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Staring down at her, my chest heaved, bumping against her body. I needed her to understand what I meant. “Briar, you aren’t from around here. It’s dark, wet, and pouring rain.”
“And?” She bent down and snatched her cowboy hat from the ground as I tugged mine tighter on my head.
“AND,” I started. “I’m in charge of the people that are on this cattle drive, which means your life is my responsibility.”
Her brows twitched, but she said nothing, so I continued, watching the water drizzle from the tips of both of our hats. “It has nothing to do with me trusting that you know cattle or not, and everything to do with the fact that you had no idea there was even a cliff there. Do you know how close your tracks got to the edge? Several times. Too many times. I was born and raised here. I could close my eyes and still know what’s around me, but you’ve been here for almost a week. That’s it. This is about you trusting me.”
“Is that not what I’m doing?!” she yelled, hurt flashing across her eyes as she shoved her hands against her hips.
“What is your problem with me?”
“Nothing! You’re perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
“Right.” I threw my hands in the air, exasperated. “I’ve got the perfect job. The perfect family. The perfect life here. I’ve never made a mistake. Whatever choice I make or decision that I choose is always perfect. Perfect. Do you not understand how ridiculous that sounds?”
Why was I getting so defensive?
“Well, I’ve yet to see anything else!” Her face twisted, guilt and remorse clouding features that had me questioning what the crap she was talking about.
Clenching my jaw, I shook my head, misting some water across her face. Her eyes were as cloudy as the storm raging around us. There was no fear this time, instead there was something else I couldn’t quite place.
Almost as if she meant…it was a good thing?
“Let’s get the calf properly roped and then go back,” I muttered and turned away.
“Cassidy,” she quickly called out after me as I sloshed through the thick mud toward my horse. I paused.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. My dad and I always ran our cattle on our own—granted, our herd was quite a bit smaller—and I got wrapped up in doing this again, forgetting…” Her voice trailed off, and my shoulders sagged.
“You forgot this wasn’t your place,” I finished for her.
“Yeah.”
I clenched my jaw as we began trudging back toward the horses that had sheltered away from the cliff edge for safety. Maybe I had overreacted a smidge getting after her like that, but this woman irked me. She got under my skin so easily. It bothered me that she was digging at things that she shouldn’t have already figured out. And it was all made worse by the fact that this woman, who looked unlike any creature I’d seen before, made me feel things I hadn’t felt in years.
Since when was I the one to so quickly and easily fall for someone? Never. Not once had I ever been that way.
Right, I wasn’t into her at all. No, she just knew how to poke the sleeping bear because of whatever Rooney had told her. Maybe I should give him a call and find out what information he shared with her.
Glancing at her, she stood by her horse, attempting to salvage the slicker, but it was fruitless. Besides, it had been way too small for her to begin with.
An involuntary smile crept upon my face as I watched her. Simply watching this woman who lacked almost every womanly curve and stood only a few inches shorter than me, I could tell she was more of a woman than anyone else I’d ever met.
Her muddied braid swung across her back, brushing the back of her thighs, nearly to her knees. Hold on, I could’ve sworn it wasn’t quite that long when she arrived at the ranch? Was I seeing things?
“Is something wrong?” Her voice pierced my thoughts, and I pulled my mindlessly meandering hands down from the side of the saddle.
“Oh, no. Just uh…” I looked away, scanning the dark area around us for the calf. “Your hair, it just…” Running a wet glove across the back of my neck, I locked onto the animal tucked away between several trees. “It looks longer than when you got here,” I finished.
From my peripherals, I watched her hand snap to the braid and slide down the end of it, and her shoulders sagged. “It’s come undone from the braid a bit.”
“I don’t get it.”
“I wrap it up around the top of my neck and then braid over it to make it shorter than it is. That way I don’t accidentally sit on it or snag it while working.”
Looking back at her, the storm in her eyes swirled with something that made my skin tingle. “How… How long is it? Exactly,” I hesitantly asked.
