“I was just…”
The way she flinched at his words made him feel bad, which only irritated him more. “I don’t care what you were ‘just doing’ I’m busy and not in the mood to play games with you right now.” He turned away so he could pretend he hadn’t seen her hurt look, and stalked down the center path between the stalls, checking to make sure everything else was in order.
He seemed to find fault with everything. And the snap and snarl in his voice sent people running to avoid him. Everywhere he looked they were being extra industrious while doing their best not to catch his eye. He felt guilty about that and decided to barricade himself in the back office where he wouldn’t be tempted to yell at anyone else.
He sat himself down at his desk and began to go through the mound of paperwork that had been piling up in the past few days. It was his least favorite part of the job but since he was having a crap morning anyway, he might as well get it done.
There were invoices to approve, and now he had the extra step of sending them over to the lawyer’s office first. He wondered if he’d have to go through them to place the next order for feed too, and then there were the parts he needed for the back-up small loader because it had been rattling something fierce by the end of haying and he knew it needed work.
He tossed the papers back onto the desk and rubbed his temples with a weary sigh. All this micromanaging was giving him a headache, but that wasn’t what was really messing with his mood. No, that would be Charlie. The difference between day and night with her was getting to him, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could do it. And now adding in this new dynamic of punishment?
Granted he would love to take a belt to her sassy ass and knock the attitude out of her. It might actually make up for the whiplash she was giving him by changing her mind constantly. Every time he thought he knew where they were at, she’d flip on him. He was starting to feel as used as an old racehorse
He’d thought after last night they were finally getting somewhere. He’d given in on what she wanted, but then she’d left before he’d woken, and he had to wonder what that meant.
Maybe if…
A loud knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts. Before he could reply it opened, and the grizzled head of his second in command poked around the edge looking nervous. “Hey, uh, Sam? We might have a problem out here.”
He sighed. “What is it now, Ben? If it’s Jeff, you can tell him to hit the road—”
Ben shook his head rapidly, and the door inched open a little further. “No. It’s Charlie. She’s decided to spend some time with one of the horses.”
Sam cocked his head, eyes narrowing. “And why is that a problem?” It didn’t take long for the other shoe to drop; he knew Ben wouldn’t brave his bad mood just to tell him that.
“Well, uh, you know that new stallion you’ve been working on breaking?”
Sam froze and his heart dropped to the floor as he stared in complete shock for the space of two seconds. “She wouldn’t!” he blurted, but he knew better and was already rising to his feet and barreling out the door. He knocked Ben sideways and didn’t even notice in his haste to get to the small paddock where the stallion had been isolated.
The magnificent horse, simply called Devil, would eventually be an asset to the ranch, but he was untrained yet and had an evil temper the likes of which Sam had never seen before. There had been a few injuries and after that he didn’t want anyone else taking the risk. Until he had the time to put in, the horse was being kept separate and everyone had been warned to keep away.
He’d even made a special point to be firm with Charlie because he’d seen her eagerness the second she’d laid eyes on the stallion. Most of the men had seen the trouble that horse could be and didn’t need much warning to stay away, but not Charlie, of course.
Except Charlie didn’t like to do what she was told. “Why the hell didn’t anyone stop her!” he barked as he got to the corral and found half of his crew standing around watching the stallion stomping the ground in warning while the girl tried to get closer to him.
“We tried!”
“Told her no one was allowed in there except you, boss. She wouldn’t listen!”
“We couldn’t exactly stop her, Sam. I mean she kinda owns the place now.”
There was a chorus of other protests all of which painted a pretty clear picture of what had happened. Charlie had been told no, and Charlie didn’t like to be told no, so she’d used him snapping at her as an excuse to go ahead and do what she wanted anyway. As the Rancher’s daughter the men assumed she was now in charge, and no one wanted to be too forceful about stopping her.
It hadn’t occurred to him that it would be necessary to make the real situation transparent and he hadn’t wanted to embarrass her by making a general announcement that Charlie had no authority. Obviously, he’d have to fix that misinformation later, but first he needed to get her out of there before she got herself killed. “Charlotte McGee, you get your ass away from that horse right now!” he shouted.
He saw the scared look on her face as she turned but she quickly switched it to an expression that had ‘make me’ all over it. She knew how to play the haughty boss’s daughter card all too well and it used to work, but things had changed.
“You’ve got three seconds to get out of there or I’m coming in after you, and you won’t like what happens if I have to do that, Charlie.” His voice was dangerously angry, but the volume was carefully controlled. He felt like shouting but didn’t want to startle the stallion and going inside to get her would run the same risk, so he was hoping to scare her out on her own.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Sammy. You know how good I am with horses, besides I’ve just as much right here as you do,” she said with a sniff. She continued her slow progress across the ground, one hand flat out in front of her holding an apple she was using to tempt Devil closer.
The horse’s nostrils flared, and he looked interested in the treat. He took a slow step towards her and she smiled with confidence. “See?”
“Charlie,” the name was forced out through gritted teeth. “That horse isn’t justcalledDevil; heisa devil. He bites and kicks anyone who gets close to him. Now, I want you to back up, slowly.” He was managing to keep his voice down to avoid upsetting the high-strung stallion, but Devil didn’t deal well with sudden movements either and there were so many ways this could go dangerously wrong.
His heart was pounding so hard he thought everyone around him could probably hear it. He was terrified he was about to watch the love of his life get trampled, and her response was to laugh.
Her peal of amusement rang out and it startled Devil. He tossed his head, snorting nervously at the unaccustomed sound. Anyone else would have seen how temperamental the stallion was, but Charlie was too convinced she was right. Raised on a ranch and around horses her whole life sheshouldhave known better, but she wasn’t paying attention to her instincts.
