Mary Sullivan - Rodeo Family

Nadine stared. People did not interrupt her so rudely.

Rick grinned and said, “Sure thing. Come on back when you’re done and I’ll have food on the table.”

Zach nodded and strode away toward an outbuilding without another word for her.

Rick said, “You’d better hurry and join him or you’ll have to run to catch up. Zach waits for nobody.” He herded the boys into the house, leaving Nadine alone to stare at Zachary Brandt’s retreating back.

She was not, and never had been, nobody . Certain people had tried to make her believe so, but she’d fought back. Oh, how she had fought. And she’d won. For a while.

Nadine Campbell was somebody , even if she had hit a bump in the road recently.

She crossed her arms and waited to see how long it would take Zach to realize she wasn’t following like a meek little lamb. But when he entered the barn, he didn’t turn back to check her progress.

Five minutes later, he still hadn’t come out.

It seemed to her that he didn’t much care whether she followed. She didn’t like the way he planned to conduct her interview.

She could leave. She wanted to.

Who was she kidding? After the things Lee had said this morning, Nadine was trapped here until she got the full story that Lee wanted. It was either that or lose her job, which she could not afford to do.

She picked up her high heels and carried them to the car, one boot too big and clunking as she crossed the hard-packed earth of the driveway. She set her shoes side by side neatly on the floor mat behind the driver’s seat. For a moment, she considered changing into her own boots, but glanced back at the house. There in the middle of a big picture window were two small figures watching her.

If she changed out of the boots the boys had brought her, she might hurt their feelings. So she didn’t.

Folding her arms, she leaned back against the car. Still no sign of Zach coming back out of the stable.

This morning’s meeting with Lee ran through her mind again. If she could, if it were the least bit possible, she would have quit on the spot, not only because of the orders he gave her, but most especially because of his tone. She’d gone down to the office only to pick up a notebook she’d left on her desk. Lee had ambushed her.

“I was talking to my mother yesterday at the nursing home,” he’d said apropos of nothing, seated at his desk and not looking up from his computer.

With a patience often needed in conversations with her boss, she waited out the ensuing silence.

He finished checking his email and said, “She told me some interesting things about the Brandt family. Some intriguing history.”

“Such as?”

“Such as a big secret the family has never disclosed.” He left it at that and stared at her.

What did that have to do with her and the interview? “And?”

“And you have to find out what that secret is.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know. If it’s super juicy, the rest of the town will want to know, too.”

“But why would it be anyone’s business but the family’s? Everyone in town respects them.”

“Not everyone.”

Nadine cocked her head and Lee continued, “There’s been no love lost between them and their neighbors for a long time.”

Their neighbors were the Broomes. Nadine remembered Tommy Broome from high school. Like Zach, he’d been two years ahead of her. Her memories of him weren’t all good. He’d been aggressive. A bit of a bully.

“There’s a rivalry between them, that’s for sure,” Lee said.

“Why? About what?”

“A feud of some sort.”

“A feud ? That’s implies more than a rivalry.”

“Yep.”

“What was the source of the rivalry?”

“Don’t honestly know. Usually these kinds of fights start because of one of three things.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “Greed. Love. Sex.”

“What does that have to do with Zach’s paintings?”

Lee shrugged. “Nothing.”

And then she knew. “You used the excuse of Zach’s artistic abilities to get me out on that ranch to interview him.”

“Yep.” That one word, unapologetic, fueled Nadine’s anger. It had been Lee who had urged her to write an article about the Cowboy Painter.

When had Lee changed so much from when she’d worked for him in high school? And why? He didn’t used to be...nasty.

“You used me,” she said, betrayal scooting along her nerves.

“Yep.” Lee threaded his fingers together across his stomach and leaned back in his chair. He didn’t used to be smug, either. “You need to find out what the old secret is.”

“How on earth am I supposed to do that?”

“That’s your problem. You’re the reporter.” Lee’s tone, a mix between order and dismissal, was exactly the problem with working for him.

“Can you give me a hint?” she asked. “What’s the secret about?”

“My mom’s being coy. Said she’ll only talk to Zach about it. It’s going to be your job to get him out to her nursing home.”

“Why don’t you just phone him and talk to him?”

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

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.