“With me? You can’t honestly think I’d marry you. I’m pregnant with Angus’s child, remember?” Renata would love this conversation, she decided. It was just the kind of drama the show thrived on.
Douglas nodded. “I need to make a change. I’ve been watching Base Camp. Seeing what my cousin is doing here, how he’s making a name for himself. I was curious to see if I could, too. Can you blame me? Life in Scotland hasn’t been the same since Angus’s family left. I think all of us have been living with one eye looking to the west, comparing what we have to what his family has. There’s not many of our kin left in Scotland these days, you know. They’ve scattered to the wind. It’s lonely losing everyone like that.”
“But now here you are.”
“Here I am,” he agreed. “Look, lass, Angus’s family came here for the opportunities they could find. I’m looking for opportunities, too. But I’m not a university professor like my uncle.”
“What are you?”
“A businessman.” He shrugged. “My family runs the local pub, if you must know, in additional to our little farm. But I handle the pub’s inventory, the books, the bands. I know I could do more.”
“Here at Base Camp?”
“Well, maybe not here at Base Camp,” he admitted. “But being here is a start. I’m curious. What made you run away to California all those months ago, when all of us were so sure you’d marry Angus the first chance you got?” His tone was light, almost teasing, but Win had a feeling he was interested in the answer, and this was a topic she didn’t want to discuss.
“I had obligations at home, but now I’m back, and I intend to stay.”
“How do your folks feel about that?”
Win stiffened. What did he know about her family?
“Your father’s well on his way to becoming governor. Some people say his aspirations run higher than that.”
“Some people would be right.” Win searched for another topic, her gaze sweeping the forest again. A breeze was tossing the branches of the nearby trees, and she kept seeing movement out of the corner of her eye.
“That doesn’t excite you? Being related to the governor—or the president, maybe?”
“Not really.”
Douglas gave her a wry look. “The most powerful job in the world—and you’re not even slightly interested?”
“I love the work I’m doing here. I have no desire to be involved in politics. Do you?”
Douglas hesitated, and Win knew her hunch was right. She laughed in disbelief. “You didn’t come here to help Angus or distract me; you came because of my family. Did you think I’d wrangle a job for you in my father’s campaign?”
“N-no,” he said, trying—and failing—to look affronted.
“You’re shameless!”
After a moment Douglas grinned, and his smile was close enough to Angus’s she felt herself beginning to smile back.
“You’re right, lass. Completely shameless. Politics is just the place for me if someone would give me the chance.”
“My dad would probably love you.” She turned to the creek. Kicked a pebble into the water and watched the ripples.
“From your mouth to his ears,” Douglas said and took her hand. “Let’s be friends. What do you say? Do you forgive me for coming?”
“Sure, I forgive you. Just don’t screw things up for me and Angus.” She turned sharply as a dark shadow shifted from tree to tree in the distance—
Not a man. Just branches swaying in the wind again.
“What are you looking at?” Douglas scanned the forest, too.
“A couple of times lately there’s been a man in the woods. I saw him clear as day once, thought it was Angus…” She broke off as the truth dawned on her. “Oh, my goodness… It was you!”
Douglas smiled sheepishly. “I’ve actually been in Montana for a few weeks. I was hoping to figure out a way to get on the show. Then I saw Leslie’s ad. It seemed meant to be.”
“You scared me to death!” Win exclaimed.
“That was you screaming holy hell the other night?” he asked.
She nodded, not sure whether to be angry or laugh with relief. Her parents had been wrong; there wasn’t someone out to get her. Or rather, there was—but not in the way they’d thought.
Douglas rubbed both his hands through his hair until it stood on end. “I’m truly sorry, lass. I felt like a right idiot when that happened. I didn’t come back after that.”
“Well, at least all’s well that ends well,” Win said. “But you really know how to make trouble, don’t you?”
His smile slipped. “Never intentionally,” he told her. “I can’t help that I want more than I have. Come on, show me the manor.” He turned the way they’d come, and Win followed him slowly, wondering why his answer left her uneasy.
Chapter Twelve
‡
“I think you owe me an explanation,” Angus said when he finally cornered Douglas alone before dinner. The bunkhouse was thronged with hungry people, but he’d caught his cousin’s arm and pulled him outside. He figured they had only a minute or two before one of the crew spotted them. “Why are you really here?”
“Because you’re throwing away a huge chance. We all saw that back home even if you didn’t.”
It made Angus uncomfortable to think about the Scottish branch of his family gathered around the television analyzing his every step. “What do you even know about it?” he demanded.
“I know Win’s got powerful connections and that if you were smart, you’d use your brain and figure out what those connections could do for you. Instead, you’re spending time with another woman you don’t give a rat’s ass about so you can win at some silly game. Look at you tying yourself in knots trying to win this stupid show. For what? For a piece of land and few lousy buildings? If you marry Win, go back to California and play whatever game her parents want you to play, you could end up with enough money to buy a hundred ranches like
