Her Heart for the Asking (Book 1 - TEXAS HEARTS) (8 page)

She nodded her head, tossing him a wry
grin.  He squashed the familiar zing that always took hold of
him when he saw Mandy's smile.

"Feels good to catch my breath though," she
said.

"I have plenty of time for catching my
breath after my butt hits the hard ground."

She glanced at him quickly, her eyebrows
crinkling into an adorable frown, then gave a weak smile at his
attempt at a joke.

She was keeping herself in check, keeping
him at arm’s length.  She had a lot of her mind, not the least
of which was Hank.  Drawing a deep breath of hot Texas air, he
forged on, giving it another try. 

"The way I see it, we have two choices."

"And what would they be?"

"The cabin in the hills needs to be stocked
with supplies.  One of the hands is going to spend some time
up there before the cattle round up.  We can either spend the
afternoon getting all that squared away..."

"Or?"

"Give ourselves a much needed break from the
heat and head up to the creek where that old rope swing used to
be.  It's going to be a hot afternoon."

"Texas in August, Beau.  Every
afternoon is hot."

"Well, it's going to be even more so. 
I think it's high time we turned our attention away from ranch
business and took a swim."

The flash of pain that crossed her face was
instantaneous.  She was quick, averting her gaze to look down
at the book in her lap, but Beau saw enough to know that memories
of them were still very fresh in her mind.  He'd had enough
memories of his own float to the surface during the last month.

"If you have your heart set on going for a
swim, then go for it.  I'll just have to pass."

"Forget how to swim?"

"Forgot my bathing suit."

His lips stretched into a wicked grin. 
"That isn't a problem for me."

"Well it is for me."  She tried to
sound annoyed, glaring at him as if she were about to slap
him.  But she couldn't fool him.  A smile was sitting
just beneath the surface, but being Mandy, she was too stubborn to
show it.

He'd work on that.  He liked a
challenge.  And Mandy was about as pretty a challenge as a man
could encounter.

"Then I guess stocking the cabin wins
out."

Her shoulders slumped slightly.  "I'm
really not up to it, Beau.  Can't one of the other hands get
the cabin set?  Riding up to the hills will take all day."

"Which is why no one else can go.  The
hands have got other duties around here."

 
"I don't want to be
gone all that long."

"You know Corrine.  She'll make sure
Hank rests if she has to hog-tie him."

She rewarded him with a smile. 
Hallelujah!  It always amazed Beau how strong his heart beat
in his chest with one flash of a smile from Mandy Morgan.

"She would do it, too," Mandy said, giving a
soft giggle.

"It doesn't make sense to hang around and
wait for something to happen.  Hank's going to be fine."

If he had his way, everything would be fine
for Mandy, too.  Despite the tension surrounding their reasons
for coming to Texas, Beau could see how much more relaxed Mandy was
after being at the ranch for a few days.  She'd all but
stopped checking her watch every fifteen minutes.

When he came up on her as she sat on the
glider, it was immediately apparent that some of the stress that
had tightened her features had eased, smoothing out the lines of
worry.  Oh, she was still worried about her uncle, but it was
different.  There wasn't a fast-paced urgency about her
anymore.  Just taking the time to enjoy the beauty of the
horizon was much of an improvement over the nervous energy that had
her wearing a path back and forth on the living room rug.

Still, he could tell she hadn't left all
those worries behind.  Half her mind was still in Philadelphia
and half was here in Texas worrying about Hank.

"I don't know," she said.

"I do.  Get your hat."

He turned and strode off the porch, propping
his cowboy hat on his head as he moved, before she could utter a
word of protest. 

* * *

She shouldn't have come.  Even as she
slid into the passenger seat of Beau's truck, Mandy second-guessed
her decision to join Beau. 

But even as her mind waged war with her
decision, she had to admit Beau was right.  She couldn't wile
away the hours hoping Hank would change his mind about
surgery.  She'd only drive herself and everyone else crazy
with nervous energy.

