Page 36 of A Rancher's Vow
“Ha! You’re the same age as me, and yes, I’d prefer the desk to be one or the other, but this is what I’ve got to work with.” She swung her legs over the side and let them dangle. “What’s up?”
“Adam sent me to let you know we’ll be in the south arena all afternoon. If you plan to take a coffee break, you could watch for a while.” Coralee picked up a paper and gave it a glance. Her quick turn around the room increased the size of her frown. “Sometimes I think I should have gone to college like my sister did, and then I see this and thinknope. Outdoors wins every time.”
“It is a little depressive in here,” Charity agreed. “But it’s short-term. I’d love to come watch if I won’t be in the way.”
“The cows won’t care, and the rest of us like an audience.” She winked. “Don’t pretzel yourself too hard.”
“I’ll stand for a while. Just to keep on the straight and narrow.”
“Good one.” Coralee held out a fist, and Charity gave it a bump.
The other woman slipped out the door. Charity watched after her for a moment, letting the warmth of the sun beat down on her shoulders as she stood in the open doorway.
So far, so good in terms of her work. It was slow going, but she was making headway. Frank Stone might have tried his best to make her day tougher, but he didn’t know just how resilient she was. Or how motivating the promise of seeing Dustin in full cowboy mode was.
With the reward laid out ahead of her, Charity put her head down and dove back in.
It didn’t matterwhere Dustin was working, having a horse under him and a rope in his hands felt right.
“You grin any harder and you’ll scare the calves.” Keith paced forward, settling his horse into position beside Dustin as they guarded the south side of the field and made sure none of the animals tried for a breakaway.
“Your own grin is pretty damn wide,” Dustin informed him.
“True.” Keith leaned forward and patted his horse’s neck. “We’ll scare them together, then.”
Patchwork Annie pranced daintily nearby, almost under Dustin’s borrowed ride, Midnight. Annie’s attention darted between the cattle and Dustin, waiting in case he gave her a new order.
It had been such a pretty morning that Dustin’s regrets at having to leave Charity had eased away. The sun had barely backlit the sky when they’d rolled out as a group from the barns. An easy half-hour ride took them to the field where the mamas grazed with their babies at heel. After the peaceful quiet of the day’s start, the rest of the morning had vanished into a blur of dust, hard riding, and a whole lot of noise from the bawling calves.
Cutting out part of the herd and guiding them back to where Adam wanted them had taken the kind of teamwork Dustin loved. This afternoon promised the kind of personal skill he thrilled to as well.
With three older brothers and far too many older hands on the ranch to count, Dustin had been roping in front of an audience since he was little. Sometimes he’d done well, sometimes poorly. He knew to do the best he could then take the cheers or jeers that followed with good humour.
Cowboys kept a person balanced. Ego? What ego?
“Tell me more about your girlfriend.” Keith tipped his hat toward the barn as they waited at the side of the arena for their turn.
Dustin followed his gaze. Charity was climbing up on the railing, a floppy wide-brimmed hat on her head. She looked nothing like a cowgirl, but she didn’t look out of place. “Like what?”
“Does she have a sister?”
Dustin laughed. “Yes, but Chelsea’s also taken.”
“Damn it.”
“I thought you were going to make a play for Amy.”
Keith sighed. “Lionel.”
“Coralee?”
The other cowboy grimaced. “Also Lionel.”
Dustin gaped. It wasn’t the concept so much as the players. He’d have never imagined Lionel had it in him to keep two ladies happy at one time. He also had never seen any indications that Coralee and Amy were into each other. “They’re both seeing him?”
“No, he slept with both of them, separately. When they found out, and after the shouting died down, the two of them decreed there would be no more fun and games with anyone at the ranch.”
It was impossible to keep from laughing. “Well, good for them.”
