Sweet on You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 4) (10 page)

Molly gave up on Jacob. He was lost in the rapt attention of his new friend. No amount of telepathic prodding would make him see her.

“Sure. I’ve been to the Livingston Roundup twice. It’s a sight to behold.”

“I’m going to Texas after Logan’s wedding. The Stockyards Championship Rodeo starts next week.”

Molly nodded. She needed to forget about Jacob and concentrate on Peter. He was a nice man. He had an interesting job, even if it was dangerous. He had a home in Maine and most importantly, a wife sitting at a table not far from them.

“Will your family be going with you?” she asked.

Peter smiled. “They wouldn’t miss it for the world. My son thinks cowboys are better than Superman.” The music stopped and Peter stepped away from her. “Thank you for the waltz.”

“Sure, you’re welcome. Say hello to Danielle from me.” Peter had introduced his wife to Molly after they’d eaten dessert. Danielle didn’t like dancing and Molly didn’t have a dance partner. If Molly hadn’t spent most of the last two waltzes looking for Jacob, she would have enjoyed herself.

She followed Peter off the dance floor and headed across to Jacob’s table. As she got closer, she tried to see where he’d put her camera. It was no wonder he hadn’t noticed her. His full attention was focused on the woman beside him, and from the look of it, he was enjoying every minute of her company.

Molly stood in front of the table. He looked up and smiled. “Did you enjoy dancing?”

“To be sure. But you’re not using your manners, Jacob Green.” She held out her hand to the woman beside him. “I’m Molly O’Donaghue. I work for Mr. Green.”

Jacob’s eyebrows shot upward.

The blonde woman looked relieved. “I’m Samantha Holt. My friends call me Sam.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Sam. I just have a wee question to ask of Mr. Green, if I may?”

Sam looked pleased that Molly had asked permission to interrupt their conversation. Jacob had a closed off look on his face that told Molly nothing.

“Would you be holding my camera in your possession, by any chance?” she asked sweetly.

The wicked gleam in Jacob’s eyes didn’t bode well for finding her beloved camera. “I left it somewhere safe where no one would see it.”

Molly waited for him to tell her where it was. She could have waited until the moon boiled blood red from the stubborn look on his face. Molly wasn’t too keen on waiting for anything, especially when her camera meant so much to her. “And where would that be?”

Jacob smiled at his new found friend. “If you’ll excuse me, Sam. I need to help Molly find her camera.

“It would be such a shame to interrupt your conversation,” Molly cooed. “I’d be more than happy to find my camera on my own.”

“It’s no problem. Have a good night, Sam.” He turned toward Molly and pointed to the back of the room. “It’s over there. I’d suggest we don’t stand here arguing about whether or not you’re coming with me. Logan and Tess are getting ready to leave.”

Molly looked at the bridal table. Tess was picking up her bouquet and Logan was beside her. If she wanted to get photographs of the bride and groom leaving, she needed her camera.

She gave Sam a quick smile before following Jacob toward the back of the room. “You didn’t need to leave Sam. I’ve got a good pair of eyes in my head to see what’s going on.”

Jacob stopped and turned toward her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means what you think it means. It’s not my place to interrupt your social life.” She glanced at Tess and Logan and groaned. “I really need my camera.”

“You’re jealous.”

“Don’t be daft,” Molly hissed. “And I’d thank you to give me my camera in the next few minutes, Jacob Green, or you’ll see the Irish come out in me.”

“I believe that’s, Mr. Green to you.”

“Camera, Jacob. And I’m not pulling the wool over your eyes.”

He sent her a baffled look before heading toward the back of the room. “I need to invest in an Irish dictionary around you.”

“It wouldn’t do you any good,” Molly muttered. “You’ll be gone from Bozeman before you finish the first page.”

Jacob frowned something fierce before introducing her to a lady in a lavender dress and pretty pearls. “Molly O’Donaghue, this is Elizabeth Allen, Logan’s grandmother.”

