She crossed the threshold and said, “What are you doing?”
Donna spun around, her hand flapping against her heart. “You scared the daylights out of me.”
“Sorry, but it’s not daylight.” A dumb thing to say, she supposed, since that was a technicality of which they were both aware.
A beat of silence passed before Donna replied to her original question. “I have too much work on my mind to sleep.”
“Is this the room that’s going to overlook the garden?”
“Yes, and in my sleep-deprived state, I’m still debating on what wallpaper to use.”
Jenna replied, “I couldn’t sleep, either. Or relax or sit still. But I guess you already figured that out.”
“What are you drinking? I hope it’s not coffee. You’ll be wired all night if it is.”
“It’s warm milk.”
Donna didn’t react. But to do so would have opened the door to a discussion about Mom, and Donna was apparently more cautious than that.
“I went out earlier,” Jenna said.
“Where to?”
“Lone Star Lucy’s.”
Donna crinkled her nose. “That yee-haw bar? Whatever for?”
“Some of the ranch hands and maids were meeting there, and J.D. invited me, too. He invited all of us, you, me, Tammy and Doc, but I was the only one who could go.”
“No one told me that I was invited.”
“Would you have gone?”
“Not a chance.”
“Then what would have been the point in telling you?”
“Protocol. I would have declined the invitation myself.” Donna took a chair near the window. “Did that place live up to its reputation?”
Jenna sat on the edge of the bed. “Nothing crazy happened while I was there.” Nothing except the way J.D. made her feel. “I left early, though.”
“You weren’t having a good time, I take it.”
“Actually, I was enjoying myself.” Far too much, she thought.
“Why is that a reason to leave early?”
“Because I danced with J.D. and then he suggested that we have an affair.”
“You said that you didn’t have a crush on him. I should have known you were lying.”
Donna’s reaction actually made her seem like a big sister. Or heaven forbid, a mother.
Jenna replied, “I’m not going to sleep with him.”
“Right.”
“I turned him down. I swear I did.” She’d never confided in Donna about things like this before. Girl talk between them was a foreign concept. But she continued, hoping it was going to get easier. “I told him that it wasn’t a good idea, and he agreed that we shouldn’t.”
“I’ll bet he only agreed because you turned him down. If you would have said yes, you’d be doing it right now instead of roaming around in your pajamas. Be honest, Jenna, you’re having trouble sleeping because you want to climb into bed with him.”
“Of course I want to. But I’m smart enough to know when to keep my pajamas on.”
“They’re pretty, by the way. A bit of silk, a bit of lace.”
Jenna clutched her cup. She suspected that Donna had more to say about her sleepwear.
She did indeed. The older sibling added, “They’re actually pretty enough to wear on a stroll down to his cabin and crack open those condoms I inadvertently provided.”
“You’re supposed to be talking me out of being with him, not tempting me to do it.”
“I already tried to talk you out of it. I warned you that having a Flying B romance would be trouble, but you didn’t listen. You danced with him anyway, a dance that prompted him to suggest an affair.”
“He took it back.”
“Uh-huh. Well, go traipse down to his cabin and see how quickly he jumps your bones.”
Jenna scowled. Girl talk with her know-it-all New York sister sucked. “I’m going back to bed.”
“Alone?”
“Yes, alone.” Jenna stood up, preparing to stomp off.
Donna rolled her eyes. “You’re acting like you did when we were kids.”
“I am not.”
“Yes, you are. You were always melodramatic.”
“You mean like this?” For the heck of it, Jenna stuck out her tongue.
Donna shook her head, and they both laughed. Jenna got a surge of warm and fuzzy, of the closeness that had been missing between them all these years.
But before she could bask in it, the moment ended and Donna withdrew again. She said a quiet good-night, and when she turned away, she stared out the darkened window. Was work the real reason she couldn’t sleep? Or did she have something else on her mind?
Jenna went back to her room. Figuring out Donna was impossible when she could barely figure out herself.
She walked over to the mirror and gazed at her reflection. No way was she going to go to J.D.’s cabin dressed like this. Besides, he was probably still at the bar. Not that his whereabouts mattered.
She ditched her milk and got into bed, pulling the covers up around her ears. She was staying away from him for the rest of the night.
* * *
The following morning, Jenna finished up some work in the barn, but she didn’t come across J.D. She didn’t see him anywhere. Curious, she checked the schedule and discovered that it was his day off. She glanced at her watch. She planned on taking Pedro out for a trail ride, and if she brought J.D. along, he could ride Duke. Both horses needed to get away from the barn, and it would be good to take them out together.
Was that an excuse to see J.D., to spend time with him?
Maybe, but it was also important for her lesson horses to get accustomed to the trails. So why not kill two birds with one stone? It would be nice to pack a picnic, too, and enjoy a long leisurely ride.
