Rocky Mountain Freedom (5 page)

“I’m jealous. I haven’t been anywhere warm like that for years.”

“Maybe someday you’ll get a chance. Lots of pretty places to visit.”

Travis chuckled and pointed to their right. “Don’t have to go far away to find things to look at, Ashley. It would be nice to have them
and
the warm weather.”

She took in the cattle moving together across the land, the sparse trees at the edge of the field thickening to full forest as the foothills rose behind the fence line. Small clusters of dark-brown scrub brush contrasted with the greenish-grey grasslands, the occasional outcropping of rock peeking up like miniature castles.

“I agree. Your land is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited.”

Her fingers itched to pull out her camera, but there was time. The sky was breaking to dawn, and while the colours were gorgeous, the details she needed for reference wouldn’t be clear until there was more light.

Instead she took mental notes of the shading, the mood created by the rising sun. Those were the things she wanted to make happen in her upcoming projects.

“A few more minutes,” Travis announced. “You let me know if you need anything, okay?”

She gave him a quick squeeze. “I will, but for the most part? It’s best if you forget I’m there. Do what you have to do, and I’ll try to stay out of the way.”

He rubbed his cheek against hers. “I don’t think I can forget you’re there.”

Ashley snorted. “Sweet talker.”

“Only the truth.” They rumbled into the yard, passing the main Coleman house on their right. The field equipment was lined up in a neat row to the side of one barn, all giant metal teeth and enormous tires like crazy alien beasts waiting for their chance to come alive.

Round bales of hay were stacked high to one side. Corral fences ran straight and true, creating boxes outside barn walls.

Everywhere the wood was slightly worn, yet well maintained and tidy.

“You guys keep the place neat,” she noted as Travis pulled up beside the barn and parked next to a couple of older Fords.

Travis waved a hand toward the main house. “You try slacking off when you’ve got a boss like him around.”

Ashley turned to see Travis’s dad pacing down the well-worn path between the house and the work area of the yard. She smiled. Mike Coleman was the salt of the earth. She’d liked him the minute she’d met him.

He looked up as he drew closer, his frown breaking into a smile. “Well, there’s a prettier face than I usually see this time of the day.”

“Dad, you remember Ashley?”

He nodded, the grey hair dusting his temples the biggest thing making him stand out from Travis. It was obvious the two were father/son. “Welcome back.”

“Thanks, Mr. Coleman. Travis offered to help me with a work project I have—I hope you don’t mind if I take a few pictures around the ranch?”

“Not at all.” Mike pulled open the barn door, pausing before he entered. “Of course you’ll have to join us for dinner in payment.”

She grinned. “You got the idea of who owes who mixed up, but I’d love to sometime. I’ll explain more later. Don’t let me keep you from your work.”

Mike winked before twisting toward Travis. “Blake’s in the other barn. You want to go take over?”

“Yes, sir.” Travis grabbed her by the hand and pulled her with him.

Ashley caught Mike watching them before he disappeared into the barn. Great.

“That was stupid. Now you’re going to face a whole lot of questions about me.” She hurried to catch up to Travis’s side instead of being tugged along like a reluctant little kid.

“Nope.”

“Your dad stared after us while you dragged me away all caveman,” she complained.

Travis tossed her a leer. “I wasn’t being a caveman. I promise, that would involve more hair pulling and a hell of a lot less clothes.”

She’d stepped into that one. “Shut up, Travis.”

He laughed.

“Hey, if you do need a break or anything, go on up to the house and say hi to my mom.” Travis motioned her ahead of him into the smaller of the two main barns. “She’d enjoy getting you a drink and shooting the breeze for a bit. Give her a break in her day as well.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

She stopped to let her eyes adjust to the lower lighting, using the pause as an excuse to not say any more about visiting with Marion.

While the older Colemans were the politest people ever, there was something about the way Mrs. Coleman looked her over that made Ashley uncomfortable. As if she’d been judged to see if she was worthy of Travis and found wanting.

When they’d been together the previous year, there had only been a couple events Ashley had gone to with the entire family, but both times she’d felt it. She hadn’t given a fuck back then—she was seeing Travis, not his folks, but this time she didn’t want to burn any bridges.

She wanted to settle in Rocky. The Colemans were a powerful part of the community. Getting in either of their bad books wasn’t a smart idea.

The barn smelt like all other barns she’d ever been in—earth and shit and warm bodies and sweet straw. She followed Travis deeper in to where they found Blake in a smaller penned-off area. He was wiping down a tiny calf with an old sack, a streak of dirt across his entire forehead.

“You’re really getting into your work.” Travis leaned on the railing. “What you got?”

“Hey, Travis. Triplets. First was stillborn—I had to pull it before these other two made it. They’ll be okay, though.” Blake glanced up from his task and spotted Ashley. “Now you’re a sight for sore eyes, Ashley.”

“Hi, Blake.”

Blake let the calf down carefully by its mom before exiting the pen. “I’d give you a hug, only you don’t want to stink for the next however long. Good to see you.”

“Same.”

Travis grabbed a couple buckets from the shelf. “Ashley’s going to take pictures of us for some work projects. I said I didn’t think anyone would mind.”

Blake shrugged as he backed down the hall, wiping his hands clean. “Don’t mind at all, only you got insurance on that lens?”

Ashley paused. “Why?”

“When it breaks from taking shots of his ugly mug, of course.” Blake grinned as Travis tossed a curse after him. “Hey, Ashley, you planning on being around for a while, then?”

“I hope so.”

