A second or two passed before Jillian shook her head and smiled wryly. “Oh, you’re good at this, aren’t you? Getting people to do what you want, I mean.”
“Used to be,” Will admitted.
“Still are,” Jesse said quietly.
Jillian turned her head to look at him, and their eyes locked. Even on opposite sides of the room, there was a thread of connection that snapped and crackled between them. And Jesse saw by the flash of acknowledgment in her eyes that she felt it, too. Not that he cared.
“My big brother over there knows how hard-headed I am,” Will said and Jillian shifted her gaze back to him. “What I’m trying to say is, it’s important to me to rebuild my good name. So let me help. If I’m worried about you and your daughter, it’ll take time away from me getting back to my own life.”
Jesse watched for her reaction and he could see in her eyes that she wasn’t buying it. That was the only reason he spoke up when he did. “He’s not lying.”
She turned her head to look at him again and that electrical pulse between them erupted. Her gaze fixed on his and Jesse could have sworn even the air between them burned. He wasn’t interested in this. Had no time for the distraction of a woman—and this woman would be the Queen of all distractions. So he pushed away any sense of attraction he was feeling and focused on making his point known. “Will’s got a lot going on right now.”
She laughed shortly, but her eyes remained cool and flat. “Yeah. I know.”
“Then you should know he’s not going to rest until you and your daughter are taken care of.”
“I’m not a problem to be solved and neither is my daughter.”
“He didn’t mean—” Will said.
“That’s not what I said,” Jesse interrupted, cutting his brother off. “And I think you know it. So don’t go looking to be offended when there’s no intent.”
Will fired a hard look at him that Jesse ignored. He never took his gaze off Jillian, so he recognized when she accepted his words.
She nodded briefly. “Okay, you’re right. I was doing that.”
“I’m also right about you letting Will off the hook—”
“He’s not on a hook,” Jillian snapped. “I just said so.”
“I never thought I was—”
Jesse cut Will off again. “There you go. Offense where none’s meant. I’m trying to tell you that if you don’t let Will do what he thinks is fair and right here, you’re going to punish him for something that wasn’t his fault.”
“Jesse, why don’t you let me—”
“I told him it’s not his fault,” Jillian argued, and this time she cut Will off.
“He won’t believe you,” Jesse said.
“Yes, I would.”
“Well, he should,” Jillian said.
“He won’t.” Jesse waved one hand at his brother. “He’ll wallow in guilt or some other nonsense if you don’t let him help.”
“I don’t wallow,” Will pointed out.
“And if I let him help,” Jillian countered, “then I feel guilty for taking advantage of a man who owes me nothing.”
“No, you won’t,” Jesse said, shaking his head. “You’re too smart for that. You’re a mother. You have your kid to think of. So you’ll do the smart thing and take a helping hand when it’s offered.”
She tipped her head to study him. “Oh, will I?”
Her long, blond ponytail swung forward to lie over her shoulder and across her breast. His hands itched to do the same. Hell. He was jealous of her hair. How sad was that?
“Yeah,” Jesse said, his gaze locked with hers. “You will.”
“You two just let me know when it’s my turn to talk,” Will muttered.
“He’s not going to let this go until you let him help,” Jesse said.
“He’s right about that anyway,” Will broke in, grabbing his chance to get a few words in.
“Why do you care what I do or don’t?” Jillian asked, but the question was for Jesse, not Will.
Truthfully, he wasn’t entirely sure why her welfare mattered to him one way or the other. He shrugged. “Maybe it’s because my mom was a single mother when she married Will’s daddy. Because I remember how hard it was for her before we came to live here at the ranch.”
Her gaze lowered briefly before she looked at him again. In her eyes, he saw acceptance. She gave him an almost imperceptible nod before looking at Will. “Okay, then. I’ll take your help and thank you for it.”
Will smiled. “You don’t have to thank me. Like my brother said, you’re helping me out of a sea of guilt just by saying yes.”
