The Last Single Maverick

by Christine Rimmer

  They went to bed. Quietly. In order not to disturb the bitter, confused woman in the room down the hall. For the first time since they’d become lovers six nights before, they didn’t make love. Joss just wasn’t up for it, not with her disapproving mother right there in the apartment with them.

  But Jace did pull her close and tuck her up nice and tight against him, wrapping that big, warm body of his all around her. Even with her doubts, she felt cherished. Cared for. She dropped off to sleep with a weary little sigh.

  Her mom left after breakfast the next morning. RaeEllen and Joss shared an unenthusiastic final hug.

  “I sent you a wedding invitation,” Joss said. “I hope you’ll come.”

  Her mother held herself stiffly in Joss’s embrace. “Of course,” she said in the somber tone of someone who’d just been asked to attend a funeral. “I’ll be there.”

  * * *

  During the first couple of days of the week that followed, Joss and Jace saw five new properties. Wednesday, they made an offer on eight green, rolling acres about two miles from town.

  The house would need updating, but it had a little barn and a nice, big pasture for the horses Jace planned to bring up from his place in Texas. On Friday morning, a week and a day before their wedding, they signed the contract on their new home.

  Jace took her out to the resort afterward to go riding. She was glad to see Cupcake. The sweet spotted horse seemed to recognize her. He nuzzled the side of her face and kept nudging her hand when she greeted him, urging her to stroke his long, noble forehead.

  They rode up the mountain and then down into that valley on Clifton land, where they spread a saddle blanket under the cottonwoods and swam in the creek.

  After they swam, they stretched out on the blanket and made out like a couple of horny kids. It was a beautiful day. For a while they lay there side-by-side, staring up at the blue sky, as the horses grazed nearby. They dozed—or at least Jace did.

  Joss was wide awake. Her thoughts had turned, the way they did too often lately, to what was missing: his love. She watched a single fluffy cloud float across the blue expanse above and argued with herself, telling herself she really needed to get past this obsession with the L-word. Because, after all, it was just a word and what did a word matter?

  “Is something wrong?” Jace asked softly.

  “No, not a thing,” she said. It was what she’d told him two other times in the past week, when he’d asked if she had something on her mind.

  There was no point in going into it again. She loved him. He didn’t have a clue what love was. What else was there to say?

  Jace waited till they got back to the stables to tell her that he’d bought Cupcake for her.

  She threw her arms around him and kissed him long and hard, right there in front of the gaping stable hand. Jace was such a great guy. The best.

  Even if he didn’t love her.

  Even if she kept trying not to worry that someday he would leave her, the way her dad had left her mom.

  * * *

  The next week seemed to fly by. One moment it was Monday and they were making the arrangements for the various inspections at the Hitching Post and on their eight acres of land.

  And then suddenly, it was Friday. The day before the wedding.

  RaeEllen arrived late in the afternoon. She was actually smiling when Joss opened the door to her.

  “Hello, Jocelyn.” She held out her arms.

  “Mom.” Joss made herself smile in return. She acquiesced to the offered hug.

  RaeEllