Jesse: Merry Christmas, Cowboy

by Lynnette Kent

  Though startled and confused, Jesse didn’t move or make a sound. No normal man would complain about the position in which he now found himself—sharing his bed with a sexy woman. Janie lay curled up facing him. Her hair brushed his chin, and her hand rested lightly against his chest.

  He could have stayed this way forever. Or at least for the rest of the morning.

  But Janie stirred, then smiled. Jesse couldn’t help smiling, too. What a great way to greet the new day.

  Then she froze. And gasped. Eyes closed, she whispered, “Jesse?”

  “Yep.”

  “I meant to be gone long before you woke up.” Her hands came up to cover her face. “I am so embarrassed.”

  The long black braid of her hair lay across her shoulder. Jesse reached over with his free hand to finger the shiny strands. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. But how did you get here?”

  She peeked out between her fingers. “You don’t remember?” When he shook his head, she groaned and hid her face again. “Now I’m totally humiliated.”

  When she started to roll away, Jesse put a hand on her elbow, keeping her still. “I don’t understand.”

  “You probably think I crawled in beside you on my own,” Janie wailed. “Just for fun. Or—or expecting some thing.”

  “Those aren’t such bad options.”

  “But I asked first. I did, really.” She lowered her hands. “When I went upstairs, Dee had a guy in the room with her. I tried to sleep in my truck, but then I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind…I didn’t mean to bother you.”

  “You didn’t.” Unfortunately, his mind added.

  “I did ask, and I thought you heard me.”

  “I might have. I don’t remember. Those pills…”

  He let his voice fade, suddenly less interested in an explanation for last night than in exploring the possibilities of this morning. Janie lay beside him, soft and warm and heavy-eyed, with her scent in his head and her plump lips only inches away. Her breasts rose and fell, brushing against his wrist as he held on to her elbow. A cowboy could only resist so much temptation.

  “I’ll just get out of your way,” Janie said, again trying to move away from him.

  “Well, you know,” Jesse drawled, “there is the matter of rent in this situation.”

  “Rent?” She gazed at him for a moment, then must have read his intentions in his face. Laughter flickered in her eyes. “Really? How much rent?”

  “One or two. Maybe three.”

  “Dollars?”

  “Nope.” He lowered his mouth toward hers.

  “Ah.”

  The first kiss was well worth waiting for. Janie’s lips, soft and slightly parted, welcomed his advance. They yielded slightly to the pressure of his mouth and then, with a small sigh, responded with a gentle demand of their own.

  Needing a breath, Jesse lifted his head. “One.”

  “Not enough?” Janie asked, pretending to pout. “Not nearly.”

  A more experimental kiss, this second one, and more breathless, as well. With a hand on Janie’s shoulder blade, Jesse drew her closer, until they lay pressed together from chest to knee. She slipped her arms around his shoulders and her hand under the neck of his T-shirt, then stroked her palm across his back in all directions, as far as she could reach.

  Jesse groaned at the pleasure of her touch. “Two,” he muttered. And took them straight into number three.

  After only a few minutes, he’d forgotten what they were counting, or why. Need rose inside him, fierce and hot, burning away the threads of his control. Under his clumsy fingers, the buttons on her red shirt slipped free, allowing him access to the creamy skin he’d spent so much time thinking about. Janie got rid of his T-shirt completely, then used her mouth and hands on his chest to destroy the last of his sanity. Much more of this craziness, and he wouldn’t remember his own name.

  With her hair draped across the tips of his fingers, he rubbed his knuckles along the line of her jaw. “I want you, Janie. After all these years we’ve known each other, I saw you in Las Vegas and it hit me right between the eyes. Now I can’t seem to stay away from you.”

  Her dark eyes caught a stray beam from the light through the window. “But you said—”

  Jesse shook his head. “I know. I thought I could shut this off, somehow. But I’m not having much success. Are you?”

