by Cora Seton
Her gaze shifted to Evan and he nodded back at her. He wasn’t a bad man either, was he?
Too bad they couldn’t both win.
She returned her focus to the course ahead and guided Thunder toward the third obstacle, the random jumble of logs and stones. With Bella breathing deeply and remaining calm, Thunder stepped through the course with ease.
“One point,” Madelyn said. She sounded disappointed.
Bella grasped the reins with more confidence now and urged the stallion toward the man-made ditch. She didn’t like the look of it, but she let her resistance go and trusted Thunder to get her safely through. In a flash they were down and up out of the obstacle again. Bella smiled. They’d done it!
“Two points.”
Only one obstacle ahead, a jump so tiny it barely deserved the name. She’d done jumps like this as a child, before she’d become afraid of horses. Still her heart beat hard in her chest as Thunder wheeled around to face it. As he started to pace toward it, building speed into a trot, Bella tightened her grip and fought for the same faith she’d shown during the last obstacle.
She had just managed to let go of her fear and put her trust in Thunder when a sound like a shot rang out through the air. Startled, Bella shrieked, and Thunder’s pace hitched beneath her. He stumbled, recovered, jerked right.
Reared up in terror.
* * * * *
Helpless.
He was absolutely helpless to stop the disaster unfolding before his eyes. Why hadn’t he stopped Bella from getting on that stallion? Why had he even played this stupid game? Because he didn’t know how to love someone enough to find a wife the normal way?
Because he’d been too scared to love a woman?
Well, now he loved a woman. And as he watched that woman cling desperately to the rearing stallion, he knew he was going to lose his chance for a real marriage. A good marriage.
His chance for any happiness at all.
What was money, success, winning—control—compared to the love of the woman who was just about to fall and be trampled to death while he watched? Why hadn’t he told her he’d save her animals if he won?
Why hadn’t he lost and let her go?
He would never forgive himself if Bella died for his stupidity. Never forgive himself if he lost the woman he loved just as he found himself capable of loving at all.
“Bella!”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
She was ten again, standing outside a corral, her mother pleading with her to just touch the mare. Just give her a pat.
“Sylvie!” Her father’s voice boomed from across the yard. “Sylvie, what are you doing?”
“She’s got to ride again, Walter. Otherwise she’ll always be scared.”
“Get her away from there! She’s got no business around horses. Bella, get into the house!”
Shame suffused her at the anger in his tone.
“Walter!”
“I can’t afford to lose her, don’t you understand that? She’s the only one I’ve got.”
Something clicked in her mind. Bella opened her eyes. I can’t afford to lose her. She’s the only one I’ve got.
He hadn’t meant the mare. He had plenty of mares. He’d meant his daughter.
He’d meant her.
Thud!
The jolt of Thunder’s landing threw her forward and Bella grabbed for his mane instinctively, opening her eyes to find the ground solidly beneath his feet. He shuffled to one side, still anxious, but as she held her breath he calmed down and came to a halt.
She’d stayed on the horse. She was alive. And she was loved, too. Her father loved her.
“Bella!”
She looked back and saw Evan reach the fence, throw himself up to grab the top rung and scramble to climb over into the corral.
Thunder shook his mane and ducked his head. She’d swear he was embarrassed by his bad behavior. Dazed, Bella slid off his back, nearly falling to her knees when her feet touched the ground.
Thunder whickered behind her. Pushed her with his large muzzle, once, twice.
He’s sorry, she realized. He’s apologizing.
“It’s not your fault,” she whispered to him. She caught his head in her hands and stroked his neck. “Someone scared you.” Fear made people and animals do all kinds of awful things.
Evan and the rest of the crew raced up to mob her, their cries ringing in her ears.
“Bella! God, I thought I’d lost you!” Evan swung her into his arms, gripping her like he’d never let go.
“I wasn’t sure I’d make it,” she said, her voice unsteady. “I thought…”
“I know. Shh.” He pulled her even closer, and kissed her forehead.
“All right, all right, enough of that,” Madelyn said, elbowing her way through the crowd that had gathered around them.
Evan let go of Bella and swung around to face her. “I can’t believe you did that! You could have killed her!”
“What I did?” Madelyn faced him down. “I didn’t do anything. One of the caterers tipped over a cart of trays carrying the crew members’ lunch. Purely accidental.”
Evan opened his mouth. Closed it.
Bella shut her eyes, wanting nothing more than this contest to be over. She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her family. “We have one more challenge, right? Let’s just finish this.”
Evan let out a breath. “Fine. An accident. But no more games. No more hiking, either. You drive us to wherever it is we’re going. You got that? And feed us a decent lunch first.”
“Okay,” Madelyn drew out the word to make it clear she thought he was over-dramatizing the whole affair, and flounced away, shouting orders at the crew. Soon Bella was seated in a folding chair, a tin of lasagna perched on her lap and a sugary soda in her hand.
“For the shock,” Ellis said when she initially demurred. “It’ll help. Trust me.”
“Are you okay?” Evan asked, taking a bite of his lunch. His gaze never left her, and she remembered the way he’d pulled her into his arms. How tightly he’d held her.
