by Holly May
“It’s unforgettable,” Owen agreed. “I’m excited to see what you’ll post online.”
“Do you want me to use the one of you looking towards the hills?”
“That one for sure. It’s a great shot.”
Jared caught her gaze and noticed a gleam of delight. And something else he couldn’t discern. Did her feelings shift between men as easily as Tania’s did? They were both similar in that regard, openly friendly.
And as he realized, he needed to let it be, as Randall said - to stop bringing Tania into the present where she didn’t belong.
“You doing well, son?” Derek asked.
Jared surveyed his father, and smiled at how relaxed he looked. Doing less work around the ranch had done wonders for him. “Not as well as you.”
He laughed heartily. “I’m pleased we were guided to this path. All this hard work will bring a better kind of profit, a satisfaction from doing the right thing.”
He hesitated and set the last plate on the shelf. His father was referencing the Bible quote on the wall. “I agree. You made the best call, and it’s working out.”
Derek’s brown eyes stilled. “Thank you. I’m grateful you’re onboard. Now, how about Rachel?”
“She’s got a job in Spokane. I’m happy for her.”
“If this is you being happy, I’ve got you all wrong.”
He flinched, aware he seemed insincere. Not because he didn’t mean it, but was he truly happy that she was going? No. I want her to stay.
He wiped the kitchen counter with a cloth and faced his dad. “If things were different…”
“I don’t see how it couldn’t work. When there’s love, it can. Love is worth any sacrifice.”
He stayed silent briefly. “Maybe it is. Worth it, I mean.”
Rachel approached them and Jared straightened, smoothing down his shirt. He appreciated the plaid shirt clinging to her body. She wore black pants and those familiar knee high brown boots but the simplistic outfit didn’t diminish her attractiveness.
She flashed a smile. “It was a lovely dinner, as always, Derek.”
“Anytime. I better retire. Have a pleasant night, you two.”
Jared swallowed. “Night, Dad.”
Rachel also bade him goodnight and once Derek ambled out of earshot, Jared stepped closer to her. “You’re in for a good night.”
“I wouldn’t think anything less.” She grinned. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yep. I’ve got the Jeep all prepped.”
She gaped at him. “That would’ve been helpful to use instead of getting me to ride with you.”
“Sorry. We were waiting on repairs. But just so you know, I prefer riding together.”
Her surprise subsided. “Touché. I’ll grab my camera and be right with you.”
Jared watched her saunter down the hallway to her temporary room. Being with Rachel was significant and he couldn’t have second thoughts, or allow himself to be preoccupied. Still, what Randall had said lingered. He couldn’t tar Rachel with the same brush as Tania. She was different in many ways, yet the intensity of their attraction seared through him, reminding him of what could go wrong - how a loved one could stab him in the back and leave a wound that still hadn’t healed over time.
He’d set it all straight tonight.
Owen came to his side and went to fill a glass with water. “She’s a real nice girl but you don’t need to eye me like I’ll steal her.”
Jared shook his head, disappointed with himself. Should’ve known his men could read him well. “I don’t mean to.”
“I get it. It’s because of Tania, but Rachel ain’t like her.”
How he wished he could accept that. “People are unpredictable. With Rachel I’m just…keeping my guard up. She’s amazing. She deserves the best.”
Owen ran the faucet and took a few sips from his glass. “I pegged what Tania was like the day you hired her. She looked at us the same way she looked at you. Easy to see her feelings for you weren’t genuine, but you had your intention of marrying her. I respected that. Didn’t want to intrude.”
Jared knew Owen was the man with the most insight into relationships out of all of them. Thinking of how self-absorbed he’d been when it came to Tania and the ranch, the hindsight illuminated his blunder. “It would’ve helped to know what I was getting into.”
“Would you have believed me if I’d said anything?”
No, he would’ve refused to. Not that he doubted Owen’s word, but he wouldn’t have been capable of thinking Tania was deceitful. It took months to accept it. And it was taking years to let go of that pain.
“Right now, you have something good going,” Owen added. “I see how happy Rachel makes you. She’s like a breath of fresh air around here. You have that second chance many of us will never find.”
Owen’s eyes bored into him, his words conveying the loss of Jean. He took a moment to silently pray for his friend. Jared knew what he’d gone through was nothing compared to losing the love of your life yet it didn’t weaken his sense of loss and regret.
Why did all the cowboys insist that with Rachel it could be something deeper?
Tania had been the last one to work alongside him. As Randall had said, he’d made it personal. Rachel had so far tackled everything he’d thrown at her, and it was impressive. She could handle herself and had overcome a long held fear.
“Thanks, man,” he finally said. “I needed to hear that.”
Rachel returned, ending any intentions of a response. Owen simply gave a telling smile and Jared managed a nod of acknowledgement, aware of what had to be done.
“Sleep well, Owen,” Rachel offered kindly.
“Same to you.”
Jared paused. “Take care of yourself, all right? And if Rover has a full food bowl, feel free to stay here longer.”
Owen nodded, his cropped blond hair shining beneath the kitchen lights. “Yeah, think I’ll take you up on that.”