She suspected that J.D. was anxious to put time in the saddle, and this would be a great opportunity for him to do that, if he didn’t have other plans for the day. The only way to know would be to ask him.
As she walked to his cabin, her heart started to pound, mimicking the erratic motion it had made when she’d danced with him. If only she could keep her attraction to him in check. But at least she’d had the good sense to refuse his offer of having an affair.
She arrived at his place, but instead of approaching the cabin, she sat on the bottom step, hoping to quiet her mind. But it didn’t work. In that lone moment, she thought about Savannah Jeffries and her connection to the cabin. How could Savannah have had affairs with two men, brothers no less, when Jenna could barely contain her feelings for one man?
“Jenna?”
She stood up and spun around. J.D. stood in the doorway, gazing at her.
“Hi,” she said, feeling foolish for getting caught off guard.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Aside from wondering about Savannah? “I was just sitting here for a minute, before I came to see you. What are you doing?”
“I was planning on going for a walk.”
She didn’t ascend the steps. She stayed where she was. “Would you like to go for a ride instead? On horseback,” she clarified so he didn’t think she was inviting him to go somewhere in her truck. “I can ride Pedro, and you can ride Duke. We can take them out by the creek.”
“Are you kidding? I’d love to. When?”
“We could go now, but I was thinking that we could have lunch on the trail. I can head over to the main house and throw something together before we leave.”
“Mind if I tag along?”
“Not at all. It would be nice to have the company.”
He closed the cabin door and joined her.
While they walked beside each other, she asked, “How long did you stay at the bar last night?�
��
“Until it closed. I would have left earlier, but that’s how long everyone else stayed and I didn’t have a ride back.”
She forged ahead into her next question. “Did anyone say anything?”
“About us? Everyone at the table did, especially Manny. He asked me if we were going to hook up, but I told him no, that it was just a dance. It was an easy explanation.”
“Do you think he bought it?”
“Why wouldn’t he? It was the truth.”
It wouldn’t have been the truth if she’d agreed to sleep with him, but she kept that to herself. “I’m glad it’s over.”
“The explanation or the dance?”
Her heart thumped. “The explanation. The dance, too, but not because I didn’t like it.”
“I know you liked it, Jenna. We both did. But we probably shouldn’t talk about it anymore.”
Or think about it, she reminded herself.
Once they were in the kitchen, she opened the fridge. “Is ham and cheese okay, with lettuce, tomatoes and peperoncinis? That’s about as fancy as I get.”
“Sounds good to me. But my culinary skills aren’t any better than yours.” He watched her set everything on the counter. “Are you going to ask Tammy to teach you to cook?”
“Actually, I think I am. I’d feel better about being a wife and mother if I could offer my family some home-cooked meals now and then. Plus there’s that old saying, ‘The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.’”
“I’m still willing to be your guinea pig. I can give you an honest opinion and tell you if your lessons are working.” He flashed his lopsided grin. “And if they aren’t, Doc can pump my stomach.”
“All in the name of helping me nab a husband? Oh, gee. That’s mighty gentlemanly of you.”
“It’s the least I can do since I messed up your wedding song.”
“That was never intended to be my wedding song.” She jabbed his shoulder in a playful reprimand. “And we’re not supposed to be talking about the dance, remember?”
His grin resurfaced. “Sorry. My bad.”
“Very bad.” But she understood his need to flirt. She was doing it, too, even if she knew better.
He offered to help, and they built the sandwiches together, working well as a team, unskilled as they were.
She snagged a pepper and ate it. “I love these.”
He snagged one, too. “Spicy and sweet, like a girl I know.”
More flirting. “You wish you knew her.”
“A guy can dream.”
“In the dream cabin? Those aren’t the kinds of dreams that are supposed to happen there.”
“Then I’m safe because I haven’t done that yet.”
Yet? She decided it was time to change the subject. “We should get going or we’re going to be starving by the time we make it to the creek.”
He tossed a couple of apples into their lunch sacks. “I’m ready.”
So was she. They went to the barn, saddled the horses and packed their saddlebags with food and water.
They rode for hours. The weather was perfect and the ever-changing terrain was riddled with towering trees, fallen branches, stony surfaces, grass, weeds and wildflowers.
J.D. was a magnificent horseman. He looked strong and regal on his mount. Jenna had to keep stopping herself from admiring him too deeply.
Upon reaching the creek, they set up their picnic, using a blanket they’d brought.
“This is beautiful,” he said as a butterfly winged by.
“It’s my favorite spot on the trail.” She sat across from him. “Heaven on earth, as they say.”
He unwrapped his sandwich. “I appreciate you sharing your favorite spot with me.”
“That’s what friends are for.” She just wished that the platonic stuff was easier. “It’s nice having a male friend to talk to.”
“About finding a husband?”
“And other things.” She removed the wrapping from her sandwich, too. “I was thinking about Savannah Jeffries earlier. That’s what I was doing when you came out of the cabin and saw me. I think about her a lot.”
