His Dangerous Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch - Spicy Version Book 2) by Merry Farmer Page B

the chance to take the lead for a while.”
    “Well…I…uh…”
    “And furthermore, why are you letting the other men continue to make jokes at Luke’s expense?”
    “Jokes? Um…I hadn’t noticed any—”
    “Men don’t treat other men as a leader if they’re allowed to make jokes about him,” Eden stormed on. “You all keep bringing up that saloon fight he was involved in and his escapades at Bonnie’s—which I happen to know for a fact are pure fabrications,” she added. Travis opened his mouth, but she rode over him with, “Franklin Haskell wants Luke to learn to be a trail boss. As far as I understand, he’s in charge of you all. So, you tell me why you aren’t following his orders.”
    Travis stood frozen, staring at her. She knew it was a wily move, but she settled her weight on one leg, sweeping back the corner of her jacket to show off her Peacemaker as she planted a hand on that hip. Travis blanched.
    “All right, I accept that you may have a point,” he muttered.
    Eden grinned. “Good.”
    Travis looked up to meet her eyes. “Why didn’t Luke come to me himself? Why did he send you?”
    Damn. She hadn’t thought about that. It didn’t look great when a man’s wife defended him to his boss. “He thinks he can handle things himself,” she said, willing to make herself look like a loose cannon as long as Luke got the respect he deserved.
    It was Travis’s turn to cross his arms and hum, “Mmm hmm. So this wasn’t his idea.”
    Eden winced. “Not exactly.”
    Travis stepped closer to her. “I’ll tell you the truth, Mrs. Chance.” This time he didn’t say her married name as if it was a joke. “Luke is a good worker, but he doesn’t exactly have the best track record with dependability.”
    Eden wanted to snap back a reply, but she kept her lips sealed.
    “You haven’t known him that long, but I’ll admit that he’s been well-behaved since you showed up,” Travis went on. “He could be a fine trail boss, but he lacks confidence.”
    “Not as much as you think,” she said.
    Travis shrugged. “You’re here talking to me, not him. That says something.”
    She opened her mouth to argue, but this time it was Travis’s turn to cut her off.
    “I’m more than happy to help Luke do whatever he wants to do, but he needs to have the confidence to come to me and ask. Understand?”
    Unfortunately, Eden did. “Yes,” she grumbled. She couldn’t leave it at that. “The least you could do is give him the opportunity to come forward and show his confidence.”
    She squared her shoulders, looking Travis straight in the eye to show him she wasn’t intimidated by him contradicting her. Travis held her gaze for longer than was strictly proper. Then he nodded—a nod full of respect. That was something, at least.
    “I’ll do my part if he does his,” he said.
    Eden nodded to him one last time, then turned to search for her horse. Several yards away, across the abandoned camp and the dust that had been kicked up by the herd as it started to move, Luke sat atop his mount, watching her with a scowl. Eden peeked over her shoulder at Travis as he too mounted up. Lord help her, but if that was jealousy in Luke’s eyes she’d have to knock some sense into him.
    Then again, it might not have been the best idea to talk to his boss without checking with him first.
     
    “Yee-ah! Get a move on there! Cody, watch out for the runners on your right,” Luke called across the rumbling herd as they walked around a particularly treacherous turn at the bottom of a low hill.
    “Huh? Oh, right,” Cody called back. He nudged his horse to chase after the potential strays.
    Luke ground his teeth at the way Cody had been so slow to respond. He’d been grinding his teeth since that morning when he saw Eden talking to Travis. The two of them had stood a little too close, spoken far too intensely over something. It was bad enough that his foray into leadership wasn’t going so well, but to have his