“What?” he barked into it, his back turned to her.
Caroline’s nerves felt like flapping bat wings against her inside organs as she finished the dishes quickly and turned off the faucet. She grabbed a towel from the handle on the stove and faced Dawson.
He wasn’t holding the phone to his ear any longer but staring at something on it in front of him. “This is not happening,” he said.
“It’s happening,” a man said on the other end of the line, his voice echoing through the cabin as Dawson had put the call on speakerphone. “Where are you? I need you back at the ranch ASAP.”
Dawson didn’t answer, and Caroline was actually glad she wasn’t the only one he stayed silent with.
“Daws,” the man barked. Probably his brother. “Get up here. We need to deal with these burrowing owls.”
Ice flowed through her, and she stepped right over to Dawson’s side. She looked at his phone while her legs locked, and she couldn’t remember if that was good or bad. Was she about to pass out?
His phone showed a picture, and Caroline had plenty of experience with the animal she saw. It wasn’t a great picture, but she knew a burrowing owl when she saw one.
“Dust and shadows,” she whispered, and Dawson finally looked at her. Only his eyebrows rose, slow and steady. In any other situation, Caroline might have given him a flirty smile.
“Dawson,” his brother said. “I cansee you’re at your cabin. Get out to the West End Fence immediately.” His brother sighed. “And call that wildlife officer. She’s going to be the death of us, but we can’t put her off any longer.”
The call ended, and still Dawson held his phone in front of him.
Caroline plucked his device from him, which caused a growl to come from his throat. “I didn’t think today was a good day to cause death, but it looks like it might be.” She offered him his phone back, which he swiped from her. “Let’s go.”
Then she led the way out of his cabin with the longest strides she could.
Chapter Three
Dawson really had no choice but to load up with Caroline and head out to the West End Fence. If he didn’t go, Duke would just call again and get barkier and barkier.
Sometimes Dawson really hated that it was a ranch rule to have his location on. It did keep them safe, but it also gave Duke the ability to see where Dawson was at all times.
“No privacy,” he muttered to himself.
“What?” Caroline asked.
Dawson had almost forgotten she rode with him. Of course, that was nigh to impossible, as the woman’s perfume seemed tattooed inside his nostrils, and the shape of her in his life had already started to become familiar.
Which in and of itself was insane. He’d had twomeals with her, one where she hadn’t wanted to be there, and one where he’d almost kissed her.
Obvious much?Dawson thought. But at the same time, he’d never really beaten around the bush. Not even for the women he asked out.
“I’m sending you the paperwork you’ll need,” Caroline said from the passenger seat.
He didn’t detect any malice or teasing or glee in her voice, and he glanced over to her. “Thank you.”
She lowered her phone to her lap, something nervous edged in her eyes. “I’m really sorry the owls have moved onto your ranch.”
The road narrowed and worsened, though they kept things in tiptop shape. They simply didn’t need as good of roads this far out on the ranch. In fact, Dawson usually rode a horse or an ATV to go out to the West End Fence.
“I am too,” he said with a sigh. “So what do I do? Are you going to have cake tonight to celebrate that you were right and I was wrong?” He hoped she might smile and duck that pretty face, tuck her hair, and say,Of course not, Dawson.
Instead, the redheaded-ness inside her shot fire in his direction. “No,” she said. “Believe it or not, I don’t get joy out of you having owls here.” She folded her arms and stared out the windshield. “Which we don’t even know if you do yet.”
Dawson wished he could recall his words. “You saw the picture. Did those look like bunny rabbits to you?”
“No,” she bit out again.
“They were burrowing owls,” he said, glancing over to her. “Even I know that, and I didn’t go to school to identify them.”