Read Online Claimed by the Mountain Man by Amelia Smarts - Free Book Online

magnificent. She realized that it was her first time successfully catching an animal, without stealing and without anyone’s assistance. She skipped back to her cave, delighted and wishing she could brag about her success to Trapper Jack, who would surely give her a word or two of praise.
    Try as she might, she couldn’t get Trapper Jack out of her mind. She recalled his deft handling of the tools, from the fishing rod to the trap to the gun. She recalled how his corded forearms, tanned from the sun, flexed with every movement. Nearly every time she’d stolen a glance at his face, his features revealed a calm, stern expression. She knew he had little patience for mirth or playfulness. Whenever she showed the slightest attempt at humor or lightheartedness, he brought her back to the harsh reality she faced with only a few strict words. She wasn’t used to such behavior from a man. Her husband had joked around with her often and always managed to make her laugh. The men she serviced after her husband’s death found great joy in her playful demeanor.
    Trapper Jack was different, and the difference unsettled her. She could see that he took her safety and survival seriously, and the feeling his seriousness generated was one of warmth toward him. She still thought he was a brute who could use a lesson on manners, but she reckoned that was much less important than the survival lessons he’d imparted. Nettie fell asleep that evening with a full belly and a desperate longing to see the brute again as soon as possible. She could hardly wait for him to visit her again.
     
    * * *
     
    Jack set off early the next morning for Nettie’s neck of the woods, carrying in his sack a live rabbit he had trapped. If the woman hadn’t managed to catch one yet, and he highly doubted she had, he planned to fill the trap for her. He had no intention of alerting her to his presence, however, since her words rang clear in his head.
    I’ll be fine on my own now, Trapper Jack. I ain’t afraid. You don’t need to come again to teach me things.
    The woman wanted to be left on her own to prove something to God-knows-who, and Jack was going to do his level best to respect her wishes. As he let the rabbit loose in the box and closed the door, he shook his head. This is ridiculous , he thought. It was taking too much of his time, seeing to this woman, when he should be spending the early morning hours seeing to his traps and earning his living. It made no sense for her to be living separately, and his impatience over the situation grew. He stalked a few paces away and sat on a tree stump to wait for Nettie to discover the contents of the trap.
    She rose entirely too late. She should have been up a full hour before she was, since morning was the best time for fishing. He hadn’t told her that, so he didn’t blame her too much. He hadn’t told her many things she still needed to know, on account of her refusal to stay with him, and for that he did blame her.
    His ire over the situation lessened as he watched Nettie discover that the trap door had been triggered. She fell to her knees and bent her ear to the box to listen. Then she let out the cutest squeal of delight and jumped to her feet, clapping her hands together once. After dancing around the box, she excitedly bent down and slid open the door.
    Jack watched helplessly as she gave the rabbit enough space to escape with no thought as to how to catch and kill it. His ire returned in spades as the rabbit dashed away from her. Foolish woman! What happened next was even harder for him to watch in silence. What followed was the greatest tantrum in the history of tantrums. She let out a wail as the rabbit bolted away. She proceeded to kick the trap with all her might and let loose a slew of obscenities that made his army comrades sound like choir boys. After stomping around and cursing everybody from the angels in the sky to the rabbits on the ground, she stormed away in tears and disappeared into the