She took her time answering. “This is my home now, remember? I’m going to be your wife. We’ll live happily ever after in our tiny house.” She tossed her long hair over her shoulder, practically daring him to deny it.
“You handed in your resignation to your job, then?” he retaliated.
She blinked. “Why would I—?” She stopped. Laughed. “Okay, you caught me. I haven’t resigned yet.”
“Why not? If you’re so set on staying and marrying me?”
He thought he had her at a loss for words, but a smile slipped over her face, and she held up a hand and wiggled her fingers at him. “Put a ring on it, sweetie, and I’ll make the call. I might be old-fashioned, but I’m not stupid.”
Walker cursed the cameramen who were getting all of this. He had no doubt that exchange would show up on the next episode of Base Camp. “You’ll get your ring when I’m sure of your motives, because I don’t buy for one minute that you actually—”
“Be right back. All this punch is going straight through me.” She handed him the crystal glass she’d been sipping from and made for the bathroom, leaving him gaping after her. He snapped his mouth shut. Set down the glass on a nearby end table. Spotted Avery alone on the other side of the room near the refreshments table and started for her, wondering where Gabe had gotten to.
He knew it wasn’t fair of him to interfere if she’d made a connection with the other man.
But he couldn’t stay away from her a moment longer.
“Where’s your new lady-love?” Leslie’s voice carried across the room. Avery, helping herself to a glass of punch, turned to see she and Byron had cornered Walker.
Maud, coming back from the kitchen, was drawn like a moth to a flame to their conversation. The woman loved gossip, although Avery didn’t think she had a mean bone in her body. Avery busied herself with her punch glass, hoping no one realized she was listening in, too.
“Well? Where’s Elizabeth?” Leslie pressed Walker. “Elizabeth is the woman Walker’s promised to,” she told Maud. “Anyone who watches Base Camp has heard of her.”
“Ah! An arranged marriage?” Maud tittered, ignoring the reference to television the way she and her husband ignored references to all modern conveniences. “How unusual in the new world. How romantic.” She must have noticed Avery nearby. “How inconvenient, I mean,” she added.
“Walker’s like a lot of men,” Leslie said airily. “Men like to have everything all at once, you know. They’re horrible at choosing. They want this girl and that girl and the other one, and even when you tell them the law says they can marry only one, they seem to think maybe it doesn’t apply to them. I knew a girl who married a man in Palm Springs and then found out he was married to sixteen other women—all of them in Palm Springs! Her children had sixty-five half siblings! How do you get away with that? It’s a man thing. Men are sneaky! Except my man.”
“I should imagine the poor fellow was quite exhausted,” Maud interjected. “How did he keep them all straight? What if two wives chose the same name for their children?” She bent closer to Leslie as if to whisper, but her voice was as loud as ever. “How did he keep all those women satisfied?”
Avery needed fresh air. She was sure Gabe would find her when he got back from his foray to find a bathroom, and anyway, there were plenty of other people to entertain him while she was gone.
Outside, on the Russells’ front porch, she sifted through her whirling thoughts. Showing Gabe around Base Camp had distracted her for a few hours this afternoon. He was an intelligent man with more of a sense of humor than she’d first suspected when she’d come upon him arguing with Elizabeth. She didn’t know how he’d pissed off Elizabeth so much in such a short period of time when he seemed to be perfectly capable of being a charming companion.
They’d walked all over Base Camp enjoying the fine weather, Avery pointing out every landmark and Gabe comparing them to the way they appeared in the show. As they went, she’d been able to introduce him to most of the cast and crew members, too. He seemed pleased as punch to know them all.
He was a nice guy.
But he’d never touch her heart the way Walker did.
When the door opened behind her, Avery wanted to tell whoever it was to go away.
“We’ve got only a minute,” Walker said, coming to stand beside her. “Avery, you’ve got to know this is killing me.” He gathered her hands in his and turned her to face him.
“Then do something about it.”
“I’m trying. I need time.”
“That’s what you always say.”
The anguish in his eyes twisted her heart. “I—”
The door opened again. “Walker? You out here?” Elizabeth called sharply.
“Avery?”
That was Gabe. He pushed past Elizabeth onto the porch.
Walker let go of her hands as they approached.
“Everyone’s wondering where you got to,” Elizabeth announced. “Come back inside.”
“There’s going to be dancing,” Gabe said, crooking an arm Avery’s way. Wordlessly, she linked her elbow through his. “Dancing is fun, right?”
“I guess.”
It would be if she was going to dance with Walker.
But that didn’t seem likely anytime soon.
Chapter Four
‡
“See? All’s well that ends well,” Sue said several days later. Walker, Elizabeth, Avery and Hope had just returned from chores to find her sitting on a log section at the fire pit. The others had gone inside to clean up. Elizabeth was nodding at Sue, and Avery was studiously ignoring her.
Walker came to join her, but he wished he didn’t have to. There were hours to go before bedtime, but he was already looking forward to when he could turn in for the night. As long as he could sleep.
Everyone was still bedding down together in the bunkhouse, although there had been talk of groups of four or six peeling