Mrs. Allen smiled at Molly. “It’s a pleasure to meet a friend of Jacob’s. He has been such a lovely table companion.”

Molly watched a slow blush spread across Jacob’s face.

A little poodle yipped from a chair beside Mrs. Allen. Logan’s grandmother patted his head and gave him a bone-shaped biscuit. “Basil thinks Jacob’s nice, too.”

Molly sighed. She’d walked into a Jacob Green fan club. It would have been sweet if she wasn’t so anxious about her camera. “I’m sorry to be rude, Mrs. Allen, but have you seen a camera in your travels?”

Mrs. Allen looked at Jacob. “Did you forget where you put it?”

Jacob shook his head. “No, ma’am. I know exactly where it is.” He walked around the table, reached under the tablecloth, and took a camera case off the seat beside Mrs. Allen’s dog.

Molly almost ran around the table. “Thank you for looking after my camera.” She took the old leather case out of Jacob’s hands and hugged it to her chest.

A flash of white caught her eyes. Tess and Logan were nearly at the door. The person they’d asked to take photographs while Molly was doing her bridesmaids’ duties was nowhere to be seen.

Molly picked up the skirt of her dress and rushed across to Tess. She had a few minutes to adjust the settings on her camera and take the shot that would close the circle on the day.

And then she might have a moment to think about Jacob Green, and the mischievous look in his eyes when she’d left.

***

The next morning, Jacob opened the front door of his home and headed down the same dirt path he’d run along too many times to count. He loved October, loved the Fall colors turning the trees to different shades of burned gold and amber. The air was crisp, the scenery breathtaking.

On days like today, he thought he must be the craziest person alive to want to sell his property. But New York beckoned. The building he’d seen had twenty floors of residential apartments, three floors of commercial space for lease, and the potential to blow his profit margins off the planet.

He’d never been more tempted by a property, more convinced that the risks were worth the financial gain. All he had to do was sell the four parcels of land he’d subdivided, say goodbye to his family for at least a year, and start a new life in a city that never slept.

He veered left, sprinted up a bank and ran across a meadow filled with wildflowers. Jacob smiled as he remembered the flowers he’d picked for his mom’s birthday when he was about ten-years-old. He’d biked across his parent’s ranch to find the perfect picking spot. Every basket and bucket that he’d been able to carry had been filled to overflowing with flowers.

His mom had hugged him for so long that he thought she was never going to let go. He’d been worried that the tears in her eyes were because she was upset. He’d picked a lot of flowers, more than anyone had seen inside their house. But her tears were because she loved what he’d done. Because she loved him.

He kept running, dodging the worst of the uneven ground, smiling as plants slapped against his legs. He pushed himself harder, shot along a ridge and dipped closer to Emerald Lake. Ever since he’d decided to sell his land, he’d tried not to get attached to the view in front of him. But it was hard not to be impressed by the crystal clear lake, the mountains rising around him like silent sentinels, or the feeling that you were the only person alive.

People would pay millions of dollars for views like this. Fifteen million if he found the right buyers.

He kept running, slowing down when trees rose around him, shading him from the rising sun. He wiped sweat out of his eyes and kept up a steady pace, breathing deeply as the forest turned to pasture. When he reached the edge of the lake he slowed down, took a moment to appreciate what was around him, then quickly focused on his future.

He glanced further down the shore and almost tripped over a rock. He wasn’t alone. Someone was crouched over the edge of the lake, staring into its clear depths.

Hunters would have been carrying a gun and he didn’t see anything that looked like a rifle. A light flashed in the morning air and he looked hard at the slight figure. The person stood up, and Jacob sighed.

Molly.

He jogged along the shore, making enough noise to scare half the wildlife around him. “Molly O’Donaghue,” he yelled. “What are you doing out here this early?”

Molly put her hand above her eyes and looked his way. “I’ve got a boss who’s desperate for some photos.”

