Page 4 of The Earl’s Wrangler (Cowboy Nobility #3)

Chip got excited again. “That’s the funny thing. Alan said that this earl guy lost a bet and that he has to work it off here. It was part of the bet or something.”

“Well, we’ll see how that goes.” Sawyer moved away from the truck. “I got work to do or your mama will be asking about stuff, and I don’t want to disappoint her. And I’m sure that you have things you need to do. A week off school don’t mean you don’t have homework or anything.”

Chip waved him off. “I can do that later.”

“No. You get it done. I never got the chance to go to college. All I know is ranching, and I’ll be shoveling shit and breaking horses until my knees give out and I can’t move anymore.

That work is more important than whatever you were thinkin’ of doing.

Your mama says you’re gonna be a vet. So be the best one you can be. ”

Chip stepped back, grinning, and gave him a salute. “Aye, aye, captain.” He turned and hurried into the house.

Sawyer pulled open the truck door, got out the sandwiches from earlier, and ate them quickly.

It had been hours of work since he’d last eaten, and he was hungry.

Once he was done, he headed to the barn, let the remaining horses out into their paddocks, and started cleaning up the stalls.

Like he’d told Chip, there was always a lot to do.

“RANDALL,” SAWYER heard Alan say as he was finishing up the work in the barn, “we got plenty of work lined up for you.”

“I just got up,” the guy with him groaned.

“This is a ranch,” Alan said as they drew closer.

Sawyer put his tools away and grabbed a broom to sweep the aisle.

He liked his barn to be as clean as possible.

It kept the place smelling fresh, and he was convinced it kept the horses healthier.

He hated flies buzzing around. “It’s nearly noon, and everyone here has already been working for six hours. ”

“No way.”

Three pair of boots appeared in front of him, and before Sawyer could stop himself, he swept dirt and bits of manure all over them.

“Watch what you’re doing,” the stranger snapped. “Look what you did.”

Sawyer blinked, surprised for just a moment.

“This is a barn, and I’m working. You need to watch where you’re going.

” He paused in his work, straightened his back, and stood toe to toe with the stranger.

Then he stepped back. Alan and George moved out of the way, and Sawyer swept the rest of the pile all over the now even dirtier boots.

Then he turned away and continued with his task.

“You saw that?” the guy who had to be the Earl of Assholes said. “He can’t do that.”

“Sure he can, Randall,” George told him.

“You were in the way, and just so you know, your earlness isn’t going to get any special treatment here.

You want people to respect you, then earn it.

And if you get in the way of the work, you get mucked boots.

Get in the way of a horse and you’ll get hit.

If you get in the way of the cattle, you could be trampled.

Nothing gets out of the way for you.” Alan seemed to be laying down the law.

“Now, you’re here for two weeks, and you’re going to work in the barn with Sawyer here. ”

“Excuse me?” Randall said.

“Yeah. Sawyer is one of our best hands, and you’re always saying you know horses. Well, one thing is for sure—at the end of two weeks, you’re going to know how to clean up their crap.”

Sawyer swallowed hard. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Your mama said that she has three colts that she got at auction coming in. She asked me to get them settled and to start training them up. It’s going to take a lot of my time and….”

Alan smiled. “That’s perfect. You’ll need some help, and Randall here can give you that.

He can clean the stalls and anything else while you work with the colts.

” If Sawyer didn’t know any better, he’d think Alan was having a good time with this.

Sawyer had figured that Randall was a friend of his and that he was having him on with this whole bet thing, but maybe there was more to it than that. “You up to that?” he asked Randall.

“Sure, I can help in here.” Randall looked about as thrilled as if he had been asked to help out in a slaughterhouse.

“Great. Sawyer here can explain what needs to be done.” Alan and George left the barn, leaving the two of them alone.

“There’s always things to be done. You can clean the tack.

” Sawyer motioned to the back, and Randall headed that way.

Sawyer followed and did his best not to watch the attractive backside in the fancy jeans.

“You might want to get boots and clothes made for working. Those fancy duds are going to get really dirty, and they ain’t going to hold up. ”

“I’ll ask George about it,” he said, as though Sawyer wasn’t good enough.

It didn’t matter if a man looked like he walked out of a magazine, with dark blond wavy hair down to his shoulders that looked like a mane.

He swallowed and shook his head. Sawyer needed to wipe out any thoughts of how good Randall looked or—when he passed him to go into the tack room—how the man smelled, like summer rain.

Fucking hell, he was not going to do this.

“All the tack needs to be cleaned. Everything is in here.” He opened the cupboard. “I’m sure your earlness knows what to do.” He didn’t wait for him to answer before leaving to return to work.