Picture Perfect Wedding (8 page)

“Dad?”

Chapter Six

The dogs had stopped barking and Erin could hear the rumble of male voices. The longer she stayed hidden in the sunflower row, the more difficult it would be to appear without drawing attention to the fact she’d been there for two minutes. That she’d had her tongue stuck down Luke Anderson’s throat, had been rubbing herself hard against him like a dog in heat and mere moments from an orgasm.

Her cheeks burned so hot that eggs could be fried on them. Dear God, she’d thrown herself at the man, letting her sex-starved body call all the shots. Instead of spending her time flirting with Ken and Patrick, she should have been taking practical care of her libido with a little bit of self-love every now and then. That way, she might have had some control over her inner slut. But no, she’d happily pushed her sex drive onto the back burner, thinking she was the one in control, only to find herself dry-humping the first man who’d kissed her in months. She had to buy herself a vibrator. Now.

Yeah
,
but he can so totally kiss.

She couldn’t argue with that. He was an awesome kisser, but that didn’t mean kissing him again was going to be the best idea in the world. The man didn’t operate within any normal social boundaries. Well, not with her anyway. She found it so much easier when he was being his grudgingly polite self with lapses of rudeness—that she could deal with because it was expected. Luke being obliging—like when he’d allowed her to use him as a model—was unexpected and not only did those cooperative moments confuse the hell out of her, it made him even more sexy and oh so hard to resist.

But sexy or not, she didn’t have time in her life for confusing. She had a business to establish and a photography competition to win and those two things took priority.

Time to face real life.
Finger-smoothing her hair, she gulped in some breaths and then proceeded to back out of the row of sunflowers with her camera up at her face. The visitor wasn’t to know she was shooting clear, blue sky.

As she came clear of the plants, she turned and called out casually, “Thanks, Luke. I’m done.”

Luke was standing next to an older, slightly shorter version of himself. Unlike his son, who specialized in wearing jeans teamed with cutoff shirts that showed off his wonderfully work-sculptured arms, his father wore a baseball cap, a golf polo shirt with a club logo and long shorts. He had Maggie-May tucked firmly under his arm and Mac lying at his feet. Was he a dog whisperer?

As she approached, Luke didn’t flash her the expected conspiratorial-partners-in-crime look that said,
Phew
,
that was a close call.
We almost got caught in flagrante.
No, he gave her a curt nod as if he hadn’t moments ago had one of his fingers inside her panties.

“Erin, meet my father, Vernon Anderson.”

She shot out her hand and then realized it was holding her camera. With a laugh that sounded slightly more anxious than she’d hoped, she quickly passed it to her other hand. Remembering what Luke had said the first time she’d met him, she said, “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Anderson. Unlike your son, you seem to have bewitched my dog.”

He smiled broadly. “She’s a friendly little thing...”

Erin threw Luke an “I told you” look just as Vernon said, “...only don’t let her near the cows.”

“Which is exactly what I told her.” Luke’s divine mouth tweaked up on one side as if to say,
score one
.

“Talking about cows, son, are you operating on Arizona time too?”

Erin heard a thread of criticism in Vernon’s voice and for some reason she found herself saying, “It’s my fault. I held Luke up, sorry.”

Luke ignored her defense. “Brett will have started, Dad, and I’m on my way now.”

“I always started at four.”

“You did.” Luke ran his hand across the back of his neck. “Where’s Mom?”

“Back at the house starting supper.” Vernon handed Erin a now struggling Maggie-May who was desperately trying to get to her. “I’ll let Martha know there’ll be an extra, shall I?”

Luke didn’t even look at her. “Erin won’t be staying, Dad.”

I
won’t?
Okay then.
Good to know we both regret those few minutes of complete craziness.
“Thank you very much for the invitation, but I’ve got turn-down duty at the B and B and photos to edit.”

“Another time, then. Martha and I are going to be here for a few weeks.”

Luke made an odd sort of choking sound and then coughed. “Summer cold,” he said, quickly clearing his throat. “What about the golf tournament you were telling me about? Isn’t that next week?”

The bellows of cows floated over to them.

Vernon slung his arm around Luke’s shoulder. “Come on, I’ll give you a hand with the milking.”

