Come Fly With Me

Keeping Lisa around in the confines of his lodge was definitely asking for trouble. Regardless of her familial connections or her charming personality, the beautiful drifter couldn’t stay. Wouldn’t, even if he’d be foolish enough to ask her to.

While he wouldn’t exactly call his ranch secluded, it was a far cry from the hub of activity Lisa was accustomed to. Just yesterday, she had started her day with plans of whale-watching, and by the end of the day she was in Colorado to write a totally different story on a bed-and-breakfast. The world was her playground, and this ranch was his world.

While his brothers had followed in their father’s footsteps of the construction business, Adam had counted the years, just waiting for the day his parents would let him spend summers helping his grandparents run the ranch. Now he had that chance. Whispering Pines was all he had to remember his grandparents by and he would do everything within his power to maintain the legacy they had left behind.

This was his dream. His destiny. His calling. And if he couldn’t make a go of the guest ranch, his cousin would be more than happy to put his own name on the deed. Chance had offered to buy the MacIntyre cousins out in the very beginning, and still did on a regular basis. At the going price of land in the area, and the rate of population growth, they all knew their opportunistic cousin probably had investors lined up to divide and develop the entire ranch.

Lisa’s mission stirred up fears and shadows, from the list of unfinished detail work, to decorating the place, to the warning that mixing business and romance was a lethal combination. While it helped that he knew Lisa’s family, trusting any woman with his business image would always bring back caustic memories of all that Amelia’s betrayal had cost him.

As usual, all it took was one inkling of a reminder of that dark time in his life to ruin the entire night’s rest. He tossed and turned, barely catching a wink of sleep before he heard the alarm clock’s dutiful “cock-a-doodle-doo.” Back to work.

Adam stepped into the house a few hours later, followed by a chilling gust of wind. To his surprise, Lisa was sitting by the window enjoying a cup of coffee, reading the morning newspaper, seemingly oblivious to the vehicles driving up the lane. “You think the entire family can convince me to go along with this?”

Minutes earlier Adam had seen Kevin’s SUV pull through the Whispering Pines gate, followed by Alex’s truck. If his brothers were coming to work, they’d have driven out in one vehicle, which meant this was a family visit, not business.

She looked up from the paper. “Good morning to you, too. Now what have I done?”

Without a word, Adam pointed out the window. “Face it. This idea of my sister’s backfired. End of subject. You may as well take your matching set of luggage and head on down the road to the next golden opportunity.” He pulled a mug from the cupboard and poured a cup of coffee.

“You’re even crankier than usual this morning. Didn’t you sleep well? I suppose that’s my fault, too.” Lisa took a sip of coffee and turned back to her newspaper.

As a matter of fact, it is.

She glanced out the window, then stood up and placed her hands on her hips. “Adam, I didn’t call anyone. I wasn’t sure I’d even be here long enough.”

“You’re right about that.” He lifted the mug to his mouth. “You’d like me to believe the whole family just happened to show up out of the blue on a Saturday morning?” Without thinking, he took a drink.

“That’s hot. Be—” she winced “—careful.”

He spit the coffee back into the mug before he realized what he was doing. “Phew.”

He set the mug on the counter and opened the freezer. He dropped two ice cubes into the steaming brew. “I should have known. I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, I guess.” From the feel of his burned tongue, it would be a long while before he’d make the same mistake.

“Believe what you want about my sisters, Adam. I had nothing to do with it.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why they’re here, but I can’t think of a better way to prove my innocence to someone as…as…bullheaded as you.”

He walked closer with quick, long, purposeful strides. Adam cocked his head questioningly. “Bullheaded? You sure you don’t want to add cad to that? If my memory serves me correctly, that was the word of choice at the church after Kat and Alex’s wedding. You sure you don’t want to come up with a few more names for me?” The words slipped from his mouth before he thought about the implication, that he’d been thinking of that darned bouquet.

Lisa folded the newspaper and neatly put it back into the copper boiler next to the small Franklin stove heating the kitchen. “I think that will do fine for now. Given time, I’m sure I could come up with a few more that fit your sour disposition.”

Thankful that she hadn’t seemed to catch his slip, Adam returned to the entry. He slid the heel of his cowboy boot into the wooden boot jack and tugged first one foot, then the other from the fitted leather.

