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a pleasure to take her in hand,” he said, and meant it. He paused, a slight frown puckering his forehead. “But if you’re having Sky focus on the horse side of the business, who are you figurin’ on gettin’ to be foreman?”
    Will fixed his gaze on Beau. “I’m looking at him.”
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    Ever since Will had turned the conversation to the ranch’s future, Beau had suspected he’d get drawn into it somehow, but he hadn’t foreseen this. He felt his jaw muscles tightening in instant resistance.
    Beau took a quick swig of beer to try to cool his temper and managed an even response. “You’re overlooking one small detail,” he said. “I’m leaving in the morning to catch my flight back to D.C.”
    Will came right back at him without a pause.
    â€œThat’s easily remedied. Just cancel the reservation.”
    â€œYou know damn well that I have a job waiting for me.” This time Beau couldn’t keep the heat out of his voice. “You don’t really expect me to walk away from it just like that.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t be the first time you walked away from something,” Will countered, his expression one of hard challenge as he deliberately referenced the day when Beau had walked out of the ranch house, never to return until now.
    The tension in the room was palpable, the air fairly crackling with it. Sky rose from his chair, unfolding his lanky frame with a movement as smooth as water. “The buckskin mare showed signs of going into labor. I need to check on her.”
    Will glanced up at him. “Erin’s upstairs in her room. I know she wanted to be there when the foal came. Should I call her?”
    â€œNot yet,” Sky replied. “It’s the mare’s first foal. Let’s wait until we’re sure everything’s all right.”
    â€œKeep me posted.” Will directed the words to Sky’s back as he left the room.
    Before he was out of sight, Jasper planted his hands on the chair’s armrests and proceeded to lever himself out of it. “Sky’s got the right idea. You two need some time alone to hash this out, and I’ll just leave you to it.”
    Beau watched the old cowboy hobble from the room, then turned his attention back to Will, determined to end this discussion quickly and cleanly.
    â€œI’m not the man for this job, Will,” he stated flatly. “It’s been years since I sat in a saddle, swung a rope, or doctored a cow. You need a foreman with experience.”
    â€œDo you know the kind of salary a man like that would command ?” Will fired back. “The ranch can’t afford it. This place is land-rich and cash-poor. Another bad year, we could be cash-broke. And, yeah, you might be rusty when it comes to ordinary ranch work, but you know how to manage men. You’ve got the organizational skills we need. And better yet, you know your way around a computer.” With the last of his arguments thrown at Beau, his voice took on the thickness of repressed emotion. “If you have a drop of family loyalty in those ice-water veins of yours, brother, you’ll cut your ties back East and stay here.”
    With the words still echoing in his mind, Beau realized this wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment idea; on the contrary, his brother had clearly given it a lot of thought before proposing it. He started to tell Will that all his arguments had failed to change his mind. Then Beau met that riveting gaze and felt his brother’s attempt to impose his will on him. He had always known that Will had been chiseled from the Texas Caprock in Bull’s image, but the resemblance was more than a surface one. Will had a stubborn streak every bit as wide as their father’s. Once he sank his teeth into an idea, he didn’t let go of it.
    Knowing it would likely be futile, Beau tried one last time to make his position clear. “Look, Will, I’m sorry