Page 60 of Some Cowboys Brave the Flames

Daniel shook his head. “She’d kill me if she knew I tracked you down. She didn’t want any of us to interfere.” He released a dark chuckle. “But most of them don’t live at the house anymore. They don’t have to deal with her moods. Is it selfish to admit that her food doesn’t quite taste as good as it used to?”

Ash huffed. “Probably.”

Daniel sighed. “You know me. I don’t particularly like getting involved with anyone’s business. People are going to live their lives the way they see fit.”

“Then maybe you should leave it where it is.”

His friend sighed. “That’s just it. I don’t like seeing her hurting. She’s my baby sister.”

“She asked me to quit my job. You know that.”

Daniel nodded, scrubbing at his face. “Yeah, I know.”

“Would you quit your job if the girl you loved asked you to?”

His eyes cut to Ash’s, and without looking away, he nodded. “If I loved her? I’d move heaven and earth to make her happy.”

His statement was like a slap in the face. If he loved her. Ash loved Charlie. He didn’t doubt that. He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to be the one person she could count on beyond all others.

And he had failed.

“Anyway, I thought you might want to know that she misses you. And maybe there’s a chance that things could change. Maybe enough time has passed that Charlie…”

Ash laughed without humor. “You think your sister would change her mind about this?” He laughed again. “If you think that, then you really don’t know her. She’s a Keagan. And she’s probably the most stubborn out of the lot of you.”

Daniel’s lips twitched. “She was practically raised by ten brothers. She had to figure out how to hold her own. What did you expect?”

Ash bit back his own smile. She was strong. And she cared. Her reasons for asking him to quit his job were selfish only in the sense that she wanted to keep him safe. How could he fault her for that?

“I suppose you have to ask yourself one big question,” Daniel murmured. “What are you willing to give up in order to make her yours again?”

“You’re seriously trying to get me to try showing up at your place again?” Ash shook his head. “I’m pretty sure you all but banned me from every coming to your house again.”

Daniel grimaced. “Right. Well, if you choose to show up again, I’ll make sure that no one stands in your way. Just…” He sighed. “Think about it.”

26

Charlie

Summer had started to cool off—especially closer to the mountains. Even though the bigger fires were no longer roaring, Charlie couldn’t help the continued anxiety any time she heard of a fire that started anywhere within a couple-hundred-mile radius.

She still watched the news for updates, holding her breath until she heard that there were no casualties. Statistically speaking, Charlie had to admit that Ash should be okay. After he’d gotten hurt, she’d gone down the rabbit hole in researching everything she could about his job.

Charlie had wanted to prove herself right. She’d wanted to show Ash that he was being too cavalier about the whole thing. Unfortunately, she only ended up discovering that she’d been in the wrong.

Were there still risks for his job?

Absolutely.

But not nearly as much as she’d originally thought.

Now she was alone, hurt, and embarrassed—unable to bring herself to call Ash and tell him as much.

Charlie stared with unseeing eyes at her larger-than-life family. With the summer coming to an end, Wade had insisted that they needed to have one more picnic before it got too cold. The leaves hadn’t started changing colors just yet, but there was a distinct nip in the air when dinner rolled around.

Her nieces and nephews played in the field. Her brothers tossed horseshoes. Her sisters chatted while seated on one of the larger blankets. And somehow, Charlie didn’t feel like she fit in with any of them.

She was the youngest. Even though she was twenty-two, they still viewed her as the baby of the family. Why else would Mason, Daniel and Liam care so much about who she wanted to date?

---