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She slumped into him as she started to lose consciousness, and she hated her heart with everything inside her. Why did it have to betray her like this? She’d just wanted someone to see her for who she was—a strong woman. A good horse trainer. A valuable partner in life.
Not her faulty heart.
“I got you, little bird,” Beau whispered. “It’s okay. You just got mad at me over something silly, but your heartbeat will calm down, and I’ll be right here.”
Charlotte hadn’t passed out, but her eyes had closed. She could still hear him, and the warmth of his body next to hers brought her comfort and a sense of safety.
“When you wake up, you’ll see that I didn’t mean anything by what I said to Mason.” He sighed and stroked her hair off her forehead. “Dear God, how do I help her understand? It was nothing. A throwaway conversation while we waited in line.”
He sounded absolutely agonized, and Charlotte didn’t want him to hurt.
“I can’t lose her,” he whispered. “Okay, Charlotte? I’m not going anywhere, because I can’t lose you.”
She took one calming breath and started to feel more like herself. Then another. “I’m awake,” she whispered, and she pushed against his chest to sit up straight. She felt too hot, sitting in the truck without the air conditioning running.
Charlotte looked over to Beau, standing there framed in the doorway of the truck. “I?—”
“Just let me apologize,” he said. “It was nothing. Mason just asked me how you were. I said you were fine, and he pressed me. So I said you’d had a couple of incidents, but what I was going to say after that, before you interrupted, was that it was nothing you couldn’t handle. That you work hard and got a headache one day, and you were doing great. Amazing. Phenomenal.”
His chest heaved, and Charlotte did find him absolutely adorable. “I believe you.”
“I—what?”
“Maybe I got mad too fast.” She shrugged one shoulder and looked out the windshield. “And then I ran away, and I wasn’t breathing, and—” She switched her gaze to his. “I do not need you to protect me.”
“Of course you don’t,” he said. “But Charlotte, is it such a bad thing that I want to? Heck, I’d love it if someone protected me. Someone who makes me birthday cakes that we can enjoy away from the cowboy crowds, and thinks of me when she’s shopping for shower steamers, and always thinks of how she can help others around the ranch.”
He backed up. “I’ll start the truck.” He cleared his throat as he went around the hood. Behind the wheel, he started the truck and looked over to her. “I’ll be right back. You’re welcome to come in. We can go shopping anywhere else you want. Maybe head over to the outdoor mall to a different bath store.”
Charlotte looked over to him, and she just wanted her slow, sensual afternoon and evening with him. “I’m sorry I got mad so fast.”
“It’s okay,” Beau said. “I know why you did.” He gave her a fast flash of a smile and then got out of the truck and headed back inside.
Mason happened to be coming out at the same time, and the two of them stopped to talk to one another for a few seconds. Nothing too long, and neither of them looked at her when the conversation finished.
Beau continued inside; Mason turned to his right and headed to his truck. Charlotte sighed and leaned her head back against the rest, a prayer of her own starting to stream through her mind.
Lord, I don’t want to lose Beau either.
She sighed. “I thought I’d grown a little bit.” As she sat there and waited, she really felt like she had. She didn’t rely on anyone anymore. No, she hadn’t liked sleeping in the cabin alone while Beau was out on the roundup, but she’d still had a few horses to take care of in his absence.
She could do her job. Not only that, but she was really good at it. “I love it,” she whispered to the blowing AC. She did love her job, and she wanted to keep it for as long as possible.
Beau came outside, two small cases in his arms. “Do you love him?”
Charlotte wasn’t sure, because she’d never been in love before. She knew she didn’t want to lose him, and after he’d put the boxes in the back, he got behind the wheel to her saying, “I don’t want to lose you either.”
She reached out, relieved and glad when Beau immediately stretched forth his hand too. He captured hers in his, once again giving her a beautiful sense of safety. “You heard that, huh?”
She nodded at him. “Can we go to dinner now?”
“You don’t want to try to find a shower steamer?”
Charlotte shook her head now, everything feeling soft. “I just want to spend time with you—and get some onion rings.”
Beau smiled at her, really turning on his mega-watt grin. The one he used when he was flirting, and the one he used when he truly felt joy and happiness.
“I’ll get you whatever you want to eat, my little bird.”
