To his regret, Maggie looked more hurt and at a loss than he had ever seen her. It took her a moment to pull herself together. “So, what are you saying, Jake? Do you want me to leave the ranch?” she asked quietly at last.
Jake didn’t know how to answer that, though he had a very good idea what she wanted him to say. That he had changed his mind and would marry again and have a family after all. “I don’t know,” he said curtly, figuring he owed it to her to be brutally honest about this, too. He let his gaze rove the loveliness of her upturned face and the shimmering compassion in her deep blue eyes, and knew even if he was all wrong for her, that he would never forget the way they’d made love and the unselfish way she had given herself to him, even when he hadn’t deserved her.
“There’s a part of me that wants to rip the face off any man who gets near you, and there’s another part of me, an even stronger part, the noble part,” he admitted, “that just wants to walk away from you before we get any more involved than we already are.”
He shook his head at the shaken expression on her face. Finally, it seemed she was beginning to get the idea she couldn’t help him. And that was the hell of it. No one could.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Maggie,” he confessed gently, “I never did.” Even though he could see he already had wounded her—badly. He sighed, took off his hat, and shoved a hand through his hair. “That’s why I kept trying to warn you away from me, by whatever means might work.” Once again he forced himself to be brutally honest. He knew that was the only way to protect her from even more pain. “But I can’t pretend that I can give you something that just isn’t in me anymore.” Ignoring the hurt in her eyes, he pushed on resolutely, “I know I shouldn’t have made love to you—I’ve known it all along—and I’m sorry about that, because I know it gave you hope that things might work out otherwise.” He paused regretfully. “But now you know the truth.”
The question was, he wondered, his heart twisting in pain, what was she going to do with it?
MAGGIE KNEW Jake wanted her to turn tail and run, after all he had told her. Knowing she needed a man she could depend on to be there through thick and thin, if she was going to have the fulfilling marriage and loving family of her own she so badly wanted, she knew that would be the wise way to proceed.
But that did not take into consideration the fact she was deeply, irrevocably in love with Jake, or the fact that she sensed more than anything right now, that he just needed a little space, a little time to think about what he was giving up by continually pushing her— and indeed everyone else—away.
Given what Harry had told her, the mere fact he’d talked to her about his loss had been a giant step. She just had to give him time, and follow that first step with others. But not too fast. Because, she was sure, to push him too hard right now, would be to lose him.
And that she didn’t want.
Aware that a weight had been lifted off her heart as well, by his halting confession, his trust in her, Maggie followed Jake’s lead and remounted. Together this time, she and Jake rode back to the ranch house at a sedate, leisurely pace. And though Jake was still thoughtful, almost excessively quiet at times, Maggie noted with relief that the tension lines around his mouth and eyes seemed a little less prominent.
As they drew up to the barns, a long stretch limo pulled up to the ranch house. Maggie gaped in astonishment as a uniformed chauffeur got out to open the doors.
Still sitting astride Buttercup, she looked over at Jake. “Tell me, please, you haven’t arranged yet another date for me.”
To her relief, Jake looked equally surprised by their monied visitor. “Not this time,” he affirmed.
“Not ever again,” Maggie murmured.
Jake’s brows rose in silent inquiry.
“I’ve decided I want to find my own beaus from now on,” Maggie said. Whether she and Jake ended up together or not—and she still hoped mightily they would overcome all the odds and end up together— she was not going to allow him to play matchmaker for her any longer, even if it did have the short-term advantage of making him jealous as all get-out.
Jake tried but failed to retain his impassive expression. “Fine with me,” he said, shrugging, then narrowed his gaze at their unexpected guests. “Who the heck is that?” Jake asked, blinking at the sight of a dazzling woman and a little boy.
Maggie might have been upset had she not known— the woman was so incredibly lovely—but she did know her. “Oh my gosh, it’s my friend Clarissa and her son Tommy!” Maggie said, amazed.
“Did you know they were coming?” Jake dismounted then gallantly offered Maggie a hand down from the saddle.
