He drew his eyebrows together. “I thought you were getting ready for church.”

She walked down the stairs. “I am ready.” Reaching the ground floor, she turned a full circle. “Do I look like a proper rancher’s wife?”

His already rapid beating heart surged at the word wife. As for proper, that seemed much too bland to describe her. The plain canvas skirt and shirtwaist enhanced rather than hid her small, shapely form in a way that no bustle or back staircase padding could do. Reminded how that same figure looked wrapped in a towel, he drew in his breath.

“You’ll do,” he said, hiding his true feeling behind a curt reply. Not trusting himself to say more, he whirled around and held the door open for her. “Let’s go.”

Moments later, the two of them were seated side by side on the buckboard’s horsehair seat. Studying her profile, Chase took the reins in hand. But before coaxing his horse forward, he thoughtfully regarded her rigid shoulders, firm chin, and set mouth. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was the source of her sudden change of mood. Nor did it take much to figure out what he’d done wrong.

“You look…purty as a bald-face heifer,” he said, hoping to make amends. It wouldn’t do to arrive at church with that much tension between them. Instead of the smile he’d hoped for, her angry eyes lit into his and her nostrils flared.

“You don’t have to insult me!”

He stared at her in utter confusion. “Insult you? I paid you a compliment.”

“By comparing me to a cow?”

“Oh boy.” He drew in his breath. “Here in Texas, that’s the best compliment you can give a woman.” He frowned. “How do men in Boston do it?” he asked. “Tell a woman she looks purty, I mean?”

Emily afforded him a sideways look as if to determine his sincerity. “They keep animals out of it.”

He thought about that for a moment. “I might could do that,” he said. Anything to keep the peace. “You look mighty…purty.”

Much to his disappointment, even his Boston-like compliment failed to win her favor. Instead, she folded her arms across her chest and stared straight ahead. “You don’t have to pay me compliments. It’s not part of the deal.”

He clamped down on his jaw. It was easier to handle a herd of ornery cattle than one stubborn woman. “I said it because it happens to be true. No other reason.”

When she failed to respond, he shook the reins, and his horse shuffled forward. A whiff of bacon fat floated up from the newly greased wagon wheels.

He slanted his gaze in Emily’s direction, looking for some chink in her armor. “How come you didn’t change into those fancy duds of yours?”

She swiped a wisp of hair away from her cheek before answering. “Thought it best not to call attention to myself.”

He chuckled, which earned him an icy glare. “What’s so funny?” she asked, her voice sharp.