Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57350 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57350 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“You can use my ranch,” he repeated, more firmly this time, even though he wasn’t remotely looking forward to having people running all over his property. Not to mention the ribbing he’d get from his friends.
Her lashes lowered. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
Adam laughed softly. “Seriously?”
She smiled faintly. “Yeah. Just because we slept together—”
He sighed and glanced out the window toward his peaceful yard stretching down toward the creek. “I screwed up your deal with the Willoughbys because we really don’t need that kind of activity where our ranches meet,” he said. “But I don’t do much ranching near this house.”
Excitement lit her face instantly. “Are you serious? Do you mean it?”
“Yes. But you get one week. Seven days. No more.”
“We can do that,” she rushed. “In and out. Totally.”
He was such a sucker. “Okay.”
She bit her lip. “Counterproposal.”
“What?”
Her eyes gleamed. “I get to plant flowers and bushes around your house and by that barn I saw.”
“Knock yourself out.” He didn’t mind that at all. “Mrs. Poppins, Mrs. Hudson, and Mrs. Schiller get to be extras.”
Bianca smiled. “I’ll get them in whenever I can, but you know my limitations.”
“I know. But even if they just think they’re being filmed, give them a chance.”
“I will. I promise.” She shifted onto his lap and smiled down at him, radiating happiness. “If I make sure they’re at least filmed, if not in the final movie, can we film once at the bar? Just one total day. We’ll be done before the bar opens at seven. Please?” The words came so fast he had trouble following them.
He dropped his head back against the sofa. “Okay. One day only at the bar, but you change the name. I don’t want it to say Adam’s. I don’t want tourists coming here. I want a completely different name and a different look out front.”
“Hm.” She tapped a finger against her lips. “I can do that. We can change the name and have the prop guys build a different front so nobody recognizes it.”
His shoulders relaxed. “All right. Deal.”
“Yay!” She hugged him tightly. “Will you take me outside?”
“Outside?”
She jumped up. “I need to see where we’re putting flowers.”
“It’s raining.”
She hopped up and ran toward the door wearing nothing but one of his shirts. “I don’t care.”
“Hey. Put some clothes on,” he said, standing and following her.
She flung the door open and stepped onto the porch. Cold rain misted against the wood. “We could put big pots over—” She stopped talking.
Adam moved instantly, pulling her behind him.
A massive bouquet of red roses sat on the porch, the petals glistening in the rain, dark crimson against the wood planks.
He scanned the yard, seeing nothing but his truck and the land stretching toward the barn. There was nobody out there right now. He stepped forward slowly and picked up the card tucked into the bouquet.
Bianca’s hands flattened over his back. “Adam?”
He opened the card, and his stomach dropped.
I was a bad shot the other night. Didn’t mean to hit the tire.
He flipped the card over to read the second line.
Next time it’s between your eyes.
CHAPTER 19
The movie people descended upon his ranch like locusts. Trucks lined the drive. Cables snaked across the yard. Adam stood off to the side, keeping his eye on Bianca as she fussed around with the crew. She moved fast. One minute she was near the porch talking to the director, the next she was halfway to the barn with a clipboard in her hand and that determined look on her face.
He had to admit his place looked pretty great.
He had taken her to Boyd's earlier in the week, and she had gone to town with all sorts of flowering shrubs and bushes. She’d even managed to get some tulips into the ground before the weather turned. Bright colors framed the house now. Reds, yellows, purples. He couldn’t name any of them and didn’t want to, but she’d done a good job. The porch looked welcoming in a way it never had before.
He studied the beds lining the walkway and scratched the back of his neck. He idly wondered if the flowers would come back next spring. He figured he should ask her. The thought lingered a moment longer than he expected. He loved having her stay at his place. Waking up to her in his bed had quickly become his favorite part of the day. But he wouldn’t mind everybody else taking the hell off.
They were on day three of filming, and his temper was frayed.
Mrs. Hudson hopped up next to him, bouncing with excitement. “I just love this. I should’ve been a movie star.”
“You could’ve easily been one, Mrs. H,” he said.
She played a housekeeper at the home, and he figured she might actually make it into the movie a few times. She didn’t have a speaking part or anything, but she sure dusted a lot. “Are you having fun?”