Beau (Remington Ranch Book 4) (20 page)

“And you don’t like this place?”

He smiled through pursed lips. “It’s not exactly my style, no. But apart from that, it belongs to Shane. It’s on his part of the ranch. He stood up and led her to the window where he pointed over toward the creek. “Just beyond that line of trees there’s a clearing, I always thought it would be a great place for a house. I want to build one. For us.”

She didn’t know what to say. “But what about your house up in town?”

He shrugged. “It’s a nice house, but I can hardly ask you to move up there when you work down here. And Ruby’s at school down here; she won’t need to go up to town until high school.”

“I couldn’t ask you to build a house here just to suit us.”

He smiled. “It’d suit me. I want to be wherever the two of you are. And besides, you’re giving me a reason to come home. I never thought I’d have a reason, but I love the idea.”

“Wow. I don’t know what to say.”

He smiled. “Then don’t say anything yet, but I will tell you one more thing. I’m thinking if I have a house here, then even if you decide you don’t want me, Ruby and I will still be able to hang out sometimes and it won’t be weird.”

She swallowed and tried to blink away the tears.

He smiled. “Don’t say anything.”

She couldn’t if she tried.

Wanda poked her head around the office door. “Hey, boss. You’ve got a visitor.”

“Who is it?” Beau could do without the interruption right now. He was pulling together all the files for a closing.

Wanda’s eyes were wide. “It’s Chance!”

“Great. Send him through.”

“Really?”

He laughed. “Yeah, at some point I need to catch you up on all kinds of things that have been going on.”

“It sounds like it! I’m free for lunch, if you’re buying?”

“Maybe tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep my questions to myself till then, but I can try.”

He shook his head at her. “Go tell Chance to come in, would you?”

“Okay.”

Beau had to wonder what he wanted. This was the first time he’d ever come in to see him. But then it seemed there were a lot of firsts happening lately. Most of them good, very good indeed.

Chance tapped on the door.

“Come on in, take a seat. What can I do for you?”

Chance looked ill at ease, but then Beau always thought he did whenever he was indoors. He was just one of those guys who was born to be outside, riding, working cattle. Right now he was holding his hat in one hand and running the other through his unruly black hair. He gave Beau a sheepish grin. “Nothing you can do for me. Don’t laugh, but I came to see if you wanted to go grab some lunch. I had to come up to town to go to the bank and…well…I thought. You know. Since we’re buddies now.”

Beau smiled. This was Chance making an effort. And no way was he going to mess it up. “That’d be great.” He stood up, almost toppling the pile of folders in front of him. The folders that he’d thought were so urgent were going to have to wait. Solidifying his new relationship with Chance was way more important. “Where do you want to go?”

Chance grinned. “I was thinking the Mint. I’ve had a hankering for one of their burgers for a while now, but I never have reason to come up here anymore.”

“Well, you do now. I’ll always come for a burger with you if you’re passing through town.” A thought struck him and he decided to go with it. “And if ever you want a night out up here you can stay over at my place. It’s not like I’m ever there these days.”

Chance grinned. “Thanks. I might take you up on that. It’d be good to come up and have a few beers.”

Beau nodded. “Any time you want. In fact, I’ll get you a key made.” He led Chance back out through the reception area. He knew Wanda had been eavesdropping by the stunned expression on her face which she quickly tried to cover with a smile.

“I’ll be back in a while, Wanda.”

She simply nodded, apparently lost for words for what must be the first time in her life. Beau grinned to himself as Chance put his hat back on and tipped it at her. “Have a great day.”

Once they got to the Mint they settled into one of the booths at the back of the bar. After the server had brought their drinks and taken their order, Chance raised his glass. “Cheers.”

Beau smiled. “Cheers.” He realized he didn’t know what to talk about with Chance. He didn’t want to talk about the ranch, he hoped that they could just leave well enough alone on that score.

Apparently Chance felt differently. He held Beau’s gaze. “Listen, I wanted to say thank you…”

Beau held a hand up. “There’s no need. I wanted to say I’m sorry…”

Chance shook his head rapidly. “No! I get it. I felt the same way you did.”

