Ellie turned away quickly.“No, Willow and… um… well, Becket were there, too.”
“Ah.Bad boy Becket.”Annie chuckled.“I’ve heard he was in your shop on Wednesday.And that he held you in his arms.Depending on who is telling the story, the length of time you’ve spent up close and personal differs.Anything from five to ten minutes.”
Stunned, Ellie swiveled back.“How…?”Shaking her head, she groaned out loud.“This town and gossip.I had a rickety ladder, he…” she motioned with her hands, “caught me as I was falling.It all happened within seconds.”
“Marietta’s bad boy catches you in his arms and you don’t tell me?”Annie laughed.
“There’s nothing to tell!He was in my shop for probably two minutes, tops.Anyway, Craig has brought me a much sturdier ladder from Janice, so I won’t be falling off any stepladder again.”
“Mmm, those Weston boys are very handsome, don’t you think?”
Laughing, Ellie rubbed her face.“Okay, yes, he’s attractive and sexy and hot, but he’s way too arrogant and sure of himself for my taste.”
Annie was grinning like a Cheshire cat.“Attractive, sexy, hot—you certainly noticed him!”she laughed.
“It’s not that I noticed him, he was… just there!”
Ellie hurried away.Annie’s laughter followed her all the way to her room.
Chapter Five
Frustrated, Becket rubbedout the sketch he’d just started.After his Saturday chores, he usually spent the rest of the day sketching or getting orders ready to be shipped to his clients.These he tried to take to Bozeman twice a month.Room to stack them before he could take them to Bozeman for shipping was fast becoming a problem, though.He was supposed to go to Bozeman next week, but he’d have to find another reason to go on Monday.He simply didn’t have the space to keep all the packages here.
The interest from the few sketches he’d initially sold had exponentially grown and lately he had a few hundred to ship every two weeks.He was struggling to keep up.The ideal would be to have the whole of Saturday afternoon to sketch, but the sun had already set and he’d only now finished packing up the last orders.
The dogs were lying in front of him, as they usually did when he was busy.The words that were to accompany the new sketch of them and something, about the beauty of summer, were what he had in mind, but the strangest thing was happening.The moment the pencil touched the paper, his hand had other ideas.
Instead of the cartoon-like figures of his dogs that usually flowed from his pencil, he was sketching outlines of a woman.He’d already erased his last three attempts, but every time the same thing happened.Maybe he should just go with his instinct; it usually knew the way.
Two hours later, he lifted the brush with which he’d painted watercolors over the penciled lines.Dumbfounded, he stared at the four sketches in front of him.All four illustrations were of the same woman—a curly, curvy blonde.He didn’t have to guess who it was.Ellie Campbell.
In one sketch she was on a rickety ladder, surrounded by yarn, in another, she was in a man’s arms.In another one she was sitting on the steps of a white house with a big porch and bright blue shutters, an orange cat in her arms, and in the last one she was holding the same cat but his three dogs were lying at her feet.
He swore so loudly, the dogs jumped up and rushed closer, barking.Harper, as usual, got to him first.She licked his face and stared at him, angling her head.Jack and Sadie put their heads on his knees.Absentmindedly, he rubbed their heads.
“I don’t know how this happened,” he said.
Harper turned her head and looked at the sketches.Before he could stop her, she picked up the nearest one in her mouth and put it on his lap, on top of Jack and Sadie’s heads.
Laughing, he picked it up.“It’s not dry yet, sweetie.”Fortunately, the picture wasn’t damaged.Harper barked her happy bark and, of course, then Jack and Sadie followed.
“Okay, okay!”he laughed.“I’ll post it!I’m not sure what your followers would say, though.These are different.You’re not even in all of them.”
They all started barking again.
At a knock on his door the dogs stopped for a second before they yelped excitedly and charged toward the front door.It must be Cooper; he was the only one who got this kind of welcome.
“Becket?”Cooper called out before he walked into the living room.
Becket quickly put blank pages over the sketches he’d just made.The last thing he wanted was to have anyone see what he’d been sketching.
“Beer?”he asked Cooper as he walked toward the kitchen and opened his fridge.“I haven’t eaten yet.”
“We missed you at lunch and again at dinner tonight,” Cooper said as he took a beer from Becket.“I thought you were out, but then saw the lights were on.”
“I had a few orders to pack up,” Becket said.“I didn’t realize it was this late.”Taking, butter and leftover meat from the fridge, he put it on the kitchen table before grabbing a loaf of bread.“You’re probably still hungry, help yourself.”
As Cooper sat down, the dogs settled at his feet as they usually did when he was around.