Erin watched them walk away, struck by the set of their shoulders as Vernon’s arm fell back by his side. Surrounded by acres of beautiful countryside and bucolic fresh air, neither father nor son looked remotely relaxed.

* * *

“More lemon meringue pie?”

Luke smiled at his mother and shook his head. “No, thanks, Mom.”

Disappointment scudded across her cheeks. “It’s your favorite.”

“Actually, it’s my favorite, Mom. Mine and Wade’s,” his sister, Keri, said, serving up another two portions and handing one off to Wade. “Luke’s favorite is cherry pie à la mode.”

Martha laughed. “Of course it is. I should have remembered that, especially as there’s a slice of cherry pie in the refrigerator.”

“Poor Luke,” Keri said with mock concern. “Reduced to buying frozen pie.”

“I believe poor Luke had it baked for him,” Wade said, his eyes twinkling as he scooped up a mouthful of the decadently rich lemon custard.

“Really, you made him a pie?” Keri asked.

Wade grinned and rolled his eyes. “I’m a caring brother but I’m not that good. No, I believe Erin not only baked him his favorite pie but cooked him prime rib.”

Suddenly three sets of questioning eyes swung to Luke and locked on to him.

Thanks
,
bro.

“A woman who can cook? Luke, way to go.” Keri slapped him on the back approvingly. “Keep this one. It’s why I married Phil.”

“Erin?” Vernon asked. “The unusual-looking girl in the sunflower field with the enormous eyes?” He nodded his head slowly as realization dawned across his gray-whiskered face. “Now I understand why you were late starting the milking.”

His mother’s face lit up with a combination of hope that he might finally be thinking of settling down and chagrin that Vernon had met her first. “Invite her over, Luke, so we can meet her.”

Luke silently groaned, knowing he had to stomp on this fast or he’d find himself sitting down to supper next to Erin while his loving, well-intentioned but extremely misguided family subjected them to the third degree, including the expected date of their fourth-born.

“Erin only cooked me a meal because she wanted to discuss using the sunflower field for one of her client’s wedding photos. We’re not a couple. We’re not even dating.”

Just almost having sex on the dirt in a field.

“It’s just business,” he said loudly and instantly regretted the volume. He dropped his voice. “Lakeview Farm is doing its bit for Whitetail’s wedding business, is all.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Wade said approvingly.

Sometimes he couldn’t figure Wade out at all. His brother had neatly dropped him in it by teasing him about Erin, and now he was changing the subject to protect and smooth over Luke’s overemphatic denouncement that nothing was going on between them. And nothing was going on.

Nothing except for the fact she’d kissed him like he was the last man standing and he hadn’t been so aroused in—ever.

No
,
not even close.
He fondly remembered Julia from Australia and Lisa from New Zealand, and how both of whom had raised the bar along with Penny from Pepin. All three had firmly established the fact that farm girls were perfect for him.

None of them kissed like Erin.

He had the overwhelming urge to go chop wood. Lots and lots of wood to silence the voice in his head.

Wade kept talking. “The cottages and the B and B are benefiting from Whitetail’s new direction and I think we could be more involved in the wedding side of things.”

We?
Luke’s brain snapped on topic, but as he opened his mouth, Vernon spoke first.

“Wade, Lakeview’s a farm.”

“I’m well aware of that, Dad.” Wade wore the look of an adolescent boy who’d struggled to find a place in his father’s world and still be true to himself.

“And talking about the farm...” his mother rushed into the conversation, inserting herself between her eldest son and her husband like she’d done so many times in the past twenty years, “...is why we’re here and why we picked Keri up on the way. We want to talk to you all together. We’ve had almost a year in Arizona now and your father and I think it’s time we formalized things.”

Shit.
Luke tensed and drained his glass of water. He wasn’t ready for this.

Martha looked expectantly at Vernon and nodded as if to say,
I’ve got their attention
,
your turn now.

His father sucked in his cheeks and fiddled with the edge of the place mat.

Martha frowned. “Vern?”

His father sighed. “Your mother thinks it’s time to talk about officially transferring the farm over to Luke and involving everyone in the family trust.” His gaze sought Luke’s and Keri’s. “As Luke’s the only one of the three of you who wants to farm, this is the fairest way of doing things.”

