Denim & Diamonds (12 page)

tossed his head and his nostrils flared. Beau had his hands full until he turned the horse again. Within a stride or two, the horse settled into an even rhythm. Beau’s eyes met Beth’s and he nodded. She felt a thrill at the silent acknowledgement of her assessment.
 

When Beau slowed the horse and started towards the gate, Beth hopped down from the fence and together they walked the horse to his stall. Buck stood patiently as they examined his eye. Sure enough his right eye was different, a little puffy with bright red blood vessels showing at the edges. Beth reached down to get a handful of hay to offer the horse, and the animal flinched, tossed his head and started to rear. With one hand, Beau yanked Beth behind him and with the other he pulled down on Buck’s halter. He pulled Buck's head towards his chest, murmured to the animal and stroked his head.
 

“Stay close and the horse can’t kick you hard.” In just a few minutes, the gelding munched on hay as if nothing had happened. Beau’s brows pushed together and his eyes narrowed, “You stay with him. I’m going to go call Doc Spiner.”

Beth nodded and watched through the silver bars as Beau walked down the aisle towards the office. He was amazing, that was all there was to it. He cared about the animals. The ranch wasn’t a business to him, it was a family.

The men she had dated had all been professional, powerful and wealthy, but none of them were strong the way Beau was. That strength plus caring was an attractive combination. She could imagine working beside him for the rest of her life . . .

Doc Spiner came out and examined the horse. The thin man asked them to kill the lights, so Beth hurried to the end of the aisle to flip the switch off. After Beau hollered at her to turn them back on, she did, then jogged back down the aisle. Just as she started to open the stall door to go back inside, someone called her name. She paused and turned.

Katie waved from the doorway. "Beth! There's a call for you! A Mr. Swaine - he said he's calling from your law firm."

Beth hesitated. He was the senior partner at Swaine Holmes. She peeked through the bars at Beau and the vet working with Buck.

Katie said, "
Charlotte said the guy says it's urgent."

Beau turned and met her gaze. "Go ahead. Take the call."

She looked from Beau to Katie, then hollered to the girl, "I'll take it in the office."

She hurried into the office and snatched the phone from the desk. "This is Beth."

The voice on the other end was smooth and cultured. "Elizabeth, I need you to drive up right away--"

"This is not--"

"and meet with Richard Shatner."

"a good time."

"He's decided to purchase a substantial share of an NFL franchise and wants you to negotiate the terms."

Beth closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "
Burton, this is not a good time."

"Richard wants you on board."

An anxious whinny echoed down the aisle. "You'll have to get someone else to do it. I quit, remember?"

She could imagine the veins pulsing in the senior partner's temple. His face was probably red already. He said, "I'm not asking again. Richard is our biggest client. If you don't come back and take care of this, you'll never work in this town again."

"Beth!" Beau yelled, "We could really use you here!"

The silence hummed on the phone line. A horse whinnied, and another kicked the wall. The clock on the wall ticked away the seconds.

"I won't be coming back." Without waiting for a reply, she hung up the phone and hurried back to Buck's stall.

Losing was no longer an option.

She stepped into the stall and Beau motioned to the prancing horse. "Can you put your body against his, help hold him against the wall and keep him still?"

She did as he asked and rubbed the horse's side to calm him down. The vet moved in front of the two-year old. Doc frowned as he ran his hands over the horse's head. “You noticed this swelling when?”

Beau nodded in Beth’s direction. “She noticed something was off this morning. When we looked at him, we noticed the swelling.”

The vet pointed out some ulcerated spots on the horse’s right eye and then said, “When you turned the lights off, his pupil constricted. He’s got ERU.”

Beau interrupted, “Isn’t that an Appaloosa disease?”

“Not anymore. I’ll give you an antibiotic to treat the disease, but first we need to get some atropine to stop the eye spasms.”

Doc and Beau stepped out of the stall and Beth followed. The vet turned to face her and said, “This is a serious disease, but your keen eye caught this soon. Getting a handle on it now may well save this horse’s eyesight.”

