Chapter 4
Adam drove into the yard just as Alyssa, Beau, and Rachel pulled up in Alyssa’s Equinox. Beau had an armful of clothes when he stepped out of the SUV.
“Hey, Adam, how did the breakfast meeting go?” Beau asked.
“It went well.” He walked over to the SUV and took some of the photography equipment from Rachel. “Let me give you a hand. Did you get some good shots?”
Beau groaned. “Good lord, I hope so. I’ve never had so many pictures taken of me in my life. My face is aching from smiling, and I’m so tired of changing clothes, I may sleep in these tonight.”
Rachel rolled her eyes at Beau, then turned to him to answer his question. “I think I’ve got something that will work. You’re welcome to join us in the viewing. They are raw, but the plan is to pick out the best ones for me to process.”
“Well I’m not a great judge—”
Beau interrupted. “That’s a great idea, it would help to have a second male opinion. And someone who wasn’t part of the shoot. While she sets it up you can fill me in on the breakfast and whatever else you’ve been doing, while I’ve been changing clothes and smiling.”
“I suppose I can do that. I’m caught up with everything for a while and I’ve no planned calls scheduled for today.” Adam relented, he thought he caught a note of desperation in Beau’s tone. He wasn’t sure he wanted to look at all those pictures, but maybe that’s why Beau wanted him to join them, to have someone to commiserate with. He didn’t plan to give his opinion though, he didn’t want to offend Rachel if they were mediocre.
While Rachel set up the pictures to display on the big screen TV, Adam filled Beau in on the rancher’s meeting he’d gone to. How everyone’s calving season had gone. When they were planning to ship the cattle to market. The illegal beaver trapping update and other cattle ranch issues.
After he was finished with all the news Adam said, “I asked them if they’d seen that darn drone, but no one else has seen anything. They all said they would keep their eyes open and let us know if they encountered it.”
Beau shook his head. “I really thought one of the other ranches would have run into it. What do you think it means that it’s just us?”
“I have no idea. We don’t have any enemies that I’m aware of anyway. We’ve got nothing so special someone would need to be spying. Maybe it’s just kids, or someone who can’t control their drone, over in the National Forrest or in one of the houses on the main road.”
“You don’t think Nate would be behind it, do you?” Beau asked, referring to the man who had been harassing their sister for the last four years. She’d finally just told them about it a few weeks ago.
“No, the first time Lloyd and Kent spotted it was before Alyssa and Emma went to town and Emma got the restraining order. So, it really doesn’t make sense. I don’t think Nate’s got the cash to buy one or the patience to fly one.”
Beau nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right, plus it’s never been around her, always out in the pasture.”
“Exactly, if it was directed at Emma it would be around the house,” Adam said. “We’ll just have to keep our eyes open and see if we can figure out what it’s doing.”
Rachel said, “Show time.”
Alyssa clapped her hands. “I’m so excited.”
Beau grimaced. “I hate looking at pictures of me.”
Adam laughed and punched his brother in the arm. “Then just look at Alyssa.”
“That would make it better, but not doing it at all would be best.”
“Man up, brother. It’s all part of the process.” They took a seat on the couch as Rachel brought up the formal pictures they’d taken in the house.
Rachel fidgeted, was she nervous? He supposed that might be a normal reaction for her to have to show off her work. But she needn’t worry, they weren’t art critics and they were prepared to be supportive, at least he was. “Now don’t forget these are raw, they’ll look better after I process them. We are just looking to pick out the best. Let’s think about picking at least one with each setting.”
Adam was surprised at the quality of the photos, they looked totally professional. He honestly did not see what she needed to process. But Beau and Alyssa looked a little stiff, like they were being tortured. Still, some of them were nice. Some of them were so similar he didn’t see the difference. But Alyssa and Rachel seemed to, as they went through each one. At first, they tried to get input from Beau and himself, but after the girls realized they weren’t going to say much they whizzed through the pictures, with a definitive no or maybe. Once they got the first scene down to a few maybes they put them up side by side and selected the best ones.
He and Beau did manage to weigh in on the final selections for each setting, at least a little. Sometimes the girls agreed with them and sometimes they did not. After one time the girls completely ignored their opinion Adam looked at Beau who shrugged. Adam was actually relieved that they weren’t that much of the process, since all that mattered was that Alyssa was happy.
They went through scene after scene and Adam could understand why Beau had been complaining about changing clothes so much, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have killed someone if it had been him getting the pictures taken. These girls were thorough. Still he just didn’t see anything that really stood out for him, he supposed any of them would do.
When they finished with the pictures that had been taken by the river Beau sighed. “That’s it then.”
Rachel shook her head. “There’s one more set.”
Alyssa frowned. “No there isn’t, the river was the last—”
Rachel clicked into the pictures with Dolly. Alyssa smiled. “Oh Dolly, but we weren’t going to use…”
Rachel clicked through a few more pictures of the two of them mugging with the cow.
Alyssa grinned. “They’re the best of the whole bunch.”