Evan cared for her, she realized. Really cared. She thought back to his earlier words; that he didn’t want just any wife, he wanted her. This wasn’t just about winning anymore for him. This was about winning her.
Did he really think the only way to get to know her was to win her hand in marriage for a year? Was he that insecure?
She peered at him from under her lashes. He was handsome, wealthy, powerful. She’d assumed he was egotistical, predatory and ruthless, too, but he wasn’t, was he? He kept helping her whenever she had trouble. Although the trick he pulled last night was pretty predatory.
The trick he pulled to try to win another three hundred and sixty-five nights with me.
“I think so,” she said. And for the first time in years, she thought it just might be true.
* * * * *
“Our two contestants are tied at 32 points apiece,” Jake Cramer said in his oily television announcer voice. “After a thrilling morning, the entire contest comes down to this final challenge. Bella, Evan, whoever comes out the victor will win the entire show!”
“Can’t wait,” Evan said unenthusiastically.
“Whoo,” Bella said.
Evan expected Madelyn to yell, “Cut!” and take all of them to task for their poor showing, but she just nodded.
“Get on with it.”
“Your final challenge is a simple treasure hunt,” Jake said. “Behind me you’ll see some thick woods, the perfect hiding place for wild animals. And wild animals are what you’ll need to find—stuffed wild animals, of course.” He handed them each a stack of laminated cards showing photos of various animals that apparently might inhabit a northern forest—cougars, moose, brown bears, grizzly bears, and foxes. “Each of you will conduct your search in a fenced off patch of forest. You have twenty minutes to find your animals and carry them to the finish line, marked an equal distance from your hunting grounds. The first to reach the finish line with all ten a
nimals wins!”
Twenty minutes and this would all be over. Bella would either be his to wed or his to woo. Either way, he knew he would build his life around her. He hoped she knew it, too.
As he followed a crew member to his starting position, he looked over to where Bella walked toward hers.
“Bella—even if you lose, you’ll win. I promise!” he called out.
Jerking toward him, Bella shot him a look he couldn’t decipher, and Evan knew with a jolt of fear she’d misinterpreted what he’d said.
“I mean…” he tried again, but Madelyn stepped in front of him.
“You aren’t trying to rig this contest, are you, Mr. Mortimer? Because the contract you signed has some things to say about that.”
Thwarted, Evan let the words he longed to say to Bella remain unspoken. He’d made himself clear earlier, hadn’t he? She must know he meant to help her no matter what happened. “No, I’m not,” he said to Madelyn.
“Good. Get ready.” She nodded to Jake Cramer.
“Twenty minutes from now, we’ll know who is going to win Can You Beat a Billionaire. Bella, will you take home five million dollars and save your veterinary practice and animal shelter? Or Evan, will you take home a new, blushing bride?”
Evan flashed a last look over at Bella, and took in her determined expression. She meant to win the contest. She’d take the money and she’d leave this nightmare behind. Would she associate him with the whole debacle? Would she even want to see him again afterward?
No.
Probably not. He’d hit on her, slept with her while cameras were rolling, left her in the lurch just when she opened up to him, and kept putting his own needs ahead of hers. The only shot he had was to win fair and square and afterwards open a chain of clinics and animal shelters to make up for it.
He braced himself, his laminated cards in his hand, ready to run for it the moment Jake gave the signal.
“Ready?” Jake said. “Set. Go!”
* * * * *
So she’d win even if she lost, would she? That was all fine and dandy because she didn’t plan to lose no matter how much she liked the man. No matter how much she lusted after him. It might be nice to be Mrs. Evan Mortimer, but not like that.
In fact, she felt grateful for his poor choice of words because it yanked her right back to the present moment and the goal she’d come on this show to achieve. As much as she wanted to be with Evan, as much as she hoped they would find a way to be together after the show, no way in hell would she throw the contest. She didn’t want to be a billionaire’s wife.
She wanted to be a millionaire.
She couldn’t save every animal, she knew that now, and she no longer wished to drive herself insane trying. Instead, she planned to make good decisions and ask for help. She would start by building a better animal shelter. Perhaps she’d extend her care to larger animals, too. And she knew the perfect person to help run a ranch for old or injured horses. Someone who’d wanted to expand his spread back to its original size for a long, long time.
Besides, if she and Evan were to have a future, it had to be as equals; two adults coming to a relationship because they both wanted to be there. No games. Neither of them holding power over the other. Five days wasn’t enough to prepare for a life together, and when she got married she wanted it to be for good.
She tensed, waiting for Jake’s signal, and when it came, she raced into her hunting grounds and got to work searching for animals.
She found the grizzly bear right away, tucked behind a cedar. A few minutes later, she located the moose in a clump of bushes. The rest of the animals remained hidden, however, and as the seconds ticked by, she began to panic a little.
She decided she needed a more methodical approach. Quickly moving to one end of the enclosed square, she began walking swiftly back and forth across it, covering every inch of ground. She found the black bear several minutes later, but it wasn’t until she’d nearly searched the whole space that the fox turned up.
