"I want to go riding," Charlie announced to Audra as they sat to breakfast.

Jarrod, the only other person in the room, looked up from his paper. "Is that wise?"

Charlie looked at Jarrod with a smile, then back to Audra. "Maybe. It feels like it's been centuries since I've been riding and I used to enjoy it so!"

"You don't think it'll be too much?" Audra asked. "After all - "

"After all, the doctor said I should avoid excitement." Charlie said, pouting, and sat down, with a sigh. "Maybe I should take up sewing."

Jarrod's eyebrows rose with a smile. "You?"

Audra smiled, also. "I could help you make a dress."

Charlie was grinning back at Jarrod, then she looked over at Audra. "Oh, heaven's Audra! You know I can't sit still for all of that. I'll die of boredom!"

Audra lowered her eyes. Charlie's face dropped, she leaned to her right and grasped her friend's hand.

"And my work would pale in comparison to your exquisite needlework. It'd just make me more frustrated, you know? I do appreciate the offer, though. Maybe I'll just do some reading in the parlor instead."

Audra smiled and nodded. "I know it's hard for you to stay still..."

Nick and Heath entered the dining room then, with Victoria not far behind. Audra looked at them, startled, then glanced at Jarrod and Charlie. Charlie patted Audra's hand and smiled.

"Good morning, good morning, good morning!" Nick said, cheerily. "What a beautiful morning! Ah, there you are, Mother! Good morning!"

"Well, someone got up right chipper this morning," Heath commented in his low, mild manner as he took a seat across from Charlie.

Nick smiled as he took a chair across from Audra, to his mother's right and Heath's left. "Just eager to get to work, today. Half day of work, then a trip into town. Hey, there, ah, Charlie, you've been cooped up here for more than a week. Would you like to come to town with me?"

"Oh, yes!" Charlie smiled. "I would love it!" She glanced over at Audra, triumphantly. "What time shall I be ready?"

"Well, I'll come home around lunch time, clean up a bit and we'll go then."

Charlie smiled and nodded. "Great. I'll be ready."

"Audra?" Nick asked. "Would you like to go, too? Or is that Allan lad coming by?"

Audra pinked. "I'll stay."

"That would be a 'yes'. Heath said, leaning toward Charlie, whose laughter filled the room as Silas brought in more food so the late-comers could eat breakfast.

Charlie covered her mouth and looked at her friend, whose dimpled smile broadened, encouraging Charlie to enjoy the mirth. "Well," Charlie said, with a grin back to Heath. "You can hardly blame her. Joseph Allan is quite a handsome man. And it doesn't hurt that when she enters the room, he completely forgets everything," she leaned in to Heath. "And everyone, even exists."

Heath looked impressed. Jarrod and Nick leaned forward.

Nick opened his mouth to speak, but Jarrod cut him off. "This sounds serious, Audra."

She simply took a bite of her eggs with a demure smile.

Charlie grinned widely at Audra. "I think it is a work in progress."

Audra's eyebrows rose.

"For him, of course! All Audra would ever have to do is look in a man's direction and he'd be clay in her hands, willing to be molded into whatever form she wanted."

"Charlie!" Audra sounded shocked.

Charlie's eye danced as she took a bite of her breakfast.

Jarrod exchanged looks with his brothers, who seemed to make a silent agreement to keep a protective eye on their little sister and this 'Allan lad'.

Victoria Barkley smiled at the head of the table. What her sons didn't know was that she had already spoken to Audra about Joseph Allan and knew that their relationship was still at the first blush stage. She also realized that Charlie did a wonderful job of focussing attention on Audra and wondered what she, Audra and Jarrod had been talking about before she arrived.

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Charlie sat in the parlor at noontime waiting eagerly for Nick to arrive from the range. She was excited about going to town. She watched through the window for him to arrive, not paying any attention to the book resting on her lap. When she finally saw him riding up, she quickly leaned back in her chair and picked up her book. As the door burst open and Nick bellowed, she realized her book was upside down and quickly righted it.

"Charlie!" Nick bellowed. "Charlotte Evans!"

"I'm here, Nick," she laughed, standing. "My goodness, do you ever do anything quietly?"

He looked over at her from the foyer and smiled. "If I did, people would confuse me with Heath."

She laughed. "I sincerely doubt that. Volume aside, the two of you are day and night to each other."

Nick nodded. "That's no lie. Listen, I'm going to go wash up real quick and we can go. I figure we can ask Silas to pack us up something to eat on the way. I don't think you ever went up to the South pasture on your excursions, did you?"

Charlie smiled broadly. "Not that I know of. You go wash up, I'll tell Silas."

He smiled and nodded as he bounded up the stairs, two at a time, which encouraged her to move quickly to the kitchen.

