by Cora Seton
She wasn’t sure if she’d ever met a man like Anders before, with his combination of strength and the gentle way he spoke to her. She’d met military guys, of course—there were plenty of them in Virginia—but overall her impression had been of brash, loud, self-important men with places to go and things to do. They hadn’t had Anders’s watchfulness.
“Needed a way out.” He chuckled. “Texas had lost its charm for me.”
“Texas, huh?” She hadn’t noticed an accent. Maybe he’d done his best to lose it.
“That’s right,” he agreed. “Where are you from?”
“Virginia.”
“Is that where your folks are?”
She nodded.
“I got as far away as I could from what’s left of my family,” Anders said.
“There must be a story there.”
He shrugged. “Not the first guy to disagree with a parent’s choice, I’m sure. Do you plan to settle there? In Virginia?”
“I… guess so.” In the dark, in this kitchen so far from home, she was able to admit to herself for the first time that her life wasn’t going to work out the way she’d thought it would. In addition to the changes her parents were imposing, she wouldn’t have a job when this was over. Might struggle to find a new one after her actions here made her notorious.
“I’m going to stay right here,” Anders said. “At Base Camp. No matter what.”
“I can see why,” she said. “It looks pretty idyllic—on TV anyway.”
“You really watch the show?” He made a face.
“Doesn’t everybody?”
“I don’t think everybody watches it.” He grinned. “I’m glad you do, though. Less explaining to do.”
“This place is a little weird,” she agreed. “For one thing, if I hadn’t expected Avery and Hope to be wearing Regency clothing, I would’ve had a lot of questions.”
She had to admit she liked the way Anders smiled. It was pure mischief, and she wondered what he’d been like as a little boy. He sure was compelling as a man. Eve was grateful no one was filming them. It made it easier to focus—to be in the moment.
One of her recurring fantasies popped into her mind. The one where she and Anders found themselves alone in one of the tiny houses the married couples lived in, and Anders took her to the ladder to see the loft bedroom.
Stop it, she told herself. They were a long way from anything like that, even if he was looking at her like he might be thinking something along the same lines.
He had to marry in a few short weeks, after all. It made sense he’d consider any single woman who crossed his path—whether or not Clem forced that path on him.
She took a step backward, bumped into the counter and nearly dropped her teacup. Anders lurched forward quickly, caught it and set it down for her, leaving him even closer.
“Are you all right?”
“I just—”
Eve tried to find some way to finish the sentence without betraying what his proximity was doing to her, but she couldn’t. He was so close it was hard not to touch him. She wanted to explore his muscles. Touch his skin—
She held her hands straight at her sides.
“I—” She tried again. “I don’t—”
She was going to blow this if she didn’t pull herself together. What would a woman do who’d just been left by the side of the road by her boyfriend?
Faint?
She’d done enough of that earlier.
Cry?
She wasn’t sure she could do that on cue.
She must have looked stricken, though. Anders stepped even closer.
“It’s okay.” When he took her into his arms and murmured against her hair, Eve was so surprised she didn’t think she could have moved if she wanted to. “James won’t find you, I promise. You can take all the time you need here before you go home.”
In the circle of his arms, she leaned against his bare chest, allowing him to comfort her. Anders smelled so good. His skin was warm against her cheek. His heart was beating strong beneath her ear.
Anders Olsen, reality TV star, was holding her.
“I don’t know why I’m shaking,” Eve managed to say. She’d never admit what he was doing to her.
“It’s just shock. It’s okay,” Anders said again, his arms tightening around her.
It wasn’t shock, Eve knew.
It was something else entirely.
“You need to get off that show and come home,” Johannes said.
Anders, leaning against the fence that spanned one of the bison pastures the following morning, shifted his phone to his other ear. Two calls within days of each other. That was unusual. Something had to be up. “We’ve had this conversation before. I’m not quitting the show. And I’m not coming back to Texas. It hasn’t been my home for a long time. We both know that.”
There was a long pause. “You can’t hold on to old arguments forever. What would your mother think?”
It was Anders’s turn to pause. His father hadn’t mentioned his mother in years. Why would he do so now?
“Is there something you want to tell me?” Johannes was a tight-lipped son-of-a-bitch. Beating around the bush would get them nowhere.
Maybe his father was missing his mom. Anders did sometimes. Other times he was grateful in a cowardly way she’d passed away before he’d split with his dad. His mom was the daughter of an oilman, too. She’d grown up with derricks in her backyard. He wasn’t sure she’d have understood his choices. His combative relationship with his dad had made it easier to walk away, especially after all their arguments. His mother was a quiet woman. She’d never liked fights. He might still be living in Texas if she was there.
“Hansen Oil is your legacy,” his father said tightly. “You need to be here.”
“I’m making my own legacy.” His father’s tone bothered him. He sounded drained.
“You don’t need to make your own legacy. I’ve already gone and done all the work! Why won’t you come make use of it?”
