Chapter Seven
Rowe
“That was impressive.”
Cheryl didn’t reply. When he finally glanced over to see why not, he found her blushing furiously.
“What? It was.”
“Thank you.”
Rowe just bobbed his head, keeping his steps slow and measured so that he didn’t outpace the much shorter Cheryl. They were walking across the grounds, having just come back from inside the ranch for a few minutes so that she could write things down.
The farmhands had arrived just as she’d said. Around twenty of them, trickling in by ones and twos in vehicles that now occupied much of the available parking. The sounds of people talking and power tools now came from the various buildings as they got right to work.
It was starting to come alive.
Rowe had stood back and watched Cheryl work. She’d waited until the last of the laborers had checked in before starting her introduction speech. He’d been startled to hear his name called during it, but figured since he was now up to his elbows in helping out, it made sense. After all, with Palin gone he was the one in charge of anything that was outside of Cheryl’s jurisdiction.
Other than that brief moment where he was required to wave, he hadn’t done a damn thing. Any worries Cheryl might have had about the workers not respecting her had gone out the window. People innately understood when someone in charge knew what they were talking about, and Cheryl most definitely did. They’d dispersed into teams with a minimum of grumbling and started unloading their tools.
Now they were going to make the rounds and see what they had dug up. Both of them were positive that all sorts of problems were going to be presented today. Until then nobody had done a thorough inspection of all the buildings, just a cursory overview. Once the workers started pulling things apart and seeing what was underneath all the dust and rust, they were going to see how big a project it was.
Rowe had a feeling it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Where to first?” he asked.
She pointed off to the left. “The barns.”
“Lead on,” he teased, earning him a reproachful glare from two very stressed-looking eyes. “Hey, it’s going to be fine. You’re doing a bang-up job.”
“It’s not me that I’m worrying about right now. It’s the scope of the job. There is a lot of work that needs to get done around here, Rowe. I’m worried about not getting it all finished in time for the spring. I promised Palin I would.”
“Oh.”
“See, I can tell by your response. Even you think it’s unlikely to happen.”
He winced. Had he really given away that much with one word? “We’ll get it done,” he said, hoping it didn’t sound like entirely empty words.
Cheryl’s only response was a disinterested shrug of her shoulders. There was no need for more words; they both understood the near futility of trying to predict something five months or so in the future.
The barn doors were open this time around and Cheryl walked right in. He paused for a moment outside, watching her go, letting her enter alone. The workers needed to know she was the boss, not him. He had no idea what was needed or not needed. She was doing a superb job as far as his limited knowledge knew, and he wanted her to know that he believed in her as well.
Strolling in a handful of seconds later his eyes adjusted immediately. This barn had been used for storage, and there were still bales of hay lying around. Even as he watched the work crew assigned to the barn was testing out the bale lift, trying to get one of the old bales down as they cleared out the barn.
“Easy does it,” the lead hand said, directing his pair of workers as they tried to swing the lift out over the empty floor. “She’s not in good shape. We need to be gentle with it.”
Everything looked well in hand, so he kept walking.
“Stop!”
Something snapped and the loaded bale lift began to swing wildly as the already-frayed guide rope gave way entirely. Rowe watched from safety.
“Well, I think that’s done for, don’t you?” he asked.
When Cheryl didn’t respond he glanced down, only to see her backing away nervously from the center of the open area. Had she not stopped to watch? Rowe lurched into action, intending to usher her to safety, just in case.
“LOOK OUT!” the lead hand shouted as the rope holding the bale of hay started to let go. It was wound so tightly from the spinning lift that the old strands couldn’t take the stresses anymore and were parting with alarming frequency.
If they gave way, the entire thing would plummet to the floor. Right on top of Cheryl.
He exploded into action, moving forward with blistering speed just as the entire contraption snapped and gave way, hurtling toward the floor. It was a race between the killer hay bale and Rowe’s dragon speed.
Dragon speed won by a hair, and he shielded her with his body as they leapt out of the way.
He grunted as his shoulder was clipped by the corner of the wooden lift itself, sending him spinning. Wisely he let go of Cheryl, who was now safe. She tumbled to the ground with a yelp, but was otherwise unharmed.
Rowe was slammed down so hard he bounced back up off the ground and then kept rolling as his momentum took him into one of the horse stalls. He lay there wincing in pain while trying frantically to get himself to calm down. As part of his dragon defenses scaled armor had risen to the surface of his skin, preventing him from suffering any real harm.
The protection was welcome, but if he couldn’t get himself to calm down now, they wouldn’t go away. The last thing he needed was for anyone, especially Cheryl, to learn of his secret. He had every intention of telling her of course, but there was a difference between him revealing it to her at a time of his choosing, and being found out simply because an idiot worker hadn’t done a proper job of checking the quality of the ropes before using them.
“Rowe?” Cheryl came climbing frantically into the stall, practically lunging for him. “Oh no. Rowe, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said, getting to his feet and dusting himself off as the scales finally slid back under the skin of his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Miss Payne?” the lead hand came down the ladder, moving faster than any human Rowe had ever seen.
