LITMIR.BIZ

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When she dozed off, I told Pike I’d look after her and he should go home. Unfortunately, she didn’t stay asleep long.”

      “I see,” Sierra said. “And you live close by?”

      “About a half mile up the river.”

      “Come downstairs with us and hear what Frankie has to say,” Pike suggested.

      “No, I’d rather stay here in case Tess wakes up. I have some emails to write, anyway.”

      “I’ll get your suitcase,” Pike said.

      “Thanks.”

      “She has a very interesting face,” Kinsey said as they walked down the hall. “Good bones, great eyes.”

      He knew her comment referenced the fact that Kinsey had spent most of her life painting portraits. Since moving to the ranch, she’d developed an interest in still life and scenery as well, and the house she shared with Gerard was filled with her work. She was a small woman with light brown hair and an easy, engaging smile. Come June, she’d marry Gerard.

      “She’s gorgeous,” he agreed. “She doesn’t look anything like Tess, though, which I expected but still came as a surprise.”

      “She doesn’t act like Tess, either,” Kinsey said.

      “Well, she’s twelve years older and they haven’t lived together for even longer than that. Besides, remember, Tess’s latest female role model was my mother.”

      Kinsey rolled her eyes. She hadn’t met Mona, but Gerard had obviously filled her in. All four brothers had different mothers. In fact, Grace, his dad’s wife of less than a year, was actually number seven, or lucky number seven as the patriarch of the family fondly called her.

      “Do you know what Frankie wants?” Pike asked as they started down the stairs.

      “No, but I get the feeling your father does.”

      She continued into the den while Pike dodged out to the kitchen where they’d left Sierra’s suitcase. He lifted it easily and ran up the stairs.

      He found Sierra sitting on an upholstered chair in the darkened room, one long leg folded up under her, head resting on her fist. Their hands touched as he gave her the suitcase and she smiled up at him as she murmured her thanks.

      He left without uttering a word, but he didn’t want to. Instead, he kind of wanted to stand in the doorway and keep watch. He’d spent his entire life around men until the last year or so. He’d always considered himself a man’s man, happiest out on cattle drives, sleeping under the stars.

      However, even though Tess had brought tension into his life, he also found her company refreshing. And now Sierra was here and he’d known her all of three hours, but there was something about her, too. Something competent and self-assured, qualities he responded to in anyone and that were downright sexy in a beautiful woman. He knew his link to her was flimsy at best and she’d be gone in a day or two, but he could already feel that he would miss her. For a few moments, while walking down the stairs, Pike wondered if anybody kept her warm at night.

      Frankie sat on the fireplace hearth, but as soon as Pike finally entered the room, he sprang to his feet. It was obvious he was excited and Pike took a deep breath, hoping it was for some positive reason and not because he was about to go to jail for something.

      Like all the Pike men, Frankie was tall, but his build was a little more wiry than the others and his hair was lighter, especially in the summer. Now, in the midst of winter, it had darkened to Pike’s color, but he wore it longer. He also tended to dress a little more GQ than anyone else, and today wore dark gray slacks and a light gray shirt that mirrored his eyes.

      “Dad has an announcement to make,” Frankie said, but Harry Hastings shook his head.

      “This is your show, boy. You’re the driving force behind it all.”

      Frankie made eye contact with everyone gathered around him. “I wanted to reveal all this after calving season and before summer work piles up on us, but the producers are anxious to do a little preliminary work. Besides, there’s never a time where everything gets quiet and boring around here, especially not lately, right?”

      He paused to grin and glance at each of them in turn. Pike had to agree it had been a hectic few months.

      “What producers? What are you talking about?” Chance asked from his seat beside Lily. Charlie, her five-year-old son, was still at kindergarten, but Chance gripped Lily’s hand in his and it appeared he wasn’t letting go. Good for him. When your soul mate comes along, what else can you do but grab on to her and hold tight?

      Frankie took a deep breath. “As you guys all know, November is the one hundredth anniversary of the incident at the hanging tree.”

      He was referring to the bank robbery of the ghost town, or what was left of it now, and the subsequent capture and execution of three of the four thieves. They had paid for their crimes with their lives by dangling from the end of ropes strung up to the big oak tree out on the plateau. The fourth robber had disappeared along with the spoils and had never been identified or caught.

      “About a year ago, I met this guy in Pocatello,” Frankie continued. “I mentioned the ghost town on our land and the robbery. He’d actually read a diary written by someone who used to live in Falls Ridge, as the town was called back then. He confessed he’d had a life-long fascination with the events that had the killed the town almost overnight.

      “Anyway, it turns out he makes documentaries and he wants to do one about Falls Ridge and the bank robbery and the tree and all that. He says there’s been some discussion about the mystery guy who got away, so they’d cover that aspect, as well. Originally, they were going to come on out and start filming in late April, but their backers want winter shots and interviews with all of us so the release can be timed to coincide with the anniversary of the events.”

      His announcement was met with studied silence. “Dad?” Gerard said at last. “This sounds like a good idea to you?”

      Pike watched as his father stood up and walked over to Frankie. It crossed Pike’s mind that his father probably couldn’t have cared less about hosting a bunch of television people and raking up the past. It probably didn’t seem like a good idea at all to him, but on the other hand, when was the last time anyone saw Frankie get interested in anything but making trouble? Consorting with legitimate filmmakers was a far cry from his usual scenarios. Assuming they were legit, of course.

      “I don’t think it will have much impact on most of us,” his dad now said. “I researched the company—it’s won a couple of awards and is respected within the industry. They showed us a tape of a show they did on a nesting pair of bald eagles—looked like high-quality work and they’re bonded and have the right licenses. They’ve got network backing... Anyway, unless someone can point out some reason to walk away from this that I haven’t seen, I say we get Frankie to give them a call.”

      “I agree,” Pike said, throwing in his hat. Not for a minute did he think having movie types around wouldn’t get in the way of ranch life and schedules, but so what? “Let’s shake things up a little,” he added when he glanced at Chance and Lily. After what they’d gone through back in October, he knew the last thing in the world they would want is any kind of stress, but Chance rallied and threw in his agreement.

      Lily, however, had a question. “Did you tell them part of the ghost town burned down last year?”

      “Yeah,” Frankie said. “It’s not a problem. Before the real filming takes place, I’ll take some machinery up there and move stuff around. Frankly, what happened there adds to the drama of the place.”

      At this Gerard stood up. “What do you mean ‘what happened there’?”

      “Not about your wife and daughter, Gerard. That will get mentioned because it’s part of the history of the place now, but no one wants to dwell on a personal tragedy like that.”

      “And

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