Her cheeks flushed at the compliment. Beau looked at her and nodded, and she felt her whole body warm under his approval. She waited in the stall while Beau and the doc walked back to his truck to get the medicine. It felt good to know she had done right by the horse, and Beau respected her opinion. After Buck was settled in his stall for the evening and the rest of the chores were done, she hurried to the house to tell
Charlotte about what had happened.

After she told
Charlotte about the vet's prognosis, the housekeeper interrupted her, "Say, what did that lawyer want?"

Beth shrugged, "Wanted me to deal with a client."

Charlotte pulled clean silverware from the dishwasher and dropped it into the drawer. "Are you going to have to leave to meet with your client?"

Beth pulled the clean plates from the dishwasher and stacked them in the cabinet. "No. I told him I couldn't."

Charlotte poured water in the coffee pot. "Was he okay with that?"

Beth shook her head and leaned back against the counter. "No. No, he wasn't."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

L
ater that week, Beau knocked around the small house by himself, with only Shep to keep him company. Cole and Joe, the other ranch hands who roomed with him, had gone to Aidan’s to play poker, but Beau begged off. He didn’t like spending social time with the men he was supposed to supervise. It was hard to be effective if the line was blurred. A light rain pattered on the roof, so he didn’t want to go for a ride on Digger or walk with Shep.

The 'fridge held only beer and condiments, so he and Shep headed to the main house to see if
Charlotte had any of her famous oatmeal cookies lying around.

“Hello?” he called as he stepped through the kitchen door. The dinner mess had been cleaned up, and the table was set for breakfast.

“In here, Beau!” Charlotte called from the other room. Laughter drifted from the living room, so he grabbed a peanut butter cookie from the cookie jar on the counter and poked his head around the corner. Charlotte was in the easy chair, wrapped in her terry cloth robe and crocheting a pale blue afghan. Beth, in sweats, was curled up on one side of the big brown sectional. The gray tabby was perched on the back of the sofa, tail moving lazily.

A big bowl of popcorn sat on the coffee table, and two beers rested on coasters.

“Hey!” Beth said, “Come on in. We’re getting ready to start a movie.”

“Absolutely,”
Charlotte chimed in, “Grab yourself a beer and join us.”

Beau stood there for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Popcorn sounded good. A cold beer sounded better. Just then, lightning flashed outside the big picture window and thunder vibrated the floor.

“You know, if you’re sure you don’t mind, I think I will join you two,” he said as he ducked back to the kitchen to grab a drink.

After he popped the top on his can and took a seat on the opposite side of the sectional from Beth,
Charlotte dimmed the lights. Shep hopped up between them and circled before dropping onto the cushion, taking the corner. Beth hit play on the remote and the movie started.

Beau groaned when he realized it was When Harry Met Sally. Billy Crystal was funny, and Meg Ryan was cute, but this was a chick flick! And an old one at that!

Beth looked at Beau and grinned, “Didn’t know what you were in for, did ya?”

Beau took a swig of beer and shrugged, “Beats sitting in my house by myself watching reruns of Friends.”

Beth looked at him and raised her beer. “To Friends.”

“To Friends,” he said, as he raised his own beer to salute his boss. The Kansas City Chiefs logo emblazoned on her sweatshirt reminded him of her home in the city. Once she earned her inheritance, she would probably go back to the city and the Diamond J would be just a memory for her.

Rumor had it that she had met her boyfriend for dinner a couple of times (in a town the size of Wilder, everyone knew when old man Jameson’s daughter was having dinner with that high-class guy with the Mercedes). He sighed, took another swig of beer and sat back to watch the movie.

After a few minutes, he reached over to get a handful of popcorn, and his hand brushed the warm softness of Beth’s hand. They both yanked their hands back. Beau cleared his throat, then drained his beer and headed to the kitchen for another.

Shep waited until Beau settled back into the sectional, then stretched out next to him and poked his nose under Beau’s hand. The television droned on in the background while Beau stroked the dog’s silky fur, thinking about Beth, her father, and the ranch. She glanced at him and caught him staring at her. He blinked and turned his attention back to the movie just as the famous diner scene started. The scene had

always been funny to him before, but he felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment with Beth only a few feet away.