  “I’ve never been able to shut off what I feel for you.” When he would have pulled her closer, she resisted and rolled away. “What about all those obstacles between us? Mark, your parents…”

  He took a deep breath in his turn. “None of that’s changed, has it?”

  “Not that I can tell.”

  “Mark will hate us being together.” She nodded.

  “My dad will be furious.”

  “My mother would be, too, if she understood.”

  “But—” Jesse took her shoulders in his hands, turning Janie to face him. “But I don’t care. Whatever anybody else thinks or says, this is about what we want. Isn’t it?”

  Her palms came to rest on his chest. “Yes.”

  He grinned and drew her body toward his. “So…”

  “Your knee—”

  Jesse swore. “Janie?”

  “Yes?”

  “Shut up and kiss me.”

  And still she tried to argue with him. “Why don’t you kiss me?”

  Holding her gaze, he nodded. “Not a problem.”

  He didn’t take it slow or make it easy on either of them. His first kiss ravaged her mouth, his lips and teeth and tongue demanding a fiery response. Sweeping over her face, he absorbed the smoothness of her cheeks, the slope of her nose and the point of her chin, then moved on to the intricate spiral of her ear and the fragrant angle between her shoulder and neck. Janie tossed her head from side to side as he touched and tasted, until that black hair of hers was a silky web, binding them together in desire.

  Only minutes later, the remainder of their clothes had disappeared and they lay twined together, inventing caresses to drive the passion between them harder, faster, hotter. Janie dragged her hands along the backs of Jesse’s thighs and buttocks, then raked her nails over the same path.

  “Vixen,” he growled, and she grinned.

  “Devil,” she panted, when he drove her to the edge of control, only to back off at the last second.

  Soon enough, though, she was begging and he was beyond desperate. Murmuring, “A cowboy always brings his own equipment,” Jesse moved away for a moment, then returned to her arms. “Let’s dance, Janie girl. You and me.”

  She had no words, Janie decided, for the experience of having Jesse’s body joined with hers. Ecstasy seemed too easy. Completion couldn’t be big enough. With the thrust of his hips, her entire universe exploded…and then realigned, settling into a blinding, breathtaking pattern she would need the rest of her life to understand.

  Or maybe, she thought—as he began to move and she went to him, with him—maybe the word really is that simple, after all.

  Happiness.

  JESSE WOKE UP BECAUSE HIS knee throbbed and his head ached. Otherwise, he might have believed he’d died on that bull last night and gone to heaven, because he’d never felt so good in his life.

  Janie’s head rested on his shoulder, her bare leg curled around his knee, and her hand lay on his chest. Every morning should start out exactly like this.

  Then the phone rang. The first bad news was having to pull away from Janie to reach the receiver.

  And then he said, “Hello?”

  “Got a news report that you’d been put in jail last night. What’s going on?”

  “Good morning, Dad.”

  “Your mother’s worried sick. Are you okay?”

  “Sure.” He’d explain the knee when he got home.

  “Did you win?”

  Jesse could hear his mother’s protest in the background. He grinned. “Yes, sir, I won.”

  “That’s better. Listen, come straight to the house when you get
home Sunday. We’re having everybody for dinner, and then I’ve got something to say to the whole family. See you there.”

  Without anything as formal as “goodbye,” J.W. ended the call.

  Jesse hung up the phone and turned back to Janie. “Where were we?”

  She moved easily into his arms, but her face was troubled. “Have we made a mistake?”

  He brushed her hair back from her face and shoulder. “I have no complaints.”

  “They will.”

  “We’ll deal with that when we can’t avoid it.” He kissed his way along the arch of her collarbone. “We don’t have to let them spoil this morning, do we?”

  Janie’s sigh of pleasure was all the answer he need ed.

  AT THE END OF SATURDAY NIGHT’S competition, Janie and Jesse stood together in the arena accepting gold belt buckles for their individual championships in barrel racing and bull riding. Along with all the other winners, they waved and smiled as the crowd applauded.

  Then they retreated to his room for their own private celebration.