Someone knew they were in deep shit. Although he wanted nothing more than to tear a strip off the man, he decided that perhaps it would be better to step back and let Cheryl do it. The burning in her eyes, turning them from a mild blue into something electric and dangerous, told him she had it under control.
“Explain yourself,” she snapped, wheeling on the man. “Who was in charge of inspecting the ropes?”
“This is my worksite,” the lead hand said. “I’m in charge of everything. I…” He fell silent.
“Go ahead. Say your piece,” Cheryl told him, her posturing never relaxing.
“I was going to say that we weren’t overly concerned about it, because we knew it was only us in here.”
“Except it wasn’t just you.”
“I know. Either way, it’s my fault,” he insisted.
Despite his earlier desire to tear the man’s arm off and beat him with it, Rowe felt a grudging respect forming. Judging by the man’s words, he wasn’t the one who had been tasked to check the ropes. As the lead hand for this area though, it was his responsibility when the worker in charge didn’t do as he was told. His stubborn refusal to blame it on someone else was winning him points from Rowe, and apparently Cheryl as well.
“I take it you know you screwed up?” she said quietly.
“Badly, ma’am.”
Cheryl thought about it for a moment, tapping her jaw. “How do you normally handle mistakes…?”
“I see. And what would you do in this case?”
“In this case I would do several things, including checking the ropes myself, having someone appointed to keep the area down here clear, and taking our time about it all.”
Cheryl nodded. “Very well, James. Back to work then. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that you don’t get another mistake, but I will anyway. Fix your mistake, and show me that you can learn from it.”
“I will, ma’am.” The lead hand paused, but Cheryl was already turning away from him. Realizing he was dismissed, he took off.
“That was…very well done,” Rowe remarked from where he had taken up a spot on the back wall. He’d watched his mate properly discipline the lead man before making him into a staunch supporter of hers, all while ensuring safety violations like that never happened again under his watch.
“What do you mean?”
He pushed off the wall, tugging her arm so that she followed along until they were outside the barn. Having an inkling of what was going to happen inside, he pulled the door closed behind them with a casual tug of his arm. No sooner had it crashed shut did someone start yelling. Rowe grinned as he heard the lead hand use an interesting command of the English language to explain his feelings toward whoever had screwed up.
“Do you plan on explaining anytime soon?” Cheryl asked.
“Just the way you handled that. Many people would have gone apeshit, lost their temper and fired the man on the spot, even if it wasn’t his responsibility.”
“It was his responsibility,” Cheryl countered. “He was the one I assigned to lead that project. Even if another worker was supposed to check the ropes. That’s why I kept pushing him, to see if he would accept it or eventually cave. He didn’t, so I gave him another chance.”
“I know. I’m just saying that you’re an excellent leader.”
You would make a great dragon. The thought stuck with him.
Why was it that she couldn’t just make a good human? Was it the many years of hatred of all things human that he’d been taught rearing its head? Forcing Rowe to think of his mate as lacking unless she exhibited dragon traits? It wasn’t like being a good leader was something unique to dragons.
“Thank you, that means a lot.”
It felt like their conversation was almost going in a circle. All morning he’d been singing her praises, but Rowe couldn’t help himself. He was lovestruck and his mouth often ran itself without his brain’s input. Like now.
“I guess I’ll put that one on your tab then?”
Cheryl frowned. “Put what on my tab?”
“Payment for saving you in there.” He pointing over his shoulder at the barn.
“What do you want then, another kiss? Is that the idea?”
“Yes.”
She looked skyward at his instant response. “I told you, that was a one-time deal. Besides, nothing is going to happen out here where the workers can see. That’s inappropriate and unnecessary. Unprofessional.”
Rowe was about to protest, to say they could just duck inside the ranch for a second, but he stopped as Cheryl pawed at her jacket pocket for a moment before pulling her cell phone out. To his surprise she hit the speaker button, allowing him to listen in.
“Hello?”
“Miss Payne? This is Willy. Um, you sent me out as the crew leader to clear back the forest on the northern border?”
“I remember you, Willy,” Cheryl said calmly.
Rowe was more fixed on the worker’s voice. He sounded nervous, but also confused about something.
“Well, we just pulled up here, and ma’am, I thought you should know that there’s something weird going on.”
Cheryl exchanged a confused look with him, while Rowe bit his lip, wondering just what the workers might have seen out there.
“What do you mean?”
“Ah, ma’am, there are two bears being chased off by a pack of wolves.”
Rowe’s eyebrows shot up. “Ask him how many wolves,” he said to Cheryl before she could speak.
“Somewhere between eight and twelve,” Willy replied, having heard his question. “It was hard to get an accurate count; they were moving around pretty quickly.” He paused, then continued. “Ma’am, is it safe for us to work out here? I wasn’t aware there were so many predatory animals nearby.”
“Do whatever you’re comfortable with, Willy. I’ll leave that decision in your hands. You’re the one on scene. You can make the calls better than I can. If you deem it too dangerous, I’ll back you up.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Rowe tuned out the rest of the conversation. It didn’t matter to him. All that mattered was he needed to get out to the northern edge of the property once again.
This time though, he was going to go alone.