Chapter 2

Chapter Two

C harlotte Wisenhouer could hear someone talking above her. Around her. A male voice seemingly implanted in her eardrums, echoing endlessly.

I'm going to call your brother, okay?

She moaned, because that absolutely couldn't happen. She didn't want Mason and his super-human worrying coming into play here. Everything around her felt squishy and soft as she came back to awareness, and she hated this part of waking up the most.

Because it meant she'd passed out.

She'd lost consciousness enough times in her life to know, and she fought through the clouds in her head for the last memory she possessed. That would give her an idea of where she'd been when her mild heart condition had caused her to faint.

The scent of something male and something canine met her nose. Then alfalfa and maybe dirt. All at once, she remembered—she'd gone inside the cabin where she'd been told to come for her interview.

She'd expected to find someone there waiting for her, but the place had been empty. So she'd left the door slightly ajar and took the liberty at looking at the foreman's pictures. And oh, she knew this foreman.

Beau Peterson. Cowboy god. Tall, dark, and handsome. The star of her teenage dreams.

She'd first met Beau when she was fifteen and he twenty. That was the first time she'd felt the rush of attraction toward the man. But Mason, her overprotective and stern older brother, had told her to stay away from the older cowboy. That he was a player, and he'd only break her heart.

And Charlotte barely had one of those that worked, so she certainly couldn't risk losing pieces of it to men like Beau Peterson.

Her eyelids fluttered open, and she found Beau moving in slow motion as he lifted his phone to his ear. In a swift, desperate movement, her arm flew out and knocked his device away.

He yelped in surprise, and his light brown eyes—or were they hazel? Brownish-hazel?—locked onto hers. "You're awake."

"Don't call my brother."

A few moments passed while Charlotte tried to further ground herself to where she was and what had happened.

"I'm not going to ask if you're okay," Beau said. "But do you want to stand up?" He offered his hand, and Charlotte didn't hesitate to slide hers into it. He helped her sit up, saying, "Take it easy, now," in that slow, sexy cowboy drawl that always made her cells vibrate in a warm way.

She'd dated men in the past, of course. Not anyone for a while, as she'd grown weary of everyone treating her like she was one breath away from breaking. She'd put nothing of her medical condition on her application here at Three Rivers Ranch, and had she known Beau Peterson was the foreman, she might've worn something a little different for the interview.

As it was, she'd only arrived in town two nights ago, and none of her stuff had been delivered yet. Her luggage had been lost by the airline and not found yet. So she'd borrowed a shirt from her sister-in-law, but unfortunately, Felicity was built like a barrel and most of her clothes came from the men's section.

"You okay, Charlotte?"

The use of her name made her blink and look at Beau again. "You know who I am?"

His smile flickered across his handsome features, making his beard ripple as his cheeks pitched up. "Of course I do," he said. "You came around with Mason plenty of times."

She put her hand on the seat of one of his kitchen chairs and used it to help herself get to her feet. "I didn't meant to trespass. It was just hot outside, and I figured you'd be ready for me."

"That's strange." He straightened and pushed his dogs back.

Charlotte reached out to pat the black lab, who preened under her touch. "Yes, you're so sweet, aren't you?"

"Don't encourage him," Beau said with a dry tone. "He'll never leave you alone."

"And this is the most beautiful collie I've ever seen." She had the classic markings, with intelligent eyes and perked-up ears.

"She just had a bath," Beau said as he flipped on the sink. "I need to shower, but you can hang out with the pups while I do. Shouldn't be long." He washed his hands and grabbed a towel from the stove. "Did you need lunch, or…?"

"Lunch?" Charlotte asked blankly, as if she'd never eaten the meal before. Maybe she shouldn't have looked directly at Beau.

"Yes," he said slowly. "You're an hour early for your interview, Charlotte. I was going to eat lunch, shower, and be ready when you got here." He turned and pulled open the bottom drawer in his fridge. "So I'm going to make pizza. I'll put in extra if you want to eat."

He faced her again, an inquisitive look on his face. "Maybe that's why you fainted? You're hungry?"

