Page 22 of Knocked up By the Mountain Man

I get to work as quickly as I can.

I try my hardest not to rush through anything, especially the progress report since it keeps everyone else up to date and means I don’t need to have meetings with Beau trying to explain things to him. The less I have to see his face, the better as far as I’m concerned. The horses, I can cope with and I will happily deal with, just like the stable boys, but him... urgh, he sends a shudder tearing down my spine.

“Clara.” Eventually, a little while later, a voice makes me jump. Thankfully, it isn’t Beau because I really don’t want to see him right now. It’s the housekeeper, Tami, who also cooks when needed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I just wanted to offer you something to eat. You’ve been here all day and you haven’t stopped for a moment, you must be starving.” My stomach gives me away. “I have sandwiches and some pastries in the kitchen if you want.”

She points towards the house which sends a shudder down my spine. If I go in there, then I was potentially putting myselfin the firing line for Beau. I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. I shake my head no.

“Oh sorry, I don’t want to force it.” Tami continues as her cheeks flame red. “But Beau’s insisting. He wants to talk.”

“Beau?” An ice cold sensation trickles down my spine. “He wants to talk? What about? Did he say anything to you?”

She shrugs helplessly. “Sorry, I don’t know what exactly. He just said that he needed a chat with you about work.”

Oh no.

So it was all a trick.

I’ve tried everything I can to avoid bumping in to Beau, just to have him insist that he wants to meet with me? There’s no way this will go down well. My stomach flip flops at the idea of it. But Tami looks freaked out like she might get it in the neck if I refuse and I don’t want that. No one else needs to deal with our shit.

Beau has obviously turned into his father, I think to myself sadly as I nod and follow Tami inside.

For him to have people be this anxious around him, hehasto have become the person I never thought that he would. He’s a tyrant who upsets all those around him these days. What a crying shame. And to have someone else manipulate me into a meeting... it’s messed up for sure.

Just me and him?

Oh God, to make it even worse, none of the stable boys are in the kitchen to act as a buffer between me and Beau in case it gets all weird. I was holding on to the hope that Carl or Wyatt would be around, but no such luck. My heart sinks as soon as Tami shows me over to the plates of food before she makes herself scarce as well, leaving the two of us alone.

I grab a sandwich although I’m truly not sure if I can eat it now, and I try to stare Beau down, but unfortunately the intensity of his gaze really gets to me and I can’t help but look away first. I don’t stand a chance against him.

I guess I never did.

“So, you wanted a meeting with me?” I finally ask glumly with my eyes fixed firmly on the sandwich. “What’s going on?”

He doesn’t say anything at first.

It seems like he intentionally wants to make me as uncomfortable as humanly possible before he speaks. It’s starting to get to the point where I really can’t stand it and I feel like I should run before he explodes.

“I need you to come on a business trip with me. I’m buying some new animals and I want your opinion on them.”

I’m gob smacked, and go totally silent for a couple of minutes as I try to process his words. It really doesn’t make a scrap of sense; it’s not the telling off that I was bracing myself for, which makes it worse.

“Wh... what are you talking about?” I finally manage to stammer out. “A business trip? I can’t do that.”

“Oh, but you have to,” he insists. “I need you, I need an expert with me.”

Is he mocking me? I really can’t tell and it has me feeling very uneasy.

“I... I’ve been hired to workhere,” I just about manage to reply. “With the animals on this ranch. I haven’t been hired for anything else.”

“You’re the only person I can trust around animals. You’re the expert, right?”

Shit, he sees me; it’s like he really does see me.

All the shit he’s given me doesn’t seem to matter anymore because I’m glowing in the fact that Beau sees me as someone who is knowledgeable, someone who can do this. Anexpert… his words. I want to go through with it as well to prove him right, to thank him for putting so much faith in to me, but I can’t, can I? Life doesn’t work like that.

“I have a child, Beau,” I tell him coldly, a little annoyed now that he has no idea how to be a parent. I’ve been forced to learn and while I regret nothing, it’s still irritating to see him so carefree. “I can’t just up and leave him for a business trip.”

“It would be one day.” He shrugs like it’s nothing. “Wyatt has already said that he’ll take care of Thomas.”

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