Rowan Read online

  “I will take all the help I can get,” she answered. “Well, I better get back to work. I want to take a few more pictures before your brother makes an unexpected appearance again.”

  Lucas nodded at her. “Alright, I need to be somewhere myself,” he said. “It was nice talking to you again, Ms. Mathis.”

  “Akayie,” she corrected with a smile. “Hopefully when we see each other again, Mr. Braden, it will be to discuss the time for your photo shoot.”

  “You can call me Lucas. I think it will make your life a lot easier to have one less Mr. Braden in your life. So, enjoy the rest of your day,” Lucas told her before riding in the other direction.

  She couldn’t deny Lucas was as handsome as Morgan and the overbearing Rowan, but she wasn’t here to pick up a man. She wasn’t ever going to let another man get close to her again just for him to reject her. She’d tried it over and over, more times than she cared to admit. Her heart had been broken so badly the last time that she wasn’t sure she would recover, but she did.

  No, her career was her companion now and she wasn’t about to waste her time or energy on a relationship because the guy always left when he found out what she was hiding. There had never been a man strong enough to stick around and handle her secret. So, why bother looking for love when it wasn’t out there for her?

  Chapter Three

  “Have your ears been burning, big brother?”

  Placing the roast beef and Swiss sandwich down on his plate, Rowan wiped his mouth before tossing the napkin down on the table. He had come into the kitchen to get a bite to eat before heading back to his den to deal with the stack of paperwork waiting for him. He was looking for a new horse to breed with the current stallion he had in his stables.

  The last man he had worked with tried to pass off a horse on him that wasn’t purebred. The owner should have been glad that Morgan had gone with him, because Rowan would have gotten arrested for assault. Did the guy think he was dealing with an idiot?

  Lucas knew everything had he going on at the moment. So, why was he here again? He had too many balls in the air to be dealing with Lucas. But, they had been building ground with each other over the past six months, especially since he had agreed to the calendar idea. So, he couldn’t let them have a setback. He guessed he could spare a few minutes to see what his little brother wanted. Lucas had made the effort to drive all the way here twice in one week.

  “No, my ears weren’t burning. Should they have been?” he asked. “Were you talking about me?”

  “Yesterday, when I went out on my ride, I ran into the pretty Ms. Mathis…I mean, Akayie. She was a tiny bit upset with you and your less than friendly attitude towards her. I thought you had already promised Morgan to be on your best behavior.” Lucas closed the distance between them and joined him at the kitchen table.

  Sighing, Rowan ran his hands down his face. Why did Lucas have to bother him with this today?

  God, what kind of power did this photographer possess that she’d already won over two of his strong-minded brothers? They weren’t usually so taken with a woman after only meeting her a few times, but Ms. Mathis practically had them eating out of her hands and he wasn’t fond of it at all.

  “Morgan has already given me a long lecture about our visitor. Ms. Mathis was able to get him on her side pretty fast. I don’t know what kind of story she told him, and now I see she has worked her magic on you as well. So, let me tell you the same thing I told him. She shouldn’t have gone where I told her not to take pictures.”

  Crossing his arms on the back of his chair, Lucas stared at him. “Do you think it could be possible for you to ease off her just a little? All she wants is to do the job that we hired her to do. I’m sure she isn’t trying to cause any problems between you and the men. Have any of them not kept up with their work since Akayie showed up?”

  He couldn’t tell Lucas that Akayie had caused any kind of problems or lack of focus with his ranch hands. Actually, he’d been spending most of his time keeping track of where she was going. They were doing their jobs without getting distracted by her now.

  When he had come up on her yesterday, Akayie hadn’t been causing any kind of intrusion. Maybe he could back off a tiny bit with her and see how things went. She might actually get her job done faster and get off Braden Ranch.

  “Alright, I will try my best to give her some space,” he reluctantly agreed. “I don’t want her to quit before completing the calendar.”

  Pushing his Stetson back on his head, Lucas watched him closely. “Are you being honest with me? I don’t want you to tell me something to shut me up and then do something else after I leave.”

  “Lucas, you have my word. I will get off Ms. Mathis’ back and leave her alone. I need to spend my time dealing with Bill Spencer about the thoroughbred I want to purchase from him. I can’t get sidetracked by our employee,” he answered, hoping his brother would drop the subject entirely.

  Lucas gave him a tiny smile. “Excellent. I’m glad you decided to take the higher road with her. Akayie came across very friendly and outgoing to me. Maybe, if you are less threatening to her, she might give you one of those beautiful smiles of hers.”

  Much as he wouldn’t mind for Akayie to smile at him, or even care for his personality, he doubted it would ever happen. They weren’t on a friendly basis. All Ms. Mathis had to do, however, was listen and everything would run smoothly between them. He was long past the age of allowing a beautiful smile and attractive face to get him off focus.

  “You and Morgan can get sidetracked by the lovely Ms. Mathis while she is here, but I’m in no need to get to know her any better,” Rowan snapped, standing up. “I need to get back to work and return some phone calls. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Lucas got up from his seat and glanced down at the barely eaten food. “Aren’t you going to finish your sandwich?” he asked, waving his hand towards the table.

