Zeke reached out to steady her, his hand brushing against her arm a tiny bit. A flash of electricity shot up through her shoulder and into the back of her neck sending chills all over her body. Sophie had to fight to keep from showing her reaction.
“It’s stunning,” she admitted, talking almost as much about her reaction to him as the view, though she would never tell him as much.
“That view is why I chose this house.” He glanced around the small living room. “Tor offered me one of the newer houses. Or I could’ve lived in the main bunkhouse—there won’t be anyone living in it over the winter, once he lets the seasonal help go. I wouldn’t have minded staying up there with the rest of the guys, but this view? It called to me.”
Sophie fixated on one word in that sentence. “Tor? Tor Edwards? The billionaire who tried to block us from filming in Necessity?”
Zeke laughed. “Yeah, but we voted him down. Tor’s a good guy—he really was trying to do what he thought was best for Necessity. Talked a lot about the kind of damage that a film crew could do to a town.” He looked thoughtful. “Of course, given what happened at The Chargrill today, I guess he wasn’t wrong.”
As Sophie narrowed her eyes at him, he spoke over any objection she might have. “Anyway, he’s who I called for help. I don’t have anything that might come close to being formalwear, so Tor is going to let me borrow something of his. We’ re supposed to go up to the big house. He’s going to have one of the guys drive you back to your hotel, too, if that’s okay with you. I could meet you there.”
She nodded distractedly. Other than a few actors, none of the billionaires Sophie had met in her time in Hollywood would be able to trade clothes with someone who had a physique like Zeke’s.
This I have to see.
Chapter Seven
Tor Edwards, billionaire owner of the Rocking Bar T Ranch, Zeke’s boss, and Colton’s second—or maybe third?—cousin, answered the door of the main ranch house. He was still dressed in the jeans and denim shirt he wore as his daily work clothes, and for the first time in years, Zeke tried to imagine how the boy he’d grown up with might look to outsiders expecting a more traditional billionaire.
He looks like a cowboy, he decided with a mental shrug. Just like the rest of us.
It was no wonder his girlfriend Leta mistook him for a ranch hand the first time she met him.
“Hey, boss,” Zeke said, placing one hand on the small of Sophie’s back and trying to remember what his grandmother had taught him about the correct order to introduce people. He knew Tor wouldn’t be offended if he got it wrong, but for the first time in his life, he really wanted to do everything just right. “This is Sophie Daniels. Sophie, this is my boss, Tor Edwards.”
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Daniels. Come on in, y’all. Leta’s in the living room.”
“Please, call me Sophie,” she said as Tor opened the door wider and stood back to allow them past.
And that took care of hurdle one—introducing her to Tor.
Luckily, Leta was not in the living room, after all. She had stepped up behind Tor and was introducing herself to Sophie.
“Thanks for helping out with this, man,” Zeke said, sticking his hand out to clasp Tor’s in a brief handshake and nodding firmly.
“No problem. Anytime.” Tor paused for a second, then tilted his head to one side and squinted a little at Zeke. “You told Mac about this yet?”
“Nah. He and Clara are on their honeymoon. Didn’t want to disturb him.”
“Mac is Zeke’s cousin, and—I think—used to do some work for Tor around the ranch,” Leta explained.
“Before Mac moved into the oil business, yeah,” Tor confirmed, shutting the door behind them.
“That’s one thing it’s taken me some time to get used to,” Leta said, ushering Sophie toward the large, open living area. “Everyone in Necessity is connected in some way, and everyone always knows what’s going on with everyone else.”
Sophie’s responding chuckle was lovely, but had reverted to what Zeke mentally dubbed her “actress laugh.”
“I deal with that a lot in Hollywood,” she replied.
“Oh, of course you do,” Leta said. “I guess it’s not that different from a small town in a lot of ways, is it?”
“Not at all.” Zeke and Sophie took seats on one of the long, brown leather couches—on the same side, but far enough apart so they weren’t touching.
