“Of course he’s interested. Otherwise he wouldn’t be such a bear right now. So don’t give up,” Lucy said, picking up her doughnut for a bite. “He’s not the easiest man on the planet, but I think you love him enough not to care about that.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, Jill, love is the only thing that does matter.”
* * *
Jesse swung the hammer so hard that when it made contact with the post, the entire fence shuddered. Taking a breath, he released it slowly, trying to control the frustration that had been simmering inside him for more than a week. But it was no use.
Since that last night with Jillian, Jesse hadn’t been able to get a moment’s peace. He kept seeing her face. Hearing her say he was like every other man in her life—letting her down. Walking away.
“Well, hell, can’t she see I didn’t want her to go?” He pulled another nail from the box lying on the ground, straightened up and swung the hammer at it. Solid, hard work should be giving him a sense of satisfaction. At least fixing loose boards on the corral fence allowed him to take out his aggravation on innocent nails.
But it wasn’t helping.
He yanked off his cowboy hat and wiped his forehead with his forearm. Summer was settling in and it promised to be a hot one. He jammed the hat back onto his head and braced his forearms on the top rail of the fence. He stared off at the ranch yard and then let his gaze slide to his house. For the first time since moving into that place, Jesse hadn’t been able to find any peace in it.
Because Jillian was there. Her image. Her scent still clung to the pillow beside his. Mac was there, too, as he could remember holding the little girl while she cried and slept. The crib was still in the guest room and he felt a pang every time he walked past it down the hall.
Now he wondered what was happening with them. Was Jillian getting the shop put together? Was Mac still sick? And was he going to be doing this for the rest of his damn life? Wondering about the two people he loved because he wasn’t with them to keep them safe?
Scowling, he went back to work. Lucy had left more than two hours ago and he knew his sister had gone into town to see Jillian. And he wished to hell he knew what they were talking about. “A hell of a thing, being jealous of your sister,” he muttered and slammed the hammer home again.
He heard the car careening up the drive before he saw it. Lucy’s truck was barreling toward the ranch house as if racing from a fire. Instantly, panic flared into life in the center of Jesse’s chest. Was Jillian all right? Mac? Had something happened?
Jesse dropped everything and sprinted for the front of the house. Lucy jumped out of the truck, raced toward him and didn’t have a chance to speak before he demanded, “Is Jillian okay? Mac?”
And just like that, Lucy’s whole demeanor changed. Tension left her shoulders and a smirk twisted her mouth. “Well, that answers my question.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded. “What question? Weren’t you with Jill? Is she okay?”
“Jill’s fine. So’s Mac,” she added, “not that you’d know since you haven’t bothered to call her. Or to go see her.”
“Damn it, Lucy,” he ground out as his heart slowed from a gallop to a trot. “You had me thinking—”
“That they needed you and you weren’t there?” Lucy finished for him. “Well, get used to that feeling because unless you wise up, you’re going to be living with that.”
“Why’d you drive in here like a bat out of hell? Just trying to scare ten years off my life?”
She leaned back against the side of her royal blue truck, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “I was pretty sure you were in love with Jillian, but I wanted to be sure. Seeing your panicked reaction convinced me.”
“Well, good for you.” He turned to go because at the rate his temper was building, he didn’t trust himself not to use the kind of language his mother would still give him grief over.
Lucy grabbed his arm and held him in place. “Why are you ignoring your family, Jesse?”
“What the hell does that mean?” He waved one arm as if encompassing the ranch and said, “I’ve been right here, all week, spending time with my family.”
“I’m not talking about our family,” she said, irritation spiking the tone of her voice. “I’m talking about the family you built with Jillian.”
“Butt out, little sister.” The warning came out as a growl. Lucy wasn’t impressed.
“Not a chance. You love Jill, and you love Mac.” Lucy shook her head. “They love you, too, so what the hell are you doing?”
“I can’t do this. Can’t talk about this with you.”
“Why not?” Lucy lifted her chin and fixed her gaze on his, and Jesse had to silently admit that his younger sister had become a fierce woman. “You’re using me and Brody as an excuse to deny yourself a life, so I think you can discuss it with me.”
“I’m not—”
“Dane died.” Two words that shook both of them.
Jesse heard the slight tremor in her voice before she covered it over in fury when she continued. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t his fault. Or the damn horse’s, either. It just happened. That’s why they call things like that ‘accidents.’ You can’t plan for it. You can’t guard against it. It’s just life, Jesse.”
“I shouldn’t have let him so close.”
Lucy snorted a laugh. “Do you really believe Dane would have allowed you to keep him back? He was a city guy, but he was no coward.”
“I didn’t say he was.”
“He was a good, kind, strong man who went after what he wanted.” Lucy swallowed hard. “He died going after it, but it was important to him and he wouldn’t have let you stop him.”
Jesse thought back to his brother-in-law and conceded that she had a point. Dane had been just as hardheaded as the rest of them and determined to build a life on the ranch. He’d fought against Jesse’s and Will’s attempts to protect him and had goaded them and challenged himself in his quest to grab what he wanted most.
