Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

B eau's stomach felt like it might burst by the time he jogged up the steps to his front porch and went inside the cabin. Charlotte followed him, and as she closed the door, Beau sighed.

"Busy day," she said.

"Yeah," he responded. He still had plenty to attend to on the ranch, though he didn't do a ton of the feeding and care of animals, which was a twenty-four-seven job. "And we're not done."

He went around the island in the kitchen and faced her, letting all the repressed irritation and yes, downright anger, to rise through him again. "So you can't scamper down the hall and close your door until we talk about your health problems."

"First." She came to a complete stop and cocked one hip. "Don't call it a health problem . It's not a problem ."

"You have a heart condition that makes you faint periodically," he shot at her. "That is so a problem, Charlotte." He planted both palms on the counter and leaned into them. "You weren't hungry the day you came to interview. You fainted because your pulse and oxygen levels dropped."

"You startled me," she said.

"So that's when it happens?"

"It…can happen for a variety of reasons," she admitted, and Beau figured they were going somewhere now. He took the glaring down a notch and unlocked his shoulders. No need to make himself look bigger if he wanted her to talk.

"It's a very mild heart condition," she said.

"What's the name of it?" He pulled out his phone and quickly tapped to get over to his notes.

"Are you going to write it down?"

"Yes, I am." He was not going to back down on this either. Beau looked up when she remained silent. Oh, this woman was as headstrong as she was beautiful. That only made her more attractive to him, and he lowered his phone, trying to connect some dots.

"Charlotte," he said softly. Maybe it was a growl. He wasn't exactly sure. "I am the foreman of this ranch, and everyone here is my responsibility. The thousands of cattle are my responsibility. All those horses you're going to care for are my responsibility. I get to know everything. That's just how it is." He set his phone down on the counter to hopefully put her more at ease.

"I don't want everyone to know," she said.

Beau didn't fire right back at her. "Okay," he said, wishing his mind worked faster. "Some people are going to have to know."

"Who?"

"Squire," he said instantly. "Pete. And another cowboy who spends a lot of time in the stables. Kenny. I'd tell those three up-front. Just to make sure you've got help if you need it without lengthy explanations."

"Three people."

"There might be others," he said. "Who work with the horses a lot. I can see that not everyone needs to know, and that's fine."

She regarded him, some of the fire in her stunning aquamarine eyes burning out. "Three people is fine. I just—Beau, I don't want anyone, including you, to treat me differently. I can do this job."

"I know you can," he said quickly. Her desperation for the job was abundantly clear, and Beau realized as he watched it roll across her face like a Texas thunderstorm that she really needed to prove it to him.

To herself, most likely. To Mason. To everyone.

"When people find out about my heart, they treat me differently." She reached up and brushed at her eyes in an unexpected show of emotion. "I hate it. That's why I didn't tell you."

He nodded, his compassion rearing up. "What—How do they treat you?"

Charlotte lifted her chin in a somewhat defiant move. She'd softened a little, though, and Beau could see her bluster was mostly a fa?ade. She wanted to be treated fairly, and she wanted to show the world that she could do more than live with her brother and take care of his kids.

The whole picture appeared before Beau, and he suddenly wanted those things for her too.

"They treat me like I'm broken," she said. "I'm not broken. I don't have a problem."

She kind of did, but he wasn't going to push semantics. "Okay," he said. "But we need to work out a system or some signals or Mason said something about safe words, so that when you're in trouble and you can feel it, I can help you."

Her shoulders lifted as she took in a big lungful of air. "It's called vasovagal syncope." Everything about her sagged, and she looked over to the grandfather clock. She moved in that direction. "It's not heart disease. It's just a condition that makes my heart…freak out when I get stressed, hurt, or sometimes when I'm standing for too long."

Beau moved slowly closer to her. "Standing for too long, Charlotte?"

"I know how to pace myself, Beau." She murmured his name in a soft, pretty voice, and he wanted only for her to do it again.

He positioned himself next to her. "Low blood pressure?"

"I faint when my heart rate and-or oxygen levels and-or blood pressure drop suddenly, usually in response to something startling or surprising or stressful."

"So me walking in on you looking at these photos…." He let the words sit there, and he figured he had plenty of time and air conditioning to give Charlotte the space she needed to talk.

After a couple of minutes of the two of them standing side-by-side, she said, "I used to train and show horses, and I loved it with everything inside me."

He moved his hand slightly, and it touched hers. He audibly pulled in a breath, and then he decided to simply go for it. If she didn't want to hold his hand, she'd let him know. But Charlotte didn't pull away. She didn't move her hand back. She easily slid her palm against his, and he threaded his fingers between hers.

"I miss them so much," she said. "My parents made me quit when I passed out in the saddle during one of my competitions. From that moment on, I've been watched. I had a number of tests until the doctors figured out the heart thing."