With Owen heading off for the night, Jared led Rachel outside and past the stables. Sunset cast a brazen orange glow across the sky as if it burned with a simmering passion equal to the fire raging within him.
“You seem distant,” she remarked.
He finally faced her. “Because I’m thinking over what I’d like to do for you. Something romantic.”
“Oh! You’re a passionate man beneath this whole stoic image.”
“You think it’s an image?”
She shrugged, blue eyes glinting mischievously. “Isn’t it?”
“I take my work seriously.”
“No one’s a workaholic without reason. I think you’re hiding from something.”
He flinched involuntarily. “I didn’t invite you here to analyze me.”
She leaned closer, her flirtatious smile widening. “Looks like I struck a nerve.”
“You do a lot more than that.”
He opened the door for her and went round to his side to slide into the driver’s seat. Once she got in and buckled up, he floored the gas and headed for the place he had in mind.
Jared cleared his throat. “I know where to get the best view of the mountains. It’s a twenty-minute drive, so I grabbed refreshments. Help yourself to something now if you’re hungry, or we can dig in once we arrive.”
He nodded towards the back of the Jeep, and he saw her take in that the seats lined with a large picnic basket. A gesture of romanticism he hoped would show her how important she was.
Rachel’s face lit up. “Who’d you let in on this?”
His throat tightened. “I ordered them. Warren loaded up the Jeep for me just before dinner.”
Warren hadn’t been as oblivious to what was going on with Rachel as he’d thought and after a brief chat yesterday, Warren suggested a picnic. Warren had a long term girlfriend, so Jared was glad to glean some ideas from him. He was rusty on the romance front.
Rachel trailed delicate fingers across the monogrammed blanket. “I recognize them. They’re from the Champagne an
d Diamonds catering company. Megan’s using a subsidiary of them for her wedding in a few weeks.”
Megan Mills. The name was familiar, yet he resigned it to hearing of her accused crimes in the news. Not that he paid much attention since he returned from New York, and of all the things, financial impediments were the last thing he’d judge. After Rachel told him about her sister, it’d sparked a reminder of an article online as well as Faye’s attempts to tell him. There was more to the story, of course, but he wasn’t going to dig for it.
“I spare no expense with you,” he admitted.
Her smile was different; he couldn’t read it. “Thank you. No one’s done something like this for me before.”
She didn’t protest. Actually, she’d shown him nothing but acceptance during their time together, despite his remoteness at times. “You deserve it.”
They drove in silence laced with tension. By the time they arrived at the slope overlooking the mountain range, he could think straight. He parked up before the majestic view. The vast mountain peaks were dusted with a light blanket of accumulating snow, and the sky was illuminated with a fiery glow before it’d descend into glittering darkness.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “Really, I don’t know how to describe it. I’m not usually speechless.”
“We have an hour until nightfall.”
She shifted against the seat to face him. “We should make the most of it.”
He paused, stealing a brief look at her lips. “Yeah.”
Rachel glanced away from him and leaned forward to point in the distance. “You can see the lights from the ranch from here. Hard to believe this is all your land.”
There she was hinting it could be his. She was considerably obdurate but he found it alluring. “It has its moments.”
“I’d love to hear the history of it.”
He gestured to the basket. “Sure. Over some food?”
“Sounds great!”
Jared left the Jeep and set the plush blanket below a towering alpine tree, and Rachel delved into the picnic basket to arrange the food out around them. The cool night air barely registered amongst the heat simmering inside him. Anticipation and excitement, mostly.
“This looks delicious,” she remarked at the individually wrapped boxes of food. She unwrapped them - mini wagyu burgers finished with local hot pepper sauce. Wild salmon slices on crackers with dollops of cream cheese.
She slipped some salmon into her mouth, murmuring in approval, and he took a moment of satisfaction at her reaction. It was gratifying to make her happy.
Jared readied himself to acknowledge the past he’d avoided thinking of.
After a long moment of eating in comfortable silence, he began. “Mountainbrook was built a hundred and sixty years ago, offering horse riding to the public. My great grandfather died suddenly from heart failure. It passed to my grandfather who converted it to a private ranch with the intention of raising a large family. Sadly, he lost his wife to cancer, which ended that idea. My father took over when he came of age and out of respect for him, kept it private.”
A chill overcame him to divulge the past of a family that wasn’t his own and the fate of Mountainbrook that would inevitably fall to him. Rachel leaned over, resting a hand against his arm. Her touch alleviated his pain, as it always did.
“Jared…”
He cleared his throat, aware this was a susceptibility he’d shown no one. “I’m a Weston, but at times it felt like I didn’t belong. Not truly. I guess all orphans question their lives, compare their foster families to their own, looking for the acceptance and love that was denied from birth.”
She interlaced her fingers with his. “It must’ve been so difficult for you. It hurts to hear you went through that. But you’ve been happy here, right?”
He nodded, meeting her concerned eyes. She’d illuminated what he needed to accept. “Yeah. It’s more than most get. God has helped me come to terms with my situation, to learn to love my family as if they were my own. I have a lot to be grateful for now.”