Charlotte pressed her lips together, feeling the lies building up inside her. If she didn't speak, was that lying? Could she just nod, indicating her hunger, even if it wasn't true?

She really didn't want to tell him about her heart condition, because she felt a weight getting tied to her lungs. It would drag her down the way it had so many times in the past, and she just wanted to exist on even ground with someone for as long as possible.

"Sure," she managed to choke out. "I didn't realize I was an hour early." And with Three Rivers Ranch forty-five minutes north of town, she couldn't go grab something and be back in time for her interview.

"I can…." She trailed off, not sure what to offer. "Go wait in my car?"

Beau grinned, chuckled, and shook his head. "No, it's fine. We can catch up on Mason while we eat." He busied himself with putting frozen pizza in the oven, and then he nodded down the hall. "I'll be back in a bit. Make yourself at home."

He glanced over to the grandfather clock and the pictures she'd been examining before she fainted. Something crossed his features, but Charlotte couldn't identify it before he turned and walked away from her.

She took a breath and faced the pictures again. The woman in them didn't have her lighter blonde hair, but that hadn't mattered. She'd been show riding, smiling for all she was worth with ribbons and roses, as Charlotte had once.

Before she'd been forced to quit, after she'd fainted while in the saddle. Her family and friends had never treated her the same after that. Once she'd been diagnosed with vasovagal syncope, a mild heart condition that caused her to lose consciousness when her heart rate and blood pressure dropped suddenly.

It almost always happened when she was stressed, in pain, or shocked. Sometimes from standing for too long or not getting enough sleep could trigger the fainting spells too.

It wasn't heart disease, but everyone acted like it was. Like Charlotte was one step away from certain death, of never waking up again.

But she did keep waking up after her fainting spells, which she hadn't had in a while until today. "Which is why you don't want Mason to know," she muttered. She was staying with him and Felicity until she could find a job, and she really wanted to get back to work with horses.

It had been too long, and she gazed at the photos with less fear and surprise and more nostalgia. She'd spent the past fifteen years being a nanny for Mason and Felicity, but their youngest would be in full-day kindergarten next month, and she wasn't needed anymore.

"It's time," she whispered to herself as she turned away from the pictures of who she assumed was Beau's younger sister. She could almost see the shape of his eyes in the pictures, though the woman wore a riding helmet and squinted into the sun.

Behind her, something clicked, and she turned that way. She didn't see Beau, and that would be a lightning-fast shower. Of course, cowboys could do such a thing, and she wasn't surprised the man was bathing during his lunch hour. Sometimes ranch work required that, and he'd been clearly doing something dirty that morning.

She wandered past his kitchen island, both dogs hot on her heels. He didn't keep anything indicating children on the fridge, but he did have a couple of reminders she paused to look at. A ranch Fourth of July picnic at the homestead that had come and gone, and a church potluck breakfast that would happen next weekend.

Not much sat out, though she did spy a couple of coffee mugs in the kitchen sink. This cabin had been equipped with all the kitchen necessities, including a dishwasher and garbage disposal, and a bolt of anticipation drove through Charlotte.

She hadn't lived alone in so long, and she pressed her eyes closed and drew in a long breath of oxygen. If she could get this job here at the ranch, she'd have a cabin like this one to live in. Nothing this big or nice, she was sure, and she'd most likely have a cabinmate.

But she wouldn't be living under the watchful eye of her brother. He wouldn't be making reports about her to their mother. Charlotte, at age thirty-two, would finally be free to strike out and live her own life.

Worry needled through her, but she told herself again, "It's time." She knew everyone around her—all three of her brothers and both of her parents—were worried about her taking on a new job, especially one with horses.

Everyone but Mason lived down in San Antonio, but she still spoke to her mom almost every day. That had been part of the deal when Charlotte had said she was going to make the move north to Three Rivers with Mason and Felicity.

They'd just bought a big ranch on the southeast side of town, and Charlotte had finally graduated from college with a degree in ranch management. She didn't want to be a ranch manager—she wanted to be the Stable Manager here at Three Rivers Ranch.

The position came with a nice salary, as well as a place to live, and Charlotte wanted it as badly as anything she'd wanted before. Everything inside her told her that if she could just get this job, she'd have taken the first step in her quest for independence.

