Page 17 of What the Cowboy Wants (The Westons of Montana #3)

M onday was a busy day. This time of year, the bulls were sperm tested to make sure they were daddy material and fences were checked before the cattle were put out. All the damage caused by winter storms and wildlife had to be repaired, so they worked from early morning till late in the evening.

Cooper had skipped lunch because he wanted to check up on Scarlett again, so by dinner he was hungry. And irritated. And restless. Rose, of course. Keeping busy had been to keep his mind so occupied he’d stop thinking about her. It wasn’t working.

When he’d stopped to pick up the animals, Ebony had given him another what-is-wrong-with-you look and had disappeared. Prince and Charlie had taken pity on him though, keeping close to him.

“I’m fine, you can go and play,” he said as he entered the dining room. The rest of his family were already there. As he sat down, Hunter joined them. With a faint smile, he pulled out the only unoccupied chair—the one across from Willow.

His sister’s immediate irritation reached Cooper in waves. Angling his head, he watched his sister. There was something else besides the irritation, but she’d shut down her thoughts, he couldn’t read her.

“Is your new dog still staying with Isabella and Ricardo?” Laura asked.

Cooper nodded. “Yes. According to Isabella, she’s doing better.”

“But you’re hoping Rose will take her?” Willow asked.

Cooper shrugged. “If she wants to. We’ll see.”

Hayden and Hunter struck up a conversation about the mornings work and Becket joined in. Cooper tried to listen to their conversation, but his mind had wandered to a certain redhead again.

“…found Rose’s page on Instagram,” Ellie’s voice finally penetrated his thoughts.

She was leaning toward Laura and Willow.

“Someone has taken a picture of her today. I’m not sure where, but it was shared on Instagram, tagging Rose.

Shame, she looked petrified. According to this post, all her followers have been looking for her.

The video when she was dumped is also still up, but I didn’t want to watch it.

I’ve read the comments, though and if those are any indication, the stunt her ex and her cousin pulled, hadn’t helped him gain more followers.

You won’t believe what people have been saying.

I don’t know how many followers Rose had, but at the moment she’s close to fifty thousand! ”

Cooper was up before he knew what he was doing. “Excuse me.” With long strides, he left, his dogs on his heels.

As he drove back to his house, both Charlie and Prince moved as close to him as the truck allowed, their eyes fixed on him.

Stroking their heads, he tried to calm down. “No, I don’t know why I’m upset. Rose is brave, she can handle this.” Of course, his dogs would know how he felt at the moment.

With a soft whimper, Charlie climbed on to his lap while Prince snuggled closer.

“I’ll be okay, guys. I just need a minute.”

But even back in his own house, he couldn’t settle down. Ebony sauntered in and joined the two dogs who were sitting side by side, watching him as he paced.

Finally, he threw his hands in the air. “Okay, you’re right. I should phone her.”

With his phone in his hand, he sat down on the couch and called Rose. She didn’t pick up, though. He checked his watch. It was just after nine, probably around eight in Seattle. Maybe she’s out, maybe…?

Someone had taken her picture, posted it online. Even though he couldn’t sense anything, she had to be upset. His immediate reaction after he’d heard Ellie talk about Rose, had been to book a ticket to Seattle to see her, but that wasn’t a good idea.

Jumping up, he began pacing again. There were so many reasons why it was better he stayed right where he was. His mind racing, he went through them all—it was a busy time on the ranch, Rose had a lot of things on her mind, Scarlett hadn’t yet settled down, he had to check on Lady.

Ebony gave him a yeah-right look before she moved in the direction of his bedroom. Rubbing his face, he sighed. Ebony was right. Those were all good reasons but not the reason he wasn’t already on his phone looking for a flight.

What he felt when he was with Rose, was freaking him out. There . He’d acknowledged it. He could so easily fall for her and she…well she deserved better than a cowboy who felt too deeply and talked to animals.

But damn, he’d never met a woman like Rose.

He loved that they could laugh together, he loved that his mom and sister loved her, that his dogs had fallen for her within seconds.

Okay, it had taken Ebony a little longer but even she, who didn’t like anyone, moved toward Rose whenever the redhead was around.

He loved that Rose knew how to calm his horses down when he was working with them, but most of all he loved touching her, kissing her.

As he stopped pacing, he noticed Prince and Charlie were still looking at him expectantly.

“I’ve tried. She’s not answering. I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Dejectedly, both of them gave him a reproachful look before they made their way to his bedroom, probably to join Ebony on the bed.

*

Rose didn’t want to open her eyes. For another second, she allowed herself the luxury of staying in that blissful moment between sleep and being awake. All too soon though, the sounds from the city penetrated her mind, pushing away the last clouds of her dreams about Cooper.

Groggily, she sat up and peered at her watch. It was eight o’clock. Tuesday. She’d been so tired last night, but her thoughts of Cooper had kept her awake until the early morning hours.

To her surprise, the realtor she’d seen the previous afternoon after she’d arrived in Seattle, already had a buyer interested in her apartment, he’d told her. He was bringing the person around the following day.

What had she done with her phone? Picking up the charger she’d only found as she’d unpack last night, she walked toward the living room.

The woman who’d taken her picture the day before had really freaked her out.

She’d meant to check whether anything had been posted, but at first, she didn’t want to go back to being that person who continuously checked messages and then, after all the calls she’d made, the battery was dead and she couldn’t find the charger.

She’d been on her phone since she’d arrived in Seattle the day before, buying food, organizing the move, and trying to get rid of most of her stuff.

The phone was still lying on a table in the living room where she’d been sitting while using it. She quickly plugged it in while she glanced out of the window. The gorgeous view over the city had been one of the reasons why she’d bought the place in the first place.

