Chapter 5 #2
Her cheeks filled with a wonderful wave of warmth as his gaze met hers. His eyes were caught between gold and brown, with hints of sage green along the edge. She cleared her throat and shook his hand. "Hi, Nash. Nice to meet you.”
"Likewise.” He grabbed the rim of his cowboy hat and nodded in a rather old-fashioned, country-boy type of way. “Buttercup is in the field with the other horses. Follow me."
He led her through a gate and onto a field where several beautiful horses grazed. He went straight for the only blonde horse, swiftly gathered the reins, and nodded back toward the gate. "We’re going to separate her from the others.”
Ellie followed him around the back of the barn, her gaze dropping to the abandoned boots just outside the structure. Nash had already hosed them down, as evident in their clean appearance and the water pooled on the cement pad beneath them.
A dozen questions rushed to the surface of her mind.
People were so intriguing. Ellie’s favorite thing about acting was the glimpse she’d get into someone else’s life.
Her character profiles came with a lot of interesting details, many of which were never talked about in the work itself; it’s just what made the person who they were.
She wouldn’t mind having a similar writeup on Nash. What was his home life like? Did he live very far from the ranch? And why had he volunteered to work here?
"Atta girl," came the cowboy’s deep, coaxing voice as he guided Buttercup into a shady spot beneath a large tree. A bucket of water rested beside the trunk.
Ellie trailed after them, intrigued by the way the horse walked so close to him. The animal trusted him, she realized, and for whatever reason, she liked that too. She also liked the gentle sounds of his coaxing as he led the animal into the shade.
"Good girl," he murmured. "Good girl. You ready to meet a new friend?" he asked as Ellie neared.
She expected him to tie the animal to a post or something, but he didn’t. Instead, he stepped back a couple of feet and stood in front of it.
"Come stand by my side and let her get a good look at you,” he said, which made Ellie notice she’d stopped walking. Probably because he had, but as she set her gaze on the horse, a note of fear crept in. Up close and personal, Buttercup looked a whole lot bigger than she had from a distance.
Ellie took a few cautious steps until she was standing beside Nash. Was that aftershave she smelled?
"Buttercup," Nash said in a deep, soothing voice, "this is my friend, Ellie. I promise she’ll be real gentle with you, even if she seems a little scary."
Ellie gasped and bumped his shoulder. "I do not look scary. Do I?"
"I'm mostly teasing, but she is reading your energy, and it’s making her tense up. Take in some deep breaths, look into her eyes, and let her feel your affection for her."
Affection—it was an interesting assumption, the idea that Ellie harbored affection toward an animal she’d never met, but as she stared into the wide, trusting eyes of the massive horse, Ellie sensed a shift.
Buttercup was beautiful, and there was something sweet about the way she so fully trusted Nash.
The horse blinked a few times, and the action made her look more human. Ellie wasn’t sure if it was Buttercup’s long lashes, the slight movement of her upper brow, or the way she seemed to curiously gauge the new stranger in her presence, but Ellie noted a dose of warmth encircling her heart.
Buttercup was—despite her size—cute. Still, a lot of dangerous animals were cute to look at. Like bears, who didn’t think bears were cute? They were, but that didn’t change the fact that an interaction with one could be deadly.
Suddenly, Buttercup backed up and harrumphed.
"It's okay," Nash said, moving even closer to Ellie and wrapping an arm around her. "She's safe, see? She's a friend.” He leaned into Ellie. “Take another deep breath and exhale slowly,” he suggested. “Then give her some soothing words."
Ellie did as he said, first pulling in a deep breath and exhaling in a long, drawn-out motion. "Okay. Hi there, Buttercup. Thanks for coming out here to meet me."
Buttercup blinked, then looked away.
"There we go,” Nash said proudly. “She's more at ease already.”
Ellie’s brow furrowed. "How can you tell?"
"Her posture shifted. So did her ears, see? They’re relaxed, not tensed up and tight."
"Oh, good." Still, Ellie shifted her weight and took a step back. Maybe that was enough for now.
Nash didn’t seem to catch her cue. "Now, let’s get you a little closer. Come right over here, and I'll show you the proper place to stand."
He used the heel of his boot to carve a line into the dirt, coming straight from the horse’s front hoof. Next, he carved another line off to the side to create a ninety-degree angle.
"See this triangle here?” he asked before dividing that triangle with one more line down the center. "Now we've got two forty-five-degree angles. If you stand in this back triangle while communicating with a horse, it’ll have a hard time kicking you.”
Ellie gasped and took a few steps back. "She wants to kick me?"
A wry grin pulled at his lips. Dang, he was handsome and appealing on so many levels. It was hard to look at him without blushing.
"Not necessarily,” he said, “but if the notion strikes, let's just say she won't be able to strike you so easily." He motioned for her to join him, stepping back to make room. “Maintain eye contact so you’re not sneaking up on her, and come stand in front of me.
Ellie stared at the spot in the dirt. "Now you're going to get kicked."
She glanced back at Nash to catch an amused expression quirk at his lips. "Don't worry about me. And stop stalling. Just come this way."
"I'm not stalling." She took a tiny, hesitant step forward and then another.
There was that amused quirk again. "Whatever you say, slow step.”
Ellie gasped. “Slow step?"
“For someone who's not stalling, you sure take really slow steps."
She lifted her shoulders indignantly. "I may not know a lot about horses, but I do know that you shouldn't approach a skittish animal too quickly," she said, which only made his smirk grow.
“If she’s skittish, it’s because you’re skittish.”
She laughed a little and took another step. “Maybe I am.”
"There you go,” he coaxed, “don't be shy."
“Shy? I’ve never been accused of being shy in my whole life.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being shy.”
