Denim & Diamonds

by Robinett, Lori

  She was more determined to succeed than ever. She was unsure how Beau fit into the picture. Did he want her to succeed? Or was he trying to make a play for the ranch himself? In spite of her doubts about the ranch foreman, she liked him. He thought generations ahead in the breeding program, was gentle and caring with the horses, and supported his co-workers.

  Charlotte and Beth gradually got to know each other as Beth helped with daily chores. The two usually spent evenings watching television together. Katie, the stable girl, joined them frequently on the weekends when she came home from college, sometimes spending the night in the “blue room.”

  The girl’s parents owned a small farm that bordered the Diamond J to the south, both worked full time in town and struggled to keep up with their small acreage in their spare time. Though Katie dreamed of having a horse of her own someday when she was out of college and on her own, she made do with “borrowing” horses from the Diamond J. Beth had thought it odd that the girl spent so much time at

  the ranch, but she grew to understand. The ranch was home - for ranch hands, the housekeeper, and neighbors.

  Within a few weeks, Beth got her car back, nearly as good as new, and settled into the guest bedroom. She rose at the crack of dawn with everyone else, ate breakfast with her employees around the big oak table – Charlotte made incredibly good strawberry pancakes – and then headed to the barn with Beau to help with the morning chores. With Katie’s help, she’d learned enough to feel confident helping him.

  She told herself it was because he was the logical person to work beside, and that it had nothing to do with wanting a reason to be close to him.

  One hot, muggy morning, Beau asked if she wanted to learn how to give a horse a bath. She grabbed a five gallon bucket and flipped it over to form a makeshift seat, then settled in to watch as Beau led Digger into the wash stall. His hands were gentle and strong, and he straightened the horse’s hair under his halter so that it wouldn’t bind or pinch. He was so attentive. Her chest rose and fell with a sigh.

  She watched as he leaned over to squirt shampoo into a bucket. “You and my father were close.”

  He nodded and filled the bucket with water. The horse snorted at the foam, blowing bits towards Beth. “Your father was a good man.”

  Beau dipped a sponge in and began lathering the big horse up, his muscles rippled under his thin t-shirt. As he worked the suds into the animal’s coat, he told her the ranch had been a ramshackle mess when John Jameson bought it. The former owner won the lottery, built everything up, then lost interest in the place. The timing was perfect. Beth’s father made a fortune in the stock market investing in dot com ventures, got out just before the bubble burst, and was looking for a place to retire. He rebuilt everything from the ground up to create a first-class horse breeding and training operation, specializing in cutting horses. The top rodeo cowboys in the nation came to the Diamond J Ranch when they were in need of a horse that would win.

  She soaked up the history, curious about the man she hadn’t gotten to know. “Did he ever talk about me?”

  For a moment, Beth thought that he was going to ignore her question, but after a long pause, he said, “All the time. His dream was you visiting this place, maybe even staying.”

  Beth snorted, but she sobered when Beau’s head snapped toward her and his eyes narrowed. Her defenses rose. “He never asked me to visit.”

  “Yes, he did. He wasn’t much of a talker, but he wanted you to come. He always put a note in your cards, asking you to come.”

  Beth cocked her head to one side and considered that. Cards had appeared in her mailbox the past several years, about a week before her birthday. No letter or personal note, just a sentence scrawled above her father’s signature, but it wasn’t anything she would consider an invitation. “I don’t remember him asking me to come. Ever.”

  Beau worked soap into the horse’s mane. His hands were strong, but gentle, and he massaged as he worked. A shiver ran up her spine and across her scalp when she remembered his hands tangled in her hair the night they kissed on the front porch.

  “Yes, he did.” He shook his head and moved to work on Digger’s tail. “I saw the cards he sent you.”

  Beth leaned forward, elbows on her knees and hands dangling. She frowned as she tried to remember. His comments were usually something like “you should see the colts – they’re looking good this year” or “you should see the barn – the new indoor arena is fantastic”. She smacked the heel of her hand against her forehead.

