“Got some in the store,” Sam announced. He went inside and immediately returned with a pair to fit Danny.
“That store is marvelous, Sam.” Melissa had forgotten her disgruntlement over Russ insisting on the tub pictures. She was seeing her earlier vision come alive before her eyes, and it was just what she wanted.
After Danny had his suspenders in place, everyone else moved back and he got ready to pour the water.
“Russ, please watch Danny and pretend to be washing your arm.”
She had the other boy, whose name turned out to be Tom, to kneel behind Russ and pretend to scrub his back, while Russ looked over his shoulder as if to supervise.
Then she had the three boys and Sam all sit in chairs lining the porch, tipping them back against the wall, with Russ in the foreground.
“I want—Russ, smear some bubbles on your chest.”
The water came just a little above his waist and she wanted some variation, as if he’d scrubbed his chest with the soap bubbles. He frowned and dipped his hand for a few bubbles.
“No, no, I need more bubbles,” she said, frowning. She strode over to the tub and plunged her hand into the warm water, scooping up a lot of bubbles.
Then she rubbed them over his chest.
Suddenly she jerked her hand away. His muscles had tensed under her touch, and she’d liked the feel of them much more than she should have.
She hurriedly took a couple of more pictures, then excused her model. “I think that’s enough of this shot. You can go get dressed.”
Her camera bag was near the tub and she crossed the porch to bend down and get a new roll of film. She heard Russ stirring the water as he got up, but she kept her back to him.
He reached for one of the towels and dripped water on her.
“Hey!” she protested, standing. She was about to protest more when her gaze fell on him—and she got another idea.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“WAIT,” MELISSA CALLED. Russ stopped toweling off his chest and raised one brow.
“I didn’t drip on you on purpose,” he protested.
“It’s not that.” She looked away for a moment, then turned to face him squarely. “I’m going to take advantage of you again. I want to take some more pictures.”
“Right. I know. On horseback.” He kept his gaze pinned on her delicate features.
“No, I want more pictures now.” She stepped over to him and removed the Stetson. “Sam, why don’t you hold your hat until we go to the barn so it won’t get messed up.”
Russ said nothing, waiting for Melissa to explain what she wanted. In the meantime, all he could think about was whether her taking advantage of him meant he could kiss her again. The softness of her lips, her sweetness, even her quick wit, made a kiss so desirable, he couldn’t think of anything else.
Which probably explained why he didn’t realize Melissa was already snapping pictures.
“How will they know I’m a cowboy if I’m not wearing the Stetson?” he asked, giving her a sideways grin to tease her.
The camera clicked again.
“Doesn’t matter,” she muttered. “Wrap the towel around you.”
He looped it around his neck, holding both ends in his hands.
After several snaps of the camera, she gave more directions. “Wrap it around your waist.”
“Ms. Bright, you want women to believe I’m naked beneath this towel?” he asked in mock horror. Before she could answer, however, he did as she asked.
She walked around him, taking pictures from different angles. Then she paused, studying him. When she moved in close, he drew a deep breath, appreciating the scent of her—flowers and a touch of spice. In fact, he was enjoying himself, perfectly relaxed, until her warm fingers slid over his skin, pushing down the towel and swimsuit an inch or two.
“What are you doing?” he demanded as his body tensed at her touch.
“Adding a little suspense to the picture. Women will be wondering if your towel is about to fall off.”
He cocked an eyebrow again. “And this is a good thing?” As he finished his question, she snapped another picture.
“Oh, yes,” she assured him, her voice husky. “Put your eyebrow up again. I like that.”
“I aim to please,” he assured her.
“That’s a first,” Sam informed Melissa. “As a boy he was an ornery cuss.”
“Now, Sam,” Russ protested, “let’s not give away any secrets.”
The boys giggled, covering their mouths with their hands when Russ pretended to glare at them. “Don’t tell me all of you are perfect angels.”
They all nodded, their laughter growing, and Melissa took a picture of them, too. Then she looked at Russ. “You can go clean up. I think I’ll take some more pictures of these guys, if they don’t mind.”
“Ah, training them early to be beefcake models? Okay, but, boys, don’t let her talk you into stripping for her.”
The boys protested, but the loudest protest came from Melissa. “Russ Hall! You know I wouldn’t do that!”
“Just checking,” he assured her with a wink before he strode off in the direction of Sam’s cabin to take a shower.
Maybe another cold one.
Melissa relaxed once Russ left the porch. She posed Sam and the boys for different shots, causing a lot of laughter when she had them make a pyramid by stacking them on their hands and knees. When the pyramid collapsed, the boys rolled around on the grass laughing.
“Hey,” the youngest boy, Danny, called when Mandy shrieked. “Can we make a picture with the baby?”
Until Russ had mentioned pictures with Mandy, Melissa had never considered using her baby as a model. With a shrug, she agreed with the boy’s request.
“Sure. I think she feels left out.”
Each boy had his picture taken holding Mandy. Then Sam wanted his turn. Melissa couldn’t help but think about her little girl growing up an only child, as she had done. Russ might not have had parents around, but he’d had surrogate brothers, as these boys did.
