Animal Prints: Sweet Small Town Contemporary Romance (Michigan Moonlight Book 1) (12 page)

She ignored his cool and smoky gaze and tried to re-direct his attention. If he stared at her any harder, she would embarrass herself by blushing and squirming. She liked him, but his intensity could be overwhelming.” Do you want to see the rest of the house?”

“Later. First, I want to look around at this eight hundred acres you own.”

“My family owns.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “How do you know how big it is?”

Ian took a large gulp of tea and sputtered as it hit the back of his throat. In a moment, when he could speak again, he answered, “It’s amazing what you can find out on Google.”

“You looked it up?”

“Research for the website.” There was a sheepish grin on his face now. “The county auditor’s office has records of everyone’s property. They’re posted.”

“Oh, I wasn’t thinking about the website. Learn anything else?”

“Nothing important, but I do have a question. Why do you and your siblings own the property? Why don’t your parents?”

“Cherry Ridge belonged to my father’s parents, but my mother inherited a house in town from her family. My parents still live there, and they like it. As kids, we spent summers and hours afterschool out here. Lexy was in the kitchen learning the secrets of French cooking. I was in the barns with Grandpa, and Adrien was down at the beach studying anything that moved. When they were older, my grandparents deeded the property to us, knowing our parents didn’t need it.” She put her glass on the table. “Are you ready?”

“Sure. I want to grab my other camera from my car.” He opened the kitchen door for her and they stepped out into the shade of the side yard. After a quick stop at his car, Ian slung one camera with a long lens around his neck and held his more compact one in his hand.

“Do you need both of those?” She asked since he looked like a complete tourist.

“Uh-huh.” At her doubtful look, he gave her a grin. “Trust me. I’m a professional.”

“You say that a lot.”

“That I’m a professional?”

“No! ‘Trust me’.”

“Do you trust me?” He asked, focusing his gaze on her.

She couldn’t tell if his tone was teasing or serious. Did she trust him? Moreover, should she? He made it easy to, but…

“I don’t know. I’d like to.”
 

With his free hand, he took hers, rubbing his thumb over the back of her knuckles. “I’m not here to hurt you, you know.”

“I hope not.” She forced a smile to reassure him and herself. Breaking their joined hands, she gestured to the sweep of land around them. “Where do you want to go first?”

“Take me down to the lakeshore.”

“This way.” She started down a path through the cherry trees toward the lake. Pointing to a wide section of lawn on the east side of the house, Colette said, “That’s where we set up the main tent for the fundraiser.”

“What fundraiser?” When he stopped walking, she turned to face him.

“I didn’t mention it the other night?” He shook his head, giving her a blank stare. “We had the first one last summer. Animal rescue is expensive. We get most of the supplies at cost through the clinic, but it doesn’t cover it all. Lexy cooked up an idea last year to have an evening of food, wine, and music here at the farm. One of those so much per head things plus a silent auction.”

“You organize it yourself?”
 

“Lexy, my mother, and I. Lexy manages all the food and Mom badgers businesses for donations. She’s good at that sort of thing. I do the on-site set up.”

“You make it sound easy, but I know it can’t be.”

She laughed. “You’re right. It was a helluva lot of work last year, but worth it. We raised enough money to get the center off the ground and take care of the animals who came in this year.”

“Impressive. Hope I get my business off the ground so well.”

“You will.” She smiled at him. “You’ve got ambition and the right equipment.” She gestured to his camera.

“Mind if I take a few pictures here?” he asked as he studied the trees.

She looked around at the old cherry trees, lush with fruit. “Go ahead.”

He clicked several shots, pivoting around to take in the landscape. “Do you have any employees?”

“High school kid from down the road works when we need someone or I’m away.” She plucked a ripe cherry off a tree and popped it in her mouth.

“When is the fundraiser?” He stopped taking photos and focused on her.

“In about a month.” She realized abruptly that he might not be here that long. The thought made her feel a little hollow inside. She continued leading him and took a sharp turn to the left, down a path that entered a grove of pines. “Watch yourself. The path gets steep and rocky here.”
 

“Can I help with anything?” Ian stepped around the exposed roots of a tree, carefully guarding his cameras as he did so. “I could do some promotional work for you. Make up some flyers or advertisements.”

She stopped in the grove in a slice of afternoon light that cut through the trees. There it was again: temptation. The temptation to keep him around, invite him back, trust him. “If you like, but why would you?”
 