Sitting on porch, even wrestling with her
worrying alone, had done her some good.  For the first time in
a long time, she felt her muscles ease and her tension
unwind.  She loved the Double T, loved visiting with her aunt
and uncle.  She loved being in Texas, despite all the memories
that had kept her away all these years.  She'd have to make
sure she didn't let another eight years go by without visiting.

She had to admit too, at least a little part
of her wanted to be with Beau.  Even that little admission set
her off kilter.

"The cattle drive is the one thing I always
missed every summer when I went home," Mandy said, helping to load
the last of the supplies they'd just purchased into the back of the
truck. 

Beau adjusted his straw hat to shield the
sun so he could look at her.  "That's right, you always had to
go back home for school before the cattle were brought in every
year."

She nodded, recalling the disappointment she
had always felt when she had to leave.  "I used to beg Uncle
Hank to convince Mom to let me stay just until then.  I
figured all those riding lessons ought to be put to good use out
here on the ranch."

She shook her head as she climbed into the
truck and slammed the door.  She waited for Beau to gun the
engine before she went on. 

"Mom would have no part of it.  I think
she was afraid I'd change my mind all together and not want to come
home at all."

"Did you want that?"

Mandy lifted her shoulder in an idle
shrug.  "Sometimes.  Aunt Corrine used to paint such
wonderful stories about the cattle drive.  She's not your
typical rancher's wife.  I always figured for her to want to
go, it had to be a good time, despite the work."

"There's always a first time.  You
don't need your mom's permission anymore.  You could do it
this year.  I'm sure Hank would welcome the helping hand."

"Unless the drive is in a few weeks, I won't
be here this year either."

"Are you planning on leaving soon?"

She sighed and brushed away the tendrils of
hair the wind from the opened window was blowing in her face. 
"I don't want to.  But I can't hang around here forever hoping
I can convince Hank to have surgery."

"Hank doesn't have forever.  Any
luck?"

"Every time I bring up the subject, he puts
me off.  He doesn't want to talk about it.  Then Aunt
Corrine gets upset and leaves the room.  They're beginning to
look an awful lot like my parents did when I was a kid."

They were both quiet a moment.  The
sound of the wheels running over dry pavement ate into the
silence.

"I was hoping..." Beau started.  He
didn't have to finish.  It echoed her exact feelings on the
subject.

Hank.  What was she going to do about
him?  He didn't have forever to make up his mind about
surgery.  In the few days she'd been at the Double T, she'd
seen how much his condition had deteriorated.  Just being out
in the hot sun this morning had beaten him to the ground.

Ever since she could remember, Hank had
loved rodeo and ranching.  When she was young, she'd seen him
in a few rodeos.  He'd been off the road for years, but he
still entered a few now and then.  There was a spark that
ignited to a flame in each of those cowboys who entered the shoot
to mount a bronc or a bull.  She'd seen it in Hank many times
when he was talking of rodeo or getting ready for a ride. 

And she'd seen it in Beau that
morning.  He loved to ride.  Part of her loved to watch
him ride, too.  Although for the last eight years she hadn't
been to a single rodeo, the sudden rush of adrenaline that used to
hit her when the shoot opened came charging back.  Her heart
pounded so hard in her chest she thought it would explode.

She knew she should have followed Hank back
into the house.  Instead, it was as though she’d been
transformed back to sixteen.  She caught the twinkle of pride
in Beau's dark eyes and it took her breath away.  As it always
did.

All my dreams are about you, Mandy.

Why on earth did he have to say that? 
She didn't believe a word of it, of course.  Beau had always
flirted with her.  He had enough cowboy charm to fill the
quota for the entire state of Texas.

She recalled how she'd spun on her heels and
charged back to the house with her fists balled merely to hide the
fact that she'd actually been flattered by his words.  They'd
been stupid words said at the exact right time and her heart
actually did a flip.  She was half afraid she'd humiliate
herself further by adding a girlish sigh to it and knew she needed
to put some distance between her and Beau.

And now she was alone with him again.

"I saw you on that mare this morning," she
said.  "Aren't you itching to get back on the road, too?"

"It can wait a while."

