Page 51 of A Rancher's Vow

“Well, it’s damn obvious that I wasn’t in the fucking stall.”

Anger rushed in. She’d been innocently petting the horse, not swinging from the rafters or lighting haybales on fire. “There’s no need to be vulgar, Mr. Stone.”

“There’s no need for you to be poking around in the barn, either. I’ll ask you again—what are you doing? Snooping for my nephew? Trying to find reasons for Silver Stone to bad-mouth me?”

Whoa, he was going off the rails at high speed. Charity held up a hand. “This conversation is way out of my comfort zone. Sam told me to look in the barn for you. I stopped to pet Beach. That’s it. There’s nothing nefarious going on.”

Frank folded his arms over his chest and glowered. “What do you want, then?”

“Access to the final information Silver Stone needs. Tucker said he’d send you a final email with the details, but I might need to check email or excel spread sheets if you have them.”

Frank swore softly, just in general this time, not at her, which was fine. “Computers. Hate the damn things.” He lifted his chin. “It’s in the office. Second drawer down.”

Okay—not the usual spot for technology, but whatever. “You want me to go access the files without you there?”

“I’m not stopping my job to go do yours,” Frank snapped.

Such a pleasant man. Charity smiled wider, just to keep her temper in check. “I’ll need your password.”

He frowned. “What’s that?”

They stared at each other for a moment. It would have been funny, only she was more focused on if she’d heard him correctly. “There’s no password on your computer?”

“Since I don’t know what that is, I’d guess not.”

Holy mother. Charity nodded slowly. Her instinct to fix the problem shot to high, even considering the source. First things first, though. “It sounds as if you’re good with me going ahead. I’ll finish gathering what I need by this afternoon.” She lifted her chin. Why not offer? “If you’d like, I could do some organizing in the office for you. Update your computer and add some security.”

He lifted a hand immediately, shaking a finger in her face. “Don’t you go messing with my damn stuff, adding security or what have you. I won’t be able to find a bloody thing.”

“Organizing when done right means you’d be able to find things easier, rather than the system you have currently.” Damn—she sounded sugary sweet, but even Charity couldn’t keep this forced positivity up for much longer. Mischief was sure to sneak out. “That’s fine. I’ll finish my work for Silver Stone and stay out of Crooked Creek’s damn stuff.”

“Good riddance.” He took a couple steps away and glared back at her. “Don’t know how you get anything done with all the time you’ve wasted watching my nephew. You should stay away from that boy.”

“Too late. I’ve already fallen madly in love with him.” She gushed the words intensely.

Damn her tongue. She wiggled her fingers at the stone-cold man and pivoted sharply, bouncing out of the barn as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

Regret arrived too quickly. She needed to control her temper, because smart talking someone older than her, and related to her current bosses, wasn’t on any list of smart job moves. What if Frank called to complain about her? She hadn’t beenterrible, terrible, but still…

Maybe a little heads-up warning was a good idea.

With that in mind, she waited until she was back in the privacy of the tomb then called Tucker.

“Hi. How’s it going?” Tucker asked.

“How annoying are we allowed to be while we’re here?”

He laughed. “Excuse me?”

“Let’s just say I was less than five minutes into the job and already decided Frank Stone was an ass.” Charity pivoted on the spot and made plans. “Consider how much I want to impress you and everyone at Silver Stone, then let me repeat that—the man is an ass.”

“Good to hear from you this afternoon, Charity. Yes, you’re right on the mark with that one.”

Charity snorted. “You can’t talk right now, can you? Someone is there?”

“That’s right.”

She thought quickly. “Without going into details, he’s a hard man to speak politely to during prolonged periods of interaction.”