Rachel beamed. “Yes, they are, you two finally relaxed and you look so joyful posing with Dolly.”
Adam had to admit she was right. They looked so at ease and happy in the pictures with Dolly. Rachel clicked forward again.
“Aww, look at that one.” Alyssa sighed.
Adam was certain they had found the winner. Beau was on one side of Dolly with Alyssa on the other and they had leaned over the cow for a kiss. Dolly looked like she had a smile on her face.
Beau laughed. “She looks rather proud of herself, doesn’t she? Dolly, the matchmaking heifer.”
Alyssa laughed too, but hers was a little watery sounding. “I think that’s the one.”
Rachel nodded. “That’s what I thought, too.”
Alyssa folded her arms. “Then why didn’t you start with that one?”
“Because you’ll want some of the others as well and I wanted you to look at them all without bias.”
Adam smiled inwardly. The woman was pretty clever, if she’d started at the end no one would have wanted to sit through all the others to select the best one. And she was right they would want some of the ones without the bovine for various things, like the newspaper announcement for one.
Alyssa huffed. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Of course, I am, I know you, Alyssa.”
Adam found the exchange between the women highly interesting as well as amusing. Rachel didn’t back down, but she was subtle about it. The next few months with both of them in the house might be highly entertaining.
Rachel was happy with the decisions they’d made. She’d been surprised by Adam’s attitude, he’d been very complimentary about the pictures she’d taken. He’d also been nice to Alyssa and Beau about the wedding. Maybe, just maybe, he was getting over himself and his judgmental attitude.
She cleaned up her stuff from the viewing area and then took down the screens she’d used. She definitely wanted to process one of the pictures with the green screen in case they wanted to put it on something without having to pull their images out of a picture. It was so much easier with the green screen. S
he folded up her light boxes and put them in their carrying cases. It was going to take her a few trips to her room to get it all in there. But she didn’t mind, it was all part of the job and she was feeling exhilarated from the success of the shoot. Some day—when she had some extra money—she should probably purchase some kind of cart or collapsible hand truck. She didn’t use all her equipment on the same day too often, so it wasn’t much of a priority, but today it would have been handy.
She finished packing up the last of her things and started gathering up her first load when Adam pulled a little flat bed hand truck into the room. “Good you’re still here. I had to clean this up a bit to bring into the house, but I thought you could use it while you’re here and need to drag around a bunch of equipment.”
Rachel just stared at the man. He was being nice, and it was starting to freak her out a little. He shifted from foot to foot and his shoulders looked tense, she realized she hadn’t answered him. “Thanks, that’s very thoughtful of you. I was kind of dreading hauling all this to my room.”
His shoulders relaxed, and he smiled. That smile was a killer, out in the yard had been bad enough, but up close and personal it was just plain deadly. Lust shot through her and pooled in her belly. She fumbled with the cases she was holding and tried to keep him from noticing her reaction to his smile. Piling her equipment on the platform gave her an excuse not to look at him and if she got it all loaded quickly she could get away from him to take it all to her room. She needed to put some space between them—with a quickness—before she did something foolish. After all, he had some weird hang-up about age and he was two years older than Beau, that made them nine years apart. He would certainly think she was an idiot if she acted on her impulses.
Once she got it all loaded she half turned towards him and said breezily, “Thanks for the loan of the hand truck, it will come in very handy.” Then she practically bolted from the room.
She heard him say, “You’re welcome.” But she didn’t turn back to look at him, she needed distance from the hot man with the killer smile, who had started being nice for some strange reason. It was much easier to ignore his good looks when he was being a jerk.
Chapter 5
Rachel had the next day all to herself. She took some landscapes in the morning—when the light was the best—then planned to spend all afternoon working on processing the pictures she had taken the day before. Alyssa was working on the final report for her internship that had to be turned in this week. Beau also had to write up his experience and evaluation of her as an intern. So, everyone was busy working on their computers. Her new desk was supposed to arrive today, she thought, and it couldn’t come too soon. The little writing desk was just too cramped. She still loved it, but not as a work surface. She needed more space. Adam had been right about it not really working for her—not that she wanted to admit that—but it didn’t make it less true.
After working on the photos for about four hours—on the tiny desk—she needed a break. She grabbed her camera bag and set out to find a distraction. Hopefully she would have the new desk to work on tomorrow.
She heard Tony laugh and decided to follow that sound. He was in the kitchen where he and Meg were making chocolate chip cookies. He stood on a chair next to the island counter and he was covered in flour. Meg had a fair amount on her too, and Rachel wondered what had happened.
“Mind if I watch?” she asked, as she took her camera out of the bag and adjusted it to take indoor pictures with no flash. It was bright in the kitchen with sunlight coming in the windows, so she would get some images, probably not as good as she would have gotten with the flash, but Tony might be distracted by the light and she didn’t want to cause another flour explosion.
Meg smiled. “Sure. We’re making cookies.”
“It looks like a flour tornado went through.”
Meg barked out a laugh and nodded. “Yes, one did.”