She exhaled heavily, and Beau just wanted to wrap her up in a warm blanket and make all the ragged pieces of her smooth. "My mom limited my college classes. Then Mason and Felicity started having kids, and I went to help them."

"You have a degree," he whispered, almost like he was trying to get an injured bird to come closer.

"It took me thirteen years to get," she said. "I took classes on and off while helping with the kids. I just graduated a couple of months ago."

"That's great, sweetheart." And he meant it. He looked over to her. "That's so great, Charlotte."

She gave him a soft smile then, her eyes not moving from the pictures of Dolly on his credenza. "I can admit I was pretty proud of myself."

Beau returned his attention to the pictures too. "Ranch management, if my memory from your résumé serves."

"Yeah," she said. "But I just want to be with horses. I just want to train them, and feed them, and ride them." She leaned her head against his bicep, something about this so meaningful to Beau. "Thank you so much for giving me this job, Beau. I promise you I'm not going to let you down."

"Mm." He let the moment splinter, and he stepped away, dropping her hand in the process. Scratching on the back door reminded him he hadn't let the dogs in yet. "We need a system or a sign. Safe words." He went around the table and opened the back door for his hounds.

Pepper and Ruby came roaring inside like they'd been stuck outside in a tornado, and they both bent over the water bowl simultaneously to get a drink. Beau grinned at them, and then turned back to Charlotte. "Well?"

She sighed like he was being insufferable, but Beau wasn't going to budge on this. "If I'm within earshot, I'll just tell you. Or like today, I just grabbed onto you."

"Why was that?"

"The whistle," she said.

"Freaked you out."

"Freaked me out," she confirmed. "And I was just staring at those photos a few days ago, remembering so much, and Ruby touched me. That freaked me out, and I don't know. Maybe my knees were locked, and I just passed out. You should know I haven't fainted in at least six months."

"Okay," Beau said. "What if I'm not in earshot and you're struggling?"

"I'll do a hand signal," she said. "I used to do that with Mason and Felicity, if I needed help with the kids."

"All right," he said. "What kind of hand signal?"

Charlotte looked like she might lunge at him and claw his eyes out, but she didn't move. "I don't know, Beau."

His irritation kicked at him too. "My sister—not the horse-riding one—did a little ASL in school. I used to practice the letters with her. I know H is like this." He held up his hand with his first two fingers stuck together like the pillars on the capital H. "Maybe just that and lift it up? I'll know you need something."

"Fine."

He demonstrated the movement, and she nodded. He noted she didn't make the gesture, and part of him wanted to see her do it before he let her go. Another part of him yelled that he wasn't her daddy, and to let this go for now. Charlotte had some big barriers up between herself and the world. Real shields he'd have to figure out a way through.

She protected herself through anger and glaring, and Beau grinned at her. "All right," he said. "Do you want to go out to the stables?"

Everything inside her relaxed. "I thought you'd never ask."

He had several other things he wanted to ask her, but he filed the questions away—especially the personal ones—and looked at the dogs. "Come on, guys," he said to them. "Let's go show Charlotte our favorite equines."

"Oh, you can't have favorites with horses," Charlotte said, and Beau had to look at her to see if her expression matched her very serious tone. It did. In fact, she shook her head like he'd just committed the worst crime possible.

"They know it, and they will punish you for it." She nodded, her words fact, and headed for the door first. "Now, watch and learn how to get them all on your side the very first time they meet you." She gave him a grin he could only classify as flirty and headed for the front door.

Beau took a moment to watch her walk away from him, and then he moved far too fast for a man his age in his eagerness to follow her, be at her side, maybe hold her hand again.

Everything between them felt new and shiny, and he reminded himself that they lived together as he joined her on the porch. He couldn't move too fast or come on too strong, not if he wanted his little bird to stay close, maybe crawl into the palm of his hand, and stay awhile.

Beau had never been a super patient man, but perhaps age had helped him in that regard. Because he didn't feel a great desperate urge to ask her out, hold her hand, and see if she felt the same spark between them.

He could bide his time; she lived right across the hall, after all. And he'd rushed into things before, and he didn't need to do that here. He wouldn't.

Maybe I've learned something, Lord , he thought as Charlotte waited for him at the bottom of the steps.

"Wait," she said. "I didn't get my clipboard." She started up the steps again.

"We can just meet them," he said. "You can do a formal assessment on Monday."

She paused and looked back at him. He could tell she didn't want to do that, but she did slowly return to his side. "Okay," she said slowly.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked.

"Tomorrow? I don't know."

"Do you want to go to Ben's wedding with me?" Beau used everything he had to stop himself from clearing his throat. He couldn't believe he'd asked her out, when he'd literally just told himself not to.

But he didn't need to clarify. Or hem and haw and make excuses. Or ask anything again.

He just needed to wait.