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“And you?”
“No time.”
He shook his head and tugged at her hand till she glanced at him. “If you go, I go. You’re not doing this alone.”
“My brothers will—”
With a shake of his head, he cut her off. “Where you go, I go. No arguments.”
For the last few minutes all she could think was that her precious grapes were still on the vine. She’d actually forgotten about the guy rushing to keep pace beside her. No, not any guy, a special guy. A great special guy.
She opened her mouth about to argue and saw the steely determined gaze staring back at her and she knew what she had to do. “Skip the house. I’ll call the Governor from the road.”
Again, he nodded and shifted direction toward the driveway and the cars lined in front. “My car or yours?”
“Mine’s higher to the ground and we’ll get better traction.”
No questions asked, he continued as instructed.
She pulled out her phone, pressing at the screen. “Losing the grapes now would set me back for the year. There are reserves still in the tank, but not enough to get through the year if the crop is lost.”
“Hell, that’s worse than I thought.” He seemed to walk a little faster.
Her grandfather’s voice came through the phone. “You coming in from out of the rain?”
“We’ve got trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” the former governor asked in his commanding voice.
“I need to get to the winery before the wind begins to kick up even further. I could use some extra hands.”
“We’ll meet you there.” The call disconnected.
There was no doubt in her mind that her grandfather was right now rallying the troops and she’d have plenty of hands to help. What she didn’t know was—even rushing like the wind—did she have enough time?
What Daniel really wanted to do right now was take this woman in his arms, run his fingers through those beautiful locks and keep her there until all was right with the world. Unfortunately, he’d have to keep his druthers to himself and do whatever he could to help save her dream.
Key fob in one hand, Paige slipped the phone into her pocket and yanked at the door handle. Her fingers slipped, mostly from the rain, partly from the nerves that no doubt coursed through her beside the sheer determination he’d grown to love.
When she muttered a curse that would make a Marine blush, he almost chuckled. Instead, he reached around her and pulled the door open for her. Wasting no time, he ran around the hood and climbed into the passenger seat. Latching his seatbelt in place, he looked up at her. “If I’ve learned anything about the Barons, it’s that you are a force of nature all your own.”
In a hurry or not, she leaned in and gave him one quick kiss. “Thank you. Nothing else could have made me feel even a little better, and you just made me feel a whole lot better. I guess I needed to be reminded.”
“Don’t forget, I’ll always have your back.” With the grace of God, he hoped to prove that to her for the rest of their lives.
The corners of her mouth tipped up and the strength in her eyes gave way momentarily to an appreciative sparkle before battle mode returned, and turning the ignition, she put the car in gear.
The good thing about the Baron family cars was that even the utility vehicles could fly at the hand of the right driver. Despite the rain, she made it to the winery in record time. Already he could see the vineyard was a buzz of activity. “Looks like your employees are getting a head start.”
“Guess I’m surrounded by great people.” She smiled at him and he had to fight that urge to yank her to his side and kiss her silly.
The rain was coming down in sheets, and the wind was picking up even more. Ugly black clouds made it feel like the last moments of dusk. How the hell were they going to pull this off?
Sensing from her stance that she had to be thinking the same thing, he squeezed her hand. “You got this.”
Squeezing back, she muttered, “We’ve got this.”
“We,” he repeated softly. That was a word he was going to learn to like a lot. Together they hurried to the vines where the workers had begun tying things down more securely.
