She's Far From Hollywood

“Emily told me you were in beauty pageants, Bree. What got you started in that?”

She clearly wasn’t comfortable talking about herself, but she opened up under Nell’s gentle nudging. She told Nell—she was back to avoiding looking his way—that she entered her first teen pageant at her mom’s request. Her mother was ill, and Bree wanted to please her. She made it sound like money was tight, and she’d started doing more pageants to earn scholarship money and prizes. Her mom died on Bree’s eighteenth birthday, and Cole couldn’t miss the shadow of pain that crossed her face when she said that. Half his meal was cooling on his plate, and he didn’t care. He was too absorbed with her story and the swirl of emotions in her eyes as she spoke.

She quit the pageants, but then some pageant coach tracked her down and convinced her to try for Miss California. She won that and was a runner-up in the national competition.

“So is that where you picked up this stalker of yours?” Nell’s question was said kindly and with concern, but the effect on Bree was immediate. Color drained from her face, and her fork clattered noisily against her plate.

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry...”

“No, Nell, it’s okay to ask. After all, that’s why I’m here.” Her smile was tight and forced, but he had to give her credit for trying to make Nell feel better. “That didn’t start until recently. Unfortunately, Hollywood breeds weirdos. At first it was just letters in the mail signed ‘Your Loving Husband,’ and I knew they weren’t from my ex. The letters referred to specific events or outfits, making it clear that he was watching me. He said I needed to remember that my appearance reflected on him, too. He started texting photos of me that he’d taken with a cell phone, and he’d give me his opinion on whether my clothing was ‘appropriate.’ I changed my number, but he had the new one in just a matter of days and started again as if nothing had happened. He said I should start acting more—” she glanced across the table at him “—more like a lady.” Cole winced, remembering his comment to her a few nights ago. “There were odd phone calls that I figured were from him. It was only in the past month or so that I felt someone might be watching my house.”

“Your house? While you were there?” Nell put her hand on Bree’s. Cole’s own hands were clenched tightly.

She frowned. “I thought I was imagining it at first, because it was just a feeling that sometimes I wasn’t alone. But he confirmed it when he sent a picture of me inside the house, taken from outdoors. He was looking through the windows somehow. And then, after Nikki Fitzgerald...”

“Oh, Lord, that poor young thing,” Nell said.

Cole was really regretting not looking up that damned name, because he had no idea why the heavy silence fell on the table. As if she felt the weight of it, Bree suddenly stood and started grabbing plates.

“I’ve forgotten my manners, Nell. This is hardly appropriate dinner conversation. Let me get that dessert.”

While they enjoyed Nell’s blueberry pie and talked about the farm, he glanced at Nell and was surprised to find her staring straight at him. She raised an eyebrow and he realized he was leaning forward, toward Bree, as if he was hanging on every word. He frowned and pushed himself back into the chair.

“I’d better get to work on that fence before it gets dark.” His chair scraped across the tile floor as he rose abruptly to his feet. “Thanks for dinner, Nell. It was great, as always.”

She had an odd smile on her face, as if she was holding back some sort of joke. She nodded at him and winked. What the hell was that about?

“Come on, Bree, let’s take care of the kitchen while Cole does his chores.”

Bree didn’t answer, but she collected the dessert plates and followed Nell. Maggie trotted behind him out the back door as he headed to the barn for a toolbox and a fresh fence board. Old Shep started to join them then thought better of it and stretched out on the back steps to the house.

Twenty minutes later Cole slid the newly sawed board into place at shoulder height and leaned against it, holding it against the post while he fished for two more nails in his pocket. The board started to slip and he cursed as it dropped. But it was caught and lifted back into place. He looked up to see Bree on the other side of the fence, holding up the board and giving him a crooked grin.

“Farmers help each other, right?”

