Her Heart for the Asking (Book 1 - TEXAS HEARTS) (9 page)

"Ah, no, I left it on the nightstand in my
room.  Why?"

The worried look on Beau's face made her
stomach drop. 

He just shrugged. 

"My truck doesn't have a radio in it like
Mitch and George's do.  I didn't think much about it until we
hit the dirt road.  If it does wash out and we have to turn
back to the cabin overnight, it'd be nice to be able to contact the
ranch to let them know."

Overnight?  With Beau?
  No,
that definitely couldn't happen. 

"We should probably turn back now then,"
Mandy said.

"It'd be a waste of time.  We've got
everything in the back.  It'll get soaked if we get caught in
a downpour.  Better off unloading at the cabin.  We'll be
back soon enough."

"But if we get stuck..."  She let her
words run off, unable to say them aloud.  What would they do
if they were stuck together in inescapably small quarters?  If
her memory served her correctly, the cabin was nothing more than
one room with a potbelly stove, a handful of bunks and a small card
table.  Much too small for her to spend any length of time
alone with Beau.

He had taken her there once long ago. 
Mandy knew she shouldn't be there alone with Beau, not with the way
they were feeling about each other.  It was too easy, too
tempting to give it to their feelings.  They were both too
young.

They hadn't stayed long.  Beau knew
Uncle Hank would have shot him if they'd been caught
together.  Beau held a deep respect for her uncle, or so she'd
thought at the time.  He'd said he respected her too much for
a quick thrill.  At the time, it had made her feel incredibly
special and loved despite the adolescent longings she had to be
with Beau.

But she wasn't an adolescent any more. 
And no matter how hard she tried to tell herself that she was over
Beau Gentry, it was becoming increasingly hard to keep lying to
herself.  She wasn't over him at all.  And being trapped
alone with him would only bring that realization crashing down upon
her like a tidal wave until she'd drown it in.

# # #

Chapter Seven

Less than fifteen minutes later the truck
pulled up in front of a small one room cabin in the high
country.  It had been quite a feat for Beau to navigate the
dirt road given the fact it had been washed out in places and
gouged with ruts from past storms.  But they'd managed to make
it with thanks to four-wheel drive.

Mandy stepped out of the cab of the truck
and looked at the rolling gray sky.  The sky was still black
with clouds hanging low and ominous and getting darker still. 
Every so often the sky would flash with a zing of lightning and be
chased by a rumble or crack of thunder.  The torrential
downpour hadn't come yet, but the light drizzle that had started
promised it was just on their heels.

Most all the supplies were tucked underneath
a tarp in the back of the truck.  They left everything in the
truck and went inside.

Beau wasted no time at all in lighting a gas
lamp set on a small table in the center of the room.  The
light cast an amber glow against the room.  Mandy hugged
herself to keep the chill of the cabin from making her
shiver.  But she did anyway.  Wet clothes, cold cabin
didn't make for warmth.

She pushed past the thought that only being
in the warmth of Beau's arms would chase away the
chill.  

"We'll drop everything inside first and
unload it later."

She looked around the compact cabin. 
It was only meant for a few cowboys while the herd was in the high
country.  Certainly not meant for a romantic
interlude. 

The sturdy wood table sitting in the center
of the room was about all the furniture the small cabin had. 
A small kettle wood stove stood at one end of the room while on the
opposite side four bunks were built into the wall.  They were
bare of bedding, just clean, bare mattresses.

She needed to get out of there. 
Following Beau outside, she felt a drop of rain on her cheek and
then another.  Looking up at the dark clouds, she sighed. They
needed to work fast to unload the truck so they could head
back.  The rain made her work quicker and it was better to put
this anxious energy to physical work rather than allowing her mind
to wander to thoughts of Beau.

The clouds were practically sitting on their
shoulders as they unloaded box after box of supplies that the hands
would need for the cattle drive.  Half way through unloading
the sky opened up and swallowed them in a downpour.

Beau yanked two bright yellow rain slickers
from the rack in the cabin and handed Mandy one. 