“I know that, but still…I'm not shy.” With her gaze moving from the horse’s eyes to the triangle he’d carved out, Ellie finally stepped into place.
“And just so you know,” he said, “I was talking to Buttercup." He chuckled, and with as close as she'd stepped to him, the sound resonated through her in a pleasing wave.
Ellie inhaled the spicy, yummy scent of the cowboy; yes, that had to be aftershave or cologne. She cleared her throat, unnerved as a wave of goose bumps rippled up her arms.
"Now,” he directed, stroking the side of the animal’s head. “Cup your hand over mine as I pet her."
Before he could tease her about being shy again, Ellie rose to the occasion, quickly placing her palm over the back of his large hand.
"There,” he crooned, gliding his hand down Buttercup’s blonde coat. "That's good. I’m going to remove my hand. You take over. Keep talking to her, just like this. Good girl, Buttercup. Good girl."
Ellie hadn't paid much attention to the feel of his hand as they’d pet the horse together, yet as soon as he began to wriggle out from under her palm, that butterfly flutter whirled through her tummy again.
"See, Buttercup?” she ventured, feeling vulnerable suddenly. “I'm nice too. You don't really want to kick me, right?"
That triggered Nash’s low chuckle once more, a rumble Ellie felt in her chest this time.
Moments passed, and Ellie slowly grew more comfortable in the horse’s close proximity. She was, however, a little flustered by her proximity to Nash and his muscular chest and alluring, masculine scent.
"You’re doing great,” he said. “Animals are like us; they read emotion in our facial expressions. They once did this test where they showed horses pictures from a group of people, one by one. Half the group wore soft expressions, while another group portrayed anger with a mean glare.
“When the horses encountered each person in turn, they had a negative response to those who’d looked angry in the photographs even though they weren't wearing the expression anymore. So not only did the horses recognize the expression, but they also remembered it and associated it with the owner."
"Wow, that's fascinating.” She suddenly wanted very badly to make a good impression on Buttercup. She wanted to earn her way into the mare’s good graces and grow the sort of trusting relationships she’d seen in movies.
“So,” she said, her mind wandering back to the intrigue behind the cowboy.
“Do you have a horse? Or maybe a bunch of horses?
" she added, not really sure what day-to-day for a cowboy looked like. And perhaps he wasn’t really a cowboy at all.
Perhaps he was just playing one here at the ranch before going back to his regular job as a plumber or computer tech.
"Yes to both,” Nash said. “We own a lot of horses on Copeland Brothers Ranch, but I also have my own horse. His name's Copper. He’s a real stud.”
"Copper, that's cute. Is that what color he is?"
"You got it. When I first got him, he looked like a lucky penny, so Copper was a perfect fit. He's a good horse,” he added thoughtfully. “We've been through a lot together."
The comment triggered a recollection; hadn’t Geneva said the guy volunteering had lost his parents? A cold shiver rocked through her center, and she couldn’t help but frown as she pieced the two things together; Geneva had said that, and Nash was the guy she’d been talking about.
How terrible. The fact added even more layers to this intriguing cowboy. It seemed he had been through a lot.
Geneva also implied that he’d been suspected of volunteering because he heard Ellie was going to be there.
There were probably several reasons Nash decided to volunteer at the ranch, but none of them, Ellie assumed, had anything to do with her or the small-time tabloid that had mentioned her whereabouts.
No, Nash didn't seem the type to go chasing after a woman like Ellie, but what sort of woman was his type?
“So,” Nash said, circling around Ellie to take hold of the horse’s reins once more. “Want to meet up again tomorrow? There’s a real pretty trail close by. You could take her for a ride.”
“And you’d come too?” she asked, her face flushing like he was asking her out on a date.
He nodded. “We could do a private trail ride in the afternoon, or if you’re okay being in a group setting—”
“I can’t,” she interrupted. “I mean, it’s better if I don’t, you know?
Considering…” She died off there, figuring he knew where she was headed with it anyway.
But then it occurred to her that he may not actually know.
What if he had no idea who she was? It seemed conceited to ask, so Ellie just left it at that.
“No problem. The mornings are cooler, but the afternoon will be fine too.”
“What about the evening?” she asked. Now, it felt like she was asking him out. “Isn’t it cooler in the evening, too?”
“Yeah, if you want to go while it’s still light out, we’ll have to leave here by around 4:00. Weatherwise, we’re having a second summer this year. Usually, this close to September, it gets pretty chilly. Soon, it’ll be cool all day long.”
Ellie didn’t mind the idea. In fact, she hoped she was there to experience the crisp autumn temperatures people seemed to love.
“What if we went just before sunset?”
Nash held her gaze, and Ellie was captured yet again by the color; part gold, part brown, and pure heaven. Her heart skipped a beat, then sped up as he seemed to read something in her expression.
“Are you asking me on a date at sunset tomorrow night?” His mouth quirked into that half-grin again.
She bit her lip. “Are you always this assumptive?”
His smile broadened, revealing a flash of white. Holy smokes, he had a great smile, and she liked being the reason it was there.
“I might be,” he said. “Should we say 6:30?”
Ellie resisted the cheesy smile that threatened to expose her. “Sounds good to me.”
“Perfect. Oh, and bring a shovel. If you want to ride her, you’ve got to first clean out one of the stalls.”
Ellie’s eyes widened.
“Gotcha,” he said with a wink.
And as Nash walked the horse back to the field, Ellie swam in the pool of delightful emotions he’d left in his wake.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d developed crush-like feelings so fast, but she couldn’t deny that they were a welcome distraction after the week she’d had. Heck, after the few months she’d had.
Perhaps Geneva had been right; it was good for Ellie to get involved here at Wild Buck’s Ranch. She would definitely plan on doing so more often.