Tell them.
“Unless we sell,” Luke said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “The beach acres alone are worth over a million dollars.”

Silence greeted him as four jaws dropped and four heads turned sharply in his direction.

Then the yelling started.

“What the hell are you talking about?” His father’s fist hit the table, making the remaining silverware bounce.

“How do you even know this?” Wade’s expression held the pain of betrayal that Luke hadn’t mentioned it to him.

“Oh my God, that’s a lot of money.” Keri, who was always a ball of energy, sat perfectly still in her chair as if trying to absorb the figure.

“Luke?” His mother’s voice was pure anxiety. “What’s going on?”

I
don’t know.
The heavy feeling that had been dogging him in months felt like a lead weight on his chest and molten lead in his veins. “Nothing’s going on. Axel was over last month and we were down at the beach and he valued the land. I thought you should know how much it’s worth. All I’m saying is that it’s another option to put into the mix.”

“The hell it is,” Vernon roared. “This farm’s been in my family for five generations and dividing it up has never been part of succession planning and it’s not going to start now.”

Keri sat forward. “Luke’s got a point, Daddy. It’s an option worth discussing.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been sitting on this for a month,” Wade said accusingly.

Luke tried to dismantle some of the tension that encircled them all and he looked directly at his brother. “It could be that lottery you were talking about. A chance to leave Whitetail and meet someone.”

Wade glared at him. “I wasn’t serious. With the Whitetail wedding business taking off, I’m in a prime position to capitalize on it and have guests discover we’re not just any old B and B. My guests use that beach and it’s a big draw. When I told you about my plans for the mini nursery-farm for families staying at the cottages, you said it was a good idea and promised me calves. Now, all that time, you’ve been planning to undermine me. My business is connected to this farm, Luke, and selling isn’t an option.”

“At least one of my sons understands,” Vernon ground out, the veins on his neck bulging. “Pity it isn’t the farmer.”

“We should never have left you alone on the farm before you were married and settled,” Martha said, wringing her hands. “It’s too hard living this life on your own.”

“Jeez, Mom.” Luke shot to his feet as her words vibrated deep down inside him like a chord—a very discordant one. “Being single has
nothing
to do with this. Nothing. God, I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“I’m not,” Keri said.

“Keri...” The warning tone in Vernon’s voice may have silenced his sister when she was fourteen but at thirty-four and a mother of two, it wasn’t going to silence her now.

“What, Daddy? Are you telling me that because I married and moved away, I don’t get a say in the family farm?”

“Your father isn’t saying that at all,” Martha said, her face pinched.

“I’m not saying anything else, period. This conversation is over.” Vernon pushed back in his chair. “I’m going for a walk.”

“I’ll join you,” Wade said, meeting his father at the door.

Keri flounced off toward her old room. His mother followed, but not before giving Luke a look that begged him to explain why he’d just thrown a grenade into the next step of succession planning for the farm.

Doors slammed.

Silence hung heavily.

The walls of the house bore down on him, filled with condemnation. He didn’t know what he hated more—the fact he’d just imploded his family or the fact that all he could think about was Erin.

* * *

The cottage that came with the cleaning job was tiny, consisting of two rooms and an en suite bathroom and although it was way too small for a family vacation, it was perfect for Erin. Wade had told her it had originally been built quickly in the twenties for a bachelor farm worker and the sloping floor was testament to its age. Long after the farm worker had moved on and housing expectations had risen, it had become the teenage retreat cum band room for two generations. Now it was careworn and required a lot of work, including repairs to the sagging entrance which currently made the front door stick shut. Erin entered and exited through the slider glass doors of the bedroom, which was no big deal.

She’d spent the evening doing the jobs that she’d set aside to photograph the sunflower field. She was just about to turn out the light for the night when Maggie-May started barking. A second later the slider doors to her bedroom vibrated from loud knocking and she spun around with a jerk, staring at the drawn curtains she’d closed against the doors to shut out the massive expanse of darkness. Earlier she’d tried to enjoy the starlit night and the silence but after living in the city all her life, the quietness and the inky black had freaked her out a little bit.