Page 55 of Rough Riding Orc Cowboy

The tightness in my chest shifted. These weren'tgrand, complicated displays. They were things that required not only strength or might, but knowing someone deeply.

I watched as they exchanged glances, the way they linked their hands together. The warmth I could feel gliding off them. They fit together. This ease, this quiet knowing between two people was as foreign to me as the moon.

I pushed a breath past my tusks, and I forced my hands to relax on my thighs. Maybe if I listened, if I learned, I could earn something like what they had with Beth.

Carol shifted in her chair, tapping a finger against her lips before she spoke again. “Ruugar, do you mean Ben?”

My mind went blank. Ben?

I glanced back and forth between her and Pete. Then it hit me. She thought… A laugh tried to crawl up my throat, but I swallowed it down fast.

Carol, misinterpreting my strangled silence, rushed on. “I mean, love is love. Any love is good love.”

Pete sat back as if considering this seriously. “Ben’s a good guy. I can see why anyone would find him attractive.”

I managed a stiff nod that probably looked more like a grimace, and Carol’s shoulders relaxed. This sort of love was perfectly normal in my world, yet this was so far from reality that I didn't know how to react. Of course they thought I meant Ben. They’d seen me carrying her—him—across the open campground, taking him inside the tent that we’d shared last night.

“Alright.” Carol sat forward. “Two solid ways you can show Ben that you care.”

Pete nodded along, letting her take the lead.

“One.” She held up a finger. “Give him something personal. A gift, but not just any old thing. It has to have meaning, something that speaks directly to him as a person.”

A gift…for Beth.

“And two,” Carol said. “Create an experience together. Something unique, something he won’t forget. Maybe a—” she glanced at Pete, “maybe a ride? A special moment, just between you two?”

Beth seemed to enjoy the trail ride.

My pulse thundered in my ears. I could do this. It wasn’t complex. She’d see that I cared and… Well, she’d either reject me or she’d tell me she felt the same way.

“If you can talk him into ridingwithyou…” She kissed the pinched tips of her fingers. “Chef's kiss.”

“Chef…”

“It's a saying but it means that would be perfect.”

That was enough for me. Already, my mind spun with plans. Something personal. Something unforgettable. Beth was feeling a lack of self-confidence after what happened with her father, Bradley, and even the chumble mother in the woods, but what could I do to help her in that way? Then it occurred to me.

I stood so abruptly, my chair nearly toppled on the ground behind me.

Carol and Pete both looked up, mildly startled.

“Thank you.” My voice came out like gravel underfoot.With a short nod, I turned and strode away from them. I needed to finish grooming the sorhoxes, but that was the perfect time to think and plan.

Hope flickered low in my belly.

Maybe I stood a chance of winning Beth’s heart.

Chapter 20

Beth

When I told myself I couldn’t let embarrassment keep me inside the tent any longer, I slunk out. Carol, Pete, Mary, and Joel were whispering near the entrance to the cooking gazebo and when they saw me, their eyes widened and they scurried away from each other, two racing toward the river, the other two toward the bathroom hut.

What was that all about?

Shrugging, I entered the gazebo. It was getting close to lunchtime, and I could make…something. I wasn’t sure what, but I’d figure it out.

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