Something was definitely wrong. Johannes Hansen didn’t use his wealth; he simply kept acquiring more money, as if there was some magic number that kept edging up and up out of his reach. Anders had always wondered what he was reaching for. He had so much already; surely a little more couldn’t make a difference.
“What I’m building isn’t about money,” Anders said carefully. “It’s about doing what’s right. About building a community that makes the world better than we found it rather than degrading it.”
“You think I set out to degrade my community?”
His father was one step from fury, and driving Johannes over the edge wasn’t Anders’s intention.
“I’m telling you what I’m trying to do.”
“Make me look bad. That’s what you’re trying to do. You’re going to drag me through the mud!”
“Hardly.” He was doing his best to keep the link between him and Hansen Oil hidden. If he was exposed, he might very well be kicked out of Base Camp. He couldn’t imagine Boone and the others would be pleased there was an oil baron’s son on the team. Not quite the image they were trying to put out.
Plenty of people in Texas had to have recognized him, though, even after fourteen years. He’d been lucky no one had spoken to the press so far. That was his father’s influence. Back when he’d insisted on changing his name, his father had found a judge willing to keep the proceedings off the record—for a small sum of money, of course. Who knew how much more money his father had spread since then to buy other people off.
“Do you know what will happen if it comes out that a Hansen is advocating for green energy on a major television show?” his father pressed, anger thinning his voice.
“Good thing I’m not a Hansen then.” Anders was ready to hang up.
“You can’t erase who you are with a court date. You think the media is going to care that you walked away? Hell, they’ll eat that up! It’ll be in the news for weeks. Hansen Oil will come under additional scrutiny.”
That’s what this was about. “What’ve you done now?” he demanded. Hansen Oil had a less than stellar track record when it came to its operations. He spotted Boone heading his way. “You know what? Forget it. You aren’t going to tell me the truth anyway, and I’ve got to go.”
“You get your ass back to Texas pronto—”
Anders clicked to end the call. He never intended to return to Texas.
“Anders—got a minute?” Boone called, approaching from the direction of the bunkhouse.
“Sure, what’s up?” He filed away his problems for later.
“Heard you had some excitement last night.”
Walker must have brought him up to date on Eve’s arrival, since Boone and Riley had long since retired to their tiny house by the time Eve had showed up. Boone and Walker were thick as thieves.
Anders turned to survey the bison grazing far off the snowy pasture. They were tough creatures, able to dig through the accumulated snow with their hooves to reach the grass below. He’d already made his morning rounds to check on all the livestock, slipping out while Eve and the others were still asleep. The snow had stopped overnight. Soon he’d need to help Curtis plow the lane again.
“Eve seems like a good candidate. Maybe marrying you off will be easier than I thought,” Boone went on.
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
“How about your hopes? Are they… up?”
“Too soon to tell,” Anders lied. “She’s just broken up with her boyfriend. I think… I think she doesn’t dislike me.” He gave Boone a pared-down sketch of their meeting in the kitchen in the middle of the night, neglecting any mention of how his pulse had pounded when he’d held her. “She was shaking like a leaf,” he ended. “She’s really upset by what happened.”
“Stands to reason. Doesn’t mean she won’t fall for you, given time.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Only one thing for it. Keep her here as long as you can.”
“Did Walker tell you what Clem said?”
“That she can stay only if she gives being with you a chance? Yes. Seems like Clem did you a favor there since she agreed.”
Anders nodded. “Maybe. I guess we’ll see. Could’ve knocked me over with a feather when she went for it,” he admitted. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“You must have made a good impression. Sounds like she wants to lie low for a few days at least, anyway,” Boone said. “Walker said she wants to stay through Christmas.”
“Meanwhile, you know damn well Clem’s going to be searching for her boyfriend. He’ll do whatever it takes to make trouble, including bringing him on the show.”
“So give him something better to focus on. And get Eve so hooked on you she won’t want her boyfriend if Clem does find him.”
“It’s not that simple,” Anders protested.
“Maybe it’s simpler than you think,” Boone countered. “She let you hold her last night. She saw this guy’s true colors when he left her in the middle of nowhere.”
Anders wasn’t sure Boone was right. After Eve had steadied herself last night, she’d excused herself and gone back to bed. She knew he needed a wife—Clem had said so—and she hadn’t given him any indication she was interested.
Which was too bad. He was definitely interested.
Holding Eve had turned all his senses up full blast. Suddenly it wasn’t about needing anything. It was about wanting a woman—wanting Eve. It took more than attraction to make a marriage work, but Anders figured attraction was a good starting point.
But only if both of them felt it.
“What if you’re wrong?”
“I’ve already got a backup bride lined up.”
“Backup bride?” Clem popped in behind them as if Boone’s words had summoned him. “What’s wrong, Olsen; you scare Eve off already?”
“Hell—” Anders pulled himself together. How much had that weasel heard?
“He hasn’t scared Eve off,” Boone told him. “You’re going to scare her if you go after her boyfriend, though. I heard one of the crew talking about tracking him down—I think that’s a really bad idea.”
