A SEAL’s Desire Page 15

  Everything within Renata rebelled against that idea. This was her obligation. She was the one who had to figure it out. She’d made a promise to the girls she’d left in Peru, and unlike all the different people whose homes she’d drifted in and out of as a child, she meant to fulfill it. Besides, what if she told him—

  And he backed away?

  “I’m taking care of it,” she told him finally.

  Greg sighed. “I’m here if you ever need a hand.”

  Chapter Twelve

  ‡

  Several days later, Greg woke early with the sense that something had changed.

  The weather.

  After the brief thaw, a harsh wind had whipped through Base Camp for the past forty-eight hours, making every outside job miserable. He’d stood watch for the first half of the night and had been grateful when Walker relieved him. He’d kept a close eye on the settlement and had driven out with Clay a couple of times to check on the herd. He figured no one would be out causing mischief on a night like that, but on the other hand, it was the kind of cover a person could use to his advantage if he wanted to get away with something.

  He slipped out of his bedroll and tidied it as Walker was entering the bunkhouse. Greg went into the kitchen to search out a cup of coffee, and Walker joined him there.

  “Any trouble?” Greg asked.

  “No.” Walker leaned against the kitchen counter.

  “Did you ever find your ceremonial fan?”

  “Nope.” Always a man of few words, Walker was more taciturn than ever. The loss of the ancient object had affected him deeply.

  “You let your grandmother know?”

  Walker sighed. “Not yet. Putting it off as long as I can. Hoping it will turn up.”

  “It’s got to be Clem.”

  “Maybe.”

  Renata slipped into the room, followed by Avery.

  “Walker is still looking for his ceremonial fan,” Greg told them.

  Renata lifted an eyebrow. Turned to Avery. “Have you seen that around?”

  An expression crossed Avery’s face that Greg couldn’t quite pin down. Surprise? Anger?

  “You should be asking Clem.”

  Kai entered the kitchen. “Uh oh, everyone’s up early today. And probably hungry. Good thing I prepped a lot of the food last night.” He crossed to the refrigerator, opened it and stopped. When he turned around, he wasn’t smiling anymore. “Okay, very funny. Where is it?”

  “Where’s what?” Greg asked.

  “Breakfast? All the chopped vegetables. The bison sausage. The eggs! We’re having omelets today. We were having omelets,” he corrected himself. “We won’t be having breakfast at all unless someone brings back that food!”

  Avery turned to Renata. “Have you seen that around?”

  Renata frowned, but before she could speak, Kai stepped toward her. “I heard it was you who robbed the root cellar last fall. Did you take our breakfast, too? What else have you done?”

  “It wasn’t me,” Renata said. “I’m not the director anymore, remember? I’m on the show.”

  “You still work for Fulsom—”

  “All of us work for Fulsom,” Greg reminded him, “and if Renata says she didn’t do it, then she didn’t do it.”

  “Someone did.”

  Angus poked his head in the door. “When’s breakfast?”

  “Whenever the person who stole the food brings it back!” Kai snapped.

  Addison slipped under Angus’s arm and joined her husband. “What’s going on?”

  Kai ran a hand through his hair. “Someone stole breakfast.” He opened the refrigerator door to show her. Addison began a search of the room.

  Where would someone take enough food to feed a small army? With a sinking feeling, Greg crossed to the kitchen door and opened it.

  It was still dark, stars twinkling overhead in a blessedly clear sky, giving off enough light that after his eyes adjusted, he could see footsteps through the snow. He went back in, shoved his feet into boots, shrugged his jacket on, grabbed a flashlight and headed out again to follow the tracks, Kai, Walker, Angus and Renata close behind.

  “They’re heading toward the barn,” Kai said a few moments later.

  “Not the barn,” Greg said with a sinking heart.

  They followed the tracks another dozen yards and stood in front of the chicken house.

  “Wasn’t that locked up last night?” Angus asked. They always shut the chickens in at night to keep them warm and safe from predators.

  “It was locked up an hour ago,” Walker said. “I checked.”

  Their breakfast—what was left of it—was spread on the snowy ground in the chicken run. Although the door was open, it didn’t look like any of the chickens had escaped. They’d made short work of the bison sausage and chopped vegetables, though. Chickens ate just about anything, in Greg’s experience. A pile of eggs lay smashed in one corner. The chickens would even eat some of the shells, he knew. They craved the calcium.

  “You must know something about this.” Kai turned on Renata.

  “I don’t. I swear.” She lifted her hands in appeasement.

  “Well, everyone better get to work. We’re not eating until lunchtime.” Kai stalked off, and the rest followed him back to the kitchen, where they found Addison had taken the helm, reheating a large container of soup she must have found in the freezer.

  Kai shook his head when he saw her. “We need to save our food.”

  “We’ve got a whole herd of bison out there,” she told him practically. “I know you’re mad. I am, too. We still have to feed people. Breakfast will be in ten minutes,” she told the rest of them, and they took the hint, heading into the main room.

  “Why the long faces?” Clem crowed when he and the crew burst in the front door.

  “You know why.” Greg confronted him.

