Page 22 of Hotshot Mogul

Rufus turned toward us. “If you two are done, I need Anneliese.”

Bruce kept his hand on my shoulder as we moved to the stand of pines. Rufus held out a pinecone. “These white pines are dying, doll. See the white spots and this leaking sap?”

A sob escaped me. My beloved sisters. I tried to disguise it by coughing.

Callie squeezed my hand. “Sorry, hon.”

“Let’s have a looksee at the oak,” Rufus said.

Something squeezed inside my chest. “Be strong, dearest Anneliese.” Grenmann’s voice stirred through the breeze. I gripped the bark.

Rufus nodded at Bruce. “Think you could hoist me up?”

Bruce grunted and bent his body against the trunk. Rufus climbed on Bruce’s back, then the lowest branch, then ambled higher, then higher. “Son of a bitch,” he said.

Callie chuckled. “Did you just figure out you have to get back down, crazy man?”

Rufus laughed. “I can get down fine.”

When he landed on the ground, he pulled a leaf out of his pocket. My skin chilled. The edges of the leaf were brown. Days were long and hot. It was too soon. “How many?” I asked, unwilling to meet any of the humans’ gazes.

“Just the one I could see. They can be saved sometimes, doll, with pruning and injections.”

Grenmann told me to be strong. So, he and Isolde knew.

“That costs a lot and takes time, right, Ruf?” Callie asked.

Rufus rubbed the back of his neck. “Yep. Upward of six, seven thousand.”

“Which is why the plans are to cut it down, harvest the wood, construct something with that and include it in the development,” Bruce said. His tone was gentle. My anger blazed.

I had to get away from these humans and find Isolde and Grenmann. “I need to be alone to think about this.” I turned away from their worried faces and ran. Every path and place in this forest and glade had been my beloved home.

I made my way to a dense area of new growth underbrush, glad I had changed into long sleeves and pants at Callie’s. My cheeks were wet. I stopped near a small creek and saw Isolde sitting with her feet in the water. Nobody had followed me.

I kissed her beautiful, soft cheek and couldn’t stop my sobs. She smelled like lilacs and sunshine. “It is not your fault,” she said.

“It happened so fast! If I would have stayed…”

“We can’t be certain your gentle tree spirit would have stopped it,” Grenmann said.

I looked into the craggy lines of his beloved face and sobbed harder. “I should have been fiercer, like a warrior, fought harder.”

Isolde tugged on my braid and wiped my tears. “It was a risk to ask for your help to thwart this Bruce, with whom you had a strong attachment before. That said, it is what it is. You could stay, let yourself love him.”

My anger surprised me. I jerked away from them. “After last time, my heart and soul withered when he was taken away from me. He is gentle like Nigan, but cocky and brash like Étienne, who always thought he knew best, with no thought of the hardships it created.”

They grinned—at me. Grenmann rumbled in laughter. Utter confusion replaced my anger. “Cocky? What does that mean?” Isolde asked.

Something, a deer perhaps, crashed through the underbrush.

It was Bruce. His arms and legs were scratched and bleeding. His skin was slick with sweat. He carried my bag over his shoulder. He stared past me. “Hello.”

What? He could see them. “You must be Anneliese’s bosses.”

Stunned, I turned toward them. Why had they allowed Bruce to see them? “I’ve seen what a hard worker and quick learner she is. I want to give her a job with my, er, the company I’m with, so she doesn’t have to leave the country. Crap, forgive my rudeness. I’m Bruce.”

He thrusted his hand forward, saw it was bleeding, then pulled it back and handed me my bag. “You forgot this, your petitions. I’m crashing into this, but I couldn’t…I was worried, so I followed you.” He grinned. “It’s crazy-amazing how well you know this place.”

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