by Cora Seton
Maybe the universe knew how to provide when it came to women, after all.
“Didn’t sleep much last night,” she admitted. “Not sure I’ll sleep tonight, either.”
Not if he had anything to do with it.
Kai caught himself. They’d just met, and this wasn’t someone he’d picked up at a bar. This was a woman he’d promised to marry, even if he hadn’t officially proposed yet.
“Come on.”
Kai took her hand without thinking, but her touch ignited a jolt of hunger inside him. This felt right, he told himself as he led her across to the baggage carousel.
“Just ignore the crew,” he said as the camera people made way for them to pass.
“That’s not easy.” She kept sliding glances their way and put her other hand up to smooth her hair. He knew how she felt. The first few days of filming he’d been so self-conscious he’d kept tripping over his own feet.
“It gets easier as you go.”
“Do you ever forget they’re there?”
“No.”
He liked the way she smiled at his truthful answer. He had a feeling even Wanda would like her. But then she’d take Addison under her wing, get her set up with a life plan and start coaching her about goals and scheduling.
He’d hold off introducing them for a bit. First things first: get Addison’s bag and get her home.
“This is Curtis Lloyd,” he said when he realized his friend was waiting for an introduction. “You’ve probably seen him on the show, too.”
“I have. I hope you get your turn soon, Curtis.”
Curtis shrugged. He liked to pretend he was unconcerned about his future, but Kai suspected he worried about finding a wife as much as any of them. Maybe more.
“Was your trip okay?” Kai asked Addison. He needed to find solid ground. The strength of his reaction to her had knocked him off-kilter, and it was time to bring things back to normal, if possible.
“It was fine. I’ve never been to Montana before. It was beautiful when we were descending toward the airport. It’s so sparsely populated. There aren’t a lot of people here, are there?”
Both men chuckled at that. “This is definitely the country,” Kai explained. “You know what you’re signing up for, right?”
“Of course.” But Addison didn’t look so sure. Kai bit back a surge of concern. He didn’t want to lose her. What if she hated Base Camp? Hated the life he’d pledged himself to? One thing at a time, he decided. Get her back to Base Camp. Get her settled. She’d do fine, he assured himself.
When they reached the truck, Addison greeted Curtis’s dog, Daisy, like an old friend. Harris and Sam had found Daisy on their wedding day, but the dog loved to follow Curtis everywhere. Kai’s heart warmed as he saw the way the mutt greeted the new arrival. If Daisy approved of Addison, she had to be a good person.
A half hour later, they pulled in at Base Camp to find the rest of the inhabitants waiting near the fire pit to be introduced. Kai could only guess how intimidating it was to meet everyone at once, but Addison seemed to take it in stride. As she shook hands all around, it became clear she knew them all from the TV show.
“I love your dresses,” she told the women, who were wearing their traditional Regency outfits. Kai supposed Addison knew the history of that choice since she watched the show regularly.
“We’ll get you measured up for some gowns of your own,” Savannah told her.
“I can’t wait,” Addison confessed to her. “One of my favorite parts of the show is seeing what you all are wearing.”
“It’s so weird knowing people really watch us,” Savannah said to Avery as Addison moved on.
Avery nodded. “I like her, though,” Kai heard her whisper.
“Do we seem crazy on the show?” Riley asked Addison.
“No,” Addison said. “You all seem really nice. I hate it when the hour is over. It’s like you all are so alive, while my life is just… boring.”
“Boring?” Kai echoed. “You make hats for surfers. That’s awesome.”
“Right.” Color rose in Addison’s cheeks. “But… I don’t build tiny houses, or run a Regency bed-and-breakfast, or work with solar panels, or…” She waved a hand to encompass all of them.
Kai was gratified by her enthusiasm and the way the rest of Base Camp’s inhabitants seemed to be warming to her. It would make all the difference in Addison’s experience of the place if people accepted her. Still, this had to be a lot to take in all at once. He could see the strain on her face as other people leaned in to ask her questions.
Kai moved closer, pretending to himself he was only thinking of her when he angled to get her alone. “Want to go on a walk? Just the two of us?”
“And the cameras?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course. Like I said, they’re always there. They’ll hang back, though. It’s quieter out in the woods.”
“Okay. That sounds good.” But he noticed she was twisting her hands in the strings of her purse. Was she nervous?
Afraid to be alone with him?
Maybe he was pushing this too fast.
“A walk sounds like a great idea. We’ll stop overwhelming you,” Boone told Addison. “Everyone, back to work,” he called out.
Groans sounded from the gathered crowd, then scattered laughter, and people began to disperse. Most of the women traipsed up to the Manor. Samantha headed toward the gardens, and Avery joined Walker on the way to the barns. Only Boone and Riley hung back.
“We’ll leave your stuff in the bunkhouse and set up your tent later,” Kai told Addison. He grabbed her bags from the back of the truck and led the way into the building. Addison, following, took in the large open room, which in its past would have been filled with bunk beds to house the single hired hands on the ranch. She peeked through an open door toward the kitchen. Kai realized she’d seen all this before on the show.