"We have to hurry or we'll never make it
back."

Beau didn't need to say more than
that.  There was no way Mandy was going to get caught alone
with Beau until weather cleared and the road dried.  Her aunt
and uncle would worry, regardless of the fact that she was now an
adult, quite capable of living on her own.

Once they were done, and completely out of
breath from running back and forth from the truck to the cabin,
they settled in the cabin and pulled off their wet slickers.

Beau shook out the slickers and hung them
near the stove to dry while he watched Mandy.

"I hope this rain cools off the air," Mandy
said, pulling off her straw hat and fingering the wet ends of her
hair.  She pulled out the comb she'd secured earlier in the
back of her head and used it to free the snarls caused by the wind
and choking humidity.

"It'll probably sizzle as it hits the
ground.  Won't do much if we don't have any breeze."

"Should we chance unpacking everything or
just head back before the road washes out?"

"You in a hurry?" he said.

"Aren't you?"

Beau didn't answer.  What on earth
could he say?  The thought of being stranded in the cabin with
Mandy was just too tempting.  He thought about the dirt road
down by the creek and knew they were taking their chances staying
too long.  It was only a matter of time before the creek
jumped it's banks and flowed over the road.  There'd be no
passing it by truck.  The only way they'd be able to get back
to the ranch was by horse.  And since they didn't take any,
they'd be stuck. 

He had to admit he'd give anything to just
spend some time alone with Mandy, try to capture some of that magic
he'd been feeling between them.  But his conscience getting
the better of him, he conceded.  "You're right.  We'd
best be getting out of here.  We can leave this for another
day when the weather is on our side."

She was fiddling with her hair with some
pearly comb she'd had hidden under her straw cowboy hat.  As
soon as she was finished brushing out the ends with it, she'd
twirled her hair into some kind of twist and secured it with the
comb. 

He was finding it difficult to
breathe.  Not that it was any surprised to Beau.  Mandy
had always had a way of catching him off guard, making his mouth go
dry for wanting her.  It had been a long time since he'd been
caught in the tidal wave of feelings that he'd held for Mandy
alone.

She'd had some special loves, she'd said on
the ride up.  Beau had always thought there may be someone
special, had hoped that she'd been happy.  He just didn't
think it'd feel so much like a kick in the gut to know about
it.  He'd wanted her to be happy with him, kissing him in his
arms like she used to do.  He wanted to think that the smile
she shined up at him in the moonlight when their kisses ended was
reserved only for him.

He'd been a fool.  She'd had a few
special loves in her life.  Part of him couldn't help but
wonder if what she'd shared with another man was as special as what
they'd shared together.  Was it that egotistically of him to
want that?

They started the ride back in silence,
almost as they were on the ride from the airport to Steerage
Rock.  Except Mandy wasn't quite hugging the door to keep from
being close to him.  She wasn't sitting snug up against him
like she did when they were together, and suddenly Beau realized
that was exactly what he wanted. 

"Have you seen your family much since you've
been home?" she asked finally.

Small talk, he realized.  Mandy had
never met his brothers or his parents.  Beau had been too
fearful to tell them of his relationship lest his father take
revenge on Hank Promise's niece.  But he'd talk to Mandy about
them a lot.

"I see Brock and Jack some.  Cody is
too much of my father to see past anything I do, so I steer clear
of him most of the time."

The shift to talk of his family made Beau's
insides burn.  They weren't the typical big happy family you
see on TV. 

"What about your parents?"

"Mom died a few years back," he said in a
low voice.  The words caught in his throat and made it hard to
swallow as it did every time he talked of his mother.  Despite
his father's mean spirit, Eleanor Gentry loved the man, although
Beau had a hard time seeing how.  She loved her boys and
ranching. 

Mandy reached across the seat and placed a
gentle hand on his arms.  "I'm so sorry, Beau."

The emotion in her voice was genuine. 
He nodded, as he didn't trust his voice to say much more.

When he finally felt the emotion pass, he
went on.  "It was a stupid accident.  I guess she was
climbing a ladder to straighten a picture on the wall and
slipped.  Broke her neck and died instantly.  Brock found
her."

