Chapter 6

Chapter Six

C harlotte frowned as her brother's dust rose up on the dirt road they drove down. Everything about Mason had been annoying her for the past few days. He'd insisted on accompanying her out to Three Rivers Ranch, though she'd told him repeatedly she didn't need his help.

In the end, she'd have had to make two trips to get everything she owned out to the cabin, or she'd have to rent a truck. She didn't want to do either, so she'd let Mason help by filling the bed of his truck with her things.

She wished she'd led the way out here, so she didn't have to drive in his choking dust. Beau had told her how to get past the barns and stables so she could park behind the administration building and closer to the cabin.

Charlotte refused to call it his cabin or the foreman's cabin. She was going to live there too. It could easily be labeled as her cabin. Of course, it really wasn't, but Charlotte needed something to cling to so she could get through the next couple of hours.

Moving in. Unpacking. Lunch with everyone on the ranch. Beau had texted her early this morning to say Squire and Kelly Ackerman had decided to host a luncheon down the lane at the homestead for everyone on the ranch that day.

"You'll be part of this ranch family," she told herself. "After this morning." She wasn't sure she wanted to jump right in with both feet, but she also didn't see how she had a choice.

She trundled along behind her brother, and she waited while he backed the truck up to the cabin. She got out of her SUV and let him do the same with her car, so she could just open the back and start to take things out of it.

"Morning," Beau said, and Charlotte spun toward the sexy sound of his voice.

Her pulse bobbed in her throat, but he made everything run faster through her instead of slowing them down. So she didn't feel like running or fainting. No, she wanted to stay right beside him and bathe in the warmth coming from his smile, from his skin, from his spirit.

"Good morning," she said pleasantly. "It's—here." She gestured to the SUV as the back opened.

"Won't take but ten minutes," Beau said almost like it was a promise, and Charlotte watched as more cowboys came around the corner of his cabin. Without any instructions at all, they started picking up her totes, her boxes, her bags, and taking them inside.

"Beau." Mason laughed heartily and grabbed onto the cowboy Charlotte couldn't look away from. She'd ignored what he'd said about their lunch earlier this week being a date, but now she couldn't stop thinking about what going out with him would actually be like.

"Mason." Both cowboys laughed now, and they embraced as they did. "You're lookin' good."

"So are you, brother." Mason sized him up from boot to hat, and then he glanced over to Charlotte. His smile faltered slightly, and she wondered what expression she wore on her face. Mason had always had a special way of seeing right through her, even when she tried to hide things from him. So Charlotte ducked her head and moved toward the SUV.

She retrieved her purse and her backpack with her laptop, her eReader, and her chargers, and she headed into the cabin. It smelled like candy and roses, and she hadn't experienced that before. Beau had definitely been sprucing this place up for her arrival.

The thought made her warm and smiley, and she put her purse and backpack on the dining room table. The décor hadn't changed that much, but she did noticed the row of bowties had disappeared, and that most of the feminine scent came from the bathroom she was claiming as hers.

She smiled at the neatly hung towels waiting for her, and the bottles of plumeria-scented soaps and shampoos sitting on the counter.

"It's okay?" Beau asked as his tall, broad frame filled the doorway.

"It's perfect," she said. "Thank you, Beau."

"Close quarters," Mason said, and Beau shifted so Charlotte could see him. He didn't wear the same sparkles and rainbows she felt shining in her veins.

"Mason," she warned. "I don't want to hear it."

Beau looked between her and him. "I do. What's going on?"

"You're living with my sister," Mason said. "That's what's going on." He folded his arms, and Charlotte had never felt so trapped. She couldn't get out of the long, narrow bathroom without bursting through the two cowboys, which she wasn't going to do.

"Did you know she tried to keep the living conditions a secret?" Mason asked.

Beau cocked his eyebrows at Charlotte without meeting her eyes fully. Before he could answer Mason's question, she said, "I'm thirty-two years old," she said. "You're not my keeper."

"Char—"

"I have it handled, Mason. This is none of your business. You don't have to live here. I do."

Mason glared at her, his blue-green eyes burning like angry flames. Without looking away from her, he thumped Beau's chest. "Keep an eye on her, Beau." Then he swung the full weight of his overprotective brother gaze on Beau.

Charlotte wanted to dart between them and silence her brother. But she couldn't move fast enough, and Mason did what he wanted no matter who opposed him. Well, maybe not Felicity, but she hadn't come with them to move in.

"But not too close of an eye, cowboy. She's?—"

"Do not finish that sentence," Charlotte said, taking angry steps forward. She shoved against Mason's chest, and to her surprise, he fell back into the hallway. "You're done here. Go home."

"Charlotte," he chastised.

"Thank you for your help this morning," she said. "But I don't need you to unpack my clothes." She glared at Beau too, who wore an expression of mild curiosity mixed with mild horror. "I need some air."

