by Cora Seton
Far from it; Samantha was intrigued. “I’d like to see a forge,” she said.
“You would?”
She nodded. “Can I come along?”
“I don’t see why not. I was planning to go tomorrow. You can come with me.” There was that smile.
Sam melted inside. If only she could kiss him. “It’s a date.”
His smile grew. “Huh. I was thinking for our first date I’d take you out to dinner, but I guess a forge will do. How about we go tomorrow afternoon?”
“That sounds lovely.” Samantha’s heart swelled. This wouldn’t be so hard after all. And even if they couldn’t touch, they could communicate how they felt. She read Harris’s inclinations in the way he stayed close to her, the way his gaze caught hers and held it. The way his smile reached his eyes.
“The day after that, you can go on a date with me,” Curtis interrupted loudly. Samantha had been so caught up in talking to Harris, she hadn’t even noticed him arrive. Curtis didn’t look happy, probably because Harris had gotten to her first.
Well, that was too bad for him, Samantha thought. She wondered what Curtis was really after. He didn’t know her at all, and from all accounts he hadn’t been eager to be married anyway, so why was he pushing this so hard? She found it hard to believe he’d taken one look at her and decided she was the one. She was worried this was more about competition between the two men than anything to do with her. Which didn’t make any of them look good.
She swallowed, and nodded again, reaching down to stroke Daisy’s head. Had the dog spent the whole day with Curtis? Didn’t she have any loyalty for the people who’d saved her? Daisy licked her hand almost apologetically. “Okay,” Sam said slowly. She looked to Harris, worried about how he might react. Harris didn’t betray any emotion, but his expression was hard.
“I’ve got somewhere special to take you,” Curtis went on. “Just the two of us. It’ll give us an opportunity to get to know each other better.”
“Just the two of you and a camera crew,” Harris corrected. “It’s not like you’ll be alone.” It sounded like a warning, and Sam was pretty sure it was.
“I’ve gotten pretty good at ignoring the camera crew,” Curtis said, “and I’m sure Sam can, too. Isn’t that right, Samantha?”
“I’m pretty hungry,” Samantha said, hoping to deflect the tension. “Harris, would you show me where to get some food?”
“I’ll show you.” Curtis moved toward her.
Before Harris could intercept him and escalate things, Samantha spoke up. “I asked Harris this time.” Daisy whined a little, standing in the middle of the three of them. But Sam didn’t back down. So far, Curtis struck her as a bully. And she didn’t like bullies.
She braced herself for an angry reply, but to her surprise Curtis fell back. He looked more chagrined than anything. “A-all right, I’ll catch up to you later.”
He walked away. “Smart move,” Harris said under his breath. When he caught Samantha looking at him, however, he added, “I’m sure Renata will make sure he gets his chance.”
Daisy gave her one last look, and trotted along after Curtis.
“I don’t like the way you two argue over me,” Samantha told Harris, watching Daisy go. Why did she have such a strong preference for Curtis? It was galling—and also made Sam wonder what she was missing. Weren’t dogs supposed to have some kind of sixth sense about people? Was Daisy trying to tell her Curtis was the man she should choose?
Sam dashed the silly thought from her mind.
“I don’t like it, either,” Harris said, “but I’m not going to stand back and let him make a move on you. I don’t like what he was hinting at.”
“But like you said, there will always be a camera crew with us, we’ll never be alone, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
He looked at her fondly, and touched her cheek. “Honey, what you don’t seem to realize is that every man in this camp, except the ones holding cameras, are Navy SEALs. If Curtis wants to get you alone, he’ll get you alone.”
Samantha mulled over that a few minutes later as she stood in line with Harris to be served their food. A tall, blond man with a laid-back California surfer smile served the meal. Harris introduced him as Kai Green.
“Nice to meet you,” Kai said. “Hope you enjoy your dinner.”
“I’m sure I will,” Samantha said. She followed Harris back outside to the campfire ring. It was a warm day, and there was no fire burning, but it was a good place for the members of Base Camp to gather together and share their meals. They sat down on a log together, and Samantha took a bite of her taco. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until now. “Oh, that’s good.”
“Kai is a wizard in the kitchen,” Harris said. “He does as much of the cooking as possible using solar ovens. He’s got it all down to a science. We’ll soon have the kitchen hooked up to solar power. That’s Jericho’s department.”
“I guess tomorrow I’ll start working with you,” Samantha said.
Harris nodded, but his expression was grim.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’ll be working with me and Curtis,” he reminded her. “Could be ugly.”
“At some point the houses will be done,” she said. “What will happen then? Will there be other building projects?” There was nothing either of them could do about the fact that they would be working with Curtis. All she could hope was that the man kept his temper under control.
Maybe she could talk to him when they had their date. Maybe away from Harris, Curtis would see the light and accept this relationship wasn’t going anywhere. She would make sure to point out all the ways in which they were incompatible. She would remind him that Boone would find another woman—a better one—for him.
“I’m sure there’ll always be building projects,” Harris said. “But I don’t think I’ll be working on them. The farrier this afternoon asked me if I’d be interested in learning his trade—both shoeing horses and blacksmithing. Don’t know if I’ll be any good at it, but I’d like to try. Could be useful around here.”