Jesse watched her and knew she was still a little uneasy with her decision, but for her daughter’s sake, she was clearly willing to swallow a bit of her pride.
“You were living and working in Vegas,” Will said. “Is that right?”
Jillian’s shoulders squared and her spine snapped straight as a plank. As if just the word Vegas invited judgment that she was prepared to defend herself against. “That’s right.”
“I can send you back there,” Will was saying, “You probably gave up your apartment when you came to Texas, so I could help you get a new one, if you like. Or if you prefer, I’ll find you a nice place here in Royal.”
She chewed at her bottom lip and Jesse’s groin went rock-hard in a flash of heat. Damn.
“I’d rather stay here in Royal,” Jillian finally said, then added, “if you don’t mind any gossip that might spring up. People will know why I came here—thinking you were Mackenzie’s father and all.”
“Doesn’t bother me,” Will assured her. “There’s always gossip about one thing or another and it’ll fade. But this is up to you. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go home?”
Now a sad smile briefly curved her wide, fantastic mouth. “Vegas was never home. Just a place to live and work. I came here for a fresh start. For Mac and for me. I’d still like that.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Will said, and walked back around to the chair behind the desk. “We own a lot of property in Royal. I’m sure we’ve got an apartment—”
“It doesn’t have to be anything big. Or fancy,” Jillian added quickly. “Just clean and safe. Somewhere we can be until I find a job and get a place of my own.”
“But—”
Will was going to argue, but Jesse knew what the woman meant. She was willing to take help but didn’t want to feel beholden as she would if Will tried to give her some extravagant apartment.
“There’s a place off Main.” Both Will and Jillian looked at him. “Good building. Safe. Clean. They’re studio apartments, but big enough for you and a baby.”
Relief shone in her eyes and she nodded even as Will sputtered, “We can do better than a studio. A place with more room. A yard, maybe—”
“No.” Jillian shook her head, looked at Will and said, “This one sounds perfect. We’ll take it.” Then she turned her gaze back to Jesse. She looked at him for a long moment, then said simply, “Thank you.”
Those eyes of hers met his steadily, and he felt that swift tug of something hot again. He didn’t let her know that, though. “You’re welcome.”
* * *
“How’d it go?”
Jillian walked into the large, plush living room of Lucy Navarro Bradshaw’s suite at the Ace In the Hole ranch. The room was huge and airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows along the front wall, displaying a wide view of the ranch the Sanders family called home. The furniture was feminine without being frilly. Overstuffed couches and chairs covered in cream fabric splashed with blue and yellow flowers. Heavy, pale oak tables held stacks of books and brass lamps with amber shades. Rugs in pale, subtle colors dotted the gleaming wood floors and to make it all seem less like a photo shoot layout, toys, trucks and coloring books were scattered everywhere.
Ordi
narily, Jillian would have felt completely out of place in such an elegant, old-money kind of home. But Lucy made the difference here.
At five feet six inches, Lucy was much shorter than Jillian’s five foot ten. She had layered brown hair, big blue eyes and a friendly smile that had welcomed Jillian from the first. Thanks to Lucy, even with everything that had been going on for the last two weeks, Jillian hadn’t felt so alone in Royal.
She didn’t know why Lucy had befriended her, but she was grateful. Jillian had left behind everything she’d ever known when she came to Royal, Texas, hoping for some sort of settlement from the estate of the man she’d thought was her baby girl’s father. Will Sanders. It wasn’t until the service for Will, when the man himself had walked through the door, that Jillian had realized she’d been duped. A damn impostor, posing as the rich, successful Will Sanders, had gotten past Jillian’s defenses and left her pregnant. Now she had no home, no job, very little money and a daughter to provide for.