That left the cougar. She didn’t have a watch, but she knew her twenty minutes must be nearly up. As tension tightened her shoulders, she returned to the search, quickly covering the rest of the ground. She couldn’t find the last stuffed animal. Her panic surging, she moved to cover the ground a second time, knowing she couldn’t possibly search it all again in the allotted time.
Damn it, where was that animal?
Desperately raising her eyes to the heavens in a plea for help, she spotted the answer.
The cougar rested in a notch of a pine tree.
Fifteen feet off the ground.
Bella began to laugh. Not the hysterical kind of laughter that quickly turned to desperate sobs. No, this was laughter, pure and simple.
Madelyn might know her well enough to realize stallions scared her to death, but the director hadn’t done her homework as thoroughly as she thought.
She obviously had no idea how many kittens Bella had rescued from trees.
* * * * *
For once Evan had to concede that maybe the game wasn’t stacked in his favor, because he was having a hell of a time finding those damn animals.
Or maybe it felt like it was taking forever because the end to this whole darn show was so close.
Every time his mind wandered he saw Bella in a fairy-tale wedding dress, saw himself putting a ring on her finger.
Then pictured the two of them going to bed to celebrate their wedding night.
Pushing that highly distracting thought from his mind, he concentrated again on finding his remaining two animals. He had the cougar, the black bear and the fox, but the moose and the grizzly remained hidden somewhere in this tangled mess.
It wasn’t until he decided to climb a tree and look down at the forest floor from above that he spotted the moose set high in the crotch of a cedar. Scrambling up to get it, he quickly noticed the dark lump in another tree that heralded the grizzly.
Mentally kicking himself for not thinking to look up sooner, he retrieved both animals and made a dash for the enclosure entrance. He bolted through it, head down, ready to make the final run for the finish line, when something crashed into him and spun away.
Bella!
He took in the scene in an instant; Bella’s arms full of stuffed animals, Jake standing far off just visible at the finish line, Madelyn and Ellis arguing off to one side, the path they had to race along the dirt bank of a swift-running stream. He had no doubt it all made for great television. Tangled forest behind them, rushing water beside them. Ahead of them, sunshine and the finish line.
Bella glanced back at him and ran faster. Evan raced after her, determined to win.
Their pounding course brought them alongside the river, and he had a crazy, half-hysterical thought that maybe she’d push him in. The water wasn’t wide, but the current looked powerful. Better keep his footing, and keep an eye on Bella.
Bella who was ten feet in front of him.
Bella who was going to win if he didn’t get a move on.
Evan redoubled his efforts and in a second his longer legs brought him even with her. Another few steps and he took the lead.
“Damn it!” she swore and the pounding of her footsteps behind him told him she was doing her best to catch up again.
But just as he put on a burst of speed, he heard Madelyn shout as she grabbed something from Ellis and hurled it into the middle of the path.
* * * * *
Bella raced after Evan, her lungs bursting, her chest heaving for all she was worth to get more air. He was pulling ahead, edging forward, stretching the boundary between her and victory until it pulled taut.
Digging deep inside herself for her last shred of strength, she lowered her head and charged. Beside them roared a narrow torrent of water, and ahead lay Jake Cramer and victory.
Just as she threw herself into a flat-out run, moving faster than she’d ever dreamed she could, Madelyn grabbed a small, dark shape from Ellis’s arms and shouted something:
Pol
ice the creatures?
Excuse the killers?
The raging torrent beside her made it too hard to hear. She didn’t slow for an instant, however, not until a fluffy ball of fur landed in the dirt in front of them, streaked out across the track, and Evan stumbled, nearly hurtling himself to the ground.
Bella raced forward, unwilling to give her opponent an inch no matter what the circumstances. She was drawing even. She was pulling ahead!
Madelyn’s shouted words filtered through her subconscious:
RELEASE THE KITTEN!
The kitten who even now streaked toward the raging stream beside her. The kitten who was about to plunge over the bank to a watery death.
Save the kitten, or win five million dollars?
She dove for the black ball of fur even as the thought crossed her mind.
* * * * *
What the hell?
A kitten—a black ball of fluff no bigger than his hand—made a beeline across his path toward the foaming torrent beside them, and in an instant Evan knew exactly what would happen next.
Bella would dive for the kitten and save it. He would cross the finish line and win the show. He would have her hand in marriage for one year.
And for three hundred and sixty-five days Bella would hate his guts because once again his priorities betrayed his selfishness.
He didn’t stop to think what he might be giving up. For the first time in his life, he thought only of someone else. Diving for the kitten, he scooped it up before Bella could even reach it, and in a feat worthy of a pro-sports greatest hits reel he scooped up Bella in his other hand and hurled her toward the finish line.
She landed with a thud in front of Jake Cramer, flinging her arms out to stop herself from rolling into him.
“We have a winner!” Jake crowed and reached down to haul Bella to her feet.
Evan sat in the dirt, raised the kitten to his face, and stroked his cheek against its soft fur.
The kitten licked his nose.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Seriously? You’re still living in your trailer?” Rose Bellingham asked, leaning against the reception counter of the Chance Creek Pet Clinic.