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Less than a half hour later, Nick and Charlie pulled away from the house in the Barkley buggy, lunch packed behind them. He skillfully guided the horse down the road toward the Southern edge of the Barkely property, on the way to the town of Stockton. Eventually, they arrived at a hill with a large oak and Nick pulled the carriage to a halt.

"Hungry?"

She smiled broadly. "Famished."

He smiled. "Well, okay, then. Let's eat."

He stepped down and offered his hand to her. She smiled and put her hand in his as she jumped down. Nick quickly release her hand and caught her by the waist when it looked like she was going to lose her balance.

"Oh!" Charlie gasped. "Thank you!" She looked up to find his face a breath away from hers.

He sobered. "You're welcome."

She took a breath and smiled, then took a step back. "Silas said it's roast beef, from last night," she said, brightly.

Nick cleared his throat and reached in the back to get the basket. "Got it. I figured we could picnic under the tree there."

Charlie nodded. "Let's."

After a minute, the blanket Silas packed was spread out with sandwiches and strawberries. Charlie sat down across from Nick and offered him a plate.

He smiled at her and took the plate. She began to eat her own food in small bites, as a lady should. After she finished, she reached up and pulled the pin from her hat and took her hat off, allowing the sun to filter through her auburn hair. He followed suit and took off his own hat, leaning into a reclining position with his long legs stretched out in front him. He put his arm behind his head and smiled up at her.

"This is nice," he said.

"Yes," she smiled at him from her sitting position.

"Better than fighting."

Her smile widened, and she laughed.

Nick frowned. "What's so funny?"

"You're so easily riled, Nick. It's almost fun to fight with you."

His eyebrows rose. "Oh, really?" He smiled at her. "Is it? Or are you just trying to get my attention?"

She pinked. "Why, Mr. Barkley," her faint Southern drawl became more pronounced. "I do believe you have found me out."

"You don't have to fight with me to get my attention, Red."

She pursed her lips. "You do know that nobody calls me that."

Nick's smile widened. "Good. That makes me the only one."

She allowed her smile to return. "Yes. I guess you think that makes you special."

"I am. You know, just now, I thought you were going to say I was clay, instead of 'easily riled'," he grinned at her.

Her eyebrows rose. "You?" She shook her head. "No, sir! You're wrought iron. It takes fire as hot as Hades to bend you and then it would be very difficult to mold you into anything you didn't want to be."

His eyebrows rose. "And you?"

She laughed. "Me? I'm water...a little heat and I melt into a puddle before your eyes, remember?"

He chuckled. "I guess I do." He thought for a moment, then shifted up on one elbow. "Now that I think about it, though, it occurs to me that water makes iron stronger."

Charlie scoffed. "Well, that explains it."

He frowned. "What?"

"Our first few encounters."

He paused a moment, then threw his head back and laughed. "Yes, I guess that would explain it."

She smiled at him. "Though I will admit," she stopped and looked down at her folded hands.

He reached over and covered her hands with one of his. "What?"

Without looking up, she said, softly. "I think I like laughing with you more than fighting."

He reached up and touched her cheek. "I know I do."

She smiled and cupped his hand on her cheek.

The horse whinnied and they both looked at it. He tossed his head and scoffed.

"I think he's trying to remind us of our errands," Nick pulled his hand back and used it push himself into a sitting position, looking annoyed.

"Well, as someone once told me: this is a working ranch. Not a whole lot of time for dallying, I suppose." She began to pack the remains of their lunch back into the basket.

Nick looked at her as she worked. He always marvelled at how pale she was, but now the sun seemed to pink her skin on her face, neck and exposed arms. He looked up and noticed that the sun had shifted so that their tree wasn't offering much shade. He felt guilty that she was getting sunburned. He stood and went to the buggy and began to pull up the folded back top.

"What are you doing?"

"Mother and Audra will have my hide if I let you get sunburned and you're already turning pink."

Charlie looked down at her arms and put a hand to her cheeks. She smiled at him. "You don't have to put the top up. I can put my hat back on," she said, approaching the buggy with the basket.

He turned and looked down at her. "No," He took the step to close the distance between them and reached around her head to her hair. With only a moment's searching, he found the pins holding her hair up and pulled them out, letting her hair fall in waves to her shoulders. "When was the last time you felt the wind in your hair?"

She put her hand up to her hair and smiled. "Not in a very long while."

He grinned. "Well, then get up there and we'll let her run a bit."

Charlie smiled excitedly and lifted her skirts to climb into the carriage as Nick went back and retrieved the blanket. Tossing it in the back with the basket, he climbed up next to her, smiled at her, then took the reins and urged the horse forward at a brisk trot.