“Should I blame Dane, Jesse?” She looked up at him, shaking her head. “I could. I could say it was his fault for always pushing, doing too much. He shouldn’t have rushed into things like he did, but he was so damn alive...”
“I’m sorry about Dane, Lucy. So damn sorry.” Jesse shook his head, reached out and pulled his sister in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed.
“I know you are. So am I. But life keeps going, Jesse.” She leaned her head back and looked up at him. “And if you don’t wake up in time, life is going to pass you by.”
He took a breath, easing the constriction in his chest. “But there’s Brody to care for and—”
“Are you planning on moving off the ranch?” she asked.
“No.”
“Then you’ll be here for Brody. Just like you always are. And you can be here for Mac. And Jillian. And damn it, Jesse. Be there for yourself, too.” She was frowning up at him and Jesse bent down to plant a kiss on her forehead.
“Since when did you get so damn bossy?”
“Since always and you know it.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “But you didn’t use to be right.”
“Hah! I’m always right,” Lucy teased. “You’re just not willing to admit it very often.”
He gave her another tight hug then let her go. Guilt would probably always be with him, Jesse silently acknowledged. But maybe for the first time since Dane’s death, Jesse was coming to grips with it. Everything Lucy had said resonated with him and maybe if he’d really thought about it years ago, he’d have come to this conclusion sooner.
Dane had lived his life exactly as he’d wanted. Now, it was time for Jesse to go after what he wanted.
“I guess you’re not the worst sister in the world...”
“High praise indeed.” She hooked one arm around his waist as he turned toward the main house. “So, do you need some help picking out a ring?”
He pulled her hair. “Again, I say, butt out, little sister.”
* * *
By late afternoon Jillian could admit that she was feeling a little better. She should have talked to Lucy sooner because that conversation with Jesse’s sister had really done a lot to ease her pain. Maybe just being able to talk about the man she loved would be enough to help her transition into living without him.
Because no matter what Lucy said, Jillian couldn’t afford to keep hope alive eternally.
“Jesse!”
Jillian sighed a little and looked at her daughter, sitting on the sidewalk beside her. Outside the pie shop, Jillian had been painting different designs on the display window, trying to figure out which one looked best. When she had it pinned down, she’d contact a professional sign painter to make it permanent.
“Not today, sweetie,” she murmured automatically and looked up at the window. Miss Mac’s Pie Shack. “There’s your name, Mackenzie. You’re on the window and maybe we could paint a little portrait of you, too. Use you as our logo, what do you think?”
“Jesse!”
Sighing, Jillian glanced at Mac again, noticed her daughter staring off down the sidewalk and lifted her gaze to see Jesse striding toward them.
Jillian’s heartbeat clattered in her chest, making it almost impossible to breathe. He looked so good. Blue jeans, white button-down shirt, denim jacket and that black hat that never failed to set her pulse racing. “Oh, God...”
“Jesse!” Mac called it louder this time and took off down the sidewalk toward her hero.
“Mac!” Jillian started after her, but she needn’t have bothered. Jesse swept the little girl up into his arms and then gave her the stuffed horse he’d brought for her.
“Mama, Jesse! Horsie!”
“I see that,” she said softly, enjoying the flush of pleasure on Mac’s face and the bright light in her eyes as she stared at Jesse. Jillian’s heart hurt. Jesse was only making this harder on Mac. The little girl had missed him so much that seeing him again would only freshen the pain when he disappeared again.
“Jill,” he said, his gaze sweeping over her, up and down. “You look beautiful.”
“No, I don’t. I’m a mess.” So of course he’d show up now. She wore jeans and a T-shirt and she had white paint on her cheek and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail threaded through the opening in a baseball cap.
“What’re you doing here, Jesse?” Had Lucy talked to him? Had she made him see that sacrificing his own life as payment for something he thought was his fault was a waste? She wanted to hope but was too afraid to. She’d been hurt too many times.
He nodded, looked at the little girl in his arms, then back to Jillian. “Look, I understand that you might not be happy to see me right now, but I’ve got something I need to say to you. Then, if you want me to, I’ll go and I’ll stay away.”
“Oh, Jesse, I think we’ve said it all.”
“Not even close,” he told her and took a step toward her. “When you told me you loved me, there was something I couldn’t bring myself to say back to you. I want to do it now. I love you, Jillian. I love you so much it’s a wonder to me.”
She swayed in place as those three little words slammed home and took her breath away. “Jesse—”
“And I love Mac like she’s my own.”
“Jesse!” Mac hugged her horse, then laid her head on Jesse’s shoulder, patting his cheek with one tiny hand.
Jillian melted a little more. Her baby girl was happy. How could she not be?
“Without you, I can’t eat. Can’t sleep. My house is empty,” he said, “and my heart’s even emptier. Hell, Jill, until I met you, I was walking through life with my eyes closed. I swear, there was nothing but work and family.
