Chapter 3

Chapter Three

D awson really had no choice but to load up with Caroline and head out to the West End Fence. If he didn't go, Duke would just call again and get barkier and barkier.

Sometimes Dawson really hated that it was a ranch rule to have his location on. It did keep them safe, but it also gave Duke the ability to see where Dawson was at all times.

"No privacy," he muttered to himself.

"What?" Caroline asked.

Dawson had almost forgotten she rode with him. Of course, that was nigh to impossible, as the woman's perfume seemed tattooed inside his nostrils, and the shape of her in his life had already started to become familiar.

Which in and of itself was insane. He'd had two meals with her, one where she hadn't wanted to be there, and one where he'd almost kissed her.

Obvious much? Dawson thought. But at the same time, he'd never really beaten around the bush. Not even for the women he asked out.

"I'm sending you the paperwork you'll need," Caroline said from the passenger seat.

He didn't detect any malice or teasing or glee in her voice, and he glanced over to her. "Thank you."

She lowered her phone to her lap, something nervous edged in her eyes. "I'm really sorry the owls have moved onto your ranch."

The road narrowed and worsened, though they kept things in tiptop shape. They simply didn't need as good of roads this far out on the ranch. In fact, Dawson usually rode a horse or an ATV to go out to the West End Fence.

"I am too," he said with a sigh. "So what do I do? Are you going to have cake tonight to celebrate that you were right and I was wrong?" He hoped she might smile and duck that pretty face, tuck her hair, and say, Of course not, Dawson.

Instead, the redheaded-ness inside her shot fire in his direction. "No," she said. "Believe it or not, I don't get joy out of you having owls here." She folded her arms and stared out the windshield. "Which we don't even know if you do yet. "

Dawson wished he could recall his words. "You saw the picture. Did those look like bunny rabbits to you?"

"No," she bit out again.

"They were burrowing owls," he said, glancing over to her. "Even I know that, and I didn't go to school to identify them."

"I did so much more in school than that," she said.

Dawson didn't want to fight with her. He was just irritated. "I know," he said. "What else did you do?"

She eyed him warily. "In school?"

"Yeah," he said. "In school. How does one become a Wildlife Conservation Officer?"

"A lot of classes," she said. "I got a degree in wildlife management, with a lot of courses in natural resources management as well."

Great. So she was far smarter than him. Dawson reminded himself that he'd gone to college too. Earned a degree and everything.

"And we're required to take some law enforcement classes," she said. "It's done through the State, but I'd taken some classes in college too." She shifted in her seat, seemingly uncomfortable talking about this.

"Sounds like it kept you busy," he said.

"Yes," she clipped out. "It was a good escape for me, studying and classes." She cleared her throat. "At that time in my life."

Dawson's interest perked up, and he looked over to Caroline fully. Her face pinked up with a beautiful blush he didn't quite understand, and she blurted out, "It won't be so bad, having the owls here. You just can't destroy their dens or try to run them off." Her words rushed over each other, and Dawson wondered what she was trying to cover up.

Her schooling? He shook his head, unable to deal with all the thoughts currently in his head. He could find out more about her later, when he wasn't facing the wrath of his brother, an unknown number of texts as he sent out messages to the surrounding ranches about the owls, and who knew what else.

Oh, right. The paperwork in his inbox. That had to be done too.

"They'll multiply and never leave," he said darkly.

"What do you do out on the West End Fence?"

"It's farmland," he said.

"I hope it won't be a great loss."

"You tell me," he said. "Are these birds going to spread all over the place?"

Caroline took a moment to answer, and she sighed first. Not a good sign. He also caught sight of a couple of crows flying alongside the truck, and they at least buoyed his spirits.

"It depends on how many there are," she said. "Where they came from, how mature they are, that kind of thing."

"Great," Dawson said, and he realized that she'd apologized about the owls roosting on the ranch. He glanced over to her, trying to make the pieces of her line up.

A couple of hours ago, she'd given him a terrible glare in the community center, and now, she rode alongside him in the truck, saying she'd get him paperwork and apologizing about the owls.

Dawson rounded a corner and caught sight of his dog, waiting down at the other end of the road, where it bent again. Ruffin got to his feet, and his tail started to wag. Then he turned and ran down the road, most likely back toward where Duke waited for Dawson and Caroline.

A sudden thought made his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. How in the world would Dawson have Caroline with him already? "That Wildlife Officer," Duke had called her. And the Rhinehart Ranch sat forty-five minutes south of town.

There was no way she could've gotten here this fast, and Dawson needed a reason for why he'd had Caroline with him at his house.

You left breakfast with her , he told himself. Momma and Daddy would know something was up, and Dawson's mind blanked.

He'd been driving for enough years of his life that he kept doing that, and he eased the truck to a stop next to his older brother's.

Caroline didn't wait for him to come open her door, because this wasn't a date. Dawson dropped to the ground too, and it wasn't two seconds later that Nugget cawed and glided down, with Rocks coming in hot too.

The two crows landed on the hood of his white truck, their black feathers standing out against the pale paint.