"Char," Mason called after her as she stalked down the hall and out the back door. She burst into the morning shade at the back of the house, where the air maintained a crispness to it that would only bake away as the day wore on.

The solid cabin walls and door kept all the noise inside and the wind out, so she couldn't hear if Beau and Mason continued their conversation. She watched her step as she darted down the steps to the back yard, where Beau's two dogs lay in the shade.

The black lab got to his feet to come greet her, but his collie simply waited for Charlotte to scrub Pepper's head and jowls before she came to her. She accepted the love and greeting, but she didn't seem overly anxious to get it.

Charlotte stood in the shade and looked out over the fields. "Pretty view," she said. "Do you guys come lay here often?" The dogs didn't answer, but that didn't deter Charlotte. "Do you two know the horses? What do you think they'll think of me?"

Ruby, the collie, started to pant, and Charlotte wondered if she could leave the cabin area entirely and go meet the horses she'd be caring for.

In the end, she decided she better not. She wanted to thank all the cowboys who'd come to help her unload her car that morning, and she'd probably already been away for too long. She went back to the side of the cabin where she and Mason had parked, and she found only a few items remaining.

She'd no sooner than picked up a box marked essential oils when someone said, "Let me, ma'am."

She did let the cowboy take the box, and he gave her a smile. "I'm Bennett. Beau's best friend here on the ranch."

"Great to meet you," she said. "You're the one getting married tomorrow."

"That's right." He nodded at her and turned to take the box inside. Right behind him came another cowboy, this one much younger.

"I'm Finn Ackerman," he said pleasantly. "My parents own the ranch."

Charlotte swallowed as he picked up a laundry basket with hangers and framed photographs. "Thank you for your help."

"Of course," Finn said, as if he just loved helping a total stranger move in.

As she watched, the rest of her boxes and items got picked up and taken inside, and Charlotte had nothing else to do but follow the cowboys helping her.

She'd just reached the top of the steps and started to cross the porch to the open front door when she heard Mason say, "Yeah, her heart condition."

Panic seized her pulse, and Charlotte ran to the doorway if only to use it for support. Only Beau and Mason stood in the living room, thankfully. But Beau wore the ultimate look of confusion.

"Heart condition?" he repeated.

"She didn't tell you?" Mason's features transformed with fury and disbelief. "I can't believe this." He turned toward the back door. "Where is she?"

Beau looked to the front door, and he sure didn't look happy either. Their eyes met, and Charlotte had so much to say to him.

Don't tell anyone else, please.

I was going to tell you, I swear.

Why are you so mad about this?

"She's right there," Beau said darkly. Mason turned toward her, and if Charlotte didn't want a huge scene wherein everyone in the Texas Panhandle and all of Oklahoma would find out about her very mild heart condition, she had to act.

Fast.

So she rushed into the house and said, "You guys are overreacting." She gestured wildly down the hall, where she assumed the other cowboys who'd come to help her move had gone. "Can we not talk about this here, right now?"

She switched her glare to her brother. "And it's not your thing to talk about at all, Mason."

"You didn't tell him," he hissed.

"Just because I don't do things according to your timeline doesn't mean I wasn't going to do it." She cut a quick look at Beau. "And you know what? It's really none of your business either."

"None of my business?"

Mason glanced past her, and movement caught her attention too. The other cowboys spilled into the room, all of them chatting about something. "She's right," he said quietly. "You two can talk about this in private."

Beau got the hint, and he nodded like his neck had suddenly turned to wood. "Fine."

"Fine," Charlotte said. Then she turned to thank the men who'd helped her bring in everything she currently had to her name. She could deal with Beau and her overbearing brother later.

Much later.

Charlotte liked the way the green grass sparkled like emeralds down at the end of the white-rock lane. The gravel at her feet looked like it had just been replaced and raked out, and uncracked sidewalks led up to every log cabin where the other cowboys and cowgirls lived here at Three Rivers Ranch.

At the end of the gravel lane, the grass of the homestead took over, and someone had already set up white folding tables and chairs, and currently, several cowboys worked on fitting together poles for a tent shade that would go over them.

More than one, it turned out. Charlotte stood on the fringes of the group and activity, as Beau had said almost nothing to her since he'd learned about her heart condition from her brother. She'd thanked everyone, grabbed her water bottle from her backpack, and taken it and her purse down the hall to her bedroom.

Her new home.

She'd spent the next ninety minutes unpacking her boxes, hanging up her clothes, arranging her photos on the provided desk, and testing out the bed. When Beau had called and said, "Lunchtime," she'd opened the door and joined him in the kitchen. "You ready?"

So she'd gotten three words from him since then, and as she watched him smile and talk with someone she hadn't met yet, he reminded her of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Because she could feel his simmering anger from where she stood.