Beau nodded. “Okay so how about we close that chapter and move on?”

“Sure.”

Beau knew they’d said all they needed to, more words wouldn’t make things any clearer. He smiled, but he wasn’t sure what else the two of them might have to talk about. He went for the only thing he could think of. “What’s the news on your dad?”

Chance nodded. “He’s doing well by all accounts. I talk to him on the phone every night.” He stared off into the distance for a moment before turning back to Beau. “I’ve never done that in my life till now.”

Beau nodded. He didn’t know much about Chance’s family or his history with them, but he’d always figured it must be pretty bad. He couldn’t imagine living so far away from his own family.

Chance’s smiled disappeared in a hurry, his eyes narrowed and his lips pressed into a thin line. “That’s enough to put me off my burger.”

Beau looked over his shoulder. Shit! Guy Preston had just walked in with a very young looking blonde. Beau turned back around, hoping that Guy might not see them. Of course that was too much to hope for.

“Well, if it isn’t my old friend Beau.” Guy came to stand over their table.

Chance looked like a wild animal about to attack. Beau could only hope that he wouldn’t.

“What do you want, Guy? We’re having lunch.”

“I can see that. What I can’t figure out is why. I thought you were the only Remington who had any sense. At least enough sense not to hang out with lowlife like
that.
” He jerked his head toward Chance, who Beau could see had his fists clenched and looked about ready to pounce.

“
That
is my brother. So fuck off, Guy.”

He didn’t know who looked more surprised at his words, but it felt good saying them. Guy sneered. “I really thought you were smarter than the rest of ‘em, Beau. But you’re just the same. Well, you listen and you listen good. I’m going to take him down, I know what he did. And he isn’t going to get away with it. You get in my way, I’ll take you down with him.”

Chance stood up. “Do not threaten me or him or anyone else, unless you’re prepared to get into it right here, right now.”

Guy took a step back with an ugly smirk on his face. “I’ll say when and I’ll say where. This was just a warning. You won’t see it coming.” He turned on his heel and left.

Chance started to go after him, but Beau caught his arm. “Leave it, Chance. He’s not worth it.”

For a moment he thought Chance might punch him. He was so wound up. Thankfully the wild look faded from his eyes and he nodded and sat back down. “Sorry.”

“No worries. I get it, but he’s just not worth it.”

“You didn’t see April, you didn’t see her little kid, Marcus, when we left here. They were both scared of their own shadows. I don’t know what that bastard did to them, but I do know he needs to pay for it.”

Beau nodded. He’d known that April had had a rough time being married to Guy, but he had a whole new perspective on it now. He thought about Corinne and Ruby in that situation and it made him almost as mad as Chance. “He does, but beating the crap out of him in here wouldn’t make him pay. It’d only land you in trouble. There has to be a smarter way to do something.”

One side of Chance’s mouth lifted in a wry smile. “We should have teamed up sooner, you and me. With your brains and my brawn we’d be a force to be reckoned with.”

Beau liked the sound of that. All he’d ever really wanted was to be included. He’d always seen Chance as the one who pushed him out, but it wasn’t really true. The thought of the two of them being a team made him smile.

“Anyway. You’re right. We shouldn’t waste our time on him. Tell me what’s going on with you? How are things with Corinne and the kid? She’s a real cutie.”

Beau smiled. “She is. Things are going great. In fact, things are going really great. I…” Was he really going to tell Chance before he told his brothers? He knew he was as he mentally corrected himself—his
other
brothers. “I’m going to build us a house down at the ranch.”

“Wow!” Chance raised his eyebrows. “It’s serious then?”

“It is. She just needs some time. It’s hard for her to jump in because she’s got Ruby to think about.”

Chance smiled. “I understand how that goes. It was the same for Missy with Dan.”

“Do you know what Dan did to convince her?”

Chance smiled a very genuine smile. “It was awesome. His ex showed up at Missy’s birthday party. She was trying to cause trouble and he put her down in front of everyone. Then he made this big whole speech about how he knew what love meant, and how much he loved Missy and Scot. And he went down on one knee, right there with everyone watching, and asked her to marry him.”