  Beau stopped in mid-bend, one hand poised over the hose. He glanced at her, one eyebrow raised. “You okay?”

  She stood and stretched, then began to pace in front of the wash stall. “Seriously? He considered ‘you should see this’ or ‘you should see that’ an invitation?”

  Water squirted from the hose and the cold overspray showered over her, causing her to flinch. She looked at Beau, saw him smiling and shaking his head. She thought men were dense, and he thought women were. Her father probably had, too. She was waiting for him and he was waiting for her.

  Goosebumps covered her arms as a breeze through the alleyway touched her wet skin. Beau stood beside Digger, who was covered with drying lather, holding the hose in one hand. Water splattered against the floor, forgotten. Beth looked at Beau. His eyes met hers, then they dropped a bit lower and she quickly crossed her arms when she realized that the overspray had plastered her cotton t-shirt to her curves.

  One corner of his mouth twitched up as he turned his attention back to Digger and rinsed the soap suds off the horse and down the drain. The horse snorted and shook.

  She frowned and leaned against the rough wooden wall, arms still crossed. All that time lost. Why hadn’t her father just come right out and asked her to visit him?

  Beau pushed the hydrant handle down and the sudden silence was heavy. He looped the hose over the hook and said, “You really don’t get it, do you?”

  Beth blinked and let her hands drop back to her sides. “Get what? What do you mean?”

  “Your daddy loved you. He dreamed of you coming here. You think that pink bedroom was set up for any random overnight guest that came along?” Beau shook his head, snagged a long metal tool from the tack bucket and scraped water from the animal’s coat.

  Beth pushed away from the wall. “No, it was for his women. Mother told me he was quite the ladies’ man.”

  “No it wasn’t for his women. Stop and think about it,” he replied with a grunt and shook his head. “Did the clothes fit you?”

  She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t find the words. The bedroom. The clothes. It all made sense suddenly.

  It was all for her.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The revelation that her father had truly loved her was a turning point, and she intended to honor his memory by earning her inheritance. It was that simple. Her ongoing challenge was to convince Beau that she could be trusted with the Diamond J, that she deserved her inheritance. They set up a recurring meeting in her father’s library on the last day of each month, to go over the financials. She wanted to know how she was doing, and he used that time to update her on his breeding and training plans.

  The next day, Beth added another task to her routine and perched on the top rail of the fence watching while Beau trained the young horses. Shep, her father’s border collie, sat at her feet just outside the round pen.

  The other ranch hands laughed at Beth because she took copious notes. She knew they thought she was writing letters or doodling. In fact, she kept detailed notes about the training of each and every horse on the ranch.

  She was determined to know the business inside and out – and that meant knowing the horses. Beth had no experience with horses. No experience with any animals, for that matter, but she had always been a fast learner. A job was a job, and she tackled this one with the same work ethic that had served her well at the firm.

  She announced at dinner one evening at the end of May that the ranch wou
ld host an Labor Day barbecue, with rodeo cowboys throughout the Midwest invited. She poured over pedigrees, read magazines about horses and studied books on ranch management. Beau often scoffed at her, not about to take the word of a city girl. He indulged her, but she was certain he didn’t take her seriously.

  Then, one day, she called out to him as he was having trouble with Buck, a two year old sorrel gelding. “Beau, could you work him clockwise again?”

  Beau grunted, but held out the long whip and turned the horse. Before he’d gone a quarter of the way around the pen, the horse

  tossed his head and his nostrils flared. Beau had his hands full until he turned the horse again. Within a stride or two, the horse settled into an even rhythm. Beau’s eyes met Beth’s and he nodded. She felt a thrill at the silent acknowledgement of her assessment.