"How horrible."

Beau had to agree.  He knew his kid
brother had gone through some rough times after finding his mother
dead like that.  He'd been so young, barely ten when Beau left
on the road and just shy of fifteen when they'd lost his mom.

"It must be so hard for your father."

"I wouldn't know," he said harshly.

He didn't look at her.  Didn't want to
see the shocked look on her face.  Despite knowing how much
Mike Gentry despised Hank Promise, Mandy had never been able to
understand how he could toss aside his family for something as
frivolous as land.  And because she didn't understand, she'd
never understand the decisions Beau had made over the last eight
years where his family was concerned.

"You're not telling me you haven't seen your
father since you've been back, are you?"

"I've been busy."

"Too busy to talk to your own father?"

"Let's not discuss this, Mandy."

"Why not?  You came running to Hank's
side, but you haven't even taken five lousy minutes to see your own
dad.  What does that say?"

"We said what we had to say to each other a
long time ago.  There's nothing more to say."

"I don't believe that."

"Believe what you want, Mandy.  You
just don't understand."

"Well, then try me.  I'd like to
understand."

He glanced at her and for a split second he
saw the girl she was eight years ago.  The girl who believed
that love could conquer all, who believed that what was good and
right about the world would prevail over bad.  He saw Mandy,
the woman who'd taken his heart and shut the door to any others
who'd come along since.

"He didn't call me to tell me my mother had
died," he said past the tightness and anger lodge in his
throat.  "Cody called me three days after the funeral because
I never showed.  He was madder than a bull chasing a rodeo
clown because he thought I didn't care enough to come home to my
own mother's funeral.  Dad told my brothers he'd take care of
calling me, but he never did it."

"My God, how could he have done that to
you?"

"How?  Because that's Mike
Gentry.  Never forgave me for ‘siding with the enemy’ or for
leaving the ranch to go rodeo.  He never forgets, and he
always pays you back for the wrongs you do to him.  Denying me
the right to say good-bye to my mother with the rest of the family
was my payback for leaving."

"You've never spoken to him since then?"

It took a moment for the old wounds to close
up and for his heart rate to calm to a steady beat again.  He
waited until he could trust himself to speak.  "I left as soon
as Cody called.  Went to mom's grave and saw all the flowers
from the funeral wilting in the hot sun.  I couldn't believe
she was lying there underneath it all."  He wondered if his
heartache would ever fade.  These days he didn't fall to the
ground and cry like a baby as he had then.  But the years
hadn't made talking about the loss of his mother any easier.

Beau wasn't a man who admitted his emotions
much.  Like all the Gentry boys, he'd been taught by the strap
and the harsh word to be a man.  Cowboys don't cry.  He'd
never seen gentleness in any man until he'd met Hank
Promise. 

The hand Mandy held on his arm
tightened.  He didn't want to look at her, didn't want her to
see the shame he felt in not being there for his mother.  For
leaving her and not coming back.  Lord only knew why she'd
loved Mike Gentry or how she'd put up with his ways for so many
years.  She'd deserved more.

"Dad found me at her grave," he went
on.  "It was almost like he was waiting for me there in the
shadows, waiting to have the last say again."  Beau shook his
head, trying to will the memories and hatred away.  "I told
him I'd lost my beloved mother and as far as I was concerned I had
no father.  They were the last words I ever spoke to him."

Mandy was quiet for a long while. 

"You were angry."

"It was much more than anger."

"Hurt, yes, I know.  He hurt you
badly.  You were both hurting.  It may not be the same
for us, but I do know how you feel."

He glanced at her then and his heart did a
flip.  "Yeah, you do, don't you.  But your dad would
never do something so cold-hearted to you though."

She shook her head.  "No, he
wouldn't.  And things aren't as bad as they used to be with
us.  It wasn't always easy for me to accept some of my
father's ways, but we've worked through a lot.  It's easier
now.  Maybe because I'm older.  I don't know.  Maybe
now that some time has passed you should try to talk to your
father--"