The Beekeeper's Daughter (Harlequin Super Romance) (12 page)

H
E WAS BREWING A POT OF COFFEE
at about eight in the morning when Sam Waters drove up to the office.

“Morning,” Will said, as the man walked over. “You’re early today.”

“Yeah, got some workers coming in to finish the laundry shed. If you stay on, you can do your washing there.” He nodded at the T-shirts and boxer shorts hanging from a tree branch.

“Great. Beats rinsing stuff in a plastic basin. By the way, Scott Andrews came by yesterday morning. He said if I was to see you, to tell you to give him a call. Apparently he couldn’t reach you on your cell phone.”

Sam frowned. “Damn thing went dead on me when I was in town. Cap got me at home later. He said he came round here to see you.”

His tone was leading, Will thought, as if he wants me to tell him why. More juice for the Garden Valley Grapevine? For some reason that got his back up. “He told me about the fire the night before.” He paused a beat. “Asked if you’d been around.”

Waters turned red. “The wife and I were celebrating our anniversary.”

“Well, just passing on a message.”

Waters thought for a minute, then said, “We’re down a man. Did Scotty ask you to fill in for the guy?”

“Uh, yeah, he did, as a matter of fact.” He bent his head, avoiding the other man’s stare while he poured a mug of coffee. “Want some?”

“No. Thanks. I already had coffee this morning. So…uh…what did you tell him?”

“Nothing yet. I haven’t quite made up my mind.”

“There’s no money in it.”

“Guess not.”

“Pretty small stuff to what you’ve probably been used to.”

“Yeah, but that’s what makes it ideal. No real pressure.” He grinned at Waters.

“If that’s what you want. Temp jobs here and there. Heard you were still helping out at the apiary. Any idea when Jack’ll be back home?”

“Maybe in a week or so, Annie thinks.”

“How’s she holding up?”

Will jerked his head up. “Fine. Why?”

“Just wondering. The wife and I were talking about her the other night. Annie and my brother Mike were in the same class at high school. We all go way back.”

Will got the message. “Oh yeah?” He tried to sound casual. Were the Waters brothers some of the teenagers that used to have bush parties here? He drank more cof
fee, refusing to be pulled into a conversation he didn’t want to have.

“Guess I should be going.” Waters started to leave, saying, “Your week is up tomorrow. Want to extend it?”

“I’ll let you know by the end of the day.”

“Okay. Tourist season kicks in soon.”

Will resisted looking around at the otherwise empty campground. He watched Sam head back to the office, then dumped the rest of the coffee onto the grass and checked the time. He could just make the drive to Essex, use a pay phone to call Andrews and still get back to the apiary by nine something.

Of course, he could ask to use the office phone, where Waters could listen. Or wait and call from Annie’s place, where she could listen. Neither option appealed to him. Besides, he wanted to ask Andrews a few things about the job. As he drove by the office ten minutes later, he saw Sam sitting at his desk, hunched over the phone.

A
NNIE DRUMMED HER FINGERS
on the kitchen table while she waited for Shirley to return to the phone. She’d purposely made her daily call to Charlotte early, so she could be ready and waiting at the barn by the time Will arrived. Somehow the casual familiarity of the kitchen no longer seemed like a good place to meet.

It was almost nine. If Will came while she was still on the telephone, she would direct their conversation to the latest news from Charlotte. Otherwise she might blurt out something about yesterday afternoon. She just wished she could turn back the clock.

“Hi, Annie, I’m back,” Shirley said. “Jack’s being transferred to the rehab center today and has some other heart test booked for tomorrow.”

“Should I come back to Charlotte?”

“I don’t think so, dear. He’ll be busy for the next couple of days and then he’ll be discharged.” She sighed. “My cousins have a beautiful house but Jack keeps insisting there’ll be nothing for him to do.” Annie detected exasperation. “Nothing to do! Can you believe
it? I told him what about relaxing for a change? He looked at me as if he’d never heard the word before.”

Annie bit back a giggle. “Shirley, I wish I could help you with that but—”

“I know, I know. The word doesn’t exist in his personal dictionary.”

“Exactly. So what does this heart specialist have to say about Dad’s arrhythmia?”

“He doesn’t seem to think it’s that serious but Jack will have to make regular visits to him at least two or three times a year to monitor the condition.”

He’ll love that, Annie thought. “And what about working?”

“The doctor says he can go on doing what he does, but to avoid heavy lifting—you already heard that—and to basically take things easier.”

“Right.”

“You said it.”

“I know this isn’t really your concern, Shirley, but the harvest this summer is going to be big. I’ll need to get some other full-time help in place before Dad comes home. Maybe you could start priming him for that.”

“I’ll try, Annie. What about that fellow you’ve got? The one who came by to buy honey.”

And stayed to work his magic on the beekeeper’s daughter?
“He’s still here but I’m not sure how much longer he’ll…uh…be able to stay.”

“Hopefully till the honey is all collected.”