As she started to feel overwhelmed again, Charlotte closed her eyes in an attempt to calm down. "Lord," she whispered. "I need this job. I'm too old to be living with my brother. No one can take care of me forever."

She didn't even want them to. No, it was time for her to take care of herself.

She opened her eyes and caught sight of a long board extending down the hallway. Bowties hung from it, and Charlotte glanced further into the cabin, expecting Beau to return at any moment.

When he didn't, she took a couple of steps to look at the hanging neckwear. A label had been put above it, as well as a picture of a much younger Beau with a cheerful, smiling couple.

Squire and Kelly , the label read, and she took that to mean Beau was standing with the bride and groom—obviously Squire and Kelly.

"Smells like pizza out here."

She spun toward the sound of Beau's voice. He looked at the neat row of labeled bowties, didn't comment on them, and indicated she should go into the kitchen ahead of him. Charlotte practically scurried away from the cowboy, because now he smelled like leather and citrus, soap and spicy cologne.

He followed her into the kitchen, and she wondered if he was dating anyone. If he wasn't, would he ever be interested in someone like her? Someone who had never had a real job, had just barely graduated from college, and really could only get along with horses and family for any length of time.

She'd just have to hide all of that until she had this job and had impressed him with her equine knowledge and skills. Then, and only then, would she think about finding out if Beau had a girlfriend.

The cabin didn't suggest he was married, and he didn't wear any jewelry on his left hand either.

"So," he said as he slid a tray of cooked pizza onto the stovetop. "Talk to me about being a Stable Manager."

Charlotte had not anticipated such a statement, and her mind went blank. "That's not even a question," she said.

He grinned at her and opened a drawer. As he rifled through it to find something, he said, "I don't have a set of questions. I want to know what you think being a Stable Manger is."

"The Stable Manger manages the stable," she said.

Beau chuckled and shook his head as he cut the pizza into triangles. "Walked right into that one, didn't I?"

She finally allowed a smile to touch her face too. Charlotte was ready for this job. This interview. All of it. As Beau got out plates and started putting pizza slices on them, her phone chimed.

With Mason's special ding-a-ling-zing !

Her heartbeat nearly fell out of her chest, and Charlotte's vision turned white for a half-second. Then she lifted her phone to read his text.

Beau already called me? What's going on?

Nothing , she tapped out quickly. A plate of food slid toward her on the counter, and she glanced at it long enough to make sure it wouldn't fall to the floor. She needed to keep her heartbeat pumping and her stress level low, or she might pass out again.

Then she wouldn't be able to blame her earlier episode on being hungry.

But Mason had just texted again. Three times.

Zing, zing, zing.

You better tell him about your heart condition.

Or I might have to.

I won't lie if he asks me, Char. Just tell him, okay? It'll be fine.

But she had no idea how to do that, and when he asked, "Everything okay?" she shoved her phone in her back pocket and pulled the barstool out.

"Yes," she said. "Just telling Mace I messed up the time of the interview, and he says it'll be fine." She gave Beau her best smile, her heartbeat betraying her again by thumping and bumping when he returned it with a gorgeous grin of his own.

She couldn't tell him. Could she?

The war continued silently inside her as she lifted her pizza to her mouth and took a big bite. She hadn't eaten, and she certainly didn't need to add hunger to the issues she currently had.

"So, tell me why you want this job," Beau said between bites. "And what you've been doing up till now."

In that moment, Charlotte realized no matter what job she applied for or where she went, she was going to have to disclose about her health. Why else would she have taken over a decade to graduate from college? Why else would she have lived with either her parents or her brother until she was well over thirty years old?

Her head felt too heavy for her neck to hold up, and then she remembered who she was. Charlotte Wisenhouer. A daughter, aunt, and friend. She had a Father in Heaven who loved her and had led her here.

She'd fought for every single thing she'd achieved in her life, and she'd done it with a weaker heart than others.

She could get this job without telling Beau. And she could keep it once he knew.

So she took a breath, called on the Lord to give her the right words, and looked at Beau before she started to answer.