Beau shuddered. He couldn’t imagine doing something like that. “I’m guessing he’s the outgoing type?”

Chance laughed. “He couldn’t be less outgoing if he tried. He’s a geek, a bit of a nerd. He’s awesome! That was what made it so special. He went so far outside his comfort zone, there was no way she, or anyone else, couldn’t see not only that he meant it, but that he wanted it with all his heart and soul.”

Beau nodded. It did sound great, but he had no idea what he could do to show Corinne that was how he felt.

Chance smiled at him. “You’ll figure it out.”

“I hope so.”

~ ~ ~

Corinne parked the car in the only space she could find on Main Street. She’d come up to town on her lunch break to get some supplies for the ranch and now she just needed to stop into the post office. There was quite a line and she checked her watch as she joined it. She didn’t want to take too long. She had a lot to do this afternoon. She thought she recognized the girl at the head of the line, but she couldn’t place her. It seemed the girl recognized her, though. She was making her way back out when she stopped. “Are you still here then?”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t think Beau will waste too much time on you. He can’t stand kids, you know.”

Corinne watched her leave. She did recognize her now. She’d been the one at the Mustang when they’d had lunch there. The one Beau had said he’d dated. Apparently she wasn’t too happy that he’d moved on. She sighed.

The guy in front of her turned around and gave her a friendly smile. “Don’t worry about Angie. She can be like that. And I mean, you can’t really blame her after what Beau did, can you?”

Corinne had no clue what to say, she just stared at him.

“Oh, shit. Did I just put my foot in it? You didn’t know?” They’d reached the head of the line now. “Sorry,” he said before going to the counter.

Corinne’s mind was reeling. What on earth was he talking about? What had Beau done? She took her turn at the other counter and watched the guy while she did.

They ended up being finished at the same time and he walked out beside her. She didn’t want to ask him what he meant, even though part of her was dying to. It was Beau she needed to ask, not some stranger.

Once they were outside he put a hand on her arm. “Just forget I said anything.” He smiled and Corinne wanted to pull her arm away, there was something creepy about him. His smile made her think of a wolf. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

What the hell did he mean by that? She didn’t get a chance to ask even if she’d wanted to. He was already walking away and she sure as hell wasn’t going to run after him. She hurried back to her car, just wanting to get out of here and back to the ranch. As she was opening the car door a truck honked its horn and she looked up to see Chance raise his hand as he drove by. She was starting to understand how everyone knew each other’s business in this place. Everywhere you went someone saw what you were doing!

She couldn’t help wondering all afternoon what the guy had been talking about. She tried to put it out of her mind, but it kept gnawing at her. What might Beau have done that would warrant Angie being so mad at him? By the time she was done with her day, she’d determined that she needed to ask Beau as soon as she saw him.

His truck was already parked outside the cabin when she got home with Ruby.

“My Beau’s here!” she squealed.

On the one hand, Corinne was thrilled that Ruby adored Beau. On the other, and especially with the doubts that had been seeded in her mind this afternoon, she had to wonder whether it was wise to let her get so attached. The last thing she wanted was her daughter getting her heart broken if things went wrong between them. She daren’t even think about her own heart. She knew now that she’d given it to Beau somewhere down the line without even realizing it.

He greeted them at the door with a smile. “There are my two favorite ladies.”

Ruby ran to him and he swung her up into the air, making her giggle. “How was your day, pumpkin?”

“It was good. How was your day?”

Beau nodded. “Mine was good too. And how about you?” he asked Corinne.

She smiled. “It was okay.” She just couldn’t fake jolly and happy. That man’s comments were gnawing at her. She had to know. “Ruby. You go and get changed.”

Once she’d gone Beau came to close his arms around her. “I made us dinner.” He looked so proud of himself.

She wanted to just relax and enjoy the evening with him, but she couldn’t yet. Not until he put her mind at rest. She pecked his lips and pulled away.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing.” She sighed. “Well, something. And I feel bad about it.”

He looked concerned. “What? Tell me.”

“I ran into Angie in the post office today.”

“Oh. What did she have to say?”

Corinne made a face. “She said you wouldn’t be with me for long because you can’t stand kids!”