It was long after sundown when Chaeyoung reached the house. She unsaddled her horse, and when Young K came into the barn, she told the boy to finish for her.

Chaeyoung didn't see Young K smile when his lady boss hurried toward the house. Everyone on the ranch knew Chaeyoung was burning for her beautiful wife.

When she entered the house, Mina wasn't in the parlor. She went in the kitchen, and Mina wasn't there either, but she had left her a plate of food warming on the back of the stove.

It seems to her that the harsher she was to Mina, the kinder her wife was to her. She didn't understand a person like her. Why was she doing her best to drive Mina away when all she wanted was to keep her Japanese wife with her?

She walked into the bedroom and found her curled up in bed asleep. Her hand was resting against her cheek, and Chaeyoung reached out and touched Mina's face.

Mina awoke instantly and smiled at her. "Did you eat?"

Chaeyoung sat down on the bed and removed her boots. "I wasn't hungry."

"I don't like it when you don't eat, Chaeyoung. You need to eat a lot after your hard work."

Chaeyoung ed her shirt and then stripped off her trousers, sliding into bed beside her wife.

"Chaeyoung," she said, moving closer to the girl. "Don't be mad at me because I didn't tell you about Jeongyeon."

"I know why you didn't tell me." She turned her head toward Mina. "For the noblest of reasons. You knew she was my friend."

Mina smiled. "You knew me too well to place a halo on my head, Chaeyoung. I think, if I'm truthful, I just didn't want to tell you or anyone how unworthy she was of someone's love. We certainly saw proof of that today."

"Yes. Yes, we did."

Mina looked unsure. "Are you still angry with me?"

Chaeyoung pulled Mina into her arms, and the lass curled up to the girl like a warm kitten. "I was never mad at you, Mina." Her hand trailed down Mina's arm. "I was mostly mad at myself for not seeing what Jeongyeon was like. I should have protected you from her that night. I knew she'd had too much to drink." She looked at Mina and arched an eyebrow. "I'd had too much to drink that night myself." Chaeyoung traced the outline of Mina's chin. "Tell me what she did."

"It isn't important. I don't want to talk about her anymore," she said, pressing her s against her chest and making Chaeyoung's eyes dilate with passion. She lowered to Mina and spoon her against her body. They had become accustomed to each other in a short time, and they seemed to fit together as if nature had intended them to find each other.

"You may have been too drunk to remember that I tricked you into marrying me," Mina said, running her fingers through the girls thick brownish hair. I was out to catch you, cowgirl, and I did."

Chaeyoung burst into laughter, her whole body shaking with mirth.

She raised herself up on her elbow and looked puzzled. "What do you find so funny about that?"

"The fact that someone who looks like you, someone who was born a Myoui, would have to trick someone like me into marriage. I'd liken that to a person being invited into paradise and all her wish granted."

Mina felt warm all over. "Is that how you see it?"

Chaeyoung tugged at her wife's gown and swiftly had it off. Her hands moved over her, pulling Mina against her. Chaeyoung lifted Mina just a bit and make love to her. "When I take you, it's always like being given my fondest wish," she muttered in Mina's ear, working it's way to her s.

Their lovemaking  was frantic, and so intense that afterward they were both exhausted. Mina rolled her head against Chaeyoung's hard chest, feeling completely fulfilled.

"Are you ever sorry you married me, Chaeyoung?"

Her hand gripped the lass shoulder, and she moved forward to bury her face in her hair. "I can't think of anything I have to regret."

"I'm glad. I want to make you happy."

She closed her eyes, gathering the lass to her, gently her back. "I don't know why you would want to bother with me. I know there have been times when I have said things to hurt you, and I haven't always been easy to live with. I don't know why I've been this way with you. You are the last person in the world I'd ever want to hurt."

Mina moved her