“Nothing like a lovers’ triangle to get great ratings.” Clem danced back out of Anders’s reach. “Hey, watch it.”
“Sounds like her boyfriend has an anger management problem. What if he hurts her this time—and she sues you? What’s the show’s liability then?” Anders challenged him.
“I’m not worried about liability. I’m worried about this show dropping off the air altogether because no one wants to watch it anymore. If you don’t want me going after her boyfriend, what are you offering me in return?”
“What do you want?” Boone demanded.
Clem thought about it. When an oily smile spread across his face, Anders’s stomach sank. “Anders here is bound to blow it with Eve. When he does, he doesn’t get to meet or talk to the backup bride I know you’re lining up—until he meets her at the altar. Deal?” he asked Anders. “You bag Eve, or you marry a stranger.”
“Deal,” Anders said without a second thought. He’d staked his future on Base Camp, and he’d see it through. He’d already pledged himself to marry, no matter what it took. He didn’t want a stranger, though. From what he’d learned so far, he’d prefer Eve.
“By the way,” Clem said, “who’d you go to prom with?”
Fuck. Anders raced to come up with an answer that wouldn’t lead Clem to any discoveries about his real identity. “I already said I didn’t graduate.”
“You didn’t even make it to junior year? What kind of a shit-for-brains are you?”
“The kind of shit-for-brains who didn’t have time for prom. Gotta go.” He didn’t wait for Clem to answer. The man was definitely trying to trip him up—to find some bit of information to follow and learn about his childhood. Soon Clem would figure out exactly what he was trying to hide.
That would be a disaster.
“I’m glad you’re sticking around for a while,” Boone told Eve when she exited the bathroom. She’d put on the clothes she’d worn the day before when she’d stumbled up the road toward Base Camp. They’d dried overnight but weren’t in the best condition, and she hoped she could borrow something or go to town to shop before the day was over. At least she’d had a shower. Avery had loaned her shampoo and conditioner—along with clean socks and a pair of boots. She’d told Eve she could borrow a gown again, but the one she’d worn last night hadn’t fit that well, and she couldn’t imagine spending a day in it. “Anders is out tending the bison. I’m sure he’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay.” Eve felt a little shy. All these people had bought her story about her boyfriend, but what would they think if they knew what she was really after?
They were environmentalists, too. Wouldn’t they savor the chance to take down a company like Hansen Oil? Or would they be afraid of the repercussions?
She and Melissa had agreed that the way to ensure her message about Hansen Oil stayed in the show when it was edited and aired was to make her interactions with the others so interesting that the director couldn’t stand to cut it. Eve figured that meant allowing Anders to pursue her, among other things.
She found she didn’t mind. After the way her body had buzzed with desire when Anders had comforted her in the kitchen last night, this morning she’d decided she deserved one last fling before she went home and really put her shoulder to the grindstone. If the thought of leaving Base Camp already gave her a pang, she just wouldn’t think about it.
Boone’s words penetrated her spinning thoughts. Bison? Did he say bison?
Eve wanted to see them. She’d forgotten about the herd here at Base Camp. The animals reminded her of one of the more interesting images that had crossed her desk at AltaVista. It had been a set of before-and-after photos showing a large swath of land situated in the great plains where several ranchers had converted from raising beef cattle to bison. The improvement in the health of the vegetation over several years
after the switch was remarkable.
“Feeling more like yourself?” Avery entered the main room from the kitchen and handed Eve a cup of coffee. Eve looked up to see Byron was quietly filming her.
“Yes. Thanks. Boone mentioned bison,” she said hesitantly, struggling to keep from glancing at the camera again. “I’d love to see them.”
“I’ll take you right after breakfast. Then we’d better get you to Alice’s house.”
“Alice. As in Alice Reed?” Eve straightened. “You mean—for a Regency gown of my own?” All the women at Base Camp wore them, but she hadn’t expected to get one herself. She’d be here only a handful of days.
Avery grinned. “Why not? If Clem is going to force you to be on the show while you’re here, you might as well get a dress or two out of it.”
Eve’s spirits rose. A Regency gown would be fun. When the rest of the members of Base Camp trickled into the bunkhouse for breakfast, she enjoyed meeting them. Last night the bunkhouse had been full of men, but now there were more women to balance the numbers. They were interested in meeting her and asked questions, but everyone seemed too well-mannered to quiz her closely about getting left behind by the fictional James.
“If you’re staying through Christmas, you’ll be here for the Night Sky Bonfire tomorrow night,” Nora said. A dark-haired woman with expressive features, she’d held back a little, but Eve had expected that from what she’d seen on the television show. Nora had been attacked by a stalker earlier in the year. She looked like she’d overcome the effects of the attack, but Eve had a feeling she went through life with a certain wariness around strangers.
“We’re all planning to go. It’s a good excuse to get off the ranch and see other people,” Avery chimed in.
“It will cheer you up,” Hope said. “The best thing for a broken heart is to keep busy.”
“Until then, we’ll keep you busy around the ranch,” Riley said. She was Boone Rudman’s wife, a friendly brunette.