  When Beau slowed the horse and started towards the gate, Beth hopped down from the fence and together they walked the horse to his stall. Buck stood patiently as they examined his eye. Sure enough his right eye was different, a little puffy with bright red blood vessels showing at the edges. Beth reached down to get a handful of hay to offer the horse, and the animal flinched, tossed his head and started to rear. With one hand, Beau yanked Beth behind him and with the other he pulled down on Buck’s halter. He pulled Buck’s head towards his chest, murmured to the animal and stroked his head.

  “Stay close and the horse can’t kick you hard.” In just a few minutes, the gelding munched on hay as if nothing had happened. Beau’s brows pushed together and his eyes narrowed, “You stay with him. I’m going to go call Doc Spiner.”

  Beth nodded and watched through the silver bars as Beau walked down the aisle towards the office. He was amazing, that was all there was to it. He cared about the animals. The ranch wasn’t a business to him, it was a family.

  The men she had dated had all been professional, powerful and wealthy, but none of them were strong the way Beau was. That strength plus caring was an attractive combination. She could imagine working beside him for the rest of her life …

  Doc Spiner came out and examined the horse. The thin man asked them to kill the lights, so Beth hurried to the end of the aisle to flip the switch off. After Beau hollered at her to turn them back on, she did, then jogged back down the aisle. Just as she started to open the stall door to go back inside, someone called her name. She paused and turned.

  Katie waved from the doorway. “Beth! There’s a call for you! A Mr. Swaine - he said he’s calling from your law firm.”

  Beth hesitated. He was the senior partner at Swaine Holmes. She peeked through the bars at Beau and the vet working with Buck.

  Katie said, “Charlotte said the guy says it’s urgent.”

  Beau turned and met her gaze. “Go ahead. Take the call.”

  She looked from Beau to Katie, then hollered to the girl, “I’ll take it in the office.”

  She hurried into the office and snatched the phone from the desk. “This is Beth.”

  The voice on the other end was smooth and cultured. “Elizabeth, I need you to drive up right away—”

  “This is not—”

  “and meet with Richard Shatner.”

  “a good time.”

  “He’s decided to purchase a substantial share of an NFL franchise and wants you to negotiate the terms.”

  Beth closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Burton, this is not a good time.”

  “Richard wants you on board.”

  An anxious whinny echoed down the aisle. “You’ll have to get someone else to do it. I quit, remember?”

  She could imagine the veins pulsing in the senior partner’s temple. His face was probably red already. He said, “I’m not asking again. Richard is our biggest client. If you don’t come back and take care of this, you’ll never work in this town again.”

  “Beth!” Beau yelled, “We could really use you here!”

  The silence hummed on the phone line. A horse whinnied, and another kicked the wall. The clock on the wall ticked away the seconds.

  “I won’t be coming back.” Without waiting for a reply, she hung up the phone and hurried back to Buck’s stall.

  Losing was no longer an option.

  She stepped into the stall and Beau motioned to the prancing horse. “Can you put your body against his, help hold him against the wall and keep him still?”

  She did as he asked and rubbed the horse’s side to calm him down. The vet moved in front of the two-year old. Doc frowned as he ran his hands over the horse’s head. “You noticed this swelling when?”

  Beau nodded in Beth’s direction. “She noticed something was off this morning. When we looked at him, we noticed the swelling.”

  The vet pointed out some ulcerated spots on the horse’s right eye and then said, “When you turned the lights off, his pupil constricted. He’s got ERU.”

  Beau interrupted, “Isn’t that an Appaloosa disease?”

  “Not anymore. I’ll give you an antibiotic to treat the disease, but first we need to get some atropine to stop the eye spasms.”

  Doc and Beau stepped out of the stall and Beth followed. The vet turned to face her and said, “This is a serious disease, but your keen eye caught this soon. Getting a handle on it now may well save this horse’s eyesight.”

  Her cheeks flushed at the compliment. Beau looked at her and nodded, and she felt her whole body warm under his approval. She waited in the stall while Beau and the doc walked back to his truck to get the medicine. It felt good to know she had done right by the horse, and Beau respected her opinion. After Buck was settled in his stall for the evening and the rest of the chores were done, she hurried to the house to tell Charlotte about what had happened.

