Rodeo Family

Lee turned away. “We don’t exactly get along.”

See, this was where Nadine and Lee differed. Sure, she was a reporter and liked scoping out stories, but she wasn’t a gossip. She often missed the more salacious stuff going on around town because she wasn’t interested. Rumors and titillation didn’t appeal to her. The truth did.

“Why don’t you and Zach get along?” she asked, because even if this devolved into gossip, it seemed it would have something to do with her getting a story about Zach.

“We had a run-in a couple of years ago.”

“About what?”

“It doesn’t matter.” For a man who usually talked about anything and everything, Lee was being awfully cagey.

Nadine was twenty-nine, which meant Zach must be thirty-one and Lee past retirement age at well over sixty. So whatever the fallout was about, Zach and Lee likely weren’t fighting about a woman. As far as Nadine knew, they had no business dealings, so it wasn’t about money.

What was it? Lee wasn’t talking.

“I can’t butt into the Brandts’ decades-old history,” Nadine said. “I’m going out there to talk to Zach about his artwork.”

Her hand was already on the doorknob when Lee said, “You ignore what I want and you’re fired.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “What?” Fired? Disappointment followed yet another burst of betrayal.

Had she done something wrong in the past year of working for Lee? Something that had upset him? Nothing she could think of.

“I’m giving you a job to do and by God, you’ll do it.” Lee stood, all five feet six inches, hundred and fifty pounds of him bristling like a hedgehog. “Weasel that secret out of Zach. I don’t care how. Just do it.”

He was, as it turned out, absolutely adamant. Nothing she had said after that had made a dent in his intention. It was either get the dirt or lose her job.

She needed her job, probably more than Lee even guessed. She’d left the office fuming. Now here she was on Zach’s ranch with a chip on her shoulder and about as far from the top of her game as she could get.

She watched the barn. Not a sign of life there. The man wasn’t coming back for her and she couldn’t leave. Head down, she trudged forward.

Nadine Campbell, you’ve met your match.

Chapter Two (#u1d471d90-c6d1-5dd6-ba3b-17b5fe89ffc4)

Zach stood in his stable and let the cool, soothing darkness wash the heat of embarrassment from his cheeks. He’d made a fool of himself lunging at Nadine to make her sit for those damned boots.

Smooth, Zach.

His campaign hadn’t started well. He was better than this. Experienced with women. Not awkward and—lunge-y? Damn it, Brandt, you screwed up already.

He should have known she’d bring her own boots. She might be fashionable and perfectly turned out every day, but she was smart. She wouldn’t walk his fields in high heels.

How long would it take her to follow him in? He grinned. On the one hand, she’d pestered him for an interview about his painting, clearly motivated to be here. On the other hand, he knew she was proud. She might drive off in an indignant huff. He wouldn’t blame her. He liked that feisty part of Nadine and wanted to see her riled—anything other than the neutral, blank expression she wore too often since coming home.

He also admired her boundless curiosity, except when she applied it to him. He didn’t want to do this interview. He wasn’t comfortable talking about himself. Never had been.

He wasn’t verbal. His paintings said all there was to say about him.

So why had he given in to her? To get her out on his ranch once more. Zach Brandt, you are so pathetic.

Again, he grinned. Pathetic, yeah, but also smart like a fox. If he had to submit to being interviewed, so be it. He hadn’t pursued her back in high school because he’d known she had ambitions and would leave town for good eventually. For some reason, she’d come back home. She was free. As far as he knew, and he’d asked around, she had no significant other in her life. He was available since his divorce three years ago.

But what would this new adult Nadine think of his ranch? Would she like it any better than she had when she was younger?

There was no point in asking a woman out on a date if she hated what you did for a living.

Where was she?

She had her pride, and he wasn’t going back outside to get her. Her curiosity would get the better of her. Any minute now, she would give in and come to get him.

By the time he’d greeted all of his horses with nose rubs and baby carrots from his shirt pocket, she still hadn’t shown up. She was tougher than he’d thought. Still biding his time, he stepped into the back room that was his studio in the summer months.

Spotless, the room welcomed him like a long-lost buddy, the smell of paint as familiar here as hay, manure, dust motes and horses.

He stared at the canvas sitting on the easel, an unfinished landscape that had been giving him fits. It was a study of his mountain at sunset, and he hadn’t yet gotten the red right where the light reflected on the tip. He mixed too bright or too dull, too orange or too blue.

An old enemy—frustration in his lack of ability—ate at him. Buyers might praise his talent, but he knew better. He knew how far he missed the mark of perfection. He knew how arrogant he was to even try to reproduce what Mother Nature had already presented with such unadulterated splendor.

Still, he strove to interpret and produce his love of the land. He couldn’t stop painting if he tried. The canvas, the paint, called to him.

There had to be a way to mix that particular red. Maybe if he tried adding a little...

With the flash of an idea that just might work, he picked up his palette and mixed. Close. Closer. When he applied brush and paint to canvas, he lost track of time. He lost himself.

Burdens, worries, conflicts fell away. All was peace.

* * *

NADINE WALKED TO the barn with slow steps, the too-large boot hitting the ground with a thunk every time. Funny how much guilt weighed. Tons.

Find out that family’s secrets.

The inside of the barn was empty save for a few horses. Maybe Zach had fooled her and left by a back door. But why would he? He’d agreed to the interview. She hadn’t forced it on him.

Where had he gone?

A faint sound reached her from the back of the building. She followed it to an ancient wooden door standing ajar with sunlight streaming through the gap. She peeked inside.

Zach stood in front of an easel, painting. He’d forgotten about her! Nadine didn’t have a huge ego, but people didn’t tend to forget her. Her looks alone had garnered all kinds of attention in the city. Well, her new, refined looks had.

It had taken a massive makeover to even be considered by a TV station. And finally, one had hired her. She had mattered then, to her bosses and to her audience.

Apparently, she didn’t mean much to Zach. Or perhaps, to be realistic, his painting mattered more.

Why should she be important to him? She was just a girl he’d gone to school with. Not even that. Two years younger than him, she hadn’t shared classes with him. He probably hadn’t even noticed her back then.

He painted with his whole body. Considering he held himself still except for the brush in his hand stroking red paint onto a mountaintop, she wasn’t sure what she meant by that. Understanding came quickly. Zach’s passion for painting was so deeply ingrained, his brush was being wielded by his soul.