Just a fake date, he reminded himself.
Tor disappeared long enough to bring everyone a glass of sweet tea, but Sophie put hers down on a coffee table after what Zeke suspected wasn’t actually a sip. He’d seen the full glass she’d left behind at his place.
More of her acting skills on quiet display, maybe?
“Based on my talk earlier with Zeke, I went ahead and made some arrangements for tonight. I hope you’ll let me know if they work for you, Sophie?”
“Of course,” she murmured.
Tor sat down next to Leta, taking one of her hands in both of his and absentmindedly caressing it with his thumb as he leaned forward to speak. “Colton is headed up here as soon as he’s done on the scene at The Chargrill. I figure he’s up here so much that no one would think anything of it, so he’ll drive Sophie back to her hotel.”
Sophie and Zeke both nodded their agreement, and Tor continued. “And then I placed a few phone calls. Leta and I had declined our invitation to the Cattlemen’s Ball originally, but we decided we’d like to go. Maybe we could all ride up there together, if it’s okay with you?”
Zeke hoped his sigh of relief wasn’t audible. He hadn’t mentioned it to Tor, but the thought of taking Sophie Daniels to a charity ball in his work truck—his only mode of transportation—had been a niggling worry at the back of his mind. He’d been trying to figure out how to ask her if she had a car service. Now he wouldn’t have to.
Sophie looked more surprised than pleased. “Are you certain you want to disrupt your plans like that?”
“It was actually my suggestion,” Leta interjected. “I thought it might take some of the media heat off you to have us there—Tor hasn’t made many public appearances since we started seeing each other, so.…” Her voice trailed off and she waved one hand, inviting them to finish the thought.
Sophie nodded consideringly. “You might be right. Okay. That sounds like a plan.”
Tor’s phone buzzed right then, so he pulled it out of his pocket and checked it. “Colton says he’s on his way. If it’s okay with you ladies, I will take Zeke back to see what we can do about a suit. Maria is coming up to do any alterations we might need,” he added to Leta, who nodded.
“We’ll be fine out here,” she reassured him, and Sophie smiled.
Zeke allowed himself to be led off, feeling a bit like he’d been swept up in a Texas twister and dropped in some alternate reality.
* * *
“You’re seriously going on a date with Sophie Daniels?” Tor hissed at his employee as he led Zeke to a back room of the main house—a complete reversal from the calm, in-control billionaire Zeke had just witnessed in the living room.
This was the guy who’d played baseball on the Necessity Niners Little League team with Zeke and Colton.
The one Zeke had no problem correcting. “No. She needs someone to go to some charity thing with her. I was available. That’s all it is.”
“You think Sophie Daniels can’t get a date?” Tor snickered. It was a good thing the two men had worked together mending fences and herding cattle—maybe even better that they had known each other all their lives and Zeke was well aware that smartassery ran in the family. Otherwise, Zeke might not have been able to avoid tackling his boss in the hallway. As it was, he knew not to take Tor’s ribbing too seriously.
Instead, closing his eyes for a second, Zeke raised his face and hands toward the ceiling, as if imploring a distant deity to hear his prayer. “Why won’t anyone listen to me about this? She needs help. There’ve
been all kinds of new stories about her and her breakup with that musician guy. Showing up at a charity event with some no-name nobody will shift their attention.”
Tor’s face grew serious. “Are you sure you want to do that? The press can be pretty unrelenting.”
Zeke shrugged. “It’s just one night. Hell, part of a night. One party. I don’t think it’ll take them very long to move on to something else.” He cut his eyes toward Tor. “Besides, I live on your land. I remember a time a few years ago when you had this place wired up like a fortress. I’m not too worried about anyone getting at me.”
“True.” Tor cut his hand through the air in a slashing motion. “We can take care of anyone who gets too close. Okay, then, let’s go get you suited up.”