Jacob smiled. “Must be hard working for him.”

He saw the flash of Molly’s white teeth. “He’s a tyrant, to be sure.”

A flock of geese squawked their annoyance at being disturbed. Before they’d opened their wings to fly away, Molly had her camera pointed at the lake, ready to photograph them as they rose into the air.

Jacob slowed down and watched another smile fill Molly’s face to overflowing.

When the geese had well and truly disappeared from sight, she turned to him and frowned. “What brings you out to the lake this early, Jacob Green?”

He stood no more than ten feet from her, caught in the way he normally was around her. “I run to the lake most mornings.”

“From your parents’ ranch?” Molly looked worried. “It’s a long way to roam on your own. You must have left before dawn.”

In all of their conversations, Molly hadn’t realized that he lived in the original ranch homestead. “My home is here, by Emerald Lake. Victor flew over my house when we showed you the property.”

“The pretty house surrounded by wildflowers? I thought it was rented to someone else.”

“Why would you think that?”

Molly put her camera in its leather case and moved away from the water. “It doesn’t seem grand enough for a man with such an impressive reputation around town.”

“Are you serious?”

Molly glanced at him before reaching into her backpack for a bottle of water. “Why did we meet at your parents’ ranch to sign our contract?”

“Mom invited me to dinner.”

“But you have a bedroom there.” Molly’s cheeks flushed bright red. “Not that your living arrangements are any of my concern.”

Jacob wiped his hands down the side of his running shorts. “I’ll always have a bed at mom and dad’s place, wherever they’re living.”

“And that’s the way it should be,” Molly said softly. “I made a mistake, and for that I’m sorry. You’d be wondering why I’m here, then?”

“You’re taking photographs for my marketing campaign?”

Molly nodded. “I came a couple of days ago to capture the lake at sunrise. Today I’m going to photograph the animals and birds. I was hoping to ask permission from the people living in the house to take some photos of their home. To show what is…”

“…and what could be.” Jacob finished Molly’s sentence and smiled at the surprise on her face. “Some of the time I listen to you.”

“You’re such a charmer. It’s a shame you’re selling your home. It might have made you more appealing to the right woman.”

“You think someone would like me more for what I own?” Jacob tried not to let disappointment slip into his voice. He’d expected more from her.

She shook her head. “Not for what you own, but for what a woman could do with this land. If she got annoyed, she could come down to the lake and get away for a while. It’s a miracle how soothing the water can be.”

Jacob frowned. “Are you saying I’m annoying?”

Molly took the lid off her water bottle and drank quickly. She glanced up at him as she slipped it into her backpack. “I’d be thinking I’m talking too much.”

Jacob grunted. “Some women think I’m a catch.”

“Of course they do,” Molly said with a smile. “Now that your ego is feeling better, do you think we could photograph your home?”

Jacob crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I didn’t leave Tess and Logan’s wedding until midnight, and you were still there when I left. How much sleep did you get last night?”

Molly shrugged her shoulders. “Not a lot, which is why there are bags under my eyes.”

Jacob stared into her eyes. He couldn’t see any bags, but he did see honesty and kindness, something so rare that it took his breath away.

“You’d be wanting to stretch your muscles,” Molly said matter-of-factly. “You’ll be seizing up and walking like an old man by the time we get back to your pretty home.”

“Are you telling me to hurry up?”

Molly grinned. “I wouldn’t be so bold. But I might be willing to share a chocolate bar if you’d let me walk with you?”

Jacob started stretching. “Depends on what type of chocolate you’re talking about?”

Molly lifted the flap on her backpack and pulled out four different bars. “I’ll leave the first choice to you.”

“You’re a chocoholic?”

Molly tilted her nose in the air. “I prefer the term, connoisseur. A life without chocolate wouldn’t be worth living.” She grinned as he took the Mars Bar sitting in the middle. “A wise choice.”