Blake unzipped his dirty coverall and sat to pull it over his boots. “You want to do me a favour? Jaxi’s been talking about having new pictures taken of the girls. I hate the ones they did at the shopping mall the last time—damn fake background with painted daisies on it, or some such nonsense. You feel up to clicking a few shots in our backyard?”

Ashley laughed. “Not a problem. I’ll call Jaxi and set up a time.”

“Thanks.” He yawned, pulling a hand across his mouth at the last minute. “Sorry. It’s been a hell of a night.”

She smiled and moved farther into the background to let the guys get caught up before Travis headed into his workday. She brought out her camera, switched lenses, then took a deep breath.

This was it. Time to begin.

Ashley looked around for inspiration. Checked the lighting and the angles for shots. One good thing about having a whole bunch of projects to work on, she wasn’t stuck following one path. She could allow herself to simply drift for a few days. Take some experimental pictures—see what direction called to her.

She’d told Travis to ignore her and he pretty much did. Blake disappeared, and the barn settled into the soft sounds of animals moving around and the low buzz of the electric lights over the worktables. Ashley took some close-up shots of textures for backdrops. The aged wood of the barn walls up high where they’d remained untouched by hands or animals, tiny fibers sticking upright from the greyish-brown surface. A shot of the smooth curve of a board at hand height, where a million touches had added to the polish and given the curve a high-gloss finish.

She clicked picture after picture of Travis as he used an old coffee tin to scoop oats into feed stalls for the horses. His hands were firm as he pushed aside beasts and checked them over.

He looked up a few times and smiled—the twist to his lips that made her heart pound without even trying. She caught him with the enormous head of a horse nearly resting on his shoulder as the beast nuzzled him for more treats. Travis pushed his hat back into place and patted the creature before moving on to the next task.

Smooth motion, smooth energy.

A sensation of coming home crept up as she worked, ideas percolating how she could make each of her projects into something special. Something that would set her mark on the art world and make it possible to do it for a living.

Her goals were lofty, but she had to follow her dream.

And trailing after Travis and snapping shots of that magnificent backside as a part of chasing her dream?

It wasn’t too shabby a life.

Chapter Three

Travis patted the mare on her rump and closed the gate, back from checking the new calves in the far paddock. Exhaustion had soaked into every one of his bones, and it was all he could do to put one foot in front of the other and head through the trees to find Ashley.

Seven days she’d been dogging his steps. If he hadn’t been caught up in the frazzle of calving season, he would have been driven crazy by her constant presence.

As it was, he had the filthiest dreams going on and woke up stroking himself, images of her soft body under him filling his brain. But actually going after her and getting her to reconsider them not being a couple?

Maybe come May. After he’d slept for a solid twenty-four hours and could put more than two words together to dazzle her.

He stopped in the middle of the narrow bridge between the main Six Pack land and the second house where Blake and Jaxi had settled. The creek under him was more of a trickle than a flow. Full runoff was still coming as the high mountain peaks remained snow-covered and frozen. Here at the lower elevations the temperatures were milder—thank God—and leaves had already budded in an early spring.

He bit back a yawn and went the rest of the way over to the second ranch house.

A couple of hay bales were arranged by the fencepost between the yard and the north field. Two little girls dressed to the teeth sat perched on top of the bales, and Travis smiled. He wasn’t much for kids, but he had a soft spot for his nieces, mainly because it was a fucking lot of fun to see how tied up in knots they, and their mama, got his big brother Blake.

Ashley clicked off shots as Travis’s sister-in-law Jaxi arranged the squirming two-year-old tykes and their six-month-old baby sister. Travis paused far enough back he didn’t disturb them. Just marveled at the complete western outfits Jaxi had found in miniature. From jeans and flannel shirts down to the teeny boots and hats.

Blake was right. Even Travis who knew shit all about kids and poses thought the setting was far better than the silly pictures currently stuck up on his parents’ mantle with the rest of the smiling faces of grandkids and graduation shots from him and his brothers.

Posing in a formal gown and cap hadn’t been him.

His cell phone rang, and he turned away to answer it, stepping behind the trucks to stop from interrupting the photo shoot.

“You still not done for the day?” he asked his dad.

“I stopped two hours ago. One of the privileges of getting old.” Mike Coleman got to the point. “You free to come up to the house for a bit? We need to chat.”

Chat? “I didn’t do it.”

Mike laughed. “No, you’re not in shit.”

“
—Mike. Watch your language.
”

It was Travis’s turn to laugh as his mom’s scold interrupted them.

His dad lowered his voice. “She caught the grandsons cussing and thinks it’s all my fault. Now I have to mind my manners all the time. Pain in the ass, I tell you.”

“Be thankful she didn’t catch them smoking, or she’d take away your pipe,” Travis noted.

“Hell, you’re right.”

“
Mike!
”
Marion warned again.

Travis snickered as his dad muttered in the background. “I’ll be over in a couple minutes,” Travis said. “I have to tell Ashley where I’m going.”

He made it to the main house in less than five minutes, stepping past an unfamiliar car in the parking area. The warmth of his childhood home greeted him with familiar scents and sights. The never-ending aroma of coffee in the air, the worn hardwood flooring polished to a spotless shine by his mom.

His father was seated at the long family table, Travis’s cousin beside him. Karen’s dark hair was pulled back into a typical working ponytail. Her lined jean jacket, thick enough to keep out the cool spring temperatures, was draped over the back of her chair, leaving her dressed in a neat cotton shirt.

“That explains the strange car outside.”

Karen tapped the awkward cast covering her lower limb. “Can’t drive my truck right now, so the shop gave me a loaner that’s an automatic.”

“Makes sense.” Travis joined them, sitting across from Karen and helping himself to a cup of coffee from the thermos on the table. “Other than the broken leg, how you doing?”