Will she miss it? Probably, but Marietta had stolen her heart. The sound of her phone beeping made her look down. There were texts from all her friends in Marietta and a missed call from Cooper.

She opened Ellie’s text first.

“Have you seen the post? Are you okay?”

Frowning she opened the others. Everyone had the same question. Willow’s text was slightly different.

“Call us when you’ve seen the post.”

What post?

Her heart tumbled to the ground. Quickly, she opened the App store.

She’d deleted her Instagram account from her phone on the day she’d left Seattle and hadn’t opened it again.

Something had been posted about her, that much was clear.

Something her friends had seen. Probably the picture of her taken in the airport in Bozeman.

Within minutes the app was back on her phone. With trepidation she went to her profile. And yep, there it was—the picture of her the woman had taken the day before. Below was just one sentence: She’s on her way back to Seattle!

There were nearly four thousand comments.

Stunned, she sat down and before she could stop herself, she was reading them.

Apart from a few nasty comments, most of them were welcoming her back, supporting her, saying absolutely dreadful things about Duncan and Charlotte, and urging her to please start posting again.

The horrible feeling of dread she’d experienced on the night Duncan and Charlotte had dropped their little bomb, was back, and tears were threatening to fall. After reading a few more comments, she closed the app before deleting it again.

She didn’t have to read another comment. A lump the size of a golf ball formed in her throat, but determined not to give in to her despair, she kept swallowing until it settled.

Her phone rang. It was Cooper. Inhaling deeply, she ended the call and texted him. She couldn’t talk right now. If he didn’t know already, he’d picked up she was upset.

*

“Can’t talk now, will call back later.”

Frowning, Cooper stared at the message. He and Willow had been checking fences when he’d heard his phone.

Willow had just told him about the woman who had taken a photo of Rose and had posted it and before he could stop her, she showed the post to him. The expression on Rose’s face had broken his heart. She looked scared and lost—the same expression she’d had after she’d arrived in Marietta.

Closing his eyes, he connected with Rose. Minutes later, he knew what he had to do.

Willow just smiled. “Go, I’ll tell Hayden. And don’t worry, I’ll pick them up on my way home. And yes, I’ll check in on Scarlett.”

Of course, his sister would know he was worried about the animals while he was away.

*

By late afternoon, Rose had cleaned her flat and had packed everything she wanted to take to Marietta in boxes.

She’d knocked on the neighbors’ doors to ask if they wanted anything from her flat.

Before her life had spiraled out of control, they’d often come over for a glass of wine or a cup of tea or coffee.

Millie, one of her immediate neighbors, was getting married and was happy to take most of the furniture Rose didn’t want. Rose had also packed up stuff she was never going to wear and a charity she’d contacted was coming to pick up everything tomorrow.

People from the moving company had also phoned. She had been able to do the whole thing online and they would pick up her stuff on Thursday and could deliver it the following Tuesday.

Tired but satisfied with what she’d accomplished she looked around her apartment. If there weren’t any hiccups, she should be able to fly back to Bozeman over the weekend, even if the apartment wasn’t already sold.

Millie had also expressed an interest in buying Rose’s apartment, hers was much smaller, so if the client the agent was bringing later decided not to buy, there was another keen buyer.

Walking toward the big window overlooking the city, she sighed.

She’d promised to return Cooper’s call, but she kept postponing it.

What could she say? He’d probably picked up that she’d been crying, or he’d heard about what had happened from Willow and was feeling sorry for her.

She was not ready to talk to anyone yet without bursting into tears.

She’d phone him tomorrow. Tonight, she was going shopping for presents. Her friends back in Marietta had been so good to her, she wanted to get everyone something small to thank them for their support over the last few months.

Turning around she headed to her room to shower and get dressed.

What would Cooper be doing now? And there he was back in her thoughts.

All through the day, no matter how busy she was or what she’d been doing, he’d been on her mind.

She’d picked up her phone so many times just to put it down again. She couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Why? After she’d arrived in Marietta, she’d been angry with Duncan, hurt by what he and Charlotte had done, but she’d never missed him. To be honest, it had been quite a relief to know she wouldn’t see him any time soon.

Duncan had been exhausting, he’d always wanted something from her.

She had to look her best, had to smile in a certain way, talk about things he was interested in, visited with his friends, do what he preferred.

It had only been in hindsight that she saw how he and Charlotte had taken over her life, had manipulated her to be at their beck and call.

It was so different to be with Cooper. Maybe that was why she missed him so much, why he was constantly on her mind. Around him, she felt safe, could just be herself.

Chuckling, she hugged herself. He’d know right away if she wasn’t being herself.

She could so easily fall for him, but he wasn’t interested in anything besides a fling—something she shouldn’t forget.

A fling ? Just the word conjured up images of Cooper’s kiss, his hands on her body, his mouth…

Inhaling shakily, she inhaled. Maybe Cooper was right. Maybe if they spent time together they’d be able to get this craziness out of their systems.

Would it be so bad? Aurelia Hill would have a field day, for one. Chuckling, Rose opened her closet. Apparently, Aurelia Hill, Marietta’s self-appointed gossiper, had been spreading stories about Rose since her arrival in Marietta. What was one more?

Well, before she got too excited, she should check with Cooper whether he was still interested in having a short fling with her. As one of Marietta’s sought after bachelors, someone else might’ve snatched him up by the time she returned.

Frowning, she stopped what she was doing and sat on her bed. She didn’t want to think about Cooper being with any other woman, ever.

Aargh! Jumping up, she marched to the bathroom. She had presents to buy, she refused to sit around and mope.