Page 9 of Ash on the Range (Red Hart Ranch #6)

“Not anymore.”

We worked in silence until the big house’s door clanged and Eve walked off the veranda with Cassie, both of them lost in their chatter.

I stopped working, my arms looped over the railing as I watched Cassie walk beside Eve.

Her pale blonde hair drifted about her shoulders in untamed curls, and she wore the same white tank and blue jeans I met her in that night at the rodeo only weeks ago that seemed like a goddam age back.

And I was still a sucker for that look.

One of the boys wolves whistled behind us, and I stiffened.

“Who?” I asked in a low voice.

Gage barely gave the group a glance. “Kid in a red shirt. Still clean.”

I suppressed a groan. “Reggie. He didn’t put in that much work today. Not like the rest.”

“Noted.”

Another whistle went up.

“Fuckin’ hell.” My back straightened. I placed the parrot clips on the nearest fence post. “Jude about?”

“Nah, he went inside." Gage stopped working and looked at me with interest.

“Hey cutie, got some play time? We’re done for the day.”

Both Cassie and Eve paused, but neither of them turned around, though Eve’s shoulders hunched a little deeper.

I placed my hat on the fence post too. “Mind that for me?” Gage nodded. I walked away, and turned back. “And the only person you call kid is me.”

“Got it.”

His gaze weighed on me as I headed over to the group of ranch hands I’d worked with all day, but my assessment remained true.

Every one of us was covered in deer crud, except for Reggie who managed to remain almost pristine.

The boy from the south—just how far south, he wouldn’t say—seemed to have perfect, black curls that hung in ringlets untainted by the same sweat and grit that coated the rest of us head to toe.

A muted pall hung over the boys the moment I stepped forward. Some part of me recognized that pensive air, similar to the one Jude’s presence often induced. I didn't know what my face looked like, but if it matched my mood, maybe they had reason to shut the hell up right now.

“Reggie.” I stood before the red shirted ranch hand.

He looked me up and down, sizing me up, which was an interesting experience as he stood a good head taller than me.

Interesting for me, too, as I knew I outweighed him in both bulk and muscle, and I that this wouldn’t take long.

I doubted he’d thrown a punch outside a gym in his life, if he’d even done that, and I suspected that was where this engagement was headed.

Reggie liked to talk big, and act bigger, but on the inside he seemed to be fairly empty.

I could deal with that because whatever happened here, I’d have to wear the consequences of it for the rest of the season.

“You like how the girls look, huh?” I raked my fingers through my hair. Grit and who knew what the hell stuck to my fingers. I’d need one hell of a shower before I went into the big house for dinner for the night. All of us would.

Well, maybe not Reggie.

“Yeah. They look good.” Reggie gave me a smile I wouldn’t give my grandmother if she still spoke to me.

I nodded, turning sideways to the group. Watching the girls was all too easy. Brit wandered up, her hands wrapped around her belly protectively as they chattered together. My gaze was drawn to Cassie, but I had to admit we were blessed, all of us.

Focusing on what I needed to achieve, I tipped my head to one side. “You know she’s taken, right?” I said softly as the boys watched me, watching the girls.

“Which one?” Reggie’s voice was too loud in the forced silence.

Three heads turned our way, though I didn’t miss Gage’s shoulders shaking as he laughed silently. Kept his head down and didn't interfere, though. I filed that away for later, too.

“All of them.” I held up a hand and turned back to face him.

“I don’t give a shit if you can see that Eve’s got a man here or not.

You don’t touch those women, and you don’t talk about them.

In any way. Don’t even fucking dream about them.

Not about Cassie, and sure as hell not about Miss Eve. Is that understood?”

“Yeah?” Reggie straightened, towering over me. “What about the fat one?”

I smiled at him. Looked like it wasn’t my fight to be had after all.

“I mean, I’d tell you, but that would spoil the fun.

” I stepped back as Gage strode between us, gripped Reggie’s arm and hauled him toward the barn to a symphony of the younger man’s protests.

A moment later they disappeared and the protests turned to muted thumps and groans with only us and the shadows as witnesses.

Letting what they didn’t see sink in, I lifted my head after a minute.

“Keep your words and thoughts respectful toward Cassie and Miss Eve while you’re here and you’ll have work next year.

If not… you won’t be here next week when the truck heads back into White Cap, and your day is gonna be real shit come tomorrow.

Understood?” My voice cracked across the yard, soft but clear and I knew it wasn’t just the boys before me who heard them.

The thumps from the barn stopped as Gage reappeared.

“What about Brit?” Luke asked in a muted voice, sneaking a sideways glance at the other blonde bombshell in the yard who glowed at the older cowboy as he walked straight at her and claimed a deep kiss.

I stared at Luke in exasperation. For fuck’s sake . “Did you want to shorten your lifespan by half? Gage’s business is his own. If you want to pick a fight with a veteran, you’re welcome to it. I don’t recommend that course of action.”

Shaking my head at the excess of testosterone, I made a mental note to ensure Jude brought in plenty of buckle bunnies for the boys to play around with for the rodeo. This lot were randier by far than I swore I had ever been.

“Fair enough,” someone, I wasn’t sure who, muttered to my back.

I walked back to the fence post where I left my hat, noting the failing light.

Letting out a sigh, I picked up Gage’s tools and stowed them in his bag, hefting it over my shoulder.

It occurred belatedly that I hadn’t given instructions to pack up the rest of my things, and I turned back expecting to find the yard still in a mess.

To my surprise, Noah, Luke and Whalan and a somewhat dusty and bruised looking Reggie stood with my kit completely packed up, the drenching equipment nowhere to be seen.

“All stowed away, boss,” Noah said quietly, offering me a nod.

I raised both eyebrows. That was something new.

“Good job. Hit the showers and clean up before you go in for dinner.” I shut my mouth before I said anything else.

The boys filed past me, but their heads didn't hang, and I took that as a decent sign I hadn’t taken my first day on my new job too badly, even if I wasn't sure what the new job was exactly.

All I wanted right now was to clean up, find Cassie. One of those things happened after a lukewarm shower—I was last in line and the hot water didn’t last quite that long.

Sitting in the house yard right beside my rusty pick up, making it look more ancient than ever, was a shiny black truck bigger than anything else around, even Eve’s stunning white and red branded vehicle.

I sighed and took the steps to the big house two at a time and prepared myself for a really bad night, my shoulder twining with every step. Because the owner of that black pick up did the damage to it last time I saw him, and he’d be sitting with Cass, seeing as he was her brother.

Austin the Asshole had arrived.