Caught on Camera by Meg Maguire Page B

side.” She paused. “It won’t affect my ability to do this job,” she added, sounding either aggressive or defensive, Ty couldn’t pinpoint which.
    â€œNo, I’m sure it won’t.” He smiled to himself. The video camera was designed to rest on the user’s right shoulder, and it would render her effectively deaf. Bingo. She was as good as gone.
    Three hours later they stepped out of the rental car at the edge of a state park. It was August and Ty wasn’t surprised in the least to find so few other vehicles in the parking lot, most of them out-of-staters. An acquaintance he’d consulted had promised that only morons went camping up here during mosquito season. When they’d climbed into the car he’d been pleased to note Kate was wearing a subtle perfume.She may as well have slathered herself in steak sauce and offered herself up to the bears.
    â€œHere we are,” he announced, and the bugs were already finding them.
    Kate slapped a fat mosquito from her arm. “Shall I set the tent up?” she asked, fixing him with her eager, go-getter smile.
    â€œI’d like to venture a bit farther into the woods, if you don’t mind.”
    â€œIt’s your show, Mr. Tyler.”
    â€œTy. And speaking of shows, I’ll need you to carry this,” he said, and hoisted a heavy, professional camcorder from the trunk.
    â€œRight,” she said with the tiniest pause. He passed it to her and watched her petite frame slump a bit from its heft. “Is it charged?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGood. Do you have the manual? I’d like to familiarize myself with it.”
    Ty frowned with surprise, but he complied and dug the instruction booklet from the car. She made him wait for ten minutes as she slapped the mosquitoes from her face and arms and hair, scanning the pages and toying with the buttons. The bugs were clearly frazzling her, but she looked determined to pretend otherwise. Ty mentally gave her what he imagined was a generous half hour before she cracked.
    â€œAll right, I’m ready,” Kate announced, standing and shouldering the camera, now down to one swatting hand. “Please speak as loudly as you can if you’re addressing me,” she added. Her voice had a strange tone in it. Slightly haughty and overly polite. This little hint of vulnerable pride gave Ty pause.
    â€œNo worries,” he said. “Let’s get tramping.”
    Ty suppressed any feelings of sympathy he was temptedto entertain during the experiment. He ordered Kate to move here and there, behind him, in front of him, crouching down low, then up high atop a boulder. She tripped over roots and rocks, half-blind behind the eyepiece, at the complete and utter mercy of the bugs. She thrashed occasionally and the bites must have been maddening, but Kate didn’t complain. Ty had to hand it to her, she was one stubborn specimen. Strong, too, though he had no doubt she was struggling.
    â€œOkay, that’s enough filming for now,” he announced after two hours’ torture.
    â€œYou sure? There’s a nice scenic bend just up there,” she said, and Ty wondered which one of them was going to surrender first and call the other’s bluff. He hadn’t counted on her having such a good hand. She knew how to make him sweat. He looked down and saw that the backs of her heels were chafed and bloody.
    â€œOh, Kate,” he groaned, finally using her first name. “Let’s just stop, okay?”
    She lowered the camera and followed his eyes to her savaged feet. “That’s fine—don’t worry about that.”
    â€œNo, that’s not fine. Come on, we need to give this up.”
    â€œGive what up?” She cocked her head and gave him a calculating look, eyes narrowing.
    â€œYou know what. You’ve proved yourself, okay?”
    â€œSo I get the job?”
    â€œNo,” Ty said with a sigh. He was taken aback when