He couldn’t blame her.
Should he wake her up now and explain what was going on? Walker remembered her drawn face and red-rimmed eyes last night. If she was sleeping, he should let her be. Today he’d get his chance to face down Elizabeth and Sue, without an audience—except perhaps a camera crew. Tomorrow he and Avery could start fresh.
As for Elizabeth, what had gotten into her? Walker pulled on his clothes and went outside. Why did she look like she’d fought a war? Why on earth had she come home to marry him? He’d never once considered the possibility she’d hold him to the stupid promise they’d made so many years ago.
Something was wrong. He knew it in his gut. Whatever it was, he’d have to help solve it and send her on her way, before she ruined everything.
As he crossed to the barn, figuring he could feed the chickens and goats and other critters and get those chores done, he remembered what Sue had said last night when she’d called him long after she and Elizabeth left the reception.
“Why would you treat her that way when she’s just come home?”
“You know why.” He wasn’t going to allow Sue to pretend she didn’t know he was in love with Avery.
“You made a promise.”
“I did,” he acknowledged, even now torn between telling her he had no intention of following through and wanting to give Elizabeth the chance to explain why she’d lied in the first place.
“It’s time for you to step up. It’s your job to give that girl a good life.”
His job.
Because of what his father had done.
Would he ever be free of Joe Norton’s sins? He remembered little of his father. A tall man—strong. His brooding silences at the dinner table on his rare trips home. His sharp replies when Sue remonstrated him for staying out late instead of spending time with his son.
The way he had of looking into Walker’s eyes as if he couldn’t fathom Walker’s presence in his life.
His father had joined the Army months after Walker was born and served as if a demon was after him, according to Sue.
Maybe one had been.
Everyone made mistakes, but some mistakes had consequences so devastating it seemed like some independent evil had to be behind it.
Walker stood in the empty barn. Had he been fooling himself all these years? Sue had always spoken of the debt their family owed to Elizabeth’s, but the idea of providing Elizabeth protection and sustenance through marrying her was laughable.
At least it had been until last night.
Elizabeth was the most independent woman he knew. She’d made it clear from the time they were children she had no interest in him—not like that. Hell, they were brought up practically as brother and sister. Fought like cats and dogs when they were young. Barely spoke when they got older.
Why was he supposed to shoulder responsibility for the mistakes of a man he barely knew? Or the lie of a teenage girl trying to make her sole remaining relative happy?
Walker shook his head. He couldn’t blame his father for the predicament he found himself in. Couldn’t blame Elizabeth, either. He’d said he’d marry her. He never should have done that, no matter what the circumstances.
Why the hell would she want to marry him when there’d never been a spark between them, though?
Something had happened to cause the haunted look in her eyes. Maybe if he figured out what, he could fix it and send her on her way—
Before his forty days were up.
A rumble of a truck and the flash of headlights down the lane caught his attention. Who would be coming so early? Even the camera crews wouldn’t arrive for another half hour. He watched as it parked next to one of Base Camp’s fancy new electric trucks and a woman got out.
Elizabeth, he realized with a sinking feeling in his gut.
He strode over to intercept her. He didn’t even want her on the property. She’d only hurt Avery more, and God knew they’d both done that enough already.
“What are you doing here?”
“Good morning to you, too.” Like last night, Elizabeth’s expression gave little away. She surveyed the ranch in the early morning gloom, but Walker knew she couldn’t see much other than the silhouettes of the bunkhouse and barns against a sky gradually shading from indigo to cerulean. “I have to say, the last thing I ever expected was that you’d land on reality TV.”
He grunted. “Didn’t expect it either. Here to tell me what’s really going on? What happened to having dinner at Sue’s and talking things over then?”
She didn’t answer at first. She was probably calculating how best to regain the upper hand. They’d always fought for supremacy.
“We have a lot of catching up to do,” she allowed. “Forget dinner. I told Sue I’d spend the day with you here, instead. We don’t need an audience when we talk.”
Like hell they didn’t. They needed to tell Sue the truth.
“I’ve been busy this year—in Siberia,” Elizabeth went on.
“So I heard. But what does—?” He broke off at the sound of another engine.
Elizabeth looked over her shoulder and nodded as another vehicle pulled into the lot. “Ah, here they are.”
Walker nearly groaned when several crew members got out, bringing their equipment with them. What the hell were they doing here so early?
“Morning, Walker,” one called out.
He ignored them. Had Elizabeth told them she was coming? Why would she do that?
She waited until the crew had their equipment, including a circle of bright lights, set up before she went on. “It’s my job to study the effects of climate change on wildfires,” she said as if this entire situation was perfectly normal. “Right now I’m specifically studying the effect