“It’s no wonder you’re still an eligible bachelor if you’re always this charming,” she muttered.

“I heard that, and I couldn’t be happier.” Adam stood at the doorway to the great room and waited. “Must be all that running that makes you so miserable.”

Car doors slammed on the opposite side of the lodge, and Adam returned to the coffeemaker, pausing long enough to add a spot of hot coffee to the overly cooled liquid. “Come on.” He nodded his head toward the front door.

“Whatever makes you think I’m miserable?” Lisa’s feet were planted to the oak floor, her arms crossed.

“Later. Right now, we have bigger fish to fry. And you’re not getting out of this one.” Adam caught her by the elbow and firmly escorted her to the front oom to wait for their guests.

Lisa pulled her arm from his grip. “What has you so worried, Adam? This story…?” Lisa sank into the leather sofa with her back to the door and stared defiantly at him. “Or did you tell someone that we caught that bouquet? I thought that was our secret.”

He set his cup of coffee down on the marble coffee table with a crash, spilling hot liquid on his hand. He muttered under his breath. “I didn’t tell a soul. As for the story, Liz sent the paperwork, I didn’t. This is a bad time, is all.”

Lisa crossed her arms over her chest.

His voice faltered and he narrowed his eyes in warning. “Don’t look at me that way.” He pulled a couple of tissues from the box on the mantel and wiped up the spilled coffee, then tossed them into a wicker trash can as the doorbell rang.

“Yoo-hoo! Adam? Anyone home?”

Despite his chilling glare, Lisa kept her back to the door and remained silent.

He was minimally surprised that she didn’t back down. Not that he should be. After all, he’d heard stories from his brothers of how stubborn her sisters were. Why should this Berthoff woman be any different?

Adam glanced at the houseguest, then to her sisters, who didn’t seem to notice Lisa sitting on his sofa. He was surprised to see Susan and Elizabeth had also arrived while he and Lisa were arguing.

“What’s the big emergency?” Alex asked as he helped the very pregnant Katarina take her coat off.

“Emergency?” Adam echoed.

Kevin took Alissa from her car seat while Emily showed Ricky where to put his wet snow boots.

After a quick “Hi, Uncle Adam,” Susan’s boys grabbed hold of Ricky and ran directly to the private family room to play with Adam’s stash of old toys. “Mom called and said we all needed to be here in an hour. What’s so important that you had to wake us all at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning?”

Susan, Elizabeth and their husbands shared their annoyance at the early beckon to rush right over.

The door opened once more, and Millie strolled inside with a smile on her face. “Morning, everyone. How about some warm muffins fresh out of the oven?”

The room hushed to an eerie silence.

All eyes were on Adam. He raised his hands in front of him. “Don’t look at me. This isn’t my doing.”

Lisa stood and turned around, diverting the attention away from him. “Hi, everyone.” Her bright clear blue eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

Lisa’s sisters screamed as they made their way over to greet their youngest sister. Emily hugged Lisa and held her at arm’s length. “I didn’t even recognize you. You’re so thin….”

Katarina nudged Emily aside and took her turn for a hug. “You look wonderful, Lisa. What are you doing here? Why didn’t you call?”

Alex glanced at Adam with a puzzled look, and Kevin, still holding his curly-haired toddler, gave Adam the thumbs-up, then took his daughter over to meet her long-lost aunt. The toddler immediately grabbed a handful of Lisa’s silky blond hair.

Adam caught Susan shrugging her shoulders as Elizabeth asked why they’d been called over for a Berthoff family reunion.

“Lisa, why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” Emily’s smile and question were genuine.

“I didn’t know. It was a last-minute assignment. I just arrived last night.” Lisa smiled at the child, seemingly wary of frightening the child. “I meant to call. I just ran out of time.” Her voice was soft, and she covered her eyes, playing peekaboo with Alissa. The toddler giggled, then hid her face in the crook of Emily’s neck.

He had no more doubts that Lisa was right. This time his paranoia was getting the best of him. Too much time spent trying to avoid Cupid’s arrow, he guessed. The fact that the festival coordinator had managed to dub Adam and herself as host and hostess for the masquerade probably didn’t help right now.