Tony yelled, “It was me. I was the toe-nado. Flour got everywhere.” His gleeful expression changed. “Mama is not going to be happy.” He shook his head sadly.
“We’ll get it all cleaned up before your mother comes home. Don’t you worry.” Meg patted his arm.
“Okay, Nana. Is it time to put in the chocolate chips?”
Meg smiled at the little boy. “Almost time, just a little more stirring first.”
Rachel took some pictures of the process and the mess. Tony’s eyes lit up when it was time to pour in the chocolate chips. Once the bag was open he took out a small handful and put them in his mouth, then poured the rest into the dough.
He chewed up his candy and then grinned at Rachel with a chocolaty smile. “The cookie maker always has to eat a few chips. To make sure they are good for the cookies.”
“Do they now?” she said as she snapped a few pictures of the boy.
He nodded and then said dramatically, “But now we have to wait forever while the cookies bake.”
Meg laughed. “Nine minutes is not forever, Tony.”
“I know, Nana. But it seems like forever.”
Rachel had to agree with that. Waiting for cookies to bake and be cool enough to eat, did seem like forever sometimes.
“Did you take my picture, Rachel?” He asked.
“Yes, do you mind?”
“No, but you can’t show mama, ‘cause she’ll see the toe-nado mess.” Tony drew pictures with his finger in the flour coating the counter.
“Don’t you ever make cookies with your mama?” she asked.
“Yes, but mama doesn’t let me help as much. I just do the chocolate with her. Not the flour.” He hopped down from his chair and raced around the room.
Rachel looked at the kitchen disaster then back at Meg. As Tony ran around and around the kitchen island, flour flew off of him leaving the air murky. Rachel decided Emma was the wiser of the two. Then again, she knew grandmothers always let their grandchildren get away with more than their children ever did. And she figured that is exactly how it should be.
Adam stopped dead in his tracks when he found Rachel, Tony, and his mother eating chocolate chip cookies in a room that appeared to have had a flour bomb go off in it. Tony was nearly covered from head to toe except for the chocolate all over his mouth and hands. His mom had some on her clothes and in her hair. Rachel only had a little on one knee and an elbow, apparently, she’d come in after the explosion.
He walked into the room. “So, I smelled chocolate chip cookies clear out in the barn, and thought I better come investigate. Tony, did you help Nana make cookies?’
“I did. I helped with the flour and the chocolate,” his nephew crowed.
Adam enjoyed the little boy’s pride in helping his grandmother. “I never would have guessed. Do I get to taste one?”
Tony nodded excitedly. “Yes, uncle A, you can have one.”
Rachel looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Uncle A?”
He shrugged. “I’m uncle A, Beau is uncle B and Drew is uncle D. For Cade and Chase, he has to use their names, two uncle C’s wouldn’t work.”
“I guess uncle C1 and C2 would be kind of weird and they might fight over who was one and who was two.” Rachel laughed, and the sound slid through Adam making goosebumps break out on his whole body.
He gritted his teeth and nodded. He didn’t want to have that kind of reaction to this woman. She was too young for the likes of him. Hell, he thought Alyssa was too young for Beau. The girls were the same age and he was two years older than his brother. That was just wrong. He frowned and ordered his body to get under control, took a cookie and ate it, to give him a minute to collect himself.
When he was finished he turned and spoke sharply to Rachel. “I came in because the delivery people called to say they would be here in fifteen minutes with your new desk. Do you know where you want it or need to move anything?”
Rachel raised an eyebrow at him, probably wondering about his change in attitude. Well she would just have to wonder, he was going to start treating her like a child t
o remind himself to keep back.
“I have the space cleared, so it can be delivered with no problems.”
“Good. If you all can stay here in the kitchen, I’ll have them bring it in through the front door.” Rachel started to stand. “You too, Rachel. Unless you think I can’t tell where the desk should go.”
“No, it’s obvious. I just thought—”
He cut her off. “I’ve got it. The less people underfoot the better.”
She flinched and folded her arms. “Fine.”
Now he’d pissed her off, any time a woman said “fine” in that tone of voice it was anything but. He decided that was a good thing though. If she was ticked at him maybe she wouldn’t go around laughing all the time.
Rachel watched the man walk out of the room. Did he really say I would get underfoot? Like I’m five, and don’t know how to get out of the way? She honestly could not believe he’d said that. Underfoot? Really?
“I must admit that was weird,” Meg said turning her gaze back to Rachel. Rachel realized she must have spoken out loud.
She was just so shocked. He’d seemed pleasant enough when he walked in, but then he’d gotten nasty again. She supposed he’d used up his allotted quota of niceness yesterday.
Meg shook her head. “I know I’m his mother and I should be on his side, but I don’t think I would let him get away with treating me that way. If I was you.”
Rachel turned her head slowly to Meg, weighing her options and Meg’s opinion. “You know, I think you’re right. It’s my room, and I have a vested interest in the delivery, not Mr. Imperious.”
Taming Adam_Burlap and Barbed Wire Page 3