  Rowan didn’t even look at his plate. “No, I’ve lost my appetite,” he answered, turning away and heading for his office.

  “See you later,” Lucas yelled at his back before Rowan turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

  Standing in the hallway by his office door, Rowan waited until he was sure Lucas had left before going back to into the kitchen. He picked up his plate and walked the short distance to the refrigerator then placed it inside. He would come back later for the rest of it.

  Turning back around, he quickly cleaned up the rest of his lunch before making his way back to his office. He was expecting a conference all in less than ten minutes. He hoped his mind stayed on the point instead of wandering in several directions, especially towards the female his brothers were surprisingly so transfixed by for some odd reason.

  Rowan would let his siblings waste their time drooling over Akayie. He had more pressing matters to contend with concerning the ranch. The issues lurking around Rowan would help keep him away from Akayie. The less their paths crossed, the better off both of them would be in the long run.

  * * * *

  On the far side of Braden Ranch, Akayie wandered around, soaking in the sheer beauty of the land. She’d been to a lot of places for photo shoots, but something about this location relaxed her. She couldn’t see how Rowan spent most of his time inside his office working or on the telephone. Her morning seemed to start off better once she walked around the property for a few minutes and allowed the sun to brush over her skin.

  Thankfully she hadn’t crossed paths with him this morning. There might be hope for her new job yet. Moving across the thick grass, Akayie spotted a meadow of wildflowers near a pond with one lone horse in the distance. Slowly, she raised her camera, clicking several shots of the breathtaking animal before it raised its head and looked in her direction. Its soulful black, liquid eyes stared back at her with a mixture of fear and curiosity before it turned and raced off into the distance.

  She had never seen anything so incredible through her camera lens before. Animals were very hard to ta
ke pictures of, especially when they were only a few feet in front of you. Yet, the stallion was almost too beautiful to be real. Thank God, she decided to take the long hike all the way out here instead of storming into Rowan’s office and quitting because of the way he treated her yesterday.

  In all her years of being a photographer, she’d never run into such a disagreeable man. His face seemed to have a permanent scowl on it, and she bet if he actually tried to smile it would make his cheeks hurt. Well, she wasn’t going to let him or his arrogance get her down.

  Mr. Rowan Braden could keep acting like the sight of her was a thorn in his side, but he would have to get over it because she wasn’t going anywhere for a while. So, they had to learn how to get along with each other.

  Glancing down at her watch, Akayie noticed that she had to be back at the hotel in an hour because her assistant, Danya Holt, would be arriving in less than two hours. She wanted to leave to be there in time to meet her flight.

  She had been doing photography for the past seven years, and started hitting it big two years ago with high-profile clients like Sahara Irizarry. After she handled the singer’s wedding pictures, Sahara used one of them inside the cover flap of her latest chart-topping CD. Akayie then got overwhelmed by phone calls. Never in her life had she gotten so much publicity. Managers and personal assistants of other singers, as well as a few actors, called her, wanting her to do something amazing for them.

  The need for her talent had become too great, so she advertised for an assistant on her website and even had gone old school by putting an ad in the newspaper. About forty-five people applied for the position, but half of them turned out not to be anyone she wanted working with her. She was looking for an individual that she could trust at her studio to follow her orders if she had to leave for another assignment.

  During this great accomplishment in her career, she started having trouble in her personal life with a jealous and bitter ex-boyfriend, Kane. He wanted her to give him credit for the YouTube video of Sahara asking for photographs to send in ideas for her next CD cover. He had nothing to do with her ideas for the photograph.

  He didn’t even go with her to any of the meetings. He would rather be out playing basketball with his friends and wasting her money on video games. Thankfully, she was able to push him to the back of her mind and continue looking for a new assistant.

  Akayie had been about to give up all hope until the last interview showed up, and it was Danya Holt. After looking over her past job history and thoroughly checking all the references on her resume, she decided to take a chance and hired Danya a week later.

  Surprisingly, it turned out to be one of the best decisions of her life. Over the past year, Danya had become one of her closet friends. Danya was almost as good as she was when it came to picking a photo shoot location.

  Sighing, she took one more look at the lush, captivating scenery around her and would have loved to stay longer and move on to the next location she’d planned. But, if she didn’t leave right now, the long drive to the airport might make her late, which was something she hated.

  She would rather be early than five minutes late. Growing up, her friends and even some members of her family would laugh about her need to always be punctual. They thought something was wrong with her, but she believed setting a good impression was the perfect way to begin any relationship, business or personal.

  Pivoting, Akayie made her way across the field, past some of Rowan’s ranch hands as they worked around the acres. Tomorrow, she would start deciding which men she would approach about being part of the calendar. They had to be hot and possess the good looks that wanted to make women stand in line to buy their images.

  Despite the fact the other three Braden Brothers decided to take part in the photo shoot, she still hadn’t gotten the final word from Rowan if he would sit for her. The oldest Braden sibling, Dante, was out because he lived in Los Angeles. Besides, the calendar’s proceeds were supposed to be a surprise for him and his wife. So, it wouldn’t be right if he took a part in his own gift.