The surge of envy she felt surprised Samantha. But then she’d always wanted to have a calling, like her parents and her sister. A job that was more than a job. Something that set her on fire the way music set ablaze the rest of the members of her family. Harris was obviously more interested than he was letting on in the idea of becoming a blacksmith. She didn’t blame him; it was an unusual job that struck her as requiring both mental and physical skill. It was a job that would engage a man in the doing of it.
What could she do that would be a help to this community and establish her place here?
Samantha wasn’t sure. She’d hoped her organizational skills would be useful at the B&B, but she was beginning to think that was a dead-end. She would do her best to help out during the upcoming visit, but Nora wasn’t due back until the end of the week, which left little time before the guests arrived for the two of them to sort things out. If Nora made it clear she wanted Sam to back off, she would.
“What does Base Camp need that it doesn’t have already?” she asked Harris. “Something I can do. Something like blacksmithing.”
Harris grinned. “You want to be a blacksmith, too?”
She shoved him with her shoulder. “You know what I mean.”
Harris thought about it. “I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know if I come up with anything.”
“Thanks.”
“The other women are artistic. Riley paints, Nora writes, that kind of thing. What about you?”
“Nope. No talents here.”
“I doubt that,” Harris said. “You said you drove the bus.”
“Driving the bus isn’t a talent.”
“I think it is. It means you can handle large equipment. You could probably drive a backhoe, things like that. That might come in handy.”
Samantha rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure large equipment is my future,” she said.
“Well, you’re starting over her
e. You can do anything you want. Maybe you should take a few days to think about all the possibilities before you decide on one.”
“I guess so,” she told him. “Starting with blacksmithing.”
She loved to see his smile. He leaned in, and for a second she thought he would kiss her, but he must’ve realized his mistake. He straightened again, frowned and took another bite of his food. “This sucks,” he said when he’d swallowed.
“The food? I think it’s terrific.”
“Not getting to be with you.” He met her gaze. Lowered his voice. “I made a hell of a mistake this afternoon, didn’t I?”
Her heart plummeted. Made a mistake? Did he mean when they fooled around? Did he regret that now?
Harris leaned even closer. “Not making love to you.”
Samantha sucked in her breath, and desire pulsed through her. “Yeah,” she said. “I think that was a mistake, too.”
The look he gave her promised that soon they would be together, but she knew they would have to wait at least thirty days. As if she’d spoken aloud, he shook his head and leaned close again. “There are ways to get alone—if we really want to.”
They were being filmed. It seemed as if they were always being filmed. Harris was taking a chance talking like this. But he had his mouth close to her ear, and he was whispering, so she didn’t think that anybody could hear.
“How?” she whispered back.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I come up with a plan.”
Harris was just congratulating himself for solidifying his relationship with Samantha, when Curtis approached and sat down on the other side of her on the log. Daisy settled down at Curtis’s feet.
“Seems like the two of you are having an interesting conversation,” he said. “Thought I’d come and see what it was about.”
Samantha’s cheeks were stained with color, and Harris knew it was up to him to rescue the situation. “Blacksmithing.”
“Bullshit,” Curtis said conversationally. “Seems to me the two of you are figuring out how to sneak off together. Which wouldn’t be fair given the situation. In fact, I don’t think I’m prepared to wait until you’ve spent another afternoon together before I get my chance. So after dinner, Samantha, I’m taking you out on the town.”
“I don’t think—” Samantha said.
“It’s only fair.” Curtis took an enthusiastic bite of his taco, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He chewed and swallowed, and then added, “I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty.”
“Wait a minute—”
Curtis put his plate down on his lap and faced Harris. “Here’s the thing, buddy. You and I, and Samantha, here, all know the two of you are already stuck on each other. She was supposed to be my bride, and I don’t have a chance with her. So the least you can do after stealing her away from me is give me one evening to prove the two of you are making a mistake. If Samantha can honestly say at the end of one night she’s not interested, I will back off and play-act through the rest of this month. We’ll give Renata what she wants, but that’s it. You’ll have won. Deal?”
“No way,” Harris said quickly. This was a trick, and Curtis was a fool if he thought Harris would fall for it. He wanted to tell Sam point-blank he and Curtis both been trained to manipulate situations—to flip people over to their side. Whatever happened, he couldn’t let Curtis be alone with her until he and Sam had spent more time together. Their relationship was too new—too fragile. She had no idea how underhanded a SEAL could be.
“Harris—”
“No,” Harris said again. “Bad enough he gets a shot at you tomorrow. He doesn’t get tonight, too.”
“It’s not going to change anything—”
“I said no.”
Her mouth dropped open and Harris would have given anything to rewind ten seconds and change his tone, but it was too late. The damage was done.
Samantha pulled back. Turned to Curtis. “I’d be happy to spend some time with you tonight.”
“Sam—”
“You don’t get to boss me around,” she snapped.
Curtis grinned. Harris clenched his fists, but instead of going off half-cocked, he stood up. “Daisy, come,” he said. If Curtis wanted to steal Sam back, he couldn’t have his dog, too.