She stared at him for a moment, watching his
profile as his eyes remained on the road ahead.

Dreams
.  She hadn't been Beau's
dream. 

"You always said you wanted to rodeo."

"Yeah."

"And no regrets?"

"Just you."

Foolish, foolish, foolish.
 
She'd walked right into that one and still she couldn't believe
she'd done it.  What was she fishing for anyway?  Some
admission that part of what Beau had said was actually true?

"I find it hard to believe mine was the only
heart you ever broke, Beau Gentry."

He lifted a shoulder in a lazy shrug. 
"I wouldn't know."

"Really?  No one special girl who made
you turn your head before climbing into the shoot?"

He turned to her then, flashing her a smile
that seemed so sexy and sincere all at the same time.  She
hated when he did that.  "You're the only woman who ever made
my head spin, Mandy."

She sputtered.  "You’re so full of it.
"

Beau chuckled, and it made her all the more
irritated.  "I'm never any place long enough for something
special.  Who knows, maybe there were a few broken hearts
along the way but not because of promises I made.  Most girls
I meet on the circuit know the life of a rodeo cowboy. 
Nothing lasts that long."

Annoyance rose up inside her like bile at
the thought of Beau with another woman.  Of course, there'd
been other girls for Beau.  There had to have been.  He
was young and handsome and strong.  He was the perfect cowboy
that every woman dreamed of.  Even she'd dated other men
during the eight years that separated them.  Still, she turned
away from his probing gaze to hide the stab of jealousy chipping
away at her.

"I told my tale, now 'fess up.  What
about you?"

"What about me?" she asked, still averting
her gaze.

"Any one man in your life to make you think
of white picket fences and puppy dogs and kids in the back
yard."

"A few."

She felt more than heard his reaction, as if
it were something tangible.  His body stiffened in the seat
and the air in the cab suddenly seemed suffocating.

"A few, huh?  Special ones or just...
guys you knew?"

Forcing her voice to sound nonchalant, she
replied, "There were a few guys that were special."

Mandy turned her attention away from the
scenery to glance at Beau.  Why should she let him think she'd
spent the last years pining over him?  But in truth, a truth
she'd only recently realized, she had.

Beau was brooding.  And it didn’t give
her any of the satisfaction she thought it would.  He had one
arm slung heavy over the steering wheel while the other way draped
across the open window.  There was a sudden droopiness in his
shoulders, as if she'd deflated his spirit in some way. 
Probably his ego, she thought wryly. 

She shouldn't like that mentioning an old
boyfriend could turn him a little green, but it did.  As green
as she'd been.  She'd have to work on that.  She didn't
want to be feeling anything at all for Beau Gentry. 

The brief silence that stretched on made
Mandy think talk of old flames had killed the conversation
completely.  It was just as well.  She'd only end up
admitting to him that although she'd had many dates, even long-term
boyfriends, since she'd been with Beau, they didn't stand a
chance.  None of them made her feel as special and cherished
as Beau had.

"They didn't have staying power," she
finally admitted quietly. 

Beau nodded, but didn't look at her.

The asphalt disappeared beneath them and
turned to dirt as they made their way up the narrow mountain road
to the cabin.  The truck bounced and bobbed as the tires hit
the small ruts in the road left over from a heavy downpour earlier
in the season.

After a few more minutes of strained
silence, Beau glanced at the clouds and said, "Looks like a storm
might be blowing in.  We should get these things unloaded at
the cabin before it starts."

Mandy glanced up at the sky.  "The
truck has four-wheel drive though doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but the ground so dry this time of
the year it's going to sop up any moisture it can.  If the
rain is bad enough, the creek will rise over its banks and wash out
the road.  Might turn into a mud bog before long."

"How far is the cabin?"

"Not too far.  Do you carry that cell
phone of yours with you?"

She thought back to the last time she'd had
her cell phone.  It was at the airport when she'd first
arrived.  She recalled her frustration over not being able to
use it to call for another ride.  Normally her link to her job
and her life, it seemed strange that she’d barely picked it up
since.