Duncan's Bride by Linda Howard

onto a chair beside him. “What are you doing today?”
    â€œI have to check fences in the west quarter so I can move the herd there for grazing.”
    â€œWill you be back for lunch, or should I pack some sandwiches?”
    â€œSandwiches.”
    And that, she thought half an hour later when he’d saddled a horse and ridden out, was that. So much for conversation over breakfast. He hadn’t even kissed her this morning. She knew he had a lot of work to do, but a pat on the head wouldn’t have taken too much of his time.
    Their first full day of marriage didn’t appear to be starting out too well.
    Then she wondered just what she had expected. She knew how Reese felt, knew he didn’t want her to get too close to him. It would take time to break down those barriers. The best thing she could do was learn how to be a rancher’s wife. She didn’t have time to fret because he hadn’t kissed her good morning.
    She cleaned the kitchen, which became an entire morning’s work. She mopped the floor, scrubbed the oven, cleaned out the big double refrigerator, and rearranged the pantry so she’d know where everything was. She inventoried the pantry and started a list of things she’d need. She did the laundry and remade the bed with fresh linens. She vacuumed and dusted both upstairs and down, cleaned the three bathrooms, sewed buttons on his shirts and repaired a myriad of small rips in his shirts and jeans. All in all, she felt very domestic.
    Marriage was work, after all. It wasn’t an endless round of parties and romantic picnics by a river.
    Marriage was also night after night in bed with thesame man, opening her arms and thighs to him, easing his passion within her. He’d said it would be better, and she sensed that it would, that she had just been too tired and tense the night before for it to have been pleasurable no matter what he’d done. The whole process had been a bit shocking. No matter how much she had technically known about sex, nothing had prepared her for the reality of penetration, of actually feeling his hardness inside her. Her heartbeat picked up speed as she thought of the coming night.
    She started unpacking some of the boxes she had shipped, reassembling the stereo equipment and putting some of her books out. She was so busy that when she noted the time, it was almost dark. Reese would be coming in soon, and she hadn’t even started dinner. She stopped what she was doing and raced to the kitchen. She hadn’t even planned what they would have, but at least she knew what was in the pantry.
    A quick check of the freezer produced some thick steaks and one pack of pork chops and very little else. She made mental additions to the grocery list as she unwrapped the chops and put them in the microwave to defrost. If he hadn’t had a microwave she would have been in big trouble. She was peeling a small mountain of potatoes when the back door opened. She heard him scrape his boots, then sigh tiredly as he took them off.
    He came into the kitchen and stopped, looking around at the bare table and stove. “Why isn’t dinner ready?” he asked in a very quiet, ominous tone.
    â€œI was busy and didn’t notice the time—”
    â€œIt’s your job to notice the time. I’m dead tired and hungry. I’ve worked twelve hours straight, the least you could do is take the time to cook.”
    His words stung, but she didn’t pause in what shewas doing. “I’m doing it as fast as I can. Go take a shower and relax for a few minutes.”
    He stomped up the stairs. She bit her lip as she cut up the potatoes and put them in a pan of hot water to stew. If he hadn’t looked so exhausted she might have told him a few things, but he’d been slumping with weariness and filthy from head to foot. His day hadn’t been an easy one.
    She opened a big can of green beans and dumped it into a pan, then added