Nugget voiced his welcome again with a, "Caw-aw!" and Dawson slid a look over to Caroline, who'd come to a complete stop at the corner of the truck on the passenger side, her eyes wide as she stared at the big black birds only a few feet from her.

"Hey, you guys," he said, deciding everything in his life was about to be blown wide open anyway. Might as well start with the crows.

Rocks, in true fashion, clicked forward, a rock in his right claw clunking against the hood. "What did you bring me?"

Dawson stepped over to the crow and held out his hand. He'd learned not to try to take anything from either crow. They were highly intelligent, and if they wanted to give him something, they'd give it to him.

Rocks jutted out his foot and deposited a stone in Dawson's open palm. And Dawson swore the crow wore a proud look on his birdy face when he looked up at him. "Oh, this one is glinting with silver." He grinned at the gifted rock Rocks had brought him.

Sometimes he kept them, and sometimes he just pocketed them and tossed them back out with the other stones when the crow wasn't looking. He wondered if Rocks had ever found the same shiny rock again and brought it to Dawson for a second time.

Ruffin arrived and put his paw up on Dawson's leg. He looked down at his cattle dog and bent down to greet him to get a brief reprieve from the shocked look on Caroline's face.

"Hey, you. You workin' with Duke this morning?" Dawson looked over to his brother's truck, but Duke didn't manifest himself. "Where is he, huh?"

Ruffin barked, because he'd just caught sight of the crows, and Nugget fixed his beady bird eyes on the dog and barked back. Just barked on back, his crow voice almost the same as Ruffin's.

Dawson grinned, because while he hadn't been thrilled with the crows seeking him out in the beginning, they brought him joy now. He'd learned a lot about the birds, including that they could imitate sounds—including dogs barking.

"I didn't realize you had a zoo here," Caroline said, and Dawson straightened to face her.

"Uh, well, no cowboy is worth his hat if he doesn't have a dog. This here's Ruffin." He looked from her to the dog, who seemed eager to please as usual.

Caroline smiled down at him and then crouched in front of the canine the way Dawson had. "He's just so handsome." She took his face in her hands and smiled at him the way Dawson wanted her to grin in his direction. "I bet you can round up cattle, bring back that Frisbee I saw at your master's house, and keep his feet warm at night too."

She trilled out a laugh Dawson had never heard. He'd actually never dreamed she could even make such a noise. She looked up at him, and Dawson's hormones fired through his body. Hard.

The sun haloed her, making her blonde hair shine like spun gold. She beamed radiance at him, and he somehow managed to offer her his hand to help her back to standing.

She took it, and the whole world came to a complete stop. Sure, the New Year's Day sun shone overhead, though it wasn't too hot today. It wasn't terribly cold either, but the temperature would nip in the shade.

His skin sizzled against hers, and he wondered what Caroline felt. What she thought. What might happen next.

"He refuses to sleep on the bed," he said. "So alas, I sleep with cold feet."

"Alas," Caroline said, and if Dawson had to classify how she'd said the word, he'd label it as flirty. She was flirting with him. Wasn't she?

Nugget cawed, and that made Dawson flinch and then press his eyes closed in a long blink meant to infuse some patience into his system. Now he'd never know if Caroline had been flirting or not, and suddenly he wasn't so happy to have the crows around.

"Introduce me to your birds," she said .

Dawson caught the look of delight on her face as he opened his eyes. "First," he said as he turned toward the two crows still standing on the hood of his truck. "They're not my birds. These are wild crows."

"Yes, they look positively feral."

Dawson pulled his hand back and indicated the bigger, closer crow, appreciating her wit. Of course, when that wit turned to ire, he better watch out. But that only made him want to stick around to see what would bring out that fire in her, what would make her laugh, what would make her lean toward him again, her eyes falling to his mouth, like she maybe wanted to kiss him too.

He cleared his mind, focusing on the nearly blue-black quality of the crows' feathers as they glimmered almost holographically in the sunlight. "This is Nugget. He likes to sing and talk and imitate other animals." He glanced down to his dog. "Especially Ruffin."

"Do they get along?"

"Yeah, they don't give him any trouble; Nugget just likes to use his voice."

"And the other one?"

"Rocks," Dawson said, clearing his throat. "He likes to bring me shiny things."

"I see." She didn't say anything else, and Dawson wasn't going to be all, Rocks and Nugget, this is Caroline. Don't be swooping down to peck her eyes out or anything. She's a friend .

Friend.

The truth was Dawson didn't know what Caroline was. Enemy, friend, woman he'd made breakfast for, or simply the person he'd have to deal with when it came to these owls for who knew how long.

They both faced the truck and the fence beyond it, and Dawson got himself to move in that direction. "Duke?" he called.

He went past the truck and walked along the fence, searching down it toward the horizon for his brother. When he didn't see him, he turned around and found his tall, boxy-shouldered brother striding toward him with a storm shooting thunder and lightning from his eyes.

"Daws," he called, lifting his hand.

Dawson raised his hand too, just as Caroline came to his side and faced Duke as well. His brother came to a complete stop as if he'd run into a glass wall.

"Let the explanations begin," Dawson muttered under his breath.