As they entered the master bedroom and headed toward the closet, Tor turned back to ask one more question over his shoulder.
“She’s not planning on wearing that dress to the party, is she?”
* * *
Half an hour later, Zeke checked out his reflection in the mirror, something he didn’t do often.
Not long ago, he would have scoffed at the thought that he’d wear some monkey suit for any reason.
But for a date with Sophie Daniels?
A not-date, he reminded himself.
Whatever it was, he suspected an evening spent in Sophie Daniels’s company was going to be worth getting dressed up for.
“That’ll work,” Tor said. He had called in the wife of one of the seasonal workers he had hired and asked her to do some quick alterations to make sure the tuxedo fit Zeke. He handed her some folded bills as he thanked her and ushered her back out.
“You can take that out of my next paycheck,” Zeke offered.
Tor shook his head. “No. They’re good people. I plan to ask him to stay on after hay-baling season is over. I’m glad to give her work when I can.” He took a step back and looked Zeke up and down critically. “Looks good. But my shoes won’t fit you.”
“I’ll shine up my dress boots. They’re black. They’ll do fine.”
As he continued to stare at himself in the mirror, trying to decide what he thought of his new look, his phone rang. Absently, he answered it.
“You’re going out on a date with Sophie Daniels?” Colton’s incredulous voice echoed across the airwaves.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
Chapter Eight
When Tor Edwards had said he would arrange for their ride up to Dallas, Sophie hadn’t been sure what to expect. On the one hand, the man was a billionaire, so presumably, he could arrange for any kind of transportation he preferred. On the other hand, though the land was well cared for and the main house was nice enough, she’d seen no indication that he indulged in any kind of flashiness. She had half expected him to show up driving a pickup truck—perhaps a bigger version of Zeke’s. So she was delighted to see he had chosen a conventional limousine, complete with driver—a driver who wasn’t also the local Fire Marshal, this time.
When Zeke got out of the limo, her breath caught in her chest. Wearing a tuxedo, rather than his blue jeans, plaid shirt, boots, and hat, seem to give him an added air of—she wasn’t even sure how to put it–being less provincial and more debonair.
For an instant, Sophie wished this could have been a real date.
Most of the way to Dallas, they discussed neutral topics, though Sophie found the subject of cattle ranching suddenly utterly fascinating.
It wasn’t until they had reached the Dallas city limits that Sophie brought up the one topic that had been nagging at her all day.
“Zeke tells me that you changed your stance on Ten-Gallon Texas filming in Necessity.” Sophie leaned forward, her sharp and intent on Tor.
The billionaire rancher laughed easily. “I changed my vote in the town meeting. I never changed my stance,” he said with a smile. “And honestly, I think that this morning’s incident illustrates exactly why I was concerned.”
“But you have to realize that events like today’s are pretty unusual.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she reclined against the leather-upholstered seat, narrowing her eyes as she stared thoughtfully at Tor. “What’s your real reason for wanting to keep us out?”
There had to be more to it. It was clear that Tor Edwards liked and cared about Necessity, but as a general rule, Sophie didn’t know about the kinds of behind-the-scenes deals that went on before her job began when filming did. For her to have learned of Tor’s attempts to keep them out of Necessity, it had been a fairly intense battle.
She glanced at Zeke out of the corner of her eye, concerned that her direct approach to the question she had posed to his boss might be making him nervous. After all, he had stepped in to help her when he didn’t have to—she would hate to cause him any undue anxiety. However, he looked calm—merely interested in the conversation.
The answer hit her out of nowhere, as if she had been working on it subconsciously the whole time—as she probably had. “It’s the press,” she announced.
Tor’s startled expression would have given it away, even if Leta’s delighted laughter hadn’t. “Oh, sweetheart,” she said, “she does have you pegged.”
The billionaire’s girlfriend leaned forward, speaking in an apparently confidential tone to Sophie, but loudly enough for everyone to hear her perfectly well. “He spent the entire week before the meeting figuring out exactly how he would have to upgrade security to make sure that none of the media attention to all of you overflowed to us.”