In the easy chair, Charlotte began to snore loudly. Her crochet hook dropped to the wooden floor with a soft tink. Beau looked at Beth, just as she looked at him. He smiled and nodded his head towards the older woman, trying not to laugh out loud so as not to wake Charlotte up from her deep slumber. Shep’s tail thumped against the sofa cushions.

Their smiles faded as they stared at each other. Thoughts tumbled through Beau’s mind, but neither spoke. Beth was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen, even in those old sweats. But she was his boss. He had to remember that, couldn't cross that line.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Charlotte
jumped and knocked her beer to the floor. Shep leapt to his feet, barking at the door. Beth blinked and Beau stood up.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

“Heavens to Betsy! One of you answer that door and stop that God-awful poundin’, for Pete’s sake!” Charlotte groused, trying to salvage her beer and mop up the rest of it with her napkin.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

B
eau flung open the door, and his chin dropped when he saw the figure framed in the doorway. He squinted, frowned, then smiled. The cat jumped from the sofa, hissed, then dove under the coffee table. Shep stood on the sofa, tail wagging, his front feet on the back so he could get a better view of the door.

“Get in here out of that weather, Aunt Lana!” he said as he stepped back. A gust of wind and rain followed her in like a shadow.

Beth and Charlotte stood to greet their visitor. She was easily a foot shorter than Beau, and her long thin fingers hinted that she was wiry, but her frame was hidden beneath layers of bright clothes. Two skirts, one lime green and one purple, stopped a couple of inches above her red tennis shoes, but didn’t quite hide the red and white striped socks she sported. The skirts were topped with a pink thermal undershirt under an oversized black Ozzy Osbourne t-shirt. A map of wrinkles creased her face, and her skin was the color of old paper. Her hair was bright red, cut short in a pixie cut with little points curling forward in front of her ears. Beth’s gaze bounced back and forth between Beau and the woman – their complexions different, but both had the same perfectly straight nose and square chin.   

A low growl rumbled in Shep’s throat.

Charlotte recovered first and stepped forward to wrap the woman in a hug, “You must be Beau’s Aunt Lana! I’ve heard so much about you over the years!”

Charlotte
excused herself to get a towel while Beau introduced Beth to the woman who raised him. He explained, “This is my Aunt Lana, my mom’s sister. She raised me.”

Beth nodded, still stunned at the flamboyant character standing next to Beau. She didn't appear to have a maternal bone in her body.

Charlotte returned with a thirsty towel and Aunt Lana dried off. Charlotte waved towards the living room, "Y'all have a seat. I'm going to go grab some brownies and cookies. Lana, would you like something to drink?"

Lana dropped into
Charlotte's recliner and nodded, "Sure. How 'bout some hot cocoa to take this chill off these old bones?"

Beau sat on the sofa, sitting sideways so he could face his aunt. Beau sat ramrod straight, while Lana leaned back and rocked. A lop-sided grin had been glued to his face since he’d opened the door, but his brow pushed together over narrowed eyes. Beth felt like an intruder and escaped to the kitchen, under the guise of helping
Charlotte prepare some hot cocoa.

“Beau seems a lot different than his aunt, doesn’t he?” Beth asked
Charlotte as they waited for the milk in the tea kettle to heat up.

“Yes, different,”
Charlotte nodded. “Beau has had a rough life, and I think his Aunt Lana has been the only constant in his life. But he doesn’t see her very often any more. This is the first time she’s come here, to my recollection.”

“But hasn’t Beau lived here at the ranch for about ten years now?” Beth arranged
Charlotte's famous oatmeal cookies on a plate.

“At least. He’s gone to visit his aunt a couple of times when she was passing through the area.”

The whistling tea kettle interrupted their conversation. Charlotte filled the cups with hot milk, Beth added the homemade cocoa mix and stirred. Charlotte balanced the cups on the serving tray and headed for the living room. Beth followed with the plate of cookies. Beau and Lana were leaning close, but sat up straight when Charlotte and Beth entered.

The four of them sat together, eating and drinking, and
Charlotte tried to make small talk. Beau’s grin had faded, and his brow was furrowed. He glanced at his aunt, who tried too hard to be happy. Her laughter bubbled over, but never quite reached her eyes.

“So, Lana, what brings you to the Wilder area?” Beth asked.