Page 8 of Ash on the Range
CHAPTER FOUR
WILL
I managed to hold my girl and not ruin the fluffy white thing she wore for the second time in a week, but it was a near thing. My arms ached from the different sort of work than holding onto a bull in the practice yards or praying for my life when the chute opened on the rodeo grounds come showtime.
No, my body ached for all the right reasons tonight—for the hours of work put in on land I cared about, working for peoplewho mattered to me, and for the girl in my arms who slept alone each night who should be curled around my body come nightfall.
I knew that deep inside me, no matter how ridiculous it sounded, and I’d work my ass to the ground to make sure it happened, even if it broke me in the process. As long as it didn’t breakus.
Those first few days were rocky. I could see the uncertainty rising in Cassie. The new work, being thrown in with a stack of new people all at once. Hell, I could understand it myself. The first season I spent at Red Hart I found the underside of every shithouse job there was. Back then, Jude hadn’t quite found his feet as foreman, nor had Travis found his wife, Natalie, who curbed his wilder nature. They were fun times, back when the full Beaumont family ran RHR land. That year I learned a lot. Not least of all how strong a woman could be under duress. My gaze drifted across to where Eve leaned back in her chair, exhaustion clear across her strained face.
I squeezed Cassie’s arm, and shifted in my seat. A restless energy slithered through me. It had been present these first few days, typical of a new season, with new hands in place. Sure, there were a few regular faces—trader Kyle was on board for a few weeks. Gage had come through and never left, and a few of the older hands I recognize from previous season’s work had returned. There were a few new faces too, and that changed the energy up, in a good way.
But what bothered me was the restless energy that rippled through the bones of Red Hart present in the house, the land itself. It might seem a romanticized notion, but I knew if I talked to Travis about it, or Jude, or any of the older hands, they wouldn’t laugh my thoughts off. Every one of us who’d been around the land here for more than a season, lived here for a whole, no matter how long or short, knew that Red Hart land was distinct from any other.
I gripped my beer—the only one I'd allow myself for the night—and downed the end of it, pressing a quick kiss to Cass's temple. “I’ll be right back,” I murmured, pushing back from her, our plates already in my hands.
“Gonna take ours, too?” Gage watched us from across the table, his arms wrapped around his pregnant wife, Brit.
She threw a sunny smile at me as she curled her body into his, seated between his legs. He’d built her a cabin somewhere on the eastern boundary, last I heard, and I made a note to stay right away from that section from the way he watched her, then dipped his head to kiss her hard.
Light fingers grazed the back of my hand. I sent a tight smile Cassie’s way. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I murmured, holding her gaze and letting her see the promise in my eyes. Somehow I'd find a way to get some time together, but it wouldn’t be tonight, or any night soon. Not until I earned myself some grace in Jude’s book. That meant a whole lotta solid hours, and maybe a fluke or two of luck while we were out working.
But mostly just keeping my head down and working damn hard.
Cass nodded, nibbling her lip as she watched the couple opposite us, then dragged her gaze away from their obvious show of affection. I knew Gage had his own place, his own set of rules, but Cass and I weren’t that set up just yet and I wasn’t prepared for her to be on show for all the boys all the time.
And I knew the stories that ran around the bunkhouse about Brit and Gage, and I didn’t want those sorts of tales told about my girl. Gage seemed to thrive off it, and that was fine, but it wasn’t my style.
“Okay,” she mumbled, toying with the hem of her fluffy kitted hoodie thing.
I still hadn’t gotten it off her to show the lacy top she wore underneath, and maybe in hindsight, that was a good thing. Theurge to run my hands under it and find out how she felt as I kissed her senseless left me swaying where I stood.
Shaking myself out of my stupor, I forced my feet to move away from my girl, around the hands who still lingered in the big house, a few finishing up their drink for the night, some still chatting though most had headed back to the bunk house to turn in for the night. The air was still chill outside, and despite the warmth in the big house, the mountain air stripped away any pretense that winter was nearby just yet.
“She’s worried.” Gage leaned over the edge of the kitchen bench where I stalled, the stack of plates still in my hands.
I glanced sideways at him, and placed the plates in the sink one at a time. “Who are we talking about here?” I kept my voice low, and tried not to look at Eve.
He turned his beer in his hands, running his thumb across the edge of the label, stopping shy of peeling it off. “Eve,” he murmured.
“Which is why your girl is worried,” Gage finished for me.
I stared at him, and my gut clenched down on the ample dinner I’d eaten. “What?”
Gage studied the glass bottle then placed it in front of him with precision. “You spend a lot of time worrying about her, Will. Maybe a bit too much. Cassie’s new here. She doesn't understand how things run. And she doesn’t know what Eve’s been through.” He lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Either time.”
My blood turned to ice. “You mean?—”
“I mean exactly what I say.” His tone turned sharp. “And you need to watch your girl and let Eve’s man look after her.”
“Archer’s not here,” I snapped back, running my hand through my hair.He’s never here.
I clamped my mouth shut before I said something I’d regret. I’d been here when a whole lot more than the proverbial shit hitthe fan. And I'd been here when Archer promised to come back—and he didn’t. The first time, and the second. I understood what, but now all I saw was that the woman we all loved and respected was hurting a whole hell of a lot.
Gage nodded. “No, he’s not. And that’s her choice to keep chasing him, or let him slide, kid.”
My mouth twitched at the nickname. “Sure. And if it was you and Brit? If you weren’t here and she needed help? What would you want someone to do?” I was pushing it, and I knew it. No one touched Brit. You could look but you sure as hell didn’t cross that line. Those were Gage’s rules, and everyone knew them.
