“Where did you go so early in the morning?” Everett asked as he tossed a log on the neatly stacked pile. Rill’s gaze raked over her before he met her stare. She tried to ignore the little prickles of excitement his glance evoked, but it was difficult.
“Oh, I was just down at the diner,” she replied evasively. She’d tackle telling her family and Rill about her new job if and when everything was certain and settled. It wasn’t cowardice. Not really. She just wanted to make sure about things first. It wasn’t as if she officially had the job yet, after all.
“So did you bring us something to eat from the diner?” Everett asked single-mindedly.
“No.”
Rill cocked his head. “You were down at the diner? On a Sunday morning?”
“Yeah,” Katie replied, uncertain about his narrowed gaze. He glanced over her again, and this time she sensed more than heat in his assessment.
“Why are you dressed like that?” Rill asked.
Katie looked down at herself. She hadn’t wanted to show up for her meeting with Monty dressed inappropriately, but since she hadn’t known why he wanted to meet with her, she hadn’t really known what “appropriate” was. She’d chosen a brown skirt, brown leather high-heeled boots, a crisp white shirt with a wide collar and a tailored Burberry jacket.
“You look like you were on a job interview,” Rill continued, his dark brows knitted together in puzzlement. His piercing glance seemed to slice right through her discomfort at his astute observation. “You haven’t let Olive Fanatoon and her co-op crowd recruit you to their cause, have you?”
“No, I haven’t,” she bristled. How could he be so attractive and so insufferable at once? “How did you know Olive and those people would be down at the diner?”
He gave a negligible shrug and bent to pick up the ax. “Because Olive has asked me to attend their Sunday meeting practically every weekend since I came to Vulture’s Canyon.”
Katie forgot her embarrassment. “She does? Why?”
“She seems to think that if I were a spokesperson for their cause—Food for Body and Soul—they might get a lot more publicity.”
“Oh, she wants a celebrity spokesperson,” Katie murmured. It shouldn’t have surprised her, of course. She was used to every charitable organization under the sun vying for celebrity attention, both from her work experience and her private life. As a popular film director, Rill got his share of pleas for endorsements, time and money, although Everett was the one who was besieged constantly. Katie did Everett’s taxes, so she knew for a fact how much he gave back to the community and various charitable organizations. Rill gave just as generously, even sponsoring a valuable scholarship program at UCLA in the film department. The scholarships were all done through a trust,
so the program had continued since Rill had holed up in Vulture’s Canyon. Still, Katie found herself wondering about Olive’s pleas for help.
“And you don’t want to do it, obviously . . . help out Olive and Food for Body and Soul, I mean?” Katie persisted.
“Obviously,” Rill replied.
“Because it might do you some good, to get involved with something,” Katie observed, unaffected by his blue-eyed glare.
Everett placed a log upright on the chopping block and stepped back. Rill let the ax fly. The log split like it’d been struck by lightning.
“Okay,” Katie said, rolling her eyes. “I get the message.”
“You’ve already got him whiskey-free and eating fresh fruits and vegetables, Katie,” Everett said, his mouth quirked in a little grin. “Best give yourself another week to turn him into Mother Teresa.”
Katie gave her brother a sarcastic glance and turned to go. “I’ll be a good little woman, then, and go make you He-Men omelets . . . keeping my mouth shut the whole time, of course.”
Rill spoke with her back turned. “Everett’s leaving in a little while.”
“What?” Katie asked, spinning around. “You just got here.”
Her brother shrugged. “Lawson called,” he said, referring to his agent. “I need to get back. Besides, I saw what I came here to see.”
“You did?” Katie blurted out before she could stop herself.
Everett shrugged and gave first her, then Rill, a dubious glance. “Rill doesn’t seem determined to do himself in anymore, and that was my main worry. As for the rest of what’s happening in Vulture’s Canyon, I haven’t got any control over it, so I’d rather not hang around and see anything that’ll make me nuts.”
Rill gave her a sideways glance. God, she wished she knew what was going on inside that brain of his. She blushed for some stupid reason, mumbled under her breath about the omelets and hurried into the house.
After they’d eaten a brunch of omelets and whole-wheat toast, Everett went to pack. Rill helped her clean up in the kitchen. The whole time, Katie sensed he wanted to ask her more questions about what she’d been doing in town this morning. She’d prepared herself for it, but she had no safe response for what he did end up saying.
“Katie.” She turned from the sink and looked at him. He was leaning against the counter, his arms crossed beneath his chest, looking rugged and handsome in jeans, hiking boots and a cobaltblue long-sleeved cotton shirt that set off the color of his eyes. She had to admit, these woods agreed with him. As long as he wasn’t drinking himself to death in them, anyway.