  “I’m not a mind-reader.” Clem skirted around him and waved a hand to the crew to set up. When they did, he repeated his question. “What happened?”

  No one answered for a long time, until Avery tiredly said, “Someone stole our breakfast.”

  Clem immediately turned on Renata. “Still trying to direct the show, huh? Trying to stir up controversy? I know you loved to pit everyone against each other when you were running things.”

  Renata flushed. “I—”

  “But you still don’t know how to set up a scene, for all that,” he went on. “Watch and learn.” He strutted across the room, waving a cameraman to follow him. “Angus! You know you need to marry in the next few months, and yet all you’re doing is mooning around like a little boy who broke his yo-yo. Are you going to be a man and find a girl or what?”

  Angus, who’d grabbed one of the folding chairs and taken a seat, surged out of it again and advanced on the director, who quickly retreated. “When I draw the short straw, I’ll marry. Until then, bugger off!”

  “Let’s go catch the action in the kitchen,” Clem said to the crew.

  “Why the hell did I ever come here?” Angus said bitterly when they were gone. “Why am I still here?”

  “Because you made a promise,” Renata snapped. “And you don’t break promises to people you care about.”

  Greg wasn’t the only one surprised by her retort. After a moment, Angus nodded and sat down again. Avery took a chair on the far side of the room. Walker paced restlessly, something Greg didn’t think he’d ever seen the man do before.

  As other couples filed in, looking for breakfast, the dour mood spread.

  It was going to be a long day.

  No one wanted her here. Kai had made it clear what he thought of her, and while Greg had leaped to her defense, no one else had. Why should they? She’d spent her first seven months here grilling them in front of the cameras, setting up awkward situations and, yes—helping to steal their food. At Fulsom’s behest. One of his first attempts to liven up the show.

  Back then she’d viewed the job as a job, done what she needed to do to keep getting paid. Li
ke Addison had pointed out, no one at Base Camp would have starved with all the bison around, but she’d helped make their lives harder, every step of the way. Of course they didn’t want her here.

  After a silent breakfast, Greg asked her to accompany him on his rounds of the energy systems in the settlement, but Renata begged off. “I need to talk to Boone.”

  “About what?”

  “It’s personal.”

  Greg didn’t protest, but his shoulders hunched as he went outside, and she knew she was letting him down. He must be struggling to figure her out. Every time they were close it felt like heaven, but things between them couldn’t work out. Not now.

  If only they’d met somewhere else.

  Something tickled at her mind—a memory that simply wouldn’t come clear—and Renata shook her head to drive it away. She needed to focus on the problem at hand. She squared her shoulders and went in search of Boone, finding him outside talking to Riley.

  “Boone? Got a minute?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  “I’m off to the manor,” Riley said, giving her husband a peck on the cheek and heading off.

  “What can I do for you?” Boone asked when they were alone.

  Renata tugged her jacket closer around her, grateful for the sturdy boots she’d bought in town when the weather had turned. Overhead a blue sky held a bright sun that gave little warmth. Still, it was better than the wind.

  “About the backup bride. What are you doing to find one for Greg?”

  “Didn’t we agree that’s your job?” Boone countered. When she didn’t take the bait, he shrugged. “What can I do? Between putting the angry past backup brides on the show and plastering up that billboard near town, Clem’s made sure no woman is going to step forward now.”

  “Greg needs a bride.”

  “Greg doesn’t want anyone but you, so why even bother?”

  “Greg can’t have me,” she snapped. “Oh, forget it. I’ll take care of this.”

  She stomped off toward the manor, changed her mind and headed down to Pittance Creek instead, hoping her cell phone coverage would work out there. She found a log to sit on near the frozen-over creek. Underneath its skim of ice, water was still running. It was quiet out here.

  A good place to think.

  She didn’t want to think, though. Imagining Greg with another woman made her skin itch. Greg was meant for her. She was meant for him.

  Should she just tell him about the money she owed?

  No.

  She simply… couldn’t.

  Renata stared at the ice-covered creek, letting her thoughts run their course. She wasn’t going to choose her own happiness over the promise she’d made to those girls, and she wasn’t going to make Greg pay off her debts, either. Being dependent on someone else made you vulnerable. She had to pay her own way. Take care of her own obligations. That’s what had gotten her this far.

  Renata pulled out her phone, ready to look through her contacts, but continued to gaze at the icy surface of the creek instead. Surely some woman she’d met over the years needed a husband. What kind of a woman would Greg want?

  Strong. Smart. Sexy. Renata squirmed a little. Not too sexy.

  She dropped the phone in her lap.

  What would she do when Greg was married, the show over? What if Fulsom didn’t need her anymore? Where would she go? How would she earn the rest of the money she needed?

  What about later—when all her girls had graduated and needed nothing from her except her continued friendship?

  It would be too late to be with Greg.

  Too late to stay at Base Camp.

  “There you are.”

  Renata straightened. Quickly wiped tears from her face she hadn’t known had fallen. It was Clem, followed by a film crew.

  “Plotting your next breakfast theft?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  He peered closer. “Have you been crying? What’s wrong? Trouble in paradise?”

  Renata stood up. “You want to pretend you’re a man, Bailey? Ten thousand dollars. That’s the bet.”

