Heir Untamed - By Danielle Bourdon Page 0,18

Chey straightened out a wrinkle in the material before turning the tripod a click to the left. It gave her a whole other vantage with a different section of the lake to focus on.

Behind her, tied to a tree stump, the buckskin mare nibbled grass, tail swishing flies away from her flanks.

All in all it was a peaceful morning. A good way to start the day. Later, after lunch, Chey had another photo shoot with the family. This, however, was her time, and she put it to good use.

Worried over the garden escapade, she refused to dwell on it. She knew Mattias would keep their confidence.

The question was—would Natalia? She would have to admit being drunk and unruly, though perhaps that wasn't unusual and no one would care.

“You're up early,” a masculine voice said behind her.

Chey yelped and nearly knocked her camera over. She caught the tripod as it started to tilt and fall. A hand shot past her to catch it, too, leaving her entire right side pressed up against Sander's.

“...don't sneak up on people like that! I almost ruined a very expensive camera.” Annoyed, she got the tripod upright—with his help—and stepped far enough away that she could swing around and glare at him without their bodies touching.

He had his hair pulled back into a low tail this morning, the ends brushing the collar of a palomino suede coat. He wore layers beneath: steel gray flannel and a white tee shirt. He'd left the zipper and buttons undone so that the white showed all the way to the waist of his jeans. Boots that matched the suede, engraved with a brogue design on the the arch and the toe, completed his attire.

Chey took all that in with a quick sweep of his person.

“I wouldn't have let it fall. Didn't you hear me coming? You should pay more attention to your surroundings,” he countered in a blasé tone.

“I'm sorry. I'm busy with work. You know, that thing you should be doing? I have no doubt you've gotten all the information on me, so you know I'm allowed to be here.” Chey huffed and stepped back behind the camera.

Now she was distracted.

Fantastic.

“Are you always this bitchy?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Chey straightened again, set a hand on her hip, and gave him a withering look. “I'm not bitchy. You're simply impossible to deal with.”

“Most women think I'm charming.”

“Well, I'm not most women.”

“Really.” It wasn't a question.

“What is it you want, exactly, Mister Fisk?” Chey hoped she put enough irritation in her voice to make him hurry along. The way he looked her over just then was one hundred percent male. Annoyed that it made her skin prickle and hear heart pick up speed, she narrowed her eyes and glared.

“To let you know where you may and may not go. To the lake, the creek dividing the property on this side, but no further into the forest. And not at all on the east side.” He pronged his fingers and held his arm out in the direction she was not allowed to wander. His eyes never left hers.

“But I'm supposed to capture the countryside--”

“Not beyond the lake or the creek, and not at all to the east,” he repeated with an edge to his voice. “Capture as much of the countryside over here as you like.”

“Why?” Chey wanted answers.

“Because I said so, and since I'm head of security, you'll do as I say.” He crossed his arms over his chest once more, staring at her like he dared her to defy him.

Chey flashed her palms at him in the traditional sign of surrender. If he was going to be that adamant, she wouldn't push it. “All right, all right. I won't wander beyond those--”

A gunshot ripped through the early morning mist.

Close enough to be easily heard, yet far enough not to be directly in their vicinity.

Before the echo died, Chey found herself on her back, flattened by Sander. She gasped, the wind knocked from her lungs, staring up at him with his suddenly sharp eyes, thin mouth and predatory air. He snapped looks across the lake, in every direction, even behind them.

“Was that a--”

“Yes,” he hissed, then brought a finger to rest against her lips. In effect silencing her. When he glanced down, he conveyed his wish for her to be quiet. Danger, he told her without speaking a word, lurked in the forest with them.

Chey shuddered beneath him. Every breath she took was laced with the scent