“Maybe because I believe in the value of animal rescue,” he said. She nodded, thinking he was done speaking. “Maybe because I like you and enjoy being with you,” he finished quietly, reaching out a hand to stroke the side of her face. She shied back, but his gray eyes didn’t falter. “That’s not too hard to believe, is it?”

What did he want her to say? To respond in kind? She supposed it was the normal thing, to want to spend more time with him, but…there was always a
but
.
 

Just as she opened her mouth, the squawk of a blue jay caught his attention. Automatically, he put the camera with the long lens to his face and found the jay high in a tree through the viewer.
 

He knew how to find things when he wanted to, she realized suddenly. At least…through that lens. Maybe…he really did want to find her….

“He has a nest up there,” he said, abruptly, “You can see the little baby jays poking their heads up. Do you want to look?” He held the camera still slung around his neck out to the side for her.
 

She put her head on his shoulder to look at the nest through the camera’s lens. The jay covered his young with out-spread wings, showing his love and protection. His mate flew in from another tree, joining him and bringing food for their young. Mama, Daddy, and babies—the animal kingdom made it so simple. In the human world, finding someone to be with, to love and trust was more challenging. Was this her chance?

She sighed, and he turned his head toward her. This close she caught the scent of his spicy cologne and fought the urge to kiss him. It really was like sliding down a bottomless slope when it came to him.
 

She jerked back when Romeo shot past them to bark at the birds, who doubled their cries of displeasure at the dog’s intrusion.

Dropping her eyes, she stepped back and glanced away through the tall trees when he tried to move closer to her.

“Colette, am I making you nervous again?”

“No,” she said quickly.

“Liar.” He pulled the camera off his neck and put it on a soft bed of pine needles. “I am making you nervous. You don’t want me to get too close.”

Colette didn’t realize she’d been backing away from him until she hit the sturdy trunk of a pine tree. She could have dodged to the side to avoid his advance, but it seemed silly, a little fourth grade on the playground, so she lifted her chin and waited. He put one hand on the tree next to her head. With the other, he touched her cheek.
 

“Don’t you like me?” He nuzzled her neck and had the satisfaction of hearing her gasp.

“You know I do,” she whispered, her words bringing him a sudden flash of joy.

“Then what is it?”
 

She tipped her head back against the tree. “I told you I’m a bum magnet. I have a bad track record with men.”

“How bad?”

“Terrible enough to have me living like a nun for the past two years.”

“Tell me.” He kissed her softly on the lips.

“There was a string of them, but the last and worst was Tyler.” She let out a long sigh and focused on Ian’s face. “He was charming. Said all the right things. Did all the right things. I thought I was in love. I thought
he
was.” She gripped the front of Ian’s shirt with her fist. “You have to understand, I’ve been surrounded by people with perfect relationships my whole life. I told you about my grandparents, but my parents are the same. You know, love at first sight, years of wedded bliss. My sister and her husband, too. I don’t know how I came from the same DNA. I’m a train wreck when it comes to men. It’s like I’m cursed. What did I do to deserve it?”

“I don’t think you’re cursed.” He placed a kiss on her forehead. “I think you work hard and are caring. That means you have something people find worthwhile. You just have to find the right person to share it with. Tyler wasn’t it.” And because he couldn’t let it go at that, he asked, “What happened with him?”

“We dated for a couple months. Then, Dad and I started to notice that some medicines were missing from the clinic or from the kits we keep in the trucks.”

“Animal drugs?”

“Some of them are the same as human pharmaceuticals. You know, pain killers, tranquilizers.”

“So the guy was an addict.”

“No, he was stealing the drugs from us and selling them.” She drew in a deep breath. “It caused an investigation of the clinic and threats from the certification board about my license and Dad’s.” She swiped at the tears forming in the corner of her eye. “Sorry. It still pisses me off that he used me and I never caught on.”

“Is he in jail?” Ian controlled his tone to mask the irrational anger he was feeling. This Tyler was pond scum. “He is now. He skipped town, but tried to run the same scam in some small town in Indiana. The vet there wised up faster than I did.” Her face twisted in a grimace. “Dad and I had to go testify against him. He’s in prison now, but it doesn’t make it any better.”

“I’m not going to steal from you or cost you your license,” Ian said, only to realize the truth about what he was saying and stop the fake assurances. He wasn’t a hell of lot better than Tyler. “Uh…have you dated at all since then?”

She tried to smile at him. “Not really, thought I’d forgotten how.”

He didn’t know what to say so he put some space between them. Nothing he could say would help her or make him less of a hypocrite.