He looked at her long fingers supporting the rough-cut 1x8. Most of her fingernails were chipped and devoid of polish. Three nails were broken, one nearly to the quick. There was an angry blister on her palm. His eyebrows rose. Nell wasn’t bluffing when she said Bree had been working hard. But instead of complimenting her, he fell back to his standard snarl.

“You should have gloves on. You’ll be full of slivers.” He lifted the hammer.

“Yeah. You’re welcome. Glad to help.” Sarcasm dripped from those pretty lips. Wait. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about her lips. Those full, rose-colored lips that had haunted his sleep every night this week. The lips he was staring at right this minute. The lips that were now moving, speaking to him.

“Take your time, Cole. I’ll stand here all night if you need me to.” Her forearm trembled, and he realized she was holding the full weight of the ten-foot board.

“Sorry,” he said automatically. Damn it, that wasn’t the first time she’d gotten him to say that word since she arrived, and the thought annoyed the daylights out of him. He swung the hammer, making quick work of the final two long nails that now held the fence firmly intact. Bree shook her hand, wincing. He grabbed her wrist, sliding off one of his leather gloves to examine her palm. A dark half-inch sliver was visible just under the tender skin at the base of her thumb.

“I tried to warn you...” he muttered, half to himself. He held her hand firmly and fished his jackknife out of his pocket. With one swift move, he opened the knife, set it under the tip of the sliver and pulled it out. When a dot of blood appeared, he was surprised how much it affected him. He brushed the blood away with his thumb, still holding her hand in his.

“Go inside and have Nell put something on that so it doesn’t get infected.” He saw the angry red bites on her forearm and rubbed his fingers across them. “Fire ants?”

“One of my many lessons in farm life this week. Look before you sit down in the yard to rest, because there might be an ant hill there.” She slowly pulled her hand out of his, and he felt a surprising pang of loss. “And today’s lesson is...wear gloves. And apparently naps are for sissies.”

The corner of his mouth twitched toward a smile. “Nah. Naps are okay. For old people and womenfolk, anyway.”

She grinned, and his body warmed. “And which category are you putting me in?”

His eyes slid down her body. The gauzy top and snug leggings didn’t leave much to the imagination. Before he knew it, he was saying his thoughts out loud. “You’re all woman, Brianna. All woman.”

“I won’t be for long if I keep this up. Look at my hands. And my skin. I haven’t had this many freckles since I was a kid. The sun is doing a number on me...” Her eyes met his and she stopped talking, as if she just now realized what he’d said. “Wait...did you just say something nice to me?”

This conversation was heading in a dangerous direction. He forced the growl back into his voice.

“What? By calling you a woman? Isn’t that how you make your living?” She stepped back and paled. But wasn’t it the truth? Pageant queen? Hollywood trophy wife? He wasn’t going to feel guilty for stating the obvious.

Her voice settled to a steely level. “Right. I knew I must be mistaken about that ‘nice’ business. Are we done here?” She nodded to the fence.

He barely managed to stop himself from apologizing yet again. Instead, he bent to pick up his tools and walked away without saying another word. He was pretty sure he heard her call him a jackass under her breath. So be it. She wasn’t wrong.

When Cole got home, he paced the floors in agitation.

That woman. That woman. That woman.

Just being in her presence was enough to send his pulse jumping. She challenged him and pushed him and ticked him off. And that was the problem in a nutshell. She made him feel things. And Cole Caldwell didn’t want to feel. He didn’t want to let his emotions out of the cage he’d stuffed them into. They were safe and controllable when they were confined. Bree Mathews was anything but safe and controllable. She was too big a risk. Too dangerous for a man who used to face danger as part of everyday life.

When he’d reached for her hand and held it...well, something happened. Something that felt profound, which was ridiculous. Her hand in his felt soft and smooth and perfect. And those freckles she complained about? He thought they looked like gold dust scattered across her ivory skin. In the bar on Monday afternoon, he thought her complexion was artificial, a product of cosmetics and Hollywood magic. But tonight she was scrubbed clean and glowing from a week in the sun. Tonight her skin, unencumbered with artificial enhancement, was perfect. He wondered what the parts of her body that he hadn’t seen looked like. Did she have freckles in hidden places? Did she have porcelain skin everywhere?