Thinking of her little girl had Jillian’s gaze sliding to Baby Mac, playing with Lucy’s son, Brody. The tiny girl had soft blond hair, big hazel eyes and a dimple in her right cheek that never failed to tug at Jillian’s heart. Mackenzie Norris, closing in on two years old, and the light of her mommy’s life.
There was nothing Jillian wouldn’t do for her daughter.
“Jillian?” Lucy asked. “Earth to Jillian...”
“What?” She gave herself a shake and smiled a little. “Sorry. Mental wandering.”
“Don’t worry. Happens to me all the time,” Lucy assured her.
“Mommy!” Mac’s face lit up. “I color.”
“I can see that,” Jillian said, taking a spot on the floor beside Lucy and her son, the small, sandy-haired boy with eyes the color of root beer.
Brody, in his four-year-old wisdom, tried to whisper, “She goes outside the lines.”
Lucy laughed and skimmed one hand down her son’s head. “She’s still little.”
Yes, that was the reason, Jillian thought, but a part of her hoped that Mac always went outside the lines. She wanted her little girl to push envelopes, to reach for stars and every other heartwarming cliché on the books.
“Why don’t you take Mac to your room and show her your books,” Lucy suggested.
“Okay.” Brody stood up and held one hand down to the toddler already scrambling to go with him.
When the kids were out of the room, Lucy gathered up the crayons and tucked them into a wide, plastic box. “So,” she asked, slanting Jillian a look. “How’d it go?”
Jillian gathered up the coloring books, stacked them neatly, then laid them down beside the box of colors. “Pretty well, all things considered.”
“That’s called answering without answering,” Lucy chided. “My mom used to do it all the time to us. Now I do it to Brody.”
Jillian laughed a little. “You’re right. Sorry.”
“What did Will have to say?”
“Everything,” she said after a second or two. Jillian thought back over their meeting and couldn’t fault the man at all. He’d been kind, understanding and generous, considering that Jillian and Mac weren’t his problem to deal with at all. Sighing, she leaned back against the closest chair and stretched her legs out in front of her. “He’s a really nice man. Much nicer than the ‘Will’ I knew.”
Lucy reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze of solidarity. “He’s a good guy.”
“Yeah,” Jillian agreed. “He is. He offered to pay our way home to Vegas and set us up in a new apartment.”
“Oh.” One word of disappointment.
She glanced at Lucy and the other woman shrugged.
“I was sort of hoping you’d stay here in Texas,” Lucy said. “I mean, I don’t have that many close friends and, well, we just clicked, you know? So I’d miss you.”
Surprised as much by Lucy as she had been by the woman’s brother, Jillian asked, “Why?”
A short laugh shot from Lucy’s throat. “Well, come on. Do you have so many friends that you wouldn’t miss one if they moved away?”
“No,” Jillian said after a moment or two. “I don’t. I’d miss you, too.”
“Glad to hear it,” Lucy admitted.
“But I won’t have to miss you.”
“What?” Lucy asked. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not leaving Texas,” Jillian said, then shrugged when the other woman gave her a grin. “There’s nothing to go back to in Vegas and I think maybe Royal is a good place to get a fresh start.”
“It’s a terrific place,” Lucy agreed, leaning over to give her a one-armed hug. “I’m so glad you’re staying. But where are you staying?” She paused, then brightened. “Oh. You and Mac could move into the east wing here with me and Brody. This place is huge—there’s more than enough room. Brody would love having his new friend here and frankly,” she added, “so would I.”
Tempting. Jillian hadn’t had a friend like Lucy in well...ever. For some reason, the two of them had clicked almost from the start and Brody and Mac had already formed a strong friendship, too.
But staying here on Will Sanders’s ranch would just be way too awkward.
Besides, Jesse would be here, too.
And she didn’t think it was a good idea to spend too much time around that particular man. He made her want things she had no business wanting.
Two
Jillian took a deep breath and realized that not even Will Sanders had made her feel so jumpy and excited and eager all at once. No, she amended silently, not Will. Impostor Will. Back then, the impostor had swept her off her feet so fast that Jillian had forgotten all about protecting herself.
