The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire (14 page)

Stifling another curse, Bella pulled out the laminated card. Was that a marmot? A glance over the pictures reminded her that birds counted for the challenge, as well, and she scanned the sky, scrambling to lift her camera when she spotted a black dot flying past. It took several moments to zoom the camera and find the bird again, but she snapped the photo and captured it successfully. She had no idea what type of bird it was and she didn’t care. One point.

An intake of breath from Nita had her alert again. The marmot was back. This was almost too easy, Bella thought as she composed the picture and snapped it. Two!

She stood up again and scanned the barren rock all around her, but no other animals came into view. Slowly, she began to walk. As minutes ticked by, her jubilation slipped away, replaced by panic. How many photos had Evan taken? Was he strengthening his lead?

She followed a trail farther away from the upper station, combing the ground for signs of smaller critters hiding among the rocks. Her camera ready in her hands, she stepped as quietly as she could, wincing every time one of the camera crew’s boots scraped against stone.

More minutes passed and her fingers gripping the camera became as sweaty as if she was running a race. Dammit, where were all the animals?

Wait a minute, what was that?

Bella froze, lifted the camera, and focused on what at first appeared to be a rock. This rock, however, had an eye. She took the picture, focused again, zoomed in closer and took a second shot. Satisfied, she moved toward it for a closer look.

The bird erupted from the ground in a flurry of wings, and Bella shrieked, nearly dropping the camera. Behind her, Nita and Paul, normally quiet as church mice, laughed out loud. She turned on them, but after a moment’s anger had to laugh, too.

“Scared me to death,” she gasped, knowing they were still getting all of this on film.

She only had a couple of minutes left, however, so she got back to scanning the ground and sky for more signs of life. When she came upon a spider, she took a quick picture although she figured it didn’t count. She also snapped another bird, but had the sinking suspicion it was the same one she’d photographed before.

When Madelyn hollered from the boardwalk that their time was up, Nita and Paul ushered her back, giving her no time to try to find one more animal. She stalked back over the rocks toward the director and tried to shake the heaviness pooling in the bottom of her stomach. If she didn’t take the lead today, she figured she might not ever pull ahead in this competition.

Jake stood right where they’d left him and as she approached, Madelyn held out her hand for her digital camera. She took out the memory card and plugged it into a laptop computer, which had been rigged up to a larger screen. Evan joined them, his jaw a rigid line. Maybe he didn’t find much to photograph either, she thought with a rush of relief.

“Bella, let’s see what you found here on top of Whistler’s Mountain, in Jasper Park,” Jake said. She’d become used to his stilted way of talking, knowing that when the show actually ran, each day would be broken into two episodes complete with many commercial breaks, after which the viewers needed to be reminded of what was happening and where the contestants were. Out of sight of the cameras Madelyn pressed keys on the keyboard and her first photo popped up on the large screen, a fuzzy image of a black bird in flight. A man Bella didn’t recognize whispered in Madelyn’s ear and she quickly typed something. Jake glanced down at the PDA in his hand, then looked straight at the camera. “Ah, a Cooper’s Hawk, common to these parts. Excellent. That’s one point!”

She let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

“Second photo. A yellow-bellied marmot—very common on top of Whistler’s mountain and throughout the park. That’s two points. Let’s see what’s next. Oooooh,” he let out an exaggerated sound. “Excellent shot, Bella. That’s a ptarmigan—very hard to spot when it’s camouflaged against the rocks. Well done—three points!”

Bella cringed, knowing what would come next. She wasn’t wrong.

“Oh, dear. Spiders are not mammals, Bella. I’m afraid this photo doesn’t count.” Madelyn flipped to her final photo, and an intense whispered conversation erupted between her and the man beside her, whom Bella now assumed was a local biologist. Madelyn typed furiously at her keyboard and Jake glanced down at his PDA again.

“While this photo shows the Cooper’s Hawk very clearly, the show’s producer has determined it to be the same bird you photographed before, Bella. I’m very sorry,” he didn’t look sorry at all, “but we can’t award a point for that shot.” He shook his head. “But three points is a fine effort! Now Evan, let’s take a look at your photographs.”

* * * * *

Evan considered tossing the camera at Jake—
let’s see how good your reflexes are, buddy
—but decided he’d better hand it over the normal way. He balled his hands into fists as he waited for Jake to pass it to Madelyn, and for her to fiddle around with the equipment until everything was connected.

The screen next to Jake remained blank.

Jake half-turned to the screen, one hand pointing toward it, ready to launch into his host-patter as soon as Evan’s first photograph came up, but after several long moments, he began to fidget.

“What’s the holdup, Maddie?” he said, finally.

“I’m not finding any images. What the hell did you do to your camera?” She straightened from her laptop and glared at Evan.

“Nothing. There are no pictures.”

“No pictures?” Jake repeated. “I don’t understand. Maddie, I don’t understand what’s happening here.”

Only by sheer force of will did Evan refrain from smashing his fist into Jake’s face. He hadn’t seen a single animal—not one, single animal, and he’d become so obsessed with finding one, that he obviously hadn’t spent enough time looking up into the air, because he hadn’t seen the damn bird Bella photographed, either. Instead, he’d gotten angrier and angrier—sure this was some sort of trick the network had played on them—until he’d come back and seen Bella’s stupid marmot and ptarmigan.

“Evan, where are your pictures?” Madelyn demanded.

“I have none. There were no animals on my side of the mountaintop. None. Not a single one!” He didn’t realize he was advancing toward Jake until the man’s smirk was a foot in front of his face. “What the hell did you guys do—send your goons to scare them all away?”

“Okay, Evan—calm down. It’s just one challenge,” Madelyn said, shoving the laptop into Ellis’s hands and trying to push between Evan and Jake. “Look—I get it. Tensions are high, the contest is close and you like to win, but you can’t win every time, can you?”

