Strong and Stubborn by Kelly Eileen Hake Page A

hauling heavy water buckets around the mountainside as a recommended activity.”
    â€œHe didn’t give a list of recommended activities,” she shot back. “Only to change the bandages daily and keep them dry.” Naomi knew she’d lost as soon as she said it. If Mr. Strode’s brows were high before, by now they rose practically up to his hairline.
    â€œMy mistake.” To her astonishment, he set the first bucket down. “Here I thought the weight and friction might aggravate your wound, but I should have been concerned with the water itself.”
    â€œI’m not likely to spill upward.” She moved for the bucket, only to pull up short when his arm slid behind her back. Distracted by his proximity, at first she didn’t notice that he’d removed his collection of canteens and looped them over her shoulder instead.
    â€œJust in case.” His voice went low as a whisper, catching her as surely as his brown gaze. The moment passed as quickly as it came. Mr. Strode retrieved the bucket and gestured for her to lead on.
    Naomi shifted the canteens—which were heavier than they looked—to shake off her bemusement. It had been ages since a man looked at her with admiration and far longer since one left her so unsettled.
    As she led the way back to their makeshift supper station, Naomi had plenty of time to think about how foolish she’d made herself. Yes, it had been an emotional day, and it wasn’t surprising that the newcomer who’d been so much a part of it would unsettle her. But that was all. Lacey would come out of the mines, and life would return to some semblance of normality again.
Besides
, she reminded herself,
I’m much too old for a handsome man to turn my head
.
    All the same, she caught herself looking back more than once.

TEN
    N aomi ignored the speculative glances Evie and Cora cast her direction when she returned with Mr. Strode at her heels. What she couldn’t ignore quite so easily were their loud remonstrances.
    â€œI couldn’t believe it when I saw you’d slipped away with those water buckets!” Evie shook a wooden spoon to illustrate her ire, making Naomi swallow what would have been an inappropriate chuckle.
    From the corner of her eye, she saw Mr. Strode marshal his features into a mask of polite concern.
He’s having just as much trouble as I am, trying to keep from laughing at the spoon of wrath
.
    â€œYou know I would’ve seen to it.” Cora’s softer chastisement didn’t strike Naomi as so humorous. “Think of how upset Lacey will be when she sees the way you’ve injured yourself trying to help her. Take better care of yourself for her sake, if not your own healing!”
    â€œYou’re right,” she conceded more humbly. “I don’t know where my good sense has gone today. Without Mr. Strode’s help”—she gestured for him to move forward, thinking that “help” seemed like a weak description for his determined assistance throughout the day—“I wouldn’t have noticed that I’d hurt myself in the first place.”
    â€œMr. Strode, is it?” Cora gave an unladylike grunt as she hauled the heavy metal washbasin farther away from the foodstuffs. “It’s rare that a man becomes a blessing to an entire town, but you’ve managed it in a matter of hours. We owe you our thanks.”
    The man made a noncommittal sound as he emptied the buckets into the washbasin. “Kind words, but the blessing will be when we work through the barrier and get your people home safe and sound. Then we ought to be giving all our thanks to God for His mercy.”
    â€œYou’re right.” Naomi felt like she could snuggle under the weight of his words, burrowing into their comfort like a blanket. “We have much to be thankful for.”
And I’ve been busy worrying about all of it for the past three months instead of enjoying