  Sunday morning, after eating breakfast together under the interested gazes of most of the rodeo participants, they got ready for the long drive home.

  Saying goodbye turned out to be harder than Jesse expected. Janie and he were heading to the same place, more or less. He’d see her tomorrow, when she came to work on Sundae’s leg. For that matter, he could see her every night of the week if he asked her out.

  But letting her drive off without him didn’t feel right, even though he’d be driving right behind her. Behind the horse trailer, anyway.

  “Be careful,” he said stupidly, when he’d run out of anything else he wanted her friend Dee to overhear.

  “Bye,” the blonde called, wiggling her fingers from the passenger side.

  “Good to meet you,” he told her, then realized he’d already said that once, after the two women had climbed into the truck.

  Janie gave him a smile that seemed too bright for the occasion. “Bye, Jesse. Have a good drive. If you feel tired, or your knee hurts, take a break…”

  “I’ll be fine.” He slapped the roof of the truck cab and stepped back, refusing to say anything else for fear he’d get himself in trouble.

  He didn’t catch up with Janie because he didn’t try. Shadows lengthened as he traveled and the white-coated mountains loomed from the right as he drove toward the Shoshone River valley and the Cottonwood Ranch. Passing through Markton, he glanced along the road leading to the Hansen property and thought about stopping, but didn’t lift his foot off the gas pedal. Life was complicated enough—there was no sense in starting up rumors at home, too.

  Passing through the ranch gate, Jesse heaved a huge sigh of relief. He could heat up some stew for dinner, take a few pills and zone out with a ball game on TV.

  Then he remembered. Before he could zone out, he had to check in with the parents. That meant bypassing the old homestead he lived in by himself now and driving another three miles to the new house.

  What did his dad plan to say? Was this the payout on whatever J.W. had been planning in Vegas? Jesse chuck led, remembering Janie’s suspicions of a Cody family plot. Would those nefarious motives finally be revealed this evening?

  He parked at the end of a long line of family vehicles—including Mark’s truck—and limped along the stone driveway, then climbed three different angles of steps to reach the massive front door. The house consisted mostly of windows, allowing views of the mountains and the river valley from every room. His mother seemed happy there, but he couldn’t be sure. She didn’t encourage personal questions these days.

  Taking a deep breath, Jesse pressed the doorbell button. Inside, a set of chimes played the tune for “Home on the Range.” The kids had all thought the choice goofy, but his dad liked it.

  When the door opened, Jesse faced his sister across the threshold. “Good to see you,” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. “Your face looks awful. I hope the other guy looks worse.”

  Before he could say anything or get his arms around her waist to hug back, Elly pulled away. Looking puzzled, she ran her fingertips lightly across his right shoulder, back and forth. “That’s an interesting aftershave you’re wearing,” she said, and leaned in again to sniff at his collar. “Smells like roses, maybe some gardenia and lavender.”

  Then her lower jaw dropped and her eyes went round as she stared at him. “I know that scent,” she whispered. “I gave it to her.” She cast a glance over her shoulder, toward the living room. “Jesse Cody, why do you smell like my best friend?”

  “Close the damn door,” J.W. shouted. “It’s cold as hell in here already.”

  Jesse did as ordered. “Janie competed at the Gardiner rodeo,” he told Elly, walking past her. “And that’s where I’ve been.” Without giving her a chance to ask any other questions, he joined the rest of his family around the big stone fireplace in the living room.

  J.W. had set the stage for this family get-together. A huge blue spruce tree sat in front of the largest window, decorated with his mother’s favorite ornaments—different sizes of green glass balls, pine cones frosted with silver glitter and garlands of green and silver ribbon. Underneath the tree ran a toy train set, currently being observed with rapt attention by Matt and Clay. Dex and Josie sat close by, keeping an eye on the youngsters.

  To complete the scene, J.W. occupied his big armchair beside the fire, with Anne perched on a low stool at his knee and the rest of the family arranged on nearby sofas and the floor.

  Jesse actually looked over his shoulder, wondering if there was a photographer setting up to take pictures. And wondering exactly what the rest of them were being set up for.