And now that she had not only herself but Mac to worry about, Jillian had to be more careful than ever. Especially since Jesse made her want to not be.
“Thank you,” she said. “Really, thank you for offering, but we can’t stay here. It would be...weird, with Will here and—”
“Okay,” Lucy replied, “I get that. But you can’t stay in the motel forever, either.”
“We’re not going to.” Jillian pushed a strand of hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “You and Brody have been so nice. He’s so good to Mac...”
Lucy sighed a little. “He’s got his daddy’s disposition, thank goodness.”
“I don’t know, I think his mom’s pretty great, too.”
Lucy grinned. “But she’s got a terrible temper.”
Jillian laughed. “All the best of us do.”
From Brody’s room came the sound of laughter and the high-pitched whistle of a toy train. Jillian gave a little sigh. Brody had completely taken Mac under his very tiny wing. Only four years old himself, Jillian had the impression that he liked being the “big” kid in the eyes of nearly two-year-old Mac.
Jillian knew she was doing the right thing, staying here in Texas. Mac was happy, even in that crappy little motel they’d been staying in. There were parks to play in, ice cream shops to get treats from and there was Brody. It would work out, she told herself. She’d make sure of it.
“What are you thinking?” Lucy asked. “I can practically hear the wheels in your brain turning from here.”
Jillian leaned back against the couch next to her friend. Her friend. And wasn’t that a gift? She’d come to Texas hoping to get a settlement that would take care of her daughter only to have that dream ripped away from her. But she’d also found a good friend and a place to start over and that made up for a lot.
“Your brother—”
“Which one?” Lucy interrupted.
“Jesse,” Jillian said. “He’s found a place for Mac and I—” There was nothing in Vegas for her. She had no family except for Mac. No ties to that neon city and no real job prospects beyond being a cocktail waitress in one of the casinos. It was a good job and the
pay wasn’t terrible, but spending hours a night walking around in high heels delivering drinks to people who’d already had enough wasn’t exactly her dream job. Besides, she had to have a babysitter for Mac and Jillian was starting to resent missing so much time with her little girl.
“That’s great, I’m so glad.”
“Me, too.” She sat back on the overstuffed couch. “It’ll be great to get out of that motel. Anyway, Will and I were talking and then Jesse walked in and—”
“Really?” Lucy scowled a little. “I thought Will wanted to talk to you alone. If I’d known it was a free-for-all, I’d have been downstairs, too.”
“I get the feeling Jesse wasn’t invited,” Jillian told her. “He just...came.”
Lucy nodded. “Sounds like him. What did he have to say?”
“He told me about an apartment just outside town. It’s a small studio—”
“No way.” Shaking her head, Lucy said, “Will can do better than that.”
Jillian stopped her cold. It had been hard enough for her to accept any help at all. The thought of Will setting her and Mac up in some luxury apartment was just too much. She didn’t want charity. She wanted a chance.
Glancing around the quietly beautiful room she sat in now, she acknowledged that a studio wasn’t going to be anything like this, but that was okay, too. She was accustomed to making do and as long as she could find a job, save some more money, Jillian would be happy. She had plans and Royal seemed like as good a place as any to work on making those plans a reality.
“I don’t want him to do better,” Jillian said. “I can take care of myself and Mac. All I need is a place to start. Well, and a job.”
“I can understand that, about the apartment I mean,” Lucy said. “And as for the job, I might know of something if you’re interested.”
Surprised, Jillian fixed her gaze on her friend. “I’m interested.”
Lucy laughed. “I haven’t even told you what it is yet.”
Kicking her long legs out in front of her, Jillian crossed her feet at the ankle. “Is it walking around in high heels wearing a Valkyrie outfit listening to drunken come-ons all night?”
Rich Rancher's Redemption Page 2