“Why didn’t you support the ranch changeover? I figure there’s more to what you’ve said.”
“I preferred Mountainbrook to stay as it was, hoping my father wasn’t making a mistake out of a misguided change of heart. I was selfish.”
“It’s because you care for Mountainbrook deeply, and you were worried about him. You may not show much on the surface, but it’s all there beneath it. It’s a shame you’ll leave it behind.”
She knew just what to say to ease the turmoil within him, yet provoke emotions he wouldn’t reflect on. “It’ll be in good hands.”
With the Weston family by blood, where it belonged. Jared had the name but it wasn’t enough and he’d gotten that impression often enough during his childhood to believe it. His jaw clenched from the memory, but he eased it by focusing on Rachel. She leaned into him and he allowed her to slip neatly into his arms. He drew in a breath from the collision of her body on his.
She took a bite of a burger and they ate together for several moments, his thoughts drifting from the past to her.
“Tell me what you’re thinking?” she enquired.
He hesitated. “My future in New York. And you.”
Yet he couldn’t elaborate on his need to get close even while the sane part of him warned it was a mistake. That he’d end up hurting both of them. And he didn’t want to lose Rachel.
“I can’t imagine you dressed up in a suit, living in the Big Apple. It seems like a complete opposite of who you are.”
At times, he felt like two separate men. The ruthless businessman with ambition and wealth, and the man devoted to the ranch and family. Two pieces of himself that divided his certainty, unwilling to combine. Rachel wouldn’t care for the other side of him yet it was a part he related to deeply as it was an image of success and hard work. Being a rancher had always been a diversion, a compromise for a greater vision. He had been a completely different person, someone he didn’t like, until he found his faith.
Slowly, he was putting the pieces together and finally finding who he really was.
“Much like a photographer turned cowgirl,” he deflected.
“Oh, I’ve actually grown to enjoy ranching. There’s something peaceful about having all this land to yourself, the untouched natural beauty. I try to capture it with my photos, but I can never get the depth of it all.”
“Is photography something you always wanted to do?”
She nodded. “Since I was little. My father bought me a Viewfinder which instantly sparked my interest. Eventually I upgraded to a disposable and rarely went far without a camera. I’m always inspired by what I see and photos are a way to capture moments forever. Of course, it wasn’t easy getting to this point. A lot of people told me this was a hobby, not a career.”
“And yet you persevered.”
“My mom instilled in me to never give up on what you feel God is telling you. She owned a florist store, the Passionflower, in town and went through many hardships to sustain it. It burned down a few years ago from arson. That was when I decided to drop my inhibitions and pursue photography professionally.”
Now that he thought of it, he was certain that was the store he’d purchased the flowers for Tania from. He’d gone in and met the woman who had to be Rachel’s mother. Her service had been attentive and warm, much like Rachel herself. “I think I understand where that dedication comes from. Who you are.”
“You really think you know all of me that easily?” she teased.
Her words cut through him. I like what I know so far. Very much. He turned his gaze to the darkening sky then pressed a kiss to her forehead, unable to stop himself.
“Falling off yesterday was a blow to my confidence,” she admitted. “I’ve been trying for years to get attention for my photography and not seeing my dream come to fruition made me doubt. Badly. Like I’m deluding myself that it’ll be more than what it is.”
“You have the talent. You’ll make it.”
She smiled, a rosy blush tinting her creamy skin. “I’m coming back in a few weeks, whether I move to Spokane or not.”
Warmth settled in his gut. “That’s great. I can count on seeing you again.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
He thought back to his hesitation towards her during the course of the week and touched the side of her face, pulling her close, knowing she’d never deserved to be rejected. She hooked a leg around his, pressing her body against him.
He exhaled softly. “I don’t want to.”
She kissed him. “I’ll consider extending my stay in October.”
Her proposal hung there, the notion that they could continue this further once her contract was up. He wouldn’t refuse. He couldn’t.
“I hope you do,” he conceded.
“But what about your original photographer?”
“Already called Karen and let her go.”
Surprise, and irritation, ignited in her blue eyes. “Before you even heard my answer!”
“I knew you’d agree. I’d find a way to convince you, eventually.”
She laughed. “I see. Your arrogance knows no bounds.”
“Part of my charm,” he joked.
She shook her head, but he caught her amused satisfaction. They lay together and watched the moon become obscured by darkening clouds, and listened to the cicadas breaking the silence.
The night ended with Rachel taking photos of the mountains surrounded by the stars, free from the light pollution that was prominent in New York.
And with a profound hit to his gut, he realized the thought of going back there was no longer rewarding. Being with Rachel was.
Chapter Ten
Rachel surveyed her simple outfit of black pants, a grey top and cream blazer. No cowgirl getup needed for her visit to the ranch this afternoon. Jared had barely left her thoughts in the past week. She’d tried to avoid mental distractions of him by taking regular visits to her parents and to Megan in Spokane where they lost themselves in wedding talk. Embarrassingly, glossing over wedding dresses and venue details allowed her thoughts to drift to Jared and the image of him in a tuxedo.