“Where are you going?” Sam asked. Daisy didn’t budge.
“I’m done here.” He could shoot like nobody’s business, but talking—that was a whole other matter. He’d already stuck his foot in it, and he didn’t know how to fix that. Best to leave before he’d made it even worse. “Daisy, come.”
“I’m only going with Curtis because it’s the right thing to do,” Samantha told him heatedly, standing up, too, her plate clutched in her hands. “The sooner he realizes he and I aren’t compatible, the sooner you and I can move on. Once you learn not to order me around.”
She was offering an olive branch of sorts and he needed to grab hold of it. If he didn’t, Curtis would succeed in driving a wedge between them.
“That’s right, Harris.” Curtis stood, too. “Why are you so concerned about Samantha spending a single evening with me? Just what do you think I could do to change her mind?” He stood too close to Sam for comfort, but it was the triumphant look on his face that made Harris’s good intentions dissolve in a puff of smoke. Curtis was a smooth talker, the life of the party. He knew how to make people laugh, and Harris had a feeling that would count a lot to Sam. The life she’d described had left her on the outskirts far too much. She wanted to belong.
Curtis could give her that. Harris wasn’t sure he could.
He would lose her.
“Don’t go with him,” he said to Sam. He’d meant it as a plea—and he’d stretched far beyond his comfort zone to ask it of her. His words came out too harsh—too commanding.
Another order, not a request.
Samantha’s spine stiffened and her chin lifted. Harris knew he’d screwed up again. He’d given her an ultimatum—in front of Curtis—and one thing Samantha possessed in spades was pride.
He knew what she would do before she did it, and as he watched her turn to Curtis, his heart plummeted in his chest. Damn it, he was going to lose her over a pissing contest with another man. He had to say something. Do something.
Instead he stood frozen in place as Samantha touched Curtis’s arm. “I’m going to go freshen up. Where should I meet you?”
“I’ll come fetch you up at the manor,” Curtis said. “Like a real date. Looking forward to it.”
Anger, hot and sharp, flooded Harris. He wanted to swing at the other man. He wanted to sweep Samantha into his arms and kiss her until she remembered what they’d experienced together on the ridge. He wanted to let the whole world know that she belonged to him, and only him.
But he’d blown it.
So now the only thing he could do was stand right where he was while Curtis and Samantha took their dishes back to the bunkhouse kitchen and then parted ways, Daisy trotting at Curtis’s heels like she’d known him all her life.
He was still standing there when Boone took his plate from his hand. “Go sleep it off, or work it off, or whatever you have to do not to turn this camp upside down.”
Harris shoved past him and strode down the path that led to Pittance Creek as the first fat drops of rain began to fall from the leaden sky, and all the other people around the campfire scrambled to get inside. He should have read the signs in the landscape and known this day—and his marriage to Samantha—was doomed before it even started. The storm would be a whopper.
Who knew what its aftermath would bring?
“Poor Harris,” Avery said, as the women trudged up the hill toward the manor. The clouds that had threatened all day were becoming downright ominous, Sam thought, glancing up at them with concern.
“What about Curtis? He thought he was getting a bride today,” Savannah said.
“I just know what it’s like to think about the person you love being with someone else. I can only imagine what Harris is feelin
g tonight.”
“He should have handled it differently,” Riley said.
“That’s for sure,” Samantha said. The walk was giving her time to calm down, though, and when she replayed Harris’s words she wondered if he’d meant to give her an order, or something else altogether.
It had felt too much like being on the bus though—being at everyone’s beck and call, never getting to make her own decisions.
She’d married him, for heaven’s sake. They’d spent one of the best mornings of her life together. Maybe they’d only known each other for a few hours, but they’d connected—with their words and their bodies. Being intimate with Harris meant something to her.
Didn’t he understand that?
She looked up again as a drop of rain hit her cheek. The last thing she wanted to do was spend an evening with Curtis. She would’ve preferred to go to bed, pull the covers up over her head and fall into a blissful sleep in which she didn’t remember anything except being alone with Harris. She looked down at her gown and smoothed out the wrinkles that had appeared as she sat at the campfire.
“Do you think there’s any way I can get out of this date?”
“I don’t think so,” Riley said. “Besides, what you said back there was right; the sooner you and Curtis see if you are meant to be together, the sooner all of this can be straightened out.”
“That’s not what I said it all. I said the sooner Curtis realizes he doesn’t like me, the sooner we can sort this out. I know I’m meant to be with Harris. At least… I thought I was.” She didn’t want to be with a man who didn’t trust her.
“But that’s the thing,” Savannah said. “You don’t actually know Harris, and he doesn’t actually know you. Until you give Curtis a chance, how do you really know how you’ll feel? I think it’s a good thing that you’re going out with him tonight—and that you’re going to take the time to get to know both of them. I think if the three of you can keep your tempers, you’ll be able to figure this out.”
“Come on upstairs,” Riley said as they reached the manor, just as the spattering of raindrops turned into a deluge. The women hurried in the back door and the ever-present camera crew pushed in behind them. “Let’s freshen up your hairstyle; that will make you feel better.”