“You don’t have to give away all of my secrets,” Tor said to Leta, but everything about the way he said it, from his gentle touch on her back to the gleam in his eye to the indulgent smile on his face, belied the words.
Their interactions surprised Sophie. It had been a long time since she had seen a couple interacting in a way that seems so open and loving.
So genuine.
Another glance at Zeke suggested that there was nothing unusual about it, either.
I’ve been in Hollywood too long.
“Did you know about any upgraded security out of the ranch?” she asked Zeke.
His slightly lopsided grin was more than a little sheepish. “Why do you think I took you out there in the first place?”
“But if you hate media attention so much, then why all this?” Sophie waved a hand indicating Zeke’s tuxedo, the limo, Tor’s attendance at the Cattlemen’s Ball with Leta.
This time, Tor and Leta exchanged meaningful looks. Tor held out one hand, palm up, turning the question over to his girlfriend to be answered.
Leta never took her eyes off him as she said, in a voice as full of affection as his response to her had been earlier, “Tor and I have a history with charity balls. They’re still our favorite kind of event.”
“At least you’re not attending this one in your plane, boss,” Zeke broke into the conversation.
The others laughed aloud at this, and Sophie would have asked more questions, had they not pulled up to the Ritz-Carlton at that moment.
Sophie’s stomach tightened. She hadn’t realized how much she had relaxed in the last several hours until the tension came rushing back in. Eileen had called several Dallas media outlets to let them know she would be attending that evening. When Sophie had okayed it, she hadn’t realized she would be attending with Tor and Leta, or that Tor would be so press-averse.
Too late now.
Even as the chauffeur came around to open the door, photographers’ cameras were already flashing, set to take rapid-fire shots of anyone important who might emerge from the car. In this case, it was Tor, a recognizable figure in Dallas society. He handed Leta out of the car and then, rather than escorting her inside immediately, the billionaire took his girlfriend’s hand and stepped aside to give Zeke room to exit, as well.
Although Zeke wasn’t as adept at handing her out of the car as Tor had been with Leta, Sophie was glad for his steadying touch. Yet, as they stood on the
red carpet leading in, Tor leaned over to murmur in Sophie’s ear. “You owe me for not insisting we take the back entrance.”
Sophie’s swift, startled glance was met with a reassuring twinkle in Tor’s eyes, and Sophie found her practiced public smile dissolving into laughter.
This is going to be a good evening.
The four of them swept into the hotel ballroom for what Sophie hoped would be a turning point in her public image.
Chapter Nine
All his life, Zeke had heard about the Cattlemen’s Ball. He had never really been interested in attending—not that he had would’ve thought there was any chance, even if he had wanted to go. And even if he had imagined a night of dancing at the Ritz, it wouldn’t have been under anything like these circumstances.
For one thing, if he’d ever had a fantasy about dating Sophie Daniels, it would not have involved escorting her to a charity ball in Dallas.
This is not a date, he reminded himself yet again. If I can’t remember that, how can I expect anyone else to?
Now was not the time to be thinking of that, however. Right now, he needed to pretend that it was a date. Sophie tucked her hand through his elbow as they entered the ballroom. She smiled for the cameras, and he tried to follow her lead. Luckily, the cameras in here seem to be wielded by photographers employed to photograph the event, rather than news media photographers. A small stage at one end of the ballroom was set up for what Tor had told him would be an auction later in the evening.
Waiters in black carrying trays circled through the room, offering canapés and drinks to the men in tuxedos and the women in ball gowns. When they picked Sophie up, Zeke had been too anxious to notice much about what she wore under her wrap, other than noticing the quick flash of silver in the dress. Now he could see that it was a stunning silver blue that brought out the sparkle in her brown eyes and the gleaming chestnut highlights her hair.
Saving Necessity Page 3