“You actually haven’t told me much about her, other than she was your uncle’s girlfriend and Tammy discovered that she was keeping a secret.”
“I can tell you the whole story now.” Suddenly this seemed like the right time, the right place. “It’s sordid, though.” She steadied her emotions and started at the beginning. “Tammy first learned of Savannah when she overheard some of the household staff talking about her. Employees who’ve been around the Flying B a long time. Not like the young maids we socialized with at Lucy’s.”
He nodded in understanding.
She continued, “According to what Tammy overheard, Savannah didn’t just sleep with Tammy’s dad. She slept with mine, too.”
“Damn,” J.D. said.
Jenna’s thoughts exactly. “Savannah was Uncle William’s girlfriend when he was at Texas A&M, and that’s why she was staying at the ranch. He was on summer break from university. He’d been in a car accident, and she came here to help him mend. My dad was home that summer, too.”
“Giving Savannah the opportunity to mess around with him, too? That’s some heavy stuff.”
“It gets worse.”
“I’m listening.”
“Tammy uncovered an old grocery list in the cabin. It was from the time when Savannah was staying there.”
“Why is that relevant?”
“It had an E.P.T. pregnancy test on it.”
J.D. started. “That was her secret when she left town? She was pregnant?”
Jenna put her sandwich aside. “She might have been. But there’s no way to know for sure. That’s why we need to decide if we should hire a P.I. to search for her.”
“The family vote?”
She nodded. “If Savannah was pregnant and she gave birth, then the child could belong to either man. Of course he or she wouldn’t be a child anymore. They would be the oldest of all of us.”
“I think you should hire the P.I.”
“Really? Because I was going to vote no. As much as I want to uncover the truth, I’m afraid it will open a can of worms we’re not prepared to deal with.”
“I understand your concern, but I think it’s important to know if there is another member of your family out there. Just think, Jenna, you could have another brother or sister. Or another cousin. That’s epic.”
Too epic, she thought.
He asked, “Are your dad and uncle going to vote on it, too?”
“No. Just the kids. Donna and I don’t want our dad having a stake in it, so that means leaving Uncle William out of it, too. But he made his position clear. He would just as soon never see Savannah again. He’s not trying to influence our vote, though. He’ll accept whatever all of us decide.”
“Does your dad want to see Savannah again?”
“I have no idea, and I don’t intend to ask him. Donna and I are no longer on speaking terms with him.”
He frowned. “So what’s the holdup? Why haven’t you voted yet?”
“We’re waiting for Tammy’s brothers to come back to the ranch. They went home after Tex’s funeral and are scheduled to return next week. They have their own business. They’re general contractors, and they’ve been busy with work. When they have time, they’re going to help do some renovations around here.”
“For the B and B?”
“Yes.” She glanced at the body of water and the way it shimmered. “Are you absolutely convinced that I should vote yes?”
“I would if I were you.”
“Because family is important? You keep saying that yours doesn’t matter because you can’t remember them.”
“That’s because I don�
��t think I have anyone.”
She felt lonely for him, but confused for herself, too. Was he right? Should she vote yes?
“Tex hired a P.I. to keep an eye on all of us,” she said. “He felt badly about not knowing his grandchildren, so he used someone to find out about us and report back to him.”
“That’s nice that he cared so much about you. I wonder if he would’ve condoned the use of a P.I. to find Savannah now that there’s a possible child involved.”
“I don’t know.” She pushed the P.I. out of her mind and moved on to a new topic. “Do you want to take a road trip with me this weekend? There’s an equestrian center north of Houston that has some school horses for sale.”
“Sure, that sounds great. Is it affiliated with the center where you used to work?”
“No. But it’s a nice place, and they have some horses that are worth seeing. There’s only one motel near there, so I’ll book us a couple of rooms ahead of time.”
“I can sleep in the truck.”
Spoken like a true cowboy. “Humor me, J.D., and accept a room.” She smiled. “Way far away from where mine will be.”
He laughed. “On the other side of the motel, huh? It’s a deal, if you let me buy you dinner while we’re there.”
“As long as there’s no dancing involved.”
“There won’t be, I promise.”
“Then it’s a deal for me, too.” She was determined to keep their upcoming trip friendly and light.
With absolutely no distractions.
Chapter Seven
The trip was long, but interesting. J.D. enjoyed Jenna’s company. She was a hell of a woman: smart, pretty, funny, sweet. She knew how to handle a rig, too. She was driving a Dodge dually and gooseneck horse trailer that had belonged to her grandfather, with the Flying B brand prominently displayed.
They arrived in the evening, too late to go to the equestrian center. But they knew ahead of time that they would be cutting it close, so they’d already made arrangements to see the horses in the morning.
“Let’s check into the motel, then get some dinner,” she said. “In fact, there’s a diner there where we can eat. Then we don’t have to go back out again.”
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