His Tempting Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch - Spicy Version Book 5) by Merry Farmer Page B

Is this your house?”
    His mouth hung open for a moment as he studied her. She wasn’t looking at him. She’d already turned to assess his house. “Yeah, it is,” he said at last. “Come on, I’ll show you inside.”
    He tried to take her hand, but she edged out of the way. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her about his thoughts so suddenly. It was a good thing if he understood why he’d done the things he’d done, right? It meant that he could do better, could make things better for her.
    Because if Madame Kopanari’s story had taught him anything, it was that he definitely wanted to marry Miriam after all.
    “This is the front hall,” he said, ushering her through the door and shutting it tight behind him. “I wish it was warmer, but I don’t want to leave a fire burning when I’m not home. The house was just built. It’d be a shame to burn it down so soon.”
    “Smart.” Miriam looked around, walking from the hall into the living room. “It’s very nice.”
    Her compliment eased a bit of the tension from Cody’s shoulders. “All the houses in The Village have the same plan. Mine’s the same as Luke and Eden’s and Mason and Libby’s.”
    Miriam’s only response was to hum and continue to look around. Her smile wasn’t as bright as he’d hoped it would be. Didn’t she like the house? It could be hers…if he could work up the nerve to propose again.
    “The kitchen’s back through this way.”
    He took her on a tour of the entire house. It was interesting, showing someone else the things you’d come to know and love. And he did love his house, silly as it seemed. He’d been living there since the summer by himself, and the space had grown on him. More than half of the rooms were empty still, but all that could change if Miriam changed her mind about him.
    Funny how he hated change one day and prayed for it the next.
    By the time they had looped through the entire house and made it back to the living room, Cody had found his courage.
    “It’s a great house,” he said, stepping closer to Miriam.
    “Yes, it is. You are all very fortunate to have a patron like Howard Haskell to build them for you.”
    Was it his imagination or was she nervous? Well, he was nervous too. It was only natural to be nervous at a moment like this. He took her hands.
    “You know, the whole reason Howard built this house for me was because I was supposed to bring a mail-order bride home to it.”
    “Yes.” She looked away.
    Cody tried not to take that as a bad sign. “And even though I goofed on it the first time, there is a woman who should have been the mistress of this house.”
    She made a sound that didn’t form into words as she glanced around the room…looking for shadows.
    Cody frowned, but pushed ahead. “It can still be yours if you want it. In fact, I can’t imagine any woman living here with me as…as my wife but you.”
    “This was a bad idea.” Miriam slipped her hands out of his and zipped past him to the hall and the front door. “I shouldn’t have let you bring me here. I have to go. I…I have to…go.”
    She threw open the front door and dashed out into the February cold.
    Cody let out a heavy breath and cursed. Had he done that wrong? Said the wrong thing?
    Or was it those shadows Madame Kopanari mentioned?
    Nope, he’d definitely done things wrong. As usual, his problems were his own damn fault.
    “Miriam, wait. Hold up.”
    He jumped into motion, chasing after her. Shadows or no shadows, he had a long way to go before she would give him the answer he wanted to the question that hadn’t left his lips from the moment he’d spoken to her at the train station. But if she had shadows chasing her, would she ever stop running long enough to listen?

Chapter Six
     
    He didn’t understand. Miriam had known from the moment that Cody shared his epiphany about the way he reacted to change that he wouldn’t understand her. He hated change. For Miriam, change was essential. Constant change