"You must be Charlotte," a dark-haired woman said.

She looked at her fully, drowning in the woman's beauty. "Yes," she managed to scrape out of her throat.

"The new Stable Manager," she said. "We're excited to have you. Pete owns Courage Reins, and you'll probably work with him a lot."

"Sure," Charlotte said. "I met Pete this morning. Is he your husband?"

"Yes, he is." She stroked her hand down the hair of a younger boy—obviously her son. "I'm Chelsea. Squire's sister. Pete's wife. This one's mom." She grinned at her son. "Come on. No one stands on the sidelines here."

Charlotte went with Chelsea and her son, and she felt and saw the eyes of everyone else on the ranch. She hated being the new person in a crowd, but she told herself she'd only be new today. Then she'd know everyone, and they'd know her, and there'd be someone else new soon enough for everyone to gawk at.

"Squire, this is—" Chelsea started to say, but Beau practically jumped to her side.

"Charlotte," he called over her. "Our new Stable Manager." He threw a glance at Squire. "Charlotte, this is the owner of the ranch, Squire Ackerman. He's also the veterinarian here." He nodded to the woman standing next to him. "His wife, Kelly. She made your curtains and picked out your bedding."

"Thank you," Charlotte said. "It's all amazing."

"My mother made the curtains, to be fair," Kelly said with a smile. Her dirty blonde hair had been pulled up and out of the way, and her blue eyes had the sharpness of a bird of prey. She smiled, though, so she didn't seem as predatory. In fact, she seemed kind and accepting. "Welcome to Three Rivers, Charlotte. You've met Chelsea."

"And her husband Pete," Charlotte said. "He owns Courage Reins." She flashed a smile over to the brunette.

"And I met your son this morning," Charlotte said. "Finn."

Kelly practically glowed at the mention of her son, and she nodded. "Yes, he's great. Goes to Baylor, and he's just here for the summer." She glanced around. "I'm not sure where he is right now."

"Edith came out to the ranch," Squire said, but Charlotte didn't know who Edith was.

"There are a lot of us here," Beau said, gently putting his hand on her lower back. Her skin fizzed beneath her tee, and she looked at him. His perfectly trimmed beard. The perched just-so cowboy hat. The dazzling glimmer in his eye. "Come meet a couple of my good friends."

"Okay," she said.

"We're eating in five," Kelly said.

"Got it," Beau said. "Ben." He joined the group of cowboys only a few feet away. They opened up for her and Beau, and he hugged his best friend quickly. "Ben and Ellie are getting married tomorrow."

He indicated the strawberry blonde next to Ben. "An afternoon wedding, right here on the ranch, since they both work here."

"We met back at the cabin," Ben said.

"Great to meet you," Ellie said.

"Will you guys live out here once you're married?" she asked, scanning the other men in the group.

"No," Ben said, exchanging a glance with Beau. "Ellie's got a house in town, and I'm moving in with her."

"This is Stu," Beau said. "He does a lot of herd work. Next to him is Douglas. He works on the agriculture crew."

"Great to meet you," she said, shaking their hands. It seemed every cowboy had the same hat, wore a beard, some form of plaid, and blue jeans.

"Time to eat," Kelly called. "Squire, call ‘em in."

"Beau?"

Charlotte's attention bounced from Kelly, to Squire, to Beau, who let loose a shrill, shockingly loud whistle. She automatically shied away from it, her pulse shooting up and then falling too fast.

She could feel herself crashing, and she immediately grabbed onto Beau's arm just in case she passed out. She breathed in deeply, then pushed the air out. Another breath, and while her vision fuzzed a little bit, Charlotte didn't think she'd pass out.

Around her, people moved closer and chatter slowed and stopped. She focused on the very solid muscles in Beau's arm, the only anchor she had right now. He turned into her, his body heat sinking into hers in a very comforting and enjoyable way.

His hand slid along her waist, and his voice hummed through her whole body as he asked, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, and thankfully, her legs managed to turn her body out of his embrace before too much longer. They stood right close to Squire and Kelly, which meant everyone was looking almost straight at her and Beau too.

"Welcome to lunch," Squire said. "There's no real reason today, other than we all have to eat lunch every day, so I'm just gonna have…." He glanced around and seized onto someone. "My daughter, Libby, say the prayer."

Charlotte folded her arms and ducked her head, finally feeling the weight of moving morning drift away from her. She let herself shrink until she was very small on this very large ranch, in the small town of Three Rivers, which felt absolutely huge compared to her.

Everything expanded out and out, and Charlotte let herself feel the familial vibes that existed here—and she knew.

God had led her here, to this ranch, at this time.

She belonged here. So she wasn't going to let anything—not her heart condition, not the hard conversations she might have to have because of it, nothing—stop her from being on this ranch, doing this job.

Not even the handsome cowboy beside her.