlikely as it seemed.

He grasped her offered hand in his and wondered how something so small and delicate could have delivered such a hard blow to his right cheek. “Deal.”

8

Chase’s large hand swallowed hers like a whale swallowed a minnow. Feeling momentarily disconcerted by the sheer power of him, Emily pulled away. Not wanting to let on how his size and strength intimidated her, she swallowed her insecurity and stared at him with a boldness she didn’t feel.