Just outside of Stockton, Nick pulled the horse to a slower pace and Charlie began to attempt to arrange her windblown hair into something less than the wild mane it had become. He laughed when she realized that it was too tangled to put back up and swept it over her shoulder, trying to smooth it down. She scowled at him good naturedly and made a comment about men and short hair, which made him laugh again. By the time they were pulling up to the General Store, they were both laughing.

He got out of the buggy and quickly moved to her side and put his hands at her waist, this time, to help her down, marvelling at how his hands almost circled her tiny waist entirely. When she found her feet on the ground, she looked up at him and smiled, as he looked down at her. He thought she looked at his mouth for the merest instant and her smile wavered and her eyes dropped.

He slowly removed his hands from her waist and drew himself up straight, clearing his throat. "Well, now. Where did you want to go?"

Charlie swallowed and looked back up at him. "Didn't you have errands?"

He put his hands on his hips and looked behind him at the General Store. "Yeah, well, I'll get to that. Was there anything you needed?"

She shook her head. "An afternoon out. I'll go in with you and look around while you attend to the supplies you came to get."

Nick nodded and gently took her elbow to guide her into the General Store. "Then I'll walk you over to the dressmaker's so you can see if there's anything you like there."

She beamed up at him. "That would be very nice, Nick. I'd like that."

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Jarrod locked his office and turned to walk to the livery where he housed his horse. He then saw Nick standing outside the dressmaker's shop as if he were waiting for something. He paused with a frown because the dressmaker's shop was not a usual place for Nick to frequent. Then he saw the unmistakable red hair of Charlotte Evans. She handed a package to Nick and then took his arm as they walked away from him.

Shaking himself, mentally, he went to retrieve his horse to head home.

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Audra was waiting in the parlor when Nick and Charlie returned. They were both laughing and Charlie looked as if she been riding wild stallion, with pink cheeks and her hair windblown. Nick was carrying a three packages.

Jarrod walked in quietly behind them and Audra wondered what he was thinking.

"Oh, Audra!" Charlie exclaimed. "I brought you something!"

Nick handed her the top package of the three. She smiled up at him with a thank you, then swept toward Audra, cheerfully.

She handed the package to Audra and smiled. "Open it."

Audra couldn't help but smile at her friend's exuberance. She nodded and moved to the settee and sat with the package on her lap. She untied the string and unfolded the paper to find a beautiful pale blue shawl of fine satin and a single line of intricate, fine gold embroidery that followed a waving path around the edge of the shawl that ended with a small gold butterfly at one of the corners.

"Oh, Charlie! It's beautiful!"

Charlie beamed. "I knew you'd like it! I told Nick that would match your eyes exactly." She leaned forward and said, conspiratorially. "Of course, being the proper brother, he pretended not to remember what color your eyes were, but he wasn't fooling me."

Audra smiled at her, the dimple in her left cheek showing. "I believe it."

Charlie looked up to see Jarrod looking at her from the fireplace. "Oh, don't stew, Jarrod," she rose, touching his arm. "I got you something, too." She returned to the foyer and picked up her handbag. From it, she withdrew a small box and returned to the room, handing it to her friend.

He frowned. "What is this for?"

Charlie's eyebrow rose. "You know me better than that, Jarrod. Since when do I have to have a reason to get something for a dear friend, when I see something I know they'll like?"

Jarrod smiled, then. "Yes, I guess I do." He opened the box and found an intricately carved fountain pen, lacquered to a high gloss. He looked at her with eyebrows raised. "Charlie, this is the pen I was looking at in San Francisco, when we were on our way to the train station."

She nodded. "You remember when I left to powder my nose? I bought it when you walked away and have been holding it until the right time." She took his hand in hers. "I wanted to thank you and Audra for bringing me. I feel better than I have in a long time and I think it's being here." She leaned up and kissed Jarrod's cheek. "Thank you." She moved to Audra, who was still sitting, captivated by the shawl. She hugged her friend.

Charlie jumped back up. "Is your mother home?"

Audra nodded. "She's in the kitchen."

"Wonderful! Come on, Nick!" She rushed out of the room.

Nick, smiling, picked up the other two packages from where he'd put them, tilted his head and tried to pretend to be upset. "Do you always order your friends around, Red?" But he winked at Audra and followed the effusive redhead out of the room.

Audra stood and looked at Jarrod. "What's the matter?"

Jarrod looked startled at the question. "What?"

"You look worried. You looked worried when you came in and you still look worried."

"I saw Nick and Charlie in town today."

Audra nodded. "Yes, he picked her up around lunchtime."

"I'm concerned that he may be getting in over his head."

"How so?"

"When was the last time you saw Nick willingly, happily, play valet for anyone?"

Audra thought. "When he was seeing that girl from Sacramento..." She frowned then. "No! Jarrod, you can't think..." She looked to the door they'd departed through. "What do we do?"