Mandy was enjoying all the attention. When Russ returned, however, she beamed at him and clapped her hands.
“Howdy, Miss Sunshine,” he said, reaching for her.
Mandy grabbed his nose and gurgled with laughter. Melissa couldn’t resist snapping a shot of the two of them. They both turned to look at her, surprise on their faces, and she took another picture.
Russ grinned at her. “You changed your mind about Mandy modeling?”
Melissa smiled. “Why not? She’s cheap labor. All I have to do is keep her supplied with teething biscuits.”
“Hey, have you tried paying these guys with teething biscuits?” he suggested, heading toward the boys.
They all protested. Melissa hurriedly assured them she intended to use real money to pay them for their services. She put down her camera and reached for her camera bag, pulling out her billfold. The boys’ eyes widened as she offered them cash.
* * *
AN HOUR LATER, Russ was once again dressed like a cowboy, Sam’s Stetson on his head. They had moved to the barn for the pictures on horseback.
Sam, having surrendered a happy Mandy to Melissa, came out of the barn leading a large horse. “How about Jack, Melissa? Will he do?”
“He’ll do just fine, if you mean the horse, Sam. Thank you.” She turned to Russ. “Is this horse all right with you?”
“Sure.”
Russ crossed over to Sam and took the reins from him. Then he stepped into the stirrup and swung himself into the saddle. He’d hoped to impress Melissa with his grace, but the sudden pain he felt had him collapsing against the saddle with all the grace of a grade-A klutz.
Which didn’t help the bruise on his tailbone.
“Are you all r
ight?” she asked, taking a step closer but still keeping her distance. She held Mandy in her arms.
“A little sore from the bubble bath escapade,” he said. “Why don’t you bring Mandy over. She can have her first riding lesson.”
“No! That would be dangerous.”
“No it wouldn’t. Tell her, Sam.”
“Old Jack is tame as they come, Melissa. Mandy would like it.”
“Want to come for a ride, Mandy?” Russ called, clapping his hands and holding them out to her baby.
Mandy practically leaped out of her arms, trying to reach Russ.
“See, she wants to ride. Hand her up.”
“No, I won’t.”
“But you promised to take a couple of pictures of me and Mandy together. This will be perfect.” He wasn’t sure why he wanted more pictures of him and the baby so badly, but he did.
When she still hesitated, he pointed out that the horse hadn’t moved a muscle since he’d mounted it. “It really is safe, Melissa. I wouldn’t suggest you do anything that would harm Mandy.”
Triumph filled him when Melissa walked toward him. He liked thinking she trusted him. Mandy reached eagerly for him when Melissa held her up. He took the baby and cradled her against him with one arm.
“See, Mandy? You’re taking your first ride.” He slowly guided the horse in a circle. Melissa’s anxious face amused him, but it also touched him. She cared so deeply for her child.
“Ready to take some pictures?” he asked.
Without comment, she stepped closer and snapped several photos of him and Mandy. “Now, give her to me. I’d like to finish while the sun sets. Some silhouette pictures. Besides, both Mandy and I are getting tired.”
“Right. Sam, come take Mandy.”
“I’ll take her,” Melissa insisted.
“You can’t hold her and shoot at the same time,” Russ argued, giving the baby to Sam, who held her as naturally as any mother.
“Thank you, Sam,” Melissa said, but she was frowning.
Russ tried several times to tease a smile from her, but he couldn’t. Suddenly, she was all business, directing him into the poses she wanted.
The last stance was on a rise, so Russ was silhouetted against the glorious colors of the sunset.
“There, that should do it,” she said with a sigh. “Thank you, Russ, and you, too, Sam. You were such a help.”
“Happy to help a lady,” Sam said with a smile. “I should say two ladies. This little one is getting hungry again, though. It’s a good thing you’ve finished.”
Russ swung down from the horse, wincing at the sudden movement. He’d grown stiff sitting in the saddle. “Uh, I’ll go unsaddle the horse and then we can go,” he told Melissa.
“You go ahead, boy,” Sam ordered. “This little one won’t wait.”
After more expressions of their appreciation, and a few minutes packing up all the equipment into the little car, Russ strapped Mandy into the baby seat in back.
“Why don’t I drive, Melissa? You seem a little tired.”
“I suspect you are, too. Modeling is much harder than it looks, and you were superb today. I’m going to drop the film off as soon as we get back to town and we’ll have the results tomorrow.”
“That soon?”
“Yes, I’ll put a rush on it. But if you don’t mind driving...”
He opened the passenger door and waited for her to get in.
As she settled into the seat, she said, “Are you sure you don’t mind driving? I feel terrible letting you do it when you must be just as exhausted.” She started to get out again.
“I’m driving,” he said firmly, and closed the car door.
When he slid behind the wheel, she was still prepared to argue. He put an end to it when he said, “I know you usually manage very well on your own, but now that I’m here, I can help.”
She fell silent.
“You have a problem letting people help you, don’t you?”