  “Come sit down,” J.W. ordered. “We’re not eating till I get this taken care of. That end of the couch is empty.”

  Jesse followed his nod and saw that his dad wanted him on one end of the couch with Mark on the other and Nicki in between them.

  “Thanks,” he said, and went to the wide hearth on the opposite side of the fireplace from J.W. He’d rather choose his own seat, even if that meant sitting on stone.

  J.W. narrowed his eyes but didn’t comment. “I called you all here,” he said, “because I’ve got a couple of things to tell you. There are gonna be some changes at the Cottonwood Ranch in the new year.”

  Jesse crossed his arms over his chest. Here it comes.

  The Cody patriarch cleared his throat. “Just before the National Finals, I had some medical tests. This week, the doctors told me I’ve got prostate cancer.”

  Sitting up straight again, Jesse let his arms fall to his sides. Absolute silence held for nearly a minute.

  Then Elly said, “Oh, Daddy.” With a sob, she buried her face against Will Jackson’s chest.

  “This is not the end of the world,” J.W. continued, but he had his hand firmly on his wife’s shoulder. “I have every expectation of being here to give you all grief for decades, yet. But in order to save my energy for the fight at hand, I will be playing a less active role in the ranch management.

  “Nothing is settled as of yet. I’ll be talking to each of you, getting a feel for how things are best settled. That includes Mark and Nicki because they are part of the family now.”

  J.W.’s steel-hard gaze honed in on Jesse with that statement. Jesse called on his best poker face to greet the challenge. This wasn’t a time for arguing or giving in.

  “I thought it was fair to warn you all about what’s coming—what I’ll be doing after Christmas and why I’ll be calling on each of you. Also, I’ll be rewriting my will to reflect the changes taking place. And…”

  He looked around, then stared into his wife’s face for a moment. “And that’s all. Let’s go eat.”

  While the rest of them sat paralyzed, J. W. Cody left his chair, helped his wife to stand and then escorted her, with his familiar, slightly limping gait, across the entry hall and into the dining room.

  As soon as he could move, Jesse followed his par
ents. But instead of joining them at the table, he stalked across the marble floor as fast as his injured knee would allow, jerked the door open and slammed it behind him as he left the house.

  THE KNOCK ON THE DOOR came at 9:00 p.m. Sunday night, just as Janie sat down to dinner. She put her head in her hand for a moment—the drive from Montana had been a long one and settling her mother for the night had taken the last two hours. Now she sat alone to eat, cold and hungry and sad.

  When the rap repeated, she pushed back from the table and stood up. “Okay, okay,” she called. “Since when do you knock to come in, Mark? This is still—” She opened the door.

  Jesse stood outside, shoulders hunched against the wind-driven rain. “Hi. I probably should have called but, to be honest, I didn’t want to give you a chance to say no.”

  Janie found her voice. “I wouldn’t say no. You’re welcome.”

  He stepped past her into the house, his body big and solid and here. She felt warmer just having him in the room.

  Standing in the center of the living room, still wearing his coat, Jesse lifted his chin and sniffed. “Smells good.” He looked toward the kitchen. “You were eating. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not a problem.” She hesitated a second and then said, “Have you had supper?”

  His blue eyes met hers with a bashful expression. “Uh…no.”

  “Why not? Wait…” She’d just remembered where he was supposed to be tonight. “What about the family meeting and dinner? Your dad—”

  The look on Jesse’s face prepared her for something bad.

  “Take off your coat and come sit down,” she told him. “You can have some leftover chili with me.”

  Once they were both served and seated, Jesse told her between bites what his father had said. “I didn’t get any specifics. I don’t know what kind of treatment he’s having or what his plans are for the ranch. I just…couldn’t stay.”

  “I am so sorry.” She put her hand over his left one, resting on the table.

  “I’ve been driving around, thinking, going nowhere. All at once, I realized I’d come here.” He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut, then rubbed them with his finger tips.