7. Warned
SEVEN
Warned
SAGE
Colt shut the driver’s side door and glanced over at us. “Are you sure you’re okay to be here, Daisy?”
She gave a nod, her arm looped through mine, glancing around the hilltop at what had become our Sunday tradition—what we called “church” on the ranch. “I just want to check in with everyone. I’m sure they’re all concerned about Knox. Then I’ll head back to the hospital.”
No one argued. We all knew she wouldn’t stay long. A visit, a bite to eat, a quick shower and change of clothes at home, and then she’d be glued to Knox’s side at his hospital bed again. I couldn’t blame her. If I loved a man who’d gotten injured while protecting me, I’d stay by his side, too.
I glanced quickly around, hoping to spot Carter. Voices carried toward us, bits of laughter and conversation, the hum of guitars warming up near the fire. But no sign of him.
A few of the guys broke off from the group the moment they saw Daisy, heading her way with concern written all over their faces.
“How’s Knox?”
“Is he doing all right?”
“That bullet didn’t do too much damage, did it?”
Daisy answered them calmly, her strength admirable as always. “He came through surgery okay. His shoulder’s going to take time to heal.”
There were murmurs of relief, a few jokes about Knox being too stubborn to stay down long, and bets on when he’d be back to work. Slowly, Daisy’s shoulders relaxed, and she even had a cup of Eldon’s strawberry wine to sip.
I couldn’t relax one bit, not until I caught sight of Carter. At the hospital, I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d made out on his first day.
At last, I found him. He stood a little off to the side, a beer in one hand, his other shoved into his pocket, shoulders slightly hunched, like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.
Far from the polished, confident man who captured my attention at the barn dance.
He wasn’t even the half-frozen disaster I’d picked up on the side of the road.
His flannel and jeans were wrinkled, the sleeves of Dad’s jacket pushed up to reveal strong forearms, and the golden stubble on his jaw caught the firelight. He looked exhausted, a little lost, and still impossibly more handsome than any man had a right to be after one day on the ranch.
I wanted to walk over, slide my fingers through that messy hair, and tell him it would get easier. Instead, I stayed rooted in place, heart beating too fast.
Was it so selfish of me to want him to plant roots here when I didn’t really know a thing about him?
“Hi. You have rough first day written all over your face.” I approached with a grin.
He let out a quiet puff of laughter. “Define rough.”
I glanced over the general state of him again. “You survived. That’s something.”
“Barely. I think one horse despises me. Kept knocking over the muck bucket.”
“Which one?” I chuckled.
“Silver.”
“Oh, he’s a sweetheart, but can be naughty though. He came to the ranch in critical health at first. Now his personality seems to come out more and more.”
“At least the pregnant mare in quarantine likes me. Wouldn’t leave me alone, following me around.”
“Sassy? I adore her. The poor thing, a really sad rescue. She’d been a highly regarded broodmare who’d birthed several champion offspring.
But then she was sold a few times as she aged.
Her latest breeder fell ill and couldn’t afford care for the horses.
Ash found her nearly starved and pregnant when he got the rescue call.
Such a fall for her from having it all to having nothing. ”
His mouth twisted into a tight smile at that, but with an edge underneath it somehow. “You seem to know a lot about the horses.”
“I babysit for Ash and Willow one afternoon every week for their daughter Ro, and for Dusty, the vet, with his son Eli. I pick them up after school, and they race to the barns here. They love the horses, so we like to ride when the weather allows. And Daisy is the farrier, so she’s around often enough. I hear things from her, too.”
He rolled his shoulders, groaning. “My back is staging a quiet mutiny.” One word from him and my hands would gladly knead out his knots.
“Is the work so different from your previous job?”
A quick thing passed through his eyes—unguarded, there and gone—and then he nodded toward the fire. “What’s the story with all of this? Ash had called it church and then offered no further explanation.”
“No collection plate or hymns. Just people.” I gestured around the clearing alongside him, seeing it the way he probably was—the beautiful chaos of it, the noise, the fellowship.
“Ranch hands. Neighbors. People who matter and don’t have anywhere else to go.
We eat, we talk, someone always ends up on a guitar.
There’s often dancing. We look forward to it each week. ”
“Dinner is ready,” Eldon shouted, presenting the usual spread of potluck dishes and barbecue. The men of the ranch rushed to the tables, cutting our conversation too short.
“Well, I should eat something, not that I could hold a fork,” he muttered, staring down at his hand.
“Oh my God, didn’t you wear gloves working today?” I exclaimed, taking his hand in mine, examining the blisters forming there. His skin was rough against mine, sending little sparks racing up my arm. For a second, neither of us pulled away.
“It’s nothing. Really.” He shoved it back into his pocket.
“Nothing, my ass. There’s a bin of gloves in both of the horse stables. The guys should have shown you where.”
“Trig was the only guy I worked with all day. Let’s just say we didn’t get off on the right foot.”
Right then, Trig happened by on his way to the food. I shouted, “Trig, what the hell? Why didn’t you show Carter where the gloves were?”
He smirked and shrugged his shoulders, snickering with his buddies as he continued on.
