Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

" Y ou're being really stubborn," Beau called down to Charlotte, which earned him a glare. He bent his arm and coughed into his elbow. He'd been home from the roundup for a week now, and he'd been fighting a sore throat every morning since.

He'd faithfully done all of his mother's home remedies. Tea with honey. Extra doses of vitamins, taken with a couple of zinc pills. All of them—and none of them had worked.

Beau had to face facts: He was sick.

Charlotte was working with a horse named Marlin, and both of them looked past quitting time. He'd told her as much, as they were the only two gathered around the ring today. She'd ignored him, her strong personality shining through in that moment.

Since his birthday, she'd definitely re-erected some of the walls she'd come to the ranch with, but Beau didn't know how to kick them back down. The truth was, he'd reverted back to the flirtatious cowboy he'd been in his twenties and early thirties too.

He wasn't sure why they'd both taken a step backward, other than it made life in the cabin easier.

When Marlin still wouldn't go right, Beau whistled down to her. "Charlotte, I'm calling it. He's exhausted, and so am I."

"Fine." She moved toward the horse while he got down from the fence. He opened the gate for her to lead the equine through, and she wouldn't look at him as she walked by.

"You can't be mad at me over this," he said. "Bribe him with some of your strawberry candies or something."

She swung the horse around to face him. "Candy only works when you're getting to know a horse."

"Oh, it does not." Beau swung the gate closed and faced her too. "It works when you want them to stop biting at their bandages, and when you want them to like you, and when you're overworking them."

"Beau."

"You're not the only person who's ever worked with a horse before, you know." The moment he said it, he regretted it. He started to cough before he could apologize, and he held up one hand while he coughed into the other.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm sorry. I'm just exhausted and sick. I didn't mean it. I don't mean to snap at you, I swear." He took a couple of steps toward her and took the rope from her. He held it as he pulled her into his chest. "There's something going on between us, and I'm not sure what it is, but I don't like it."

Charlotte didn't say anything, and Beau let her go. "We haven't been out all week. You disappear into your room at night. Can we…I'm going to make breakfast for dinner tonight. For us. Okay?"

They didn't have everything he wanted to make, but he could send a text out to his friends and get the extra eggs and sausage he needed. Easy.

Why wasn't falling in love as easy? Why did it have to be so hard?

Why hadn't Charlotte said okay yet?

Beau handed her the rope and said, "I actually really like how stubborn you are with the horses."

She softened, maybe for the first time this week. "Okay."

"Things have been different, right?"

"They've been a little different."

"Charlotte," Kenny called, and they both turned toward the other cowboy. "Beau! We've got horses out at Brynn's, and we need all available men in the saddle."

Of course they did.

This week , he thought.

His head pounded, and Beau just wanted to go home and get something ice-cold to drink to soothe the fire in his throat. "Did it go out on text?"

"She's sending it now." Kenny took the rope from Charlotte. "I'll put him away and start saddling for others."

"I'll go with you." The two of them left, and Beau couldn't just stand there. Brynn's horses weren't all trained, and even those that were possessed an almost wild spirit, as she trained them to be winners. Champions.

So Beau kicked himself into gear and went to get in the saddle to help round up her escaped horses. After all, life on a busy ranch didn't stop because he had a headache and a sore throat.

His phone went nuts as he jogged after Charlotte and Kenny, but he didn't bother to check it. Cowboys and cowgirls would be streaming into the stables in only a few seconds. Outside the nearest one, Kenny had a couple of horses saddled already, and he'd thrown Marlin's rope over a nearby tethering post.

Charlotte mounted her horse just as Beau took his reins from Kenny. "Thank you, Kenny."

"Are you with me?" Charlotte called over to him, her voice steady despite the urgency of the situation. He wondered what her pulse sounded like inside her own body, because his pounded like horse's hooves on hard-packed dirt.

"Yes," he said, and they went around the back of the cabins and rode toward the homestead and Brynn's horse-training facility.

As they arrived on the scene, Beau wasn't surprised to see Brynn in the saddle already and Pete coming toward them on his pretty cream-colored horse.

"It's like they're having a party," Brynn said, indicating the fields north of the facility. The sight of scattered horses grazing and galloping freely brought both tension and determination to the group, especially Beau's shoulders.

"Let's split up," Charlotte suggested, pointing to the north end of the field. "I'll take the west side. You head east. We'll meet in the middle." She wasn't asking, and she looked at Brynn and not Beau.

"We can at least keep them from spreading out even more," Beau said.

"How many are out?" Pete asked as another couple of cowboys rode up.

"About a dozen," Brynn said, and Beau scanned the fields again. He only saw four or five horses, not twelve.

His stomach vibrated with the familiar thrill of doing something exciting and having Charlotte as his partner made it even better. Just the fact that he was with her said something, as she'd been hiding from him all week.

"You and Charlotte go," Brynn said. "See if you can't close them off."

"Sounds like a plan." Beau turned his horse, and Charlotte made an equally expert move. They trotted off together, and he felt closer to her than he had all this week. "I'm headed east." He moved before she could reply, but he trusted her to handle her horse appropriately.