Maggie shook her head no as she placed both her hands on his shoulders, for balance, and swung herself around. “But something must be up,” she told Jake seriously as her booted feet touched the ground, and she held on to him a moment longer, regaining her equilibrium. “Because Clarissa doesn’t do anything like this on a whim.”
Chapter Twelve
“That’s some ring you’ve got there, Clarissa,” Maggie remarked as she finished applying sunblock to all three boys and then gave them permission to get in the boot-shaped swimming pool.
“I know. Isn’t it gorgeous?” Smiling happily, Clarissa held it out to catch the light. The huge, exquisite diamond sparkled. “I told Fred he didn’t have to be quite so extravagant, but he insisted.”
Maggie could imagine how exciting this was for her friend, who’d had to pinch pennies all her life. To be suddenly living the jet-set life thanks to her new fiancé, must be like a dream come true. “Fred’s given you and Tommy a lot, hasn’t he?” Maggie observed as seven-year-old Tommy, Rusty and Wyatt bobbed around happily in the shallow end of the pool.
Clarissa kept a careful eye on the boys as she stretched out on the chaise and sipped her iced tea. “Even this whirlwind trip to see you was Fred’s idea,” she confessed, smiling. “I talked about the fact Tommy hadn’t seen you in so long and how I longed just to be able to spend the day with you from time to time, and the next thing I know he’s flying me to Houston. Your brother told me where to find you. Oh, Maggie, Fred tries so hard to make my every wish come true!”
“Fred’s a great guy. So’s Conor!” Clarissa’s son Tommy stated emphatically as he dashed out of the pool long enough to collect an inner tube.
Maggie lifted a curious brow. “Conor James is the baby-sitter I told you about,” Clarissa explained as Tommy hopped back in the pool.
“Tommy certainly seems attached to him.”
“He is. Unfortunately,” Clarissa sighed with heartfelt regret as she confided, woman to woman, “He’s also the sexiest man I’ve ever met.”
“And that’s a problem?” Maggie teased, picking up on the undeniably excited glint in Clarissa’s eyes.
“Yes,” Clarissa replied emphatically, “since Conor is most definitely not what I am looking for.”
Nevertheless, Conor James did elicit quite a reaction from Clarissa, Maggie noted.
Looking reluctant to interrupt, Harry stepped outside, smiled at both women, and handed Maggie a message. “Jake said this call came for you.”
Maggie glanced at it, folded it and tucked it into the front of her swimsuit. “Thanks, Harry.”
“If you like, I can bring a phone out,” Harry offered.
“No. That’s okay.” Maggie waved the offer aside. “I’ll talk to Peter whenever.”
“Peter Lassiter?” Clarissa asked, after Harry had gone inside the house.
Maggie nodded.
“I thought you quit modeling.”
“I did.” Maggie sighed, her frustration with that situation growing. “But you know Peter.” Clarissa had met Maggie’s lady-killer agent several times when visiting her in New York. “He keeps calling me, trying to entice me to come back to work, at least for another year or two.”
Clarissa shrugged. “Would that be so bad? You could make several million more dollars in that time.”
Maggie held
up a hand. “I have enough money, Clarissa. More than enough to last me a lifetime. What I need is a good man in my life.”
“And you think you’ve found him here in Texas,” Clarissa ascertained casually.
As Maggie thought about Jake, and all they could mean to each other, her heart filled with warmth and love. “I know I have,” she said softly. “I just have to convince him of that.”
And, as Sabrina had said, Maggie reminded herself firmly, she had to mend Jake’s broken heart first. If she could do that…if the future Sabrina had seen in the crystal ball was true…then Maggie’s reward would be half a dozen children with the man she loved with all her heart and soul.
Clarissa shook her head at Maggie. When it came to matters of the heart, her old friend Clarissa and her cousin Hallie both read Maggie like a book. “I suspect we’re now talking about Jake MacIntyre,” Clarissa teased.
“You guessed right. But enough about me,” Maggie said. “Let’s talk about you. Are you sure this marriage to Fred is the right thing for you and Tommy?” As far as Maggie could tell, it had happened awfully fast. And not necessarily for all the right reasons.