“We’ll spend plenty of time in there later,” he assured her.
“I’ve got an appointment set up for Addison with Alice Reed after lunch,” Riley said. She and Boone had trailed after them into the bunkhouse. “For your clothes,” she told Addison.
Addison nodded.
“We’d better hurry if we’re going to get that walk before it’s time to start cooking lunch,” Kai said and took her hand.
“Would you like to help Kai with the meals?” Boone asked Addison. “Everyone has job assignments here, but we didn’t assign you one yet. Do you like to cook? Or is there something else you’re interested in?”
“I love to cook,” Addison said. “I went to the Cordon Bleu for a year.”
Kai brightened. “Really? That’s amazing.” He wondered why she hadn’t mentioned it in her video.
“I didn’t get to finish my training. Ran out of cash,” Addison said. “Someday I’d like to go back.”
“Well, you can help me as much as you like. I don’t do a lot of fancy cooking, but maybe you’ll have some ideas we can incorporate.”
“I’d like to help out in the B and B, too, if that’s okay,” she added shyly. “Do you think the other women would mind?”
“Mind?” Riley said. “Heck, no. We need all the help we can get.”
“That’s decided then,” Boone said.
Kai led the way back outside and down the track toward Pittance Creek, which ran through the property.
“You’re from Connecticut, right?” he asked, remembering something he’d realized only after looking at her application several times.
“That’s right.”
“How’d you get into knitting hats for surfers?”
“Oh… I travel out to California whenever I can.”
“What’s your favorite surf—”
“What do you do in your spare time? When the cameras aren’t on you?” she blurted.
Kai was taken aback but recovered quickly. “I… like to cook.”
There was that impish smile again. “You do that on camera all the time,” she pointed out. “I
mean when you’re on your own.”
He supposed she was right; he couldn’t really call cooking his hobby anymore. He searched for something else to tell her. Something real to share with her so she’d know he was taking this seriously. “I bird watch.” There. That was something no one else here knew. Renata would have a field day when she saw this clip.
“You do?” Her smile widened into a grin again. “That’s… different.”
Kai relaxed a little. He realized he was bracing himself for the moment when she realized she didn’t want him. “Yeah. I keep a record of what I see. I always have. I’m not obsessive; I just like to know who’s around.”
“Cool,” she said, tilting her head to look in the treetops, as if there might be a whole congregation of birds up there right now. “What kind of birds have you seen since you’ve been here?”
“A heck of a lot of crows,” he said ruefully.
“Of course,” she said as if she knew about these things. She kept walking, her head tilted back, and Kai had a sudden, dizzying urge to kiss her. First on her mouth, then he’d trace his lips down her throat. He imagined her face flushed with desire. Her eyes shining with want—
Kai shook off the thought. Hell, he needed to get himself in hand.
“Jays, woodpeckers, a peregrine falcon—all kind of birds, really,” he made himself go on. “I’ll show you my list.”
“I’d like that.”
They walked in silence, both of them scanning the treetops and listening to the sounds of the forest—and the footsteps of the camera crew behind them. Kai squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back, sending a pulse of desire straight through him. The cameras couldn’t pick that up, and it was damn lucky they couldn’t read his mind. He liked feeling he and Addison had a way to communicate that was just theirs.
If only he could tell her how badly he wanted to get close to her. He was such a basket of hormones; his libido had gone crazy. All Kai could think about was getting Addison into a far more intimate situation.
Soon, he promised himself. Once they knew each other better, he’d get her alone and act on his impulses. He knew she’d be sweet to the taste. Had a feeling they’d fit together well.
Cool your jets, he told himself. He was finding a wife. And he’d just met Addison; he needed to let things spin out until he figured out who she really was. What made her tick.
It was one thing to marry to secure the ranch for Base Camp.
It was another thing to hitch his wagon to a woman who might take him on a wild ride to nowhere. He reminded himself of all his past failures. This time he had to take it slow to make it work.
Although he didn’t have a lot of time.
At the creek they sat on the bank, and when he pulled his shoes off to dangle his feet in the cold water, she followed suit.
“Can I ask you a question?” Addison angled her head to look at him.
“Sure.” If he was going to be her husband, he couldn’t hide anything from her.
“Why me?”
Addison held her breath as she waited for his answer. Sitting here on this creek bed, dangling her feet in the water, a crew of cameramen filming her as she talked to her supposed fiancé—all of this was surreal. Any moment she felt like the whole thing would stop and they’d send her home. She was light-headed. She’d appreciated Kai’s steady hand holding hers as they’d walked because the truth was if he hadn’t been gripping her, she felt as if she’d have lifted off the ground and floated away.
She’d been prepared for indifference on Kai’s part when he’d met her. Even scorn.
Instead he kept looking at her like he wanted to—
She wasn’t sure. Kiss her? Touch her?
Eat her up?
She’d definitely seen desire there, and something else. Something like… hope. She didn’t know what that meant, and she was finding it hard to breathe—or keep answering his questions.
She still didn’t understand why there hadn’t been a briefing when she arrived. She’d expected a trailer with a hairstylist and someone to tell her where to stand and what to say. There’d been no explanation that the whole thing was a setup—no script for her to read or activity for her to perform. Everyone had seemed as real as they’d acted on TV.
Addison was beginning to wonder if Felicity had this all wrong.
Thrust into the action, all she could do was keep going. She hadn’t meant to put Kai on the spot.
But she needed to know what was going on.
Kai searched her face with his gaze, and she couldn’t help thinking he was… well… beautiful, if you could call a man that. His face was all planes and angles, with wide-set crystal-blue eyes, his blond hair falling into his face. A strong chin. And his mouth.
That smile of his…
It made her insides flip whenever he looked her way.
“Was it my knitting?” she prompted him, mostly to distract herself from that last thought, and then wished she hadn’t. What if Kai asked her to demonstrate? She’d really be up a creek. She was crafty enough she hadn’t been half-bad after a tutorial or two, but she doubted she could reproduce a “surf cap.”
“Your knitting is… great,” Kai said with a lopsided grin. “But that wasn’t it.” He picked up a stone and tossed it from hand to hand.
Her whole body buzzing from the effects of that grin, she stumbled on. “The bikini, then.” She hoped she was pulling off this teasing thing.
“That was nice, but no.” He glanced at her, and Addison’s heart stopped. His gaze held something wicked in it. Something that said he’d like to see her in that bikini again sometime—when they were alone.
Her skin grew hot, and she couldn’t help but look at his hands. How would he touch her—?
“Why, then?” She had to clear her throat and try twice to get the words out, and even when she did she didn’t sound like herself.
“It was… you,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “Everything about you.”
This man could make her cry, she realized, horrified at how close she was to tearing up right now. If he was making these words up, he was cruel. Because they were slicing through all her defenses straight to the most tender part of her being.
Despite her attempts to harden herself against what must be flattery, she remembered something Felicity had once said when they were talking about how she and Evan had met. That it was Evan who had decided they’d be together; he’d fallen for Felicity in an instant and decided to spend his life with her right then and there.
“He saw me and knew I was the one. Then didn’t take no for an answer. Not in a creepy way. Just in a way that told me how serious he was. He had this utter belief in us. It still holds us together.”
Addison hadn’t known what to think of that. Felicity was right; Evan wasn’t creepy. He was a successful, practical, kind of wonderful man who was so good for Felicity. But how could a person know who they were supposed to be with after a single look?
It didn’t seem likely.
“The video wasn’t very long,” she pointed out. “It’s not like you could learn that much about me from it.”
“No, you’re right. It doesn’t make sense. I just knew.” Kai put down the rock again. Stroked his thumb over her palm.
The ground dipped and tilted beneath her. Oh… hell. Addison didn’t know where to look or what to do. “I’m… glad,” she managed. This was potent stuff. Maybe she hadn’t been around men enough lately. They usually didn’t affect her like this. With each stroke of his thumb over her palm, she was growing dizzier. Hungry to get even closer to him. Kai was built like a warrior, muscled all over, but it was his gaze that undid her. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her.
“Addison—I’d like to kiss you,” Kai said softly. “Can I?” It was a gentle question but a purely masculine one. She found herself unable to resist.
Besides, that had been a direct question. A question caught on camera. She had no choice: Felicity would be watching the show when it aired.
Addison looked at the handsome SEAL, screwed up her courage and said, “Yes.”
Chapter Four
‡
Addison tasted as sweet as melon dipped in honey, and once he started kissing her, Kai didn’t want to stop. In fact, he wanted to lay her down and explore much more of her.
But this was their first kiss, and they were being filmed. So eventually, but not too quickly, he exercised restraint and pulled back. Addison opened her eyes, gray as storm-tossed skies, and the look she gave him made his pulse throb.
She felt the same way. He was sure of it.
Which made him want her all the more.
One of the camera crew inched nearer, and Kai got a hold of himself. “Lunch,” he said huskily. “We’d better go back.” It was torture to stand up and break the spell of the moment. Instead he wanted to kiss Addison again. To explore her reaction to him.
But not now. Not with an audience.
“Isn’t it early?” Addison asked, following him.
“Time to make it,” he explained, looking back over his shoulder.
“Oh, right. Of course.” She sounded breathless, like their encounter had knocked her off-guard, too. He couldn’t help but reach out and twine his fingers around hers. She let him, which told him he had to be at least partly right.
But the not-knowing was already getting to him. Maybe Addison would be like every other woman he’d dated. Maybe she’d grow restless and leave—
He remembered a lecture his father had given him back when he was still in high school and he’d come home devastated that a pretty girl named Isobel had dumped him mid-party for another boy.
“Everyone wants the gorgeous girls, the fragile ones, the femme fatales,” Eric Ledbetter had said. “But most of the time, they aren’t worth the drama. Look for the sensible ones. Give them a chance. Most of them are pretty, too, and what’s more, they’re fun to be with. They won’t lead you around like a pet goat. They’ll partner with you, join in with you, play sports with you—do stuff. I wish you could hear me, Kai. It would save you a world of hurt.”