“Asshole,” I muttered, hands on hips, glaring after him. While most of the men here were good guys, he’d come to the ranch recently and had yet to leave a favorable impression on me.
Carter pulled me back. “I thought I told you it doesn’t do me any favors having you stick up for me like that.”
“Are you too manly for a girl to stand up for you?”
He rolled his eyes. “I can handle these guys. Believe me.”
“Well, tomorrow, find the gloves, please. Between last night and this, that’s twice they got the better of you. Figure out how to get back at them all before they run you into the ground.”
He scratched at his jawline and the stubble there. “Thanks for the tip, but I’ll handle things myself in my way.” With that, he moved on, joining Jake at the back of the food line.
Great. I scared him off. I sauntered over to my sisters, with Daisy and Ivy eyeing me warily.
In the hospital, I’d told them about how he’d ghosted me from the barn dance, and how I’d found him along the side of the road.
They’d formed their own opinion of him from that.
As for me? Hard to ignore the way my body reacted around him.
Everyone ate, but I could hardly touch a bite, worrying too much about him.
I lost track of where he went until the sound of guitars starting up pulled my attention toward the center of the fire ring.
Someone whooped; a few people clapped. I’d miss these Sunday nights up here until next spring or summer, whenever the weather would allow us to get outdoors without freezing again.
Little Ro darted past, grabbing Ash’s hand and dragging him toward the music. Her laughter rang out when he surprised her, hauling her high over his shoulder and carrying her. Willow joined them and leaned into Ash’s side, swaying to the music. Such a cute family.
“We can leave soon, Daisy. But I have to get at least one dance out of my cowboy,” Ivy called as Colt swooped her up in a bridal hold to join in the fun. They’d probably be next to marry and have kids.
“I need to check in with Dusty about a few of the horses,” Daisy grumbled and left me alone. Earlier today at the hospital, the way she and Knox held hands, practically glued together, their future seemed decided.
That left me and Poppy. The youngest of us Wylde sisters was having the time of her life in Bozeman at college, so outgoing, always dating. She’d have no problem finding a man.
What the hell was my problem then? Every guy I dated, I either repelled them away or found them boring as hell.
Carter was a mystery to me. But I believed in love. I wanted to be in love. I’d spent the better part of this fall watching my sisters fall head over heels in it. So why couldn’t it be my turn?
I cleared our plates into the trash bin and helped Eldon and some others clean up the food tables. Afterward, I approached Carter nearby. He leaned on the pergola post as if it’d fall without him, arms crossed, eyes up at the horizon instead of on the people, like he’d rather be anywhere else.
Maybe he would? A man gorgeous as him could have a girlfriend waiting for him at home out there somewhere, for all I knew.
With my hands in my back pockets, I took a deep breath, said a little prayer, and took a chance, approaching him again.
“You’re not going to stand on the edge out here all night, are you? Why don’t you come join in the fun with me?” I smiled sweetly.
“I don’t know. This post is pretty comfortable.” He chuckled under his breath.
“I could teach you to two-step?” I held out my hand.
He avoided it. “It’s been a long twenty-four hours, Sage.”
My hand dropped, but I steadied my smile. “Fair enough. How about just the company then?”
Ash wandered by, carrying Ro on his back. He shot Carter a hard, meaningful glare and cleared his throat. Carter straightened instantly, like he’d received a silent warning.
Before I could say anything else, Colt appeared at my side. “Thought I’d say hello to the new guy.” He extended a hand to Carter. “I’m Colt.”
Their handshake was firm, two men sizing each other up. “Sage couldn’t stop talking about you at the hospital today,” he added, lips twitching.
I wanted the ground to swallow me whole.
Carter’s gaze flicked to me, warm for just a second. “Hope they were good things.”
“I simply mentioned the midnight rescue, that’s all,” I clarified.
Colt chuckled. “Lucky for you she was there.”
“Yep. I’m grateful,” Carter nodded.
“Ash says you had a busy first day. Called you a hard worker. Keep that up. No slackers here.” Colt’s eyes leveled at him.
“I’m only here for a month. You won’t find me slacking off for a minute of it.”
A month? The words sunk like a stone in the pit of my stomach. Of course he was temporary. All the men were. But some stayed. Still, it hurt more than it should have for a man I hardly knew.
Colt must have seen the reaction on my face. “Speaking from experience, a man can put down roots here pretty easily if he’s not careful.”
“Noted,” Carter replied quietly.
“Good. Well, Sage, we’re heading out. Meet you at the truck.”
I stayed rooted in place until he was gone. “I didn’t realize you’d be leaving so soon.” I faced him, crossing my arms. “Guess you didn’t mention that last night.”
Carter toed the dirt, boots scuffed from the day’s work. “I have another job waiting back East. I don’t mean to hurt you, Sage, but… the more I think about it, starting anything I can’t finish is probably not a good idea right now.”
I lifted my chin, forcing a casual shrug. “Who said we were starting anything? You needed help. I gave it. Simple as that.”
I turned and walked away before my voice could crack.
“On Friday I’ll come pay you for the clothes,” he called after me.
I didn’t answer. I’d pay the tab myself if it meant never seeing him again. But as I climbed into Colt’s truck, my heart already ached at the thought.