“Then I met you and there was color and laughter and life, Jillian. There’s life where you are and I want that life.” He smoothed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “I want it with you. And Mac. And however many more babies we can make together.”
“Babies?” she echoed.
“Babies!” Mac crowed and clapped her little hands.
Jesse grinned at the girl, then dipped one hand into his jeans pocket, coming up with a dark red velvet ring box.
Jillian gasped and felt tears fill her eyes until the box, Mac and Jesse were nothing more than blurs in front of her. Frantically, she blinked her eyes clear because she didn’t want to miss a moment of this. “You’ll have to open it for me, since I don’t want to put our girl down...”
Our girl. Those two words rippled through her mind and heart, and Jillian felt love rise up to wash over her like a warm blanket on a winter night. Hesitantly, she opened the ring box, took one look and gasped again.
“Oh, Jesse...”
“I wanted you to have something different,” he whispered. “Something as special as you are.”
She stared at the ring unblinkingly. A star sapphire, surrounded by diamonds, it winked in the sunlight and seemed to shine with a hundred different colors deep in its center stone. Finally, she looked up at Jesse and saw at last what she’d longed to see in his eyes.
Love.
“I uh, stopped at the jewelry store on my way here. Didn’t want to show up empty-handed. I love you, Jill,” he said simply. “I love Mac. I want to adopt her officially, if you’ll let me—”
“Jesse.” She slapped one hand across her mouth.
“My dad wanted to adopt me and Lucy, but Mom didn’t think it was fair to our biological father. So, if you want Mac to keep—”
“I think Mackenzie Navarro sounds perfect.”
He smiled even wider. “Me, too.” He kept talking then as if he were on a roll and reluctant to stop. “And I want you both to marry me and be with me forever. Help me build a life, Jillian. Let me help you build that future you’ve always dreamed of.”
Slowly, she took the ring from its velvet bed, then slid it onto her finger. Jesse looked deeply into her eyes and whispered, “I will never walk away, Jillian. I will be with you. Always.”
Tears stung her eyes again and her heart lifted so high in her chest it was a wonder her feet didn’t leave the ground.
Then he took her hand and kissed the ring as if sealing a promise between them.
“I love you, Jesse,” she said. “I think I always have. I know I always will.” She looked at her little girl, lying so trustingly in his arms, a pleased smile on her tiny face. “Mac loves you, too, and you are exactly the father she deserves.”
“So that’s a yes,” he said, more statement than question.
“Oh, absolutely it’s a yes,” Jillian told him, moving into the circle of his arms. “We will marry you, Jesse. And we will love you forever.”
“Thank God,” Jesse whispered.
“Thank God,” Mac echoed.
“Oh, Mac,” Jillian chided.
Laughing, Jesse held on to them, linking the three of them into a unit. He kissed Mac’s forehead, and when Jillian tipped her face up to his, he kissed her lips, lingering just long enough to tell her that he’d missed her as much as she had him.
“I love you,” he said, his gaze locked with hers, willing her to see. To believe.
And Jillian did. She reached up, cupped his cheek in her palm and whispered, “I love you, too.”
While Royal bustled around them, the three of them stood together in front of the pie shop where dreams were born.
Staring into her eyes, Jesse vowed, “I’ve got my girls back and I swear to you, I will never let either of you go.”
* * * * *
Don’t miss a single installment of the
TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: THE IMPOSTOR.
Will the scandal of the c
entury lead to love for these rich ranchers?
THE RANCHER’S BABY
by New York Times bestselling author Maisey Yates.
RICH RANCHER’S REDEMPTION
by USA TODAY bestselling author Maureen Child.
A CONVENIENT TEXAS WEDDING
by Sheri WhiteFeather.
EXPECTING A SCANDAL
by Joanne Rock.
REUNITED...WITH BABY
by USA TODAY bestselling author Sara Orwig.
THE NANNY PROPOSAL
by Joss Wood.
SECRET TWINS FOR THE TEXAN
by Karen Booth.
LONE STAR SECRETS
by Cat Schield.
***
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The Baby Claim
by Catherine Mann
One
“Do you live to infuriate me, or is it a pleasant pastime for when you’re not wining and dining the single females of Alaska?”
Glenna Mikkelson-Powers splayed her hands on her day planner to avoid launching herself from behind her mahogany desk to confront Broderick Steele.
Being so close to the man had never been a wise idea.
The sensual draw was too strong for any woman to resist for long and stay sane. His long wool duster over his suit was pure Hugo Boss. But the cowboy hat and leather boots had a hint of wear that only increased his appeal. His dark hair, which attested to his quarter Inuit heritage, showed the first signs of premature gray. His charisma and strength were as vast as the Alaska tundra he and she both called home.
In a state this large, there should have been enough space for both of them. Theoretically, they should never have to cross paths. But their feuding families’ constant battle over dominance of the oil industry kept Glenna and Broderick in each other’s social circles.
Rich Rancher's Redemption Page 15