Jarrod shook his head and took his sister by the hand. "I don't think there's anything we can do."

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Charlie and Nick swept into the kitchen where Victoria was stirring a pot, while Silas was preparing the dinner dishes. "Hello, Mother!" Nick boomed.

Victoria pulled away from the stove and gave him a look of reproach for his volume, as he leaned to kiss her cheek. Then she smiled at Charlie. "My dear, you look like you've had a good day."

Charlie smiled. "Oh, yes, excellent, really! Nick let the horses run and I took my hair down and it was almost like riding again. And then he was very sweet to be my errand boy while I did some shopping." She turned and took one of the packages from Nick. Then she approached Victoria. "I wanted to thank you for welcoming me into your home, for making me feel like a part of the family."

Victoria shook her head. "My dear, it has been our pleasure having you." She frowned, wiping her hands on a towel. "You're not thinking of leaving us are you?"

Charlie shook her head. "No, not yet." She handed the package to her. "Please, accept this with my adoration."

Victoria put the towel down on the butcher block table and took the package. "Thank you." Like Audra, she pulled the string and carefully unwrapped the paper. Inside was a shawl like the one Audra had received, except it was black satin with silver thread embroidered into tiny stars that followed the entire bottom edge of the shawl. "Oh, Charlotte! It's so beautiful! Thank you, my dear!"

Charlie beamed when Victoria hugged her. "I'm so glad you like it!"

Victoria picked up the shawl again and looked at it. "Of course! I can't remember the last time I've seen something so beautiful!"

"Just the last time you looked in the mirror, Mother," Nick responded, dutifully.

The three of them laughed and Victoria left Silas in charge of dinner, while she took the shawl to her room.

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After dinner, Charlie walked out to the corral behind the house, carrying the last package. It was smaller than the rest. She turned it over in her hands as she walked and finally leaned against the fence and looked at the horse that was standing nearby.

"There you are," Nick called. She turned toward the sound of his voice to see his long legged stride bring him to her side, quickly. "I was wondering where you'd disappeared to."

She smiled. "Just wanted some fresh air."

"Everything okay?"

She looked at the package again. Then she handed it to him.

He frowned and took it, but looked her questioning. "For me?"

She nodded.

He tore open the package to find a new pair of leather gloves. He looked at her. "You picked these up at the General Store today?" She nodded. "These are the ones I was looking at while I was waiting for our supplies." She nodded again. He smiled. "Thank you, Charlie. This is really thoughtful."

She smiled and looked back at the corral . "Actually, I wanted to thank you for today. It's been so long since I have had so much fun."

He looked from the gloves to her. "It was my pleasure." He shifted a little closer to her and spoke lowly. "I haven't had as much fun in a long time, either."

She smiled at him. Then, she looked back toward the corral, thoughtfully.

He frowned. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "I was just thinking about all the times Audra invited me to come and I didn't accept. I feel like I wasted so much time in San Francisco. If I had known how beautiful this country was, I would have come years ago. And I might not have ever left."

"I noticed you told Mother 'Not yet', earlier. Are you planning to leave?" He place the gloves on the top of the fence.

She looked at him. "I wouldn't ever want to overstay my welcome."

"You could never do that," he said in a husky tone that made her look at him.

"You don't think so?"

He moved a half step closer to her and moved to take hold of her shoulders, turning her to face him. "As far as I'm concerned, you could stay forever."

She looked down. "There will come a day when I will have to..."

Her words were cut off as he cupped her chin and brought it up. "I want you to stay," he insisted.

Her eyes grew moist. "I want to stay, Nick, very much."

He smiled, gently. "Then it's settled."

"I'll stay as long as I can."

He moved in closer and his voice deepened into husky, almost-whisper. "Then I'll have to work to keep you here." He then bent and gently pressed his lips to hers. He pulled back slightly, and when she didn't pull away, he pulled her tightly into his arms and kissed her again. She melted into him and snaked an arm up to his neck and held on.

When he pulled away, he was pleased to see her green eyes were darkened and hooded. After a moment, she blinked and smiled slightly. "I don't know if I'm convinced, yet."

Smiling, he lowered his lips to hers again, reveling in the taste of her and the way she clung to him. Finally, he drew back and smiled as her eyes fluttered open. He threw his head back and his loud laughter started the filly in the corral when she murmured "Wow!"

They separated as she smiled and shyly reached for his hand. He grasped her hand firmly and they began to walk back to the house.

"You forgot your gloves," she said, gently.

"Oh!" He let her hand go and stepped quickly back to retrieve the gloves. When he returned to her side, he swept her into another kiss. "Just in case you forgot," he said upon releasing her.

"Oh, no fear of that," she breathed, with a smile.

They walked back into the house and he escorted her to her room, where he gently kissed her forehead and said good night.