The end of the summer? Annie closed her eyes, hardly able to imagine the state of affairs between them by then. Not to mention the state of her libido. “Uh…maybe, but he’s a bit vague about his plans.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll give you a call later today and leave the phone number for the rehab place. Perhaps
you’d
better discuss all this with your father. You know how he hates people to make plans for him.”

“Give him a kiss for me and tell him to be a good boy about his physio.”

“I will, dear.”

Annie hung up and checked the time. Nine-fifteen and no sign of Will. She took her mug to the sink and rinsed it, then headed for the barn to do a quick inventory and make a list of the day’s priorities. Trying to act casual would definitely be number one on the list.

She hadn’t got very far with the other items when Will drove into the yard. She heard the door slam and hoped she’d got her greeting down pat. Not too businesslike, but with enough formality to let him know things were going to be different. Annie didn’t glance up until she heard him in the doorway.

He looked as uncertain as she was. Not detached as he’d been yesterday, but hesitant. That touched her. She guessed he’d had the same miserable sleep she’d had. She forgot her well-rehearsed greeting.

“Hi. Thought I’d get started in here. We need to extract all the frames we collected yesterday and top up the settling tank.”

He nodded and walked into the barn. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, heading for the extractor and beginning to set it up.

So they were talking, Annie decided, but not about
the kiss.
She started inserting frames into the extractor. Helping her, he accidentally brushed his hand against hers.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, as if the hand had committed some other more serious transgression.

Like touching my breast, she thought at once and silently swore at herself.
Mind on the job.
They worked side by side for the rest of the morning. By noon, they’d scarcely spoken more than half a dozen words to each other and when Will announced that he was driving into Essex for lunch, Annie wasn’t surprised.

She sat alone at the kitchen table and wondered if she ought to try to explain what she’d meant when she’d referred to him as an employee. Or would that merely make the whole thing bigger than it was? Annie pushed away her half-eaten sandwich. She hadn’t imagined days ago that asking Will Jennings to work for her would lead to such complications.

The telephone rang as she was cleaning up and she rushed to it, thinking it was Shirley. The male voice on the other end was friendly but crisp. He introduced himself as a vice president of Sunrise Foods and could he have a minute of her time?

Annie hesitated, feeling her father’s presence at her shoulder telling her to hang up. But recalling her ear
lier conversation with Shirley, as well as the heart specialist’s warning to her father to slow down, she said yes.

It took fifteen minutes, actually, and at the end Annie agreed to show him the property and the business. No pressure to sell, he’d insisted. Just wanted to look around. Impulsively, she set a date in three days’ time. When she hung up, she rested her head in the palm of her hand for a long moment. She’d just complicated her life even more.

She returned to the barn to finish pouring the honey into the settling tank and was stacking the last of the frames into the extractor when Will returned. He didn’t offer an explanation for his trip to town, but simply joined her at the extractor. After almost half an hour, when Annie was beginning to think the silent treatment had surely run its course, he spoke up. “I talked to Scott Andrews today about his job offer.”

She looked up sharply.

“I’m supposed to meet him at the volunteer fire hall around four if I’m going to take the job.”

Annie clenched her teeth.
Get on with it.

“The thing is,” he continued, “I’m interested in it but I’ll need something else to do here in the valley to…you know…make enough money to stay on. So I thought I’d better pass it by you first, to make sure you still want me as your…uh…
employee.
”

Before her blood pressure hit the top of the chart,
she noticed his grin. He was teasing her. “Look,” she said, “about yesterday…”

He raised a hand. “No, no. My apology. I made a big deal out of nothing.”

“You’re not just an employee. I mean, it may sound crazy but even though we’ve known each other hardly a week—”

“A week today,” he said.

“Oh. I was going to say that I’ve come to think of you more as a…well, as a friend. So if we can continue to be friends while you’re working here, I…uh…I think that would be good.”

In spite of her stammering, she saw that he got the message. This time his eyes didn’t shutter down so much as squint, as if he were staring at a bright light. He shrugged. “Sounds like a plan,” he said and went on with his work.

When they finished extracting all the frames, Annie was exhausted. She wanted to shower, phone her father and most of all, avoid thinking of how their day might be ending had yesterday’s swim not been interrupted.

Would we go back to the pond? Maybe have dinner or a movie in town? She couldn’t recall the last time she’d had a date. Unless she counted going to a local sports bar with Mike Waters the first month back home, last year. She’d found out very quickly that night that high school crushes usually fizzled out for a very good reason, and had declined any more dates. Mike, she’d heard, had since become engaged. After that, she’d
weathered a long dry spell, as her father might say. Which likely accounted for her heated response at the pond.

“Guess I should leave soon,” Will said, as he finished pouring the last bucket of honey into the settling tank. “I need to clean up before I meet Captain Andrews.”

Annie had been mopping up stray drops of honey off the floor. “So then you’re going to take the volunteer job?”

“Guess so. If I can keep on here until your dad’s made a full recovery.”

“For sure.”