He kicked an ottoman and sent it sliding across the hardwood floor. She was making him crazy. Thank God she was only here temporarily. Once that stalker was arrested, she’d be back home in Hollywood.

Maggie settled onto her bed by the front door with a heavy sigh and stared at him with large, dark eyes. Most of the time she spent her nights outside on the porch, reminiscent of their days in Afghanistan when she’d stand watch outside the tents. Old habits died hard, even for dogs. But tonight she knew he needed her close.

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_67baf5b7-8334-5c12-adc7-4d5bcbece5c3)

BREE STOOD IN front of the mirror in the ladies’ room at The Hide-Away on Saturday night and laughed out loud. She looked nothing like the Malibu Barbie who’d walked into this same bar on Monday with long red hair and expensive taste in wine.

Her hair fell in feathered curls around her face. Tammy’s sister had carefully removed all her extensions that morning, then cut, colored and layered her hair so that the soft, natural curls came back. The ombre coloring was an edgy mix of her original dark red fading into soft cinnamon, with champagne blond on the tips. The length barely brushed her shoulders after it was cut, but she’d taken a curling iron to it tonight so it fell just below her ears in a jumble of messy ringlets.

Her outfit was the result of Emily’s shopping spree at Target. Instead of linen and silk, she wore a short denim skirt with a red gingham shirt tied at her waist. The shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a white tank top decorated with the glittering outline of a galloping horse. Her earrings were long, swishy tassels that dangled the length of her neck and ended in tiny gold horseshoes. Tall Western boots finished the authentic country look.

She’d laughed when Emily pulled the bright red boots out of the shopping bag. Not only were they red; they were also adorned with gold metallic thread stitched into a phoenix design. They made her feel brave and sexy. With her fresh crop of freckles, she was a new, sassy, all-natural Bree.

She turned back and forth, staring at herself in the mirror. Being recognized seemed unlikely after this transformation, which was why she’d agreed when Emily suggested they come to The Hide-Away for dinner. She thought she’d feel like an actress playing a role wearing this little country bumpkin outfit, but instead, she felt relaxed and energized.

A week ago she wouldn’t be caught dead looking like this. What if some paparazzi snapped a photo? Cole’s words had stung last night, but he was right. Her looks were her living, and she spent a good hour every morning plastering on her identity before walking out of her bedroom. But now...well, now she looked far more genuine than Malibu Bree had ever looked or felt, even with the silly multicolored curls.

“You gonna come eat with us or what?” Tammy rapped on the restroom door.

“Yes, ma’am! I’m on my way.” She quickly applied some sheer lip gloss. It was the only makeup she was wearing. She’d insisted Melissa pluck off what remained of her fancy acrylic nails, and she’d tossed out all of her cosmetics except sunscreen and moisturizer. The best way to look the opposite of the famous Bree Mathews was to ditch all the phony stuff. That thought made her pause again. Nearly everything about her in California had become phony. How exactly had that happened?

She stepped out into the dark, noisy bar and gave Tammy a thumbs-up. The Hide-Away was as different tonight compared to Monday as she was. The wide accordion doors she’d noticed that first day were now opened wide, revealing an adjoining room larger than the bar itself, filled with tables, chairs and an elevated stage at the far end of the dance floor. Tammy had explained that Ty and Cole were partners in the bar. They’d purchased the neighboring business a few years ago and used the space to expand the bar on the weekends and for special occasions. Friday was karaoke/jukebox night, although Tammy said their second-hand equipment was sadly outdated. On Saturday nights they had local bands come in. Their reputation was growing, and the place tended to fill up not only for meals, but also for a fun time afterward.