The Texan's Twins
Page 19
“He told me the position was open, and you were vetting candidates. Perhaps it was... What’s that saying of yours? A God thing.”
Her expression said she didn’t believe him for a second. “You made it clear once you left for college that you prefer the big-city skyscrapers over the red clay of Oklahoma. You’ve been gone a long time. What happened to make you quit your job and take on the foundation position?”
“Let’s just say that I’m reevaluating my options.”
“In my day, a man like you would have been considered a catch. Why haven’t you settled down, Jackson?”
“Aunt Meri, I’m not much of a family man.”
“What does your fiancée say about that? Isn’t she still one of your options?”
“That’s over.”
She slowly shook her head and glanced past him, out the window. “I’m so sorry to hear that. What happened?”
“Let’s just say she was more interested in my wallet than me.”
“Ahh, so that’s why you’re being so hard on Lucy.”
“My personal life has nothing to do with Big Heart Ranch.”
“No?” She cocked her head.
Silence settled between them. “What’s going on?” his aunt finally said. “You’ve been unhappy for some time. I could tell from your phone calls.”
He met his aunt’s perceptive gaze. Was he unhappy? Or simply disenchanted and searching for something real in his life?
She frowned. “You always wanted to make a difference, Jackson. What changed?”
“Make a difference? Did I say that?” He scoffed. “If I did, then you’re correct. That was a long time ago. What’s changed is that I’m not an idealistic attorney anymore.”
“I think maybe deep inside you are.” She placed her hand on his arm. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to have you here, but as far as Lucy Maxwell and Big Heart Ranch are concerned, you couldn’t be more off base. I still contend that you can’t make a decision to cut off their funding without investigating the situation.”
“Off base? I did my research. That ranch is a money pit.”
She offered a sound of disgust. “That doesn’t mean they’re mismanaging the funds. I don’t believe for a minute that anything shady is going on at that ranch, and I challenge you to find one bit of evidence to support your claim.”
Meredith gripped her cane and walked to the wall of family portraits. Her hand trailed the ornate, gilded edges of the frames. A huge portrait of Jack’s grandfather hung next to a smaller one of her husband, followed by another of Jack’s father. She stopped at a painting of Jack with his twin brother, Daniel. They were nine years old, mirror images, with matching grins and dark curls. There, however, the similarities ended. Daniel was charming, outgoing and impulsive, while Jack was shy, hesitant and introverted.
A wave of sadness and guilt slammed into him as he stared at the painting. Twenty-five years had passed, yet nothing would ever be the same. Daniel was gone and it was his fault. He’d been minutes behind his brother that day and hadn’t been able to save him.
“I miss Daniel,” Meredith murmured with a soft sigh. He was surprised when she turned and wrapped her arms around him in a loving hug.
The scent of his aunt’s lavender perfume carried him back years. “I miss him, too, Aunt Meri,” he whispered.
His father’s words from when Jack left New York raced through his thoughts. When we lost your brother and your mother left, your aunt was there for both of us. This is an opportunity for you to be there for her. She won’t ask, but Meri needs help.
He swallowed hard as he stared at his brother’s smiling face. “I’ll go to the ranch, Aunt Meredith.”
Jack grimaced when he realized that the words had actually slipped from his lips. When his aunt’s face lit up, he knew that it was much too late to take them back.
“Oh, Jackson, I knew I could count on you to do the right thing. I’ll call Lucy immediately.”
The right thing.
For a moment, he’d let his guard down and sentiment had strong-armed him. Jack took a deep breath. He suspected his orderly life was about to be blown wide-open, and he placed the blame squarely at the feet of Little Lucy Sunshine, the director of Big Heart Ranch.
Copyright © 2017 by Tina M. Radcliffe
ISBN-13: 9781488090240
The Texan’s Twins
Copyright © 2017 by Jolene Navarro
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com