  After she told Charlotte about the vet’s prognosis, the housekeeper interrupted her, “Say, what did that lawyer want?”

  Beth shrugged, “Wanted me to deal with a client.”

  Charlotte pulled clean silverware from the dishwasher and dropped it into the drawer. “Are you going to have to leave to meet with your client?”

  Beth pulled the clean plates from the dishwasher and stacked them in the cabinet. “No. I told him I couldn’t.”

  Charlotte poured water in the coffee pot. “Was he okay with that?”

  Beth shook her head and leaned back against the counter. “No. No, he wasn’t.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Later that week, Beau knocked around the small house by himself, with only Shep to keep him company. Cole and Joe, the other ranch hands who roomed with him, had gone to Aidan’s to play poker, but Beau begged off. He didn’t like spending social time with the men he was supposed to supervise. It was hard to be effective if the line was blurred. A light rain pattered on the roof, so he didn’t want to go for a ride on Digger or walk with Shep.

  The ‘fridge held only beer and condiments, so he and Shep headed to the main house to see if Charlotte had any of her famous oatmeal cookies lying around.

  “Hello?” he called as he stepped through the kitchen door. The dinner mess had been cleaned up, and the table was set for breakfast.

  “In here, Beau!” Charlotte called from the other room. Laughter drifted from the living room, so he grabbed a peanut butter cookie from the cookie jar on the counter and poked his head around the corner. Charlotte was in the easy chair, wrapped in her terry cloth robe and crocheting a pale blue afghan. Beth, in sweats, was curled up on one side of the big brown sectional. The gray tabby was perched on the back of the sofa, tail moving lazily.

  A big bowl of popcorn sat on the coffee table, and two beers rested on coasters.

  “Hey!” Beth said, “Come on in. We’re getting ready to start a movie.”

  “Absolutely,” Charlotte chimed in, “Grab yourself a beer and join us.”

  Beau stood there for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Popcorn sounded good. A cold beer sounded better. Just then, lightning flashed outside the big picture window and thunder vibrated the floor.

  “You know, if yo
u’re sure you don’t mind, I think I will join you two,” he said as he ducked back to the kitchen to grab a drink.

  After he popped the top on his can and took a seat on the opposite side of the sectional from Beth, Charlotte dimmed the lights. Shep hopped up between them and circled before dropping onto the cushion, taking the corner. Beth hit play on the remote and the movie started.

  Beau groaned when he realized it was When Harry Met Sally. Billy Crystal was funny, and Meg Ryan was cute, but this was a chick flick! And an old one at that!

  Beth looked at Beau and grinned, “Didn’t know what you were in for, did ya?”

  Beau took a swig of beer and shrugged, “Beats sitting in my house by myself watching reruns of Friends.”

  Beth looked at him and raised her beer. “To Friends.”

  “To Friends,” he said, as he raised his own beer to salute his boss. The Kansas City Chiefs logo emblazoned on her sweatshirt reminded him of her home in the city. Once she earned her inheritance, she would probably go back to the city and the Diamond J would be just a memory for her.

  Rumor had it that she had met her boyfriend for dinner a couple of times (in a town the size of Wilder, everyone knew when old man Jameson’s daughter was having dinner with that high-class guy with the Mercedes). He sighed, took another swig of beer and sat back to watch the movie.

  After a few minutes, he reached over to get a handful of popcorn, and his hand brushed the warm softness of Beth’s hand. They both yanked their hands back. Beau cleared his throat, then drained his beer and headed to the kitchen for another.

  Shep waited until Beau settled back into the sectional, then stretched out next to him and poked his nose under Beau’s hand. The television droned on in the background while Beau stroked the dog’s silky fur, thinking about Beth, her father, and the ranch. She glanced at him and caught him staring at her. He blinked and turned his attention back to the movie just as the famous diner scene started. The scene had