  “What’s the contest? Can’t play nickels out here.” He made a show of looking around the forest.

  “Let’s see who can make it over the creek without getting wet.” She gestured at a line of steppingstones jutting just through the ice that covered the creek.

  “Child’s play. We’ll both cross over. Then what?”

  “Then we cross back.” She wasn’t surprised it looked easy to him. After all the cold weather he’d think the ice was so thick he couldn’t fall through no matter if his foot slipped off the rocks. Renata knew different. She’d been watching the creek while she sat here. Saw the flash of water in the small spaces surrounding the stones. Just days ago there’d been a thaw, so she hadn’t been surprised to notice gaps between the ice and the rocks. Clem was a big guy. If his foot slipped, he’d get wet.

  She stood up. “Ladies first, right?”

  Once again she was thankful for the good boots she’d splurged on when the snow began to fall a few months back. They looked attractive, but their grip was strong, and they fit her well. After staring at the creek and the steppingstones for the past half hour, she had their layout in her mind. She had to make it look easy, though.

  Renata took a breath and stepped lightly and quickly across from rock to rock, hopping up onto the far, snowy bank with a little flourish. “You’re right; it’s totally easy!”

  “Told you.” Without a second’s hesitation, Clem launched himself out to the first rock, nearly overbalanced, caught himself and hopped to the next. He made the third and fourth—

  And then slipped right off the fifth.

  Crack! His boot went straight through the ice and he stood calf-deep in the icy flow of the creek.

  “Fucking hell!” Clem lunged for the next steppingstone, missed that one, too, and brought his other boot down into the water.

  Renata bit back a laugh, not wanting to incense Clem further. He already looked like thunder. He lurched and blundered his way to meet her.

  “That was a trick!” He climbed out on the bank and faced her.

  “How was that a trick? You’re the one who didn’t look where he was going. Ten thousand dollars.” When it looked like he’d argue, Renata called back to the camera crew, “You heard us, right? Ten thousand? I won fair and square!”

  “That’s right,” William hollered back. “We got it all.” He patted his video camera.

  “Fuck,” Clem said again, but he pulled out his phone and tapped it. When Renata’s phone buzzed with the notification of an e-transfer, she accepted it gratefully. That ought to finish taking care of the school bus, at least, and go a little way toward the boiler.

  “You’re going to pay for this,” Clem told her.

  “First you’ll have to catch me.” She skipped lightly over the stones again and ran all the way back to the bunkhouse, where she caught her breath and transferred her winnings so far to the school’s account. She got a text from Mayra almost immediately.

  Thank you.

  More is coming, Renata texted back. She’d have to let Clem simmer down a little, but she couldn’t wait long. How much would he be willing to bet next time?

  Enough that she could marry Greg?

  That would be an enormous bet.

  Renata crashed back to earth, her ebullience gone in a flash. She tapped on her phone again, brought up her contacts and began to make a list of likely women.

  She couldn’t fool herself. Couldn’t ruin things for everyone else, either.

  Greg needed a bride, and it wasn’t going to be her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  ‡

  “Why was Clem all wet earlier?” Greg asked Renata late that night. The married couples had retreated to their tiny homes. The camera crews had left for town, including a very snappish, Clem who’d been in a sour mood ever since he stomped into the bunkhouse earlier and kicked off his soaking wet boots.

  “He fell int
o Pittance Creek.”

  “I know that much. Now I’d like to hear the rest of the story.”

  “He lost a bet.”

  A bet. How many of them would there be between the two directors? Greg didn’t like the way Clem targeted Renata with his spiteful remarks, but he didn’t like the way she challenged him to so many contests, either. There was an ugly dynamic between those two, and Greg was afraid it was going to end up with someone getting hurt.

  Or all of them.

  “What kind of a bet?”

  “Who could stay dry while crossing the creek.” Renata fetched her sleepwear and headed for the bathroom to change. Avery, spotting her, followed.

  “Did you push him in?” Greg asked, coming after her.

  “Didn’t need to,” she said with a quick grin. “He’s a clumsy oaf.”

  “Or he’s letting you think he is,” Greg countered. “Don’t underestimate him.”

  “He’s a fool.”

  “He’s a fool who’s stolen your job—and who’s got a thing for you, too.”

  “Clem doesn’t have a thing for me.” But the way Renata looked away confirmed that she knew it, too.

  Avery met Greg’s glance behind Renata’s back and nodded. Greg felt vindicated; he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.

  “You push him too far, and there’s going to be trouble.”

  “Whatever.”

  Renata and Avery disappeared into the bathroom, where Greg knew they’d help each other with their old-fashioned gowns. He wished he was the one in there helping Renata, but they weren’t going to get any time alone tonight.

  Unless he did something drastic.

  “Let’s go look at the stars,” he said to Renata when she came back out dressed in sweatpants and an oversized shirt.

  “Too late.” She gestured to her clothes. “I’m not changing again.”

  “You don’t have to. Pull on a coat and boots. We’ll sit in one of the trucks.”

  “Everyone’s going to sleep.” But Renata went to the door, where the jackets hung on pegs, and pulled on hers.