  Coming around the front of the house where her car was parked, Akayie listened to the busy sounds of ranch life coming alive all around her, from the horses in the stables to the handlers calling out to each other in the corral.

  As Akayie continued towards her car, she was about to get in when her cell phone rang. She dug it out of the front pocket of her jeans and answered it.

  “Hello,” she said.

  “Akayie. Hi, it’s Danya. I caught an earlier flight and I’ve already checked into the hotel,” her assistant told her.

  She was shocked. Danya hadn’t called and told her that she was getting another flight. “What happened? Why did you catch an earlier flight? I was on my way to pick you up at the airport. Is the studio locked up properly since we are both going to be here for a month?”

  Danya’s soft voice laughed in her ear. “Akayie, stop being such a worrywart, I know how you are. I made sure I checked everything inside the studio before I left. I only had to reschedule two of our clients, but they were okay with it. After I was done with everything I was lucky enough to get a seat on a flight that left two hours earlier. I’m glad I had all those frequent flyer miles. So, what do you need me to do?”

  Getting inside her rental car, Akayie closed the door behind her. She would love to go to the hotel, pick up Danya, and bring her back out to the ranch. However, with the mood Rowan was in it lately it wouldn’t be the best decision on her part.

  No, she would just leave for today and come back bright and early tomorrow with Danya. They could start talking to the other cowboys and other employees she was interested in using for the calendar.

  “I’m done here for the day,” she answered. “I hadn’t planned on staying too long this morning. I wanted to get some more shots of the area and then I was going to come back to the hotel to look at them. I should be back at the hotel pretty soon. We can go over some of the pictures together. I’ve already taken some for the exhibit I’m doing to come out with the release of the calendar.”

  “You’re already done for the day?” Danya questioned, shocked. “Aren’t you stopping pretty early? I know I usually have to drag you away from an assignment back home. Did something happen I should know about?”

  Rowan’s handsome face suddenly flashed before he eyes, but it left instantly when she remembered how he had spoken to her yesterday. No, she was better off spending the rest of the day back at the hotel. Because if he found her and lectured her again—or worse, lost his temper—she wouldn’t be able to keep herself in check. Today was over at Braden Ranch for her. Tomorrow would be a clean slate for both of them.

  “Nothing happened,” she lied. “The ranch is overly busy, and I wasn’t able to pull aside the guys I wanted for the calendar. So, I took some other shots instead. I’ll make a list of their names and give it to Mr. Braden tomorrow. He knows their schedules, so he’ll be able to direct me to which guys we can use first, if they even agree to be photographed.”

  “Oh, I can’t wait until I get to see all of those sexy cowboys walking around in those cowboy hats and tight jeans. I’ve never been happier to be single. I might actually get a boyfriend from this trip.”

  Sighing, Akayie wondered what she was going to do with her assistant. Danya was beautiful, but her love life was non-existent. Somehow, she seemed to only date a guy for a few weeks and then he was gone like the wind.

  “How about you help me get the calendar together before you work on a new relationship?” she suggested. “I can’t have all of the guys quitting because you had them fighting over you.”

  “Akayie, you are too crazy. Guys don’t fight over me. No one has ever been into me that deeply to come to blows with another man. But, I promise to keep my flirting to a minimum tomorrow.”

  “Thank you. I think it would be for the best because I won’t want you to get on Rowan’s bad side like I have been doing ever since I got here.”

  “What? What are you tal
king about? Is he the reason you are leaving early? Did something happen with Mr. Braden I should know about? I remember he wasn’t on board when we first started making plans to come to the ranch. I thought he would have gotten over it by now.”

  She secretly cursed herself for her slip of tongue. She hadn’t wanted Danya to know things hadn’t gone perfectly with Rowan. She wanted to give her assistant the chance to form her own opinion without her giving her less than perfect experience with him.

  “Look, I need to leave. Give me about forty-five minutes and I’ll be at the hotel. Do you want me to stop by anywhere and get something to eat?” Akayie asked.

  “Hmmm,” Danya said, thinking about it for a few seconds. “Yeah, I would like something to eat from Subway. I think I saw one about a block from here when the cab was bringing me to the hotel. I haven’t eaten there in a while.”

  Akayie liked the idea of Subway for lunch since she cheated last night and ate a double bacon cheeseburger with a large order of French fries. If she closed her eyes, she could still taste it, but she wouldn’t go down that road again.

  “Alright, I’ll grab us something and then when I get back at the hotel we can go over some of the pictures I think will be a good start, but I want your opinion on them.”

  “Okay, I’ll be ready when you get here. I still have some more unpacking to do and then I need to make a call to the car rental place. I need to get a car.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Akayie said, then ended the phone call.

  Tossing the cell phone inside her purse on the passenger seat, she looked out the driver’s side window at Braden Ranch. She hoped the longer she was here that the better her relationship with Rowan would become. She knew he disliked her interrupting his privacy, but it wasn’t going to be for that long. All he had to do was grin and bear it and, before he knew it she would be back in New York. However, if he changed their agreement then she would just cut her losses and leave. Hopefully, after Lucas talked to him, he would get it through his head to just leave her alone and the time would fly by.