Page 54 of Ranch Rules

“I... I wasn’t sure. That’s... ah, that’s kind of why I left.” She dragged a line with her shoe across the pavement.

“To what? To test whether or not I’d worry?”

“No. Not exactly. I mean, not at all. I didn’t expect you to worry.”

Thomas shook his head slowly side to side, clearly flummoxed. “I’m still not following you. Did something happen at the stables?”

Natalie hugged herself, rocking back and forth. The moment of truth had arrived, and she knew he wasn’t going to like it. Honestly, she felt really silly right about now, even though her actions had made sense to her at the time. “Not really. I mean, it was fine. Everything was fine.”

Thomas raised his brows, silently scolding her with his eyes. “No, everything was fine when I left you this morning. Apparently it didn’t stay that way. Did you do something to get in trouble?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I went to the stables with Lora...”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, we took care of the horses and when we were done... we just... talked.”

“You talked,” he echoed.

“Yeah. About her and Nate... and you... and me...”

“Okay.”

“And... love... and stuff.”

“I see,” Thomas said, though it was evident that he certainly did not.

“She asked whether I... well, I mean, whether you... and I couldn’t... I mean, it’s much too soon for anything like that, anyway.” She uttered a nervous laugh.

“You lost me. Too early for what?”

“For... love,” she murmured, staring at the pavement once more. “Not that you... I mean, this is your job. I don’t expect... that.”

“You don’t.”

“No.” The word was little more than a whisper.

“Well, if you have no expectations, why’d you take off like that?”

Huh. He might not be great at figuring out her train of thought, but you couldn’t fault his logic.

“I just... I didn’t want things to get confused.”

“Hmm. So you figured you’d just take off without telling anyone?”

Yikes. He had that stern voice going again. Natalie squeezed her arms tighter around herself.

“I tell you what, why don’t we go talk about this in the car? You look cold.”

It was a good idea, and a distraction to boot. She murmured her thanks when Thomas opened the door for her, sliding into the driver’s seat and watching as he started the ignition and cranked up the heat. She held her hands out to the vents gratefully. She hadn’t realized how cold she’d gotten until the heater was blasting on her.

“Wait.” She suddenly realized. “How did you... my car died!”

“Mm-hmm. You ran out of gas, which was my first guess. I brought a gas can with me and put it in while you were sleeping.”

She couldn’t help but be impressed and more than a little touched by his care of her. “Thank you.”

“Well, of course, ma’am.” He tipped his hat to her. “It’s all part of the job.”

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