“Like hell I can’t!” He knew he was making an ass out of himself but he didn’t care. No way was he going to lose this show. No freaking way. Not with an audience of millions. “This contest was fixed. You don’t want Bella getting too far behind, so you rigged things against me. Don’t think you’re fooling anyone, because you’re not. It’s all fake!”

“Sore loser.”

Evan spun on his heel to face Bella, who stood with her fists on her hips.

“What did you say?”

“Sore. Loser.” She enunciated the words carefully. “You’re really showing your true colors now, Mr. My-Innovations-Will-Save-The-World. Gee, you’re such a humanitarian. You really care about other people’s well-being, don’t you? One thing goes wrong for you and you’re ready to use your fists to get your way. Forget about the sore part—you’re just a loser.”

Loser
. His father’s voice echoed in his mind.

Evan saw red. “I might be a sore loser, Bumpkin, but when this show’s over, I’m going to be the billionaire and I’m going to own you for a year. Then who’ll be the loser? Huh?”

“Okay, okay, contestants,” Jake said. He stepped forward to reclaim center stage. “Bella gains three points for this challenge, Evan zero.” He paused a minute to let that sink in, his smirk back in place. “Evan, you end Day Two with a grand total of eleven points. Bella…” His smarmy smile broadened. “You have taken the lead with thirteen.”

Bella whooped and jumped up and down in place. “Yeah! Kiss my ass, sucker!” She waved her hat around and did a sort of wriggling dance that almost caused Evan to smile.

Almost.

His scowl resumed its place by the time she replaced her hat and stopped celebrating. When Jake cleared his throat, he reluctantly turned his attention back to the man.

“Evan, you’ll be thrilled to hear the two of you won’t take the tramway back down Whistler’s Mountain. Instead, you’ll hike down to give you more time to enjoy the spectacular scenery and stretch your legs. Here are maps to your campsite for the evening. We have a special surprise for you two tonight.”

Evan grabbed the proffered map and stalked toward the trail down the mountain without looking back. He was done playing the chump in this contest, and he wasn’t waiting for Bella to keep up with him. As far as he was concerned, she was just a pawn in his strategy to get control of Mortimer Innovations for good.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Bella hung back for a minute before she grabbed her map and followed after Evan, still shocked at the change that had come over him when he lost the challenge. Even his camera crew hung back, reluctant to be the next targets of his rage. Sure, he’d been annoying before, but this was different. She didn’t like the way he’d tried to bully Jake and Madelyn, and she didn’t care at all for the tone he used to address her. She monitored her feelings as she began the descent, hearing Nita and Paul take their places behind her. Her chest was tight, shoulders ached and she was finding it hard to breathe evenly. All her body’s normal stress signals.

In her family emotions had always been kept under wraps, all the more so after the day Caramel died, so when someone yelled or cried or even laughed too loud—it made her want to run away and hide. She’d never stood up to anyone the way she just stood up to Evan, and she couldn’t understand why she suddenly found the gumption to do so. Maybe because she’d cheated death this morning? She felt like she could take on anything and survive.

In fact, even if she lost this stupid television show and couldn’t return to Chance Creek for a year, she bet there was still some way to help the animals in her care. She could make an on-air plea during the last show for volunteers to open their homes, or to donate money. The producers had to give her some time to settle her affairs, didn’t they, before they shipped her off to become Mrs. Mortimer? She’d do whatever it took not to euthanize a single pet at the clinic, and even while she was stuck in California she could do something to help other animals. Evan couldn’t need her 24-7 and he was a money guru, wasn’t he? She could learn from him and the people around him how to raise money—real money—in order to help spay and neuter pets. Somehow, mired in the day-to-day details of her practice it didn’t seem possible to do anything else but navigate from crisis to crisis, but that was stupid; she had all sorts of options.

Heck, she might actually win this thing.

Maybe getting angry was good for her, Bella thought as she strode down the track, feeling the tension begin to melt away from her neck. The possibility of losing her business was still devastating, but she’d survived a lot already. She’d probably survive that, too.

The fresh air must be making progress in her brain. Maybe Hannah had been right all this time; maybe getting away from her business once in a while could help her get a new perspective on her problems.

Could she begin to get her message across to viewers even before the contest was over—that her clinic needed help? She would have to be sly about it; she had a feeling Madelyn would edit out overt calls for donations. But what if she mentioned the clinic during the exciting moments she knew Madelyn had to keep?

That ought to keep everyone off balance, she thought with a grin. Feeling lighter on her feet than she had since she landed in Jasper, Bella continued down the track with renewed vigor. If she played her cards right she could solve the clinic’s problems no matter what the outcome of the show.

* * * * *

Evan knew he must be setting a record pace for the descent of Whistler’s Mountain. His camera crew was hustling to keep up with him, judging by the muffled curses and skids of shoe leather on stone he kept hearing behind him.

He didn’t care. He was furious with Madelyn, furious with fate, and most of all furious at himself. How could he screw up a stupid photography shoot, when there were obviously animals and birds all around him? How could he be such a stupid loser?

Loser.

His father had loved that word. His business associates were losers, his squash opponents were losers, anyone who didn’t earn seven figures or more a year was a loser. In his father’s world there were two kinds of people: those who counted and those who didn’t. Each time Evan screwed up, he knew he skated closer to the line that separated him from the unwashed hordes.

Well, he counted now. Even his father would have to admit that. He was a billionaire for crying out loud and long before he inherited the majority shares, he’d brought millions of dollars of profits to the family business. He was a winner. He had been for years, and with his father’s death the last person to question that was gone. He had a clean slate.

Except now he was screwing up again.