Her head snapped around and she stared at him. “Probably so. There haven’t been a lot of offers.”
Her words bothered him. He thought again of his mother, a teenager, alone with a baby. Had no one offered to help her? Had she, too, been totally alone?
Not that Melissa was completely alone. She had Mrs. Tuttle to watch over Mandy sometimes. But that’s when she was working. Did she ever take time for herself?
A sudden idea struck him. He’d only met Melissa twenty-four hours earlier, but he’d quickly come to admire her determination, her hard work, her loving care of Mandy. Even more, he was growing increasingly attracted to her, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing, he reminded himself.
But he wanted to do something for her, and now he knew what. It would take a little maneuvering, but he’d manage.
* * *
“TURN RIGHT AT THE NEXT corner,” Melissa directed from the passenger seat. It was so strange to have someone drive her. “Stop at the red sign. I’ll hop out and run the film in. If there isn’t a parking place, you can circle the block.”
“Sure. But you’d better hurry. I think Mandy’s appetite is going to take over any moment.”
She looked over her shoulder at her daughter. Mandy’s pacifier had fallen to her tummy and was caught against the baby seat. Melissa reached for it and stuck it back in her mouth. “Maybe that will hold her for a few minutes.”
Hurrying into the film shop, she gave her instructions and was promised the results by two o’clock the next day. When she stepped back outside, Russ and Mandy were waiting, blocking one lane with the emergency flashers going.
Melissa slipped into the car. “You might’ve gotten a ticket. Why didn’t you circle the block?”
“I didn’t want you to wait. I know you’re tired and I figured it wouldn’t take you long.” He smiled, and Melissa shivered. His voice and smile held such warmth, a caressing tone that eased her stress and made her feel protected.
A dangerous feeling.
She cleared her throat. “Well, thanks. Now we’ll head home and I’ll have dinner on the table shortly. I’m sure you’re starving.”
“Nope.”
“You’re not?” she asked, surprised. The man could put away an enormous amount of food.
“Oh, I’m starving, but I don’t want you cooking. There’s a good barbecue place close by, if I remember right, and we’re going to pick up dinner there.”
“That’s thoughtful, but I used all my cash on the boys at the ranch. I suppose I can charge...” she said, thinking aloud.
“Nope,” he repeated. “I’m buying.”
“No, you spent all day working for me. I’m not letting you pay for dinner.”
“Melissa, would you just listen for once. Dinner is on me. Now, stop arguing and lean back and relax.”
She glared at him and remained rigidly upright in her seat until she realized she was being foolish and ungrateful.
She was tired. The creativity involved in photography always exhausted her, and today had been burdened with a lot of emotional baggage. She couldn’t look at Russ as some mere acquaintance, with no meaning in her life. And that scared her.
“Hey, they’ve added a drive-through,” Russ exclaimed as he turned into the parking lot of Roy’s Barbecue, a long-established restaurant in Casper.
“Yes, they put it in about five years ago. It makes it easy to pick up a meal.” She’d driven through a few times this past year when she was too tired to even think of cooking.
“Know what you want?”
She gave him her preferences, then listened as he ordered the food, about four times as much as she’d told him. “I hope you’re the one who’s going to eat all that food,” she muttered.
He chuckled. “I was going to say I’m hungry enough to eat a horse, b
ut in deference to Jack, I’ll change that to hungry enough to eat a bear.”
Mandy chose that moment to let the adults know that Russ wasn’t the only one who was hungry. She let out a wail that caught both of them off guard.
“Wow, that kid has a siren of a scream, doesn’t she?”
“She’s learning to be assertive,” Melissa corrected him. “Girls need to learn how to make demands.”
“I think she’s got it down pat,” Russ assured her, grinning.
The man at the drive-through window claimed his attention then, and Melissa tried to soothe Mandy.
Ten minutes later, they reached her home. She unstrapped Mandy and carried her in, telling Russ to leave the equipment until after they’d eaten. He brought in the food without comment.
“I need to change Mandy and then feed her, but you go ahead and eat. There are some sodas in the fridge.”
Without waiting for his agreement, she hurried down the hall toward Mandy’s room. A few minutes later, she had Mandy’s diaper changed and a clean T-shirt replacing the stained one. Melissa carried her baby into the kitchen, expecting to find Russ at the table.
Instead, the room was empty. Frowning, Melissa settled Mandy in her high chair. Then she opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle she had prepared the day before. She uncapped it and put it in the microwave, then took jars of English peas and carrots from a shelf.
Just as she settled herself at the table to feed Mandy, she heard the front door open. “Russ?” she called.
“Yeah? You need something? I’ll be right there.”
After several bumps she couldn’t identify, he appeared at the kitchen door.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “Why aren’t you eating? You said you were starving.”
“I am, but I imagine you are, too. I thought I’d unload the car while you take care of Mandy. Then we can eat together.”
“But I was going to unload later. You’re a guest. You don’t have to—”
“No, I’m not a guest. I’m—I’m your partner for the weekend.” He turned around and disappeared out the door.
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