Brynn's horses didn't wear any gear, and Beau wasn't sure of any of their personalities. He didn't carry a rope, and he wasn't great at throwing one anyway. He could in a pinch, but he usually rode at the back of the pack and let the dogs and other cowboys with better arms do any roping necessary.

He whistled and Pepper streaked forward toward a horse that couldn't be more than thirteen hands tall. Maybe it wasn't fully grown yet, and it turned back toward Brynn's facility, where two people were setting up chutes to funnel the horses toward.

"Ruby," Beau yelled. "Chute."

The collie barked in a rare show of her voice, and she joined Pepper in helping to move the shorter pony toward the chutes. Beau stayed out of their way and edged over toward a pair of horses who seemed to be in a love-hate relationship with one another.

With his dogs busy, all Beau could do was try to let these equines know he was in charge, not them. "Aye, aye, aye!" He yipped at them, and they started to trot away from him. Fine with him, and he kept pushing them toward Charlotte.

She had three horses coming his way, and Beau edged further north to start pushing them south. In the distance, Pepper and Ruby had the young horse in the chute, and he whistled to call them back.

He couldn't help but watch Charlotte work. She moved with such grace and confidence, herding a particularly stubborn mare with a technique only someone with her patience could manage. He felt a pang of admiration—he had always loved how headstrong she was, even when it irritated him.

"I've got the dogs," he called over to her, and she raised her hand to indicate she'd heard him. "Go on, Pepper. Round ‘em up. Ruby, chute."

Pepper barked and darted at the horses, which got them moving faster. A couple more dogs joined them from the ranch, and they got those five horses in the chute without a problem.

"Not sure where the others are," Charlotte said, and the buildings between them and where they'd left Brynn blocked Beau's view. "But there's one on that far fence." She nodded over her shoulder. "I think he thinks if he doesn't move, he's invisible."

"Ah," Beau said with a chuckle as he spotted the dark brown horse. "A cat-horse."

She burst out laughing, and Beau sure did like that. He wished he could reach over and take her hand in his, but they both needed both hands on their horses to maneuver. "We'll need to work together again," Charlotte said, her eyes sparkling with challenge.

"We're pretty good at that," Beau said. "Right?"

"Seem to be." She gave him a grin he hadn't seen all week either, and that gave his heart some courage. "You bring those dogs. They're incredible."

"And you thought they just existed to keep my feet warm at night."

She turned her horse as she giggled, and Beau went with her. "Come on, Pepper. Ruby. Spots and Garfield, let's go. We've got a horse back here." He rode toward the fence, the four dogs trotting alongside his horse.

Charlotte expertly moved to the left, and Beau guided his horse to the right. The runaway horse had pinned itself against a fence, and he'd have to go back toward the facility. He'd want to anyway, as Brynn took great care of her horses.

Charlotte reached him first, and she spoke softly, her words barely audible over the breeze, calming the horse. Beau watched her for a moment, then took his cue to slowly edge closer, offering a hand that the horse sniffed cautiously.

"Let's go, bud," Charlotte said. "Time to go home." She turned back toward the facility and simply walked away, clearly expecting the errant horse to follow her. As horses were herd animals and thrived with groups of their own kind, Beau was only kind of awed that the darker horse put his head down and simply went.

"All right, guys," Beau said. "Looks like we're just goin' back." His phone chimed, and he checked it, as he'd had to do so plenty of times while in the saddle. "Oh, Pete needs you guys over on the west side."

Beau looked that way, and he found a few mounted riders out that way. "Let's go." He swung his horse that way and called to Charlotte, "They need the dogs over there. I'm gonna go help."

"Okay," she said, waving as she did. He didn't want to ride away from her, but duty called, and Beau had become really good at fulfilling his duty over the years.

With so many out to help now, and the dogs being amazing herders, it didn't take long for Brynn to get all of her horses back behind sturdy fences. Beau returned to the stable, took care of his horse, and put him away.

"You okay, Kenny?" He didn't see Charlotte anywhere, but the horse she'd been riding had already been put away.

"We're good," he said. "Thanks, boss."

Beau stifled a cough as he headed home. He exited the stable and turned right, and when his house came into view, he found the lovely Charlotte sitting on the steps, seemingly waiting for him.

Oh, this was so much better than climbing those steps alone and entering a dark, silent, empty house. So much better.

She smiled when she saw him, and she lifted her hand in a silent hello. Beau climbed the steps and sat on the top one with her, a sigh escaping his mouth as he did. He'd forgotten to text around for the breakfast ingredients he needed, and he pulled out his phone to do that.

"I just need a few minutes to get what I need for dinner."

"You don't need to cook."

He looked over to her. "We have to eat, and I'm too tired to drive to town."

She linked her arm through his and leaned into his shoulder. Oh, he liked that, and he leaned his head against hers. "Charlotte, I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Of falling in love with you and having my heart ripped out." Beau realized how ridiculous it sounded when he said it out loud. "So I've been a little flirtier this week. Less serious. And it's not what I want."

She said nothing, and that only made Beau's nerves vibrate with more tension. Then annoyance. "Are you going to say anything?"