mother—signed away her parental rights.
As much as he hated the idea of Madelyn not having a mother around, his daughter was better off.
Beau studied his new, refreshing nanny. “I assume you don’t have children since you’re a nanny full-time.”
Some emotion slid right over her, taking away that sweet, calm look she’d had since she’d arrived. He could swear an invisible shield slid right between them. Her lips thinned, her head tipped up a notch and her eyes were completely unblinking.
“No children,” she said succinctly.
There was backstory behind that simple statement. He knew that for sure. And he was curious.
“Yet you know so much about them,” he went on. “Do you want a family of your own one day?”
“My personal life is none of your concern. That’s my number-one rule that you can add to your list.”
Why the hell had he even asked? He didn’t need to know her on a deeper level, but now that she’d flat-out refused to go there, he wanted to find out every last secret she kept hidden. He hadn’t asked Maggie personal questions, but then Maggie hadn’t pulled up emotions in him like this, either.
Even though he’d just vowed to stay out of Scarlett’s personal business, well, he couldn’t help himself. If she was just standoffish, that would be one thing, but hurt and vulnerability had laced her tone. He was a sucker for a woman in need.
Scarlett, though, clearly didn’t want to be the topic of conversation, something he not only understood but respected. He told himself he should focus on his purpose for being back home and not worry about what his temporary nanny did in her off time.
Beau nodded in affirmation at her demand. “Very well. These three weeks shouldn’t be a problem, then.”
He came to his feet, most likely to get away from the lie he’d just settled between them. Truthfully, everything about having her here was a problem, but that was on him. Apparently she didn’t care that his hormones had chosen now to stand up and pay attention to her. She also didn’t seem to care who he was. He was just another client and his celebrity status didn’t do a damn thing for her.
While he appreciated her not throwing herself at him, his ego wasn’t so quick to accept the hit. This was all new territory for him where a beautiful woman was concerned.
“I’m going to change and head to the main stable for a bit.” He pulled his cell from his pocket. “Give me your cell number and I’ll text you so you have my number. If you need anything at all, message me and I’ll be right back.”
Once the numbers were exchanged, Beau picked up his boots by the front door and went to his room to change. He slipped on a pair of comfortable old jeans, but the boots were new and needed to be broken in. He’d had to buy another pair when he came back. The moment he’d left Pebblebrook years ago, he’d ditched any semblance of home.
Odd how he couldn’t wait to dig right back in. The moment he’d turned into the long white-fence-lined drive, he’d gotten that kick of nostalgia as memories of working side by side with his brothers and his father came flooding back.
Right now he needed to muck some stalls to clear his head and take his mind off the most appealing woman he’d encountered in a long time...maybe ever.
But he doubted even grunt work would help. Because at the end of the day, he’d still come back here where she would be wearing her lacy lingerie...and where they would be spending their nights all alone with only an infant as their chaperone.
“You’re going to get your pretty new boots scuffed.”
Beau turned toward the open end of the stable. His older brother Hayes stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his tattoos peeking from beneath the hems of the sleeves on his biceps.
“I need to break them in,” Beau replied, instinctively glancing down to the shiny steel across the point on the toe.
If anyone knew about coming home, it was Hayes. Beau’s ex-soldier brother had been overseas fighting in Afghanistan and had seen some serious action that had turned Hayes into an entirely different man than the one Beau remembered.
Whatever had happened to his brother had hardened him, but he was back at the ranch with the love of his life and raising a little boy that he’d taken in as his own. He’d found a happy ending. Beau wasn’t so sure that would ever happen for him—or even if he wanted it to.
“So, what? You’re going to try to get back into the ranching life?” Hayes asked as he moved to grab a pitchfork hanging on the inside of the tack room. “Or are we just a stepping stone?”
Beau didn’t know what the hell he was going to do. He knew in less than three weeks he had a movie debut he had to attend, but beyond that, he’d been dodging his new agent’s calls because there was no way Beau was ready to look at another script just yet. His focus was needed elsewhere.
Like on his daughter.
On his future.
“Right now I’m just trying to figure out where the hell to go.” Beau gripped his own pitchfork and glanced to the stall with Doc inside. “Nolan ever come and help?”
Hayes headed toward the other end of the row. “When he can. He stays busy at the hospital, but he’s cut his hours since marrying and having a kid of his own. His priorities have shifted.”
Not just Nolan’s priorities, but also Colt’s and Hayes’s. All three of his brothers had fallen in love and were enjoying their ready-made families.
Beau had been shocked when he’d pulled into the drive and seen his brothers standing on Colt’s sprawling front porch with three ladies he didn’t know and four children. The ranch had apparently exploded into the next generation while he’d been gone.
Beau worked around Nolan’s stallion and put fresh straw in the stall before moving to the next one. For the next hour he and Hayes worked together just like when they’d been kids. Teamwork on the ranch had been important to their father. He’d instilled a set of ethics in his boys that no formal education could match.
Of course they had ranch hands, but there was something about getting back to your roots, Beau knew, that did some sort of reset to your mental health. At this point he needed to try anything to help him figure out what his next move should be.
He actually enjoyed manual labor. Even as a kid and a teen, he’d liked working alongside his father and brothers. But over time, Beau had gotten the urge to see the world, to find out if there was more to life than ranching, and learning how to turn one of the toughest professions into a billion-dollar lifestyle. The idea of being in charge of Pebblebrook once his father retired held no shred of interest to Beau. He knew Colt had always wanted that position so why would Beau even attempt to share it?
“So you all live here on the estate?” Beau asked when he and Hayes had completed their stalls and met in the middle of the barn.
Hayes rested his hand on the top of the pitchfork handle and swiped his other forearm across his damp forehead. “Yeah. I renovated Granddad’s old house back by the fork in the river and the creek. I’ve always loved that place and it just seemed logical when I came back.”
The original farmhouse for Pebblebrook would be the perfect home for Hayes and his family, providing privacy, but still remaining on Elliott land.
When they’d all been boys they’d ventured to the back of the property on their horses or ATVs and used it as a giant getaway or a man cave. They’d had the ultimate fort and pretended to be soldiers or cowboys in the Old West.
Once upon a time the Elliott brothers were all close, inseparable. But now...
Beau was virtually starting