There was a slight hesitation, as if he wanted to add something but changed his mind. He held up an index finger as a farewell gesture and left the barn. Annie blew out a mouthful of sour air. That was that. He was coming back after all. And although she wasn’t certain if she ought to be relieved or not, her step was light as she went into the house to shower.

W
ILL MET WITH
Captain Andrews at the fire hall about ten miles from Essex. After signing some papers and having a tour of the hall, Andrews suggested dinner in town, surprising Will.

“Guess this means you’ve crossed the line from tourist to part-timer, Jennings,” Andrews said over beer and chicken wings at the local brew pub. “I managed to find some money through a bit of creative bookkeeping and the county officials have agreed.”

Will wiped his mouth with his napkin and said, “I appreciate that. I just hope you don’t regret the offer.”

Andrews looked across the table at Will. “I hope I don’t either.” After a slight pause, he added, “I’d like to keep the money part between us. Don’t want to stir things up with the other men.”

Will knew exactly what he meant. “Is it difficult to get volunteers in the valley?”

Andrews shook his head. “They’re easy to recruit but hard to keep. They can’t really help it,” he explained. “Most of them have full-time jobs, not to mention the usual family responsibilities and all that. Getting called out in the dead of night or during some family celebration is a drag, especially when you’re not making any money.”

Will thought at once of Sam’s defensive bluster about not being available the other night, but said nothing.

“I’ve been trying to get the county to approve hiring at least one part-timer for the hall, but until this spate of barn fires, there’d been some reluctance. Frankly, I was surprised they went for my proposal to hire you. I told them it might be for the duration of the summer. Hope that’s okay with you. There’s no commitment on your part and the contract is loosely worded as to time frame, so not to worry if you decide to up and leave. Though please tell me you’re not going to.”

Will smiled and assured him he could at least stay
for the summer. At the back of his mind though, he was wondering about Annie’s reaction. After yesterday, how happy would she really be about his staying on?

It was late by the time Will returned to Rest Haven. He slowed down at the junction leading to the campground and as he made the turn, noticed an orange-red glow in the sky. Will stepped on the gas. At the second road that would take him directly to Rest Haven, he saw that the flickering light was framed by wafts of smoke. He kept his eyes to the right and the column of smoke towering over the trees. Forest fire?

But another three miles down the road, his headlights picked out the leaning mailbox at the end of Henry Krause’s driveway. Will took in first the box, then the deep red glow beyond it. The fire wasn’t at the campground, but at Henry’s place.

He gunned the van up the gravel driveway, careening on the uneven surface. Will suddenly hit the brake as the silhouette of a figure dashed between his headlights and the fire and then disappeared.

Henry? Please let it be Henry running around out there, rather than lying unconscious somewhere.

He flung open the van door, then remembered the cell phone Andrews had given him. He pulled it out of his shirt pocket along with the fire alert card and punched in the number.

The call was relayed to a central dispatcher. “Fire at Henry Krause’s farm! Next to Rest Haven Campground,” Will shouted.

The dispatcher calmly asked for a name.

“Will Jennings. I’m a volunteer.”

She assured him the alert was going out as they spoke and he ended the call, tucking the phone into his jeans. He ran toward the blazing barn, shielding his eyes from the smoke. A noise rose above the flames, and he heard the crash of timbers falling inside. The frantic squawking of terrified birds. Henry’s pigeons. Will raced for the pigeon coops and found Henry aiming a garden hose at the one closest to the barn. When Will reached his side, Henry clawed at his arm. “My birds! My birds! You’ve got to save my birds.”

“Have you got another hose?”

“Round the other side of the house.”

“Go get it. I’ll take care of this.”

The old man hesitated before running into the shadows. Will wanted him at a safe distance, afraid he’d try to go into the coop. He must have already opened the coop farthest away because pigeons were swooping, panic-stricken, in circles above the yard. The door to the coop that was ablaze was still closed.

Will couldn’t even get near enough to try to unlatch it. He aimed the hose on it and as soon as the plume of steam dissipated, tried again. No use. Henry came back, dragging another hose behind him. One look told Will it wouldn’t help—the stream of water barely reached the fencing around the coop.

“The heat’s too intense! I can’t get near the door. Turn the hose on me while I try again.”

“You want me to soak
you?
” Henry looked confused.

“Yes,” Will shouted over the blaze. He dropped the hose and ripped his shirt off to use as a glove. “Forget that,” he said, jerking his head at the hose in Henry’s hand. “Take mine.”

Henry bent to pick up the other hose.

“Okay, spray me now. Quickly.”

Will pivoted so Henry could cover him. He wrapped the drenched shirt around his right hand and grabbed hold of the handle on the pigeon coop door. Steam sizzled at his touch and in spite of the soaking, Will could scarcely grasp hold of the latch. He gave one fierce pull and the handle gave. Will yanked the wire door loose.

A few pigeons flapping against the mesh walls of the coop shot out the opened gate, but Will knew he was too late for most of the birds. The wooden housing unit inside the coop was already engulfed. There was nothing they could do now except keep the one coop wet and cool until the trucks arrived.