“Why would you ask that?” Clarissa queried, a little defensively, able to see as clearly as Maggie where this was going.
“I don’t know.” Maggie shrugged. “I just…I have this feeling that if you took away the perks, your romance with Fred is not all you had hoped it would be.” And that worried Maggie. A lot!
“I’m not a child anymore, Maggie,” Clarissa insisted.
“I know.”
“I have to do what is right for Tommy and me,” Clarissa insisted.
“By that you mean be practical?” Maggie clarified.
“Of course.”
Still keeping an eye on the three boys playing merrily but safely in the pool, Maggie took a long sip of her cool iced tea. “And your new baby-sitter, what does he think about this?”
Clarissa slanted Maggie an exasperated look. “I don’t want to talk about Conor James.”
Maggie studied her.
Clarissa folded her arms in front of her. “He thinks he knows what is best for me and Tommy. He doesn’t. What Tommy needs is the same thing I needed when I was growing up. A secure home. No worries about where his next meal is coming from. When I marry Fred Tannenbaum and Fred becomes Tommy’s father, he’ll give Tommy so much. Things that I could never give Tommy in a million years.”
And Clarissa would be sacrificing her own happiness to do so, Maggie thought. She frowned at her dear friend and warned, “Don’t put too much store in money, Clarissa. It really isn’t the key to happiness. It’s family that counts. Friends. Being with someone you love with all your heart and soul.”
Because the rest, as Maggie well knew, didn’t matter a gosh dang.
“CLARISSA AND TOMMY get off okay?” Jake asked several hours later, when he’d returned to the ranch house after an afternoon spent running errands and tending to ranch business.
Maggie nodded. “Their limo arrived to take them back to the airport about half an hour ago.”
Jake frowned. “They could have spent the night here, you know,” he pointed out.
Harry had suggested as much earlier, too. “I know,” Maggie said with a sigh, “but Clarissa promised her fiancé she would be back in time to have dinner with him later this evening.”
Jake studied her bluntly. “You’re worried about her, aren’t you?”
Maggie tried not to notice how handsome Jake looked in the white Western shirt and jeans. “That’s nothing new, Jake. Clarissa, Hallie and I are as close as sisters and we’ve taken care of each other since we were kids.”
“Speaking of Hallie,” Harry said as he came into the kitchen to join them, “she called again, while you were out.”
“Oh, no.” Maggie threw up her hands in frustration. “I can’t believe we keep missing each other.” Maggie went to the phone, picked it up and quickly dialed Hallie’s number. To her frustration, there was no answer on the other end.
“No answer?” Jake said, when she’d hung up. Maggie noted Harry was watching her, too.
“No.” Maggie shook her head. And Maggie wanted to tell her about seeing Sabrina, to find out if Hallie had per chance seen the fortune-teller, too. “I’ll have to try again later.”
Jake nodded.
Their eyes met, held. Something was different about Jake, Maggie noted happily. It was clear he wasn’t embracing the idea of marriage and children yet, but neither was he determinedly pushing her away as he had been earlier in the day.
That had to be a good sign. Didn’t it?
“Unka Jake, Unka Jake, Mommy and Daddy are home!” Rusty and Wyatt came running in, waving their arms wildly. “They’re here, they’re here!” they yelled excitedly and promptly ran back outside.
JAKE STRODE to the car, flanked by Harry and Maggie. He had only to look at the happiness reflected on Clint and Kelsey’s faces as they reunited with their twin sons to know everything had been patched up. He smiled his relief as Kelsey gave her sons a big hug and kiss and then engulfed Jake in a big hug, too. “Hi, big brother.”
“Hey, Kelse. Clint.” Still holding Kelsey in a onearmed hug, Jake reached over and shook his brotherin-law’s hand. To his surprise, the gesture was returned warmly.
“We have some great news,” Clint said with a smile, happily announcing to one and all, “I found a job as a ranch manager at a small but promising outfit in Colorado.”
“The only thing is they need Clint up there right away,” Kelsey interjected, looking as if this were a problem she was very happy to tackle, “so we’ve got to get moved, pronto.”
Which meant—damn it all—Maggie no longer had a reason to stay. “You can stay for dinner, can’t you?” Jake asked, a little desperately, and not just because, he realized reluctantly, he wanted to do a little family bonding.
Despite what he had said to Maggie this morning, he was not ready to let her go. Not anywhere near it.
“Afraid not.” Oblivious to Jake’s totally selfish motives, Kelsey turned down Jake’s invitation with obvious regret. “We’re going to pack up the boys and head back to Colorado with Clint.”
“We’re staying together from now on,” Clint said firmly, as he encompassed Kelsey and the twins in a warm group hug.
“And there’s something else,” Kelsey said, a little less eagerly.
Clint looked at Jake, man to man. “I was wrong to be angry with you for getting me that job. I realize in retrospect you were only trying to help.”
“Even so, I should have leveled with you,” Jake said, accepting the apology in the spirit it was given, “instead of going behind your back. I promise I’ll never do anything like that again.”
“And I promise I’ll never walk out on Kelsey and the boys again,” Clint said.
Looking glad that was settled, Kelsey walked with Jake toward the ranch house. “So, how were the boys in our absence?” Kelsey asked.
“A handful,” Jake said, as he laced an arm around Maggie’s shoulder, too. “But thanks to Maggie, Kelse,” he reported happily, “we managed just fine.”
“THEY SURE LEFT in a hurry,” Maggie observed, half an hour later, as Jake’s sister and her family waved and drove away.
“They had a lot to do,” Jake murmured, aware he had a lot to do, too, if he did not want Maggie to leave, as well.
“I don’t know about you two,” Harry Wholesome said to Jake and Maggie, looking as if he knew Maggie and Jake had a lot to discuss—alone. “But I’m taking a well-deserved night off and going out to play poker with the guys.”
“Have a great time. You’ve earned the break,” Jake said cheerfully.
“In fact, now that I think about it, I’ll take the whole rest of the weekend off and not come back until Monday,” Harry decided, already heading for his quarters.
Ten minutes later, Harry had packed a bag and had left, too.
And for Maggie, the conclusion to her whirlwind stay on the ranc
h had all happened too fast. “I guess it’s my turn now,” Maggie said, as her eyes misted and her heart turned over in her chest.
Taking a deep breath, she started to step past him.
Jake moved to block her way. “Don’t.”
Maggie lifted her chin, unable to bear the onslaught of emotions she was feeling. Inside her was a tangled web of hurt pride and regret for a love that might never be, intense desire, and the unquenchable hope that dared him to overcome the odds and the obstacles standing in their way and simply change.
“Don’t what?” she asked huskily, aware once again she was wearing her heart on her sleeve, and that it was his for the taking. And that she didn’t care how long it took or what she had to give up, if only he would love her back with even one tenth of the intensity of feeling she felt for him.
“Don’t leave,” he said quietly.
Maggie’s pulse throbbed in her neck. “I thought that was what you wanted,” she replied quietly.
Regret sharpened the handsome features of his face. “I thought so, too, until it started to happen,” Jake said, stepping forward and taking her in his arms. He ran his fingers lovingly through her hair. Tilted her face up to his, and rubbed his thumb across her cheek. He looked deep into her eyes, and in that instant, was more vulnerable than Maggie had ever seen him. “I don’t want you to go,” he whispered at last, as if he, too, were wearing his heart on his sleeve. “Not yet.”
And maybe, Maggie thought, the eternal optimist, not ever? “Then I won’t,” she whispered back, lacing her arms about his neck. Not wanting him to feel pressured, she amended, “Not yet.”
They studied each other in silence, aware they were on the brink. Happiness flooded through Maggie, and was mirrored in his dark eyes.
They hadn’t solved anything yet, but they had taken that important first step. Jake was reaching out to her, not in frustration or anger, or overwhelming desire, but in tenderness and love. And that, Maggie thought, had to count for something.
AFTER THEY’D FINISHED a dinner of salad and grilled chicken, they took their wine into the living room and sank, side by side, on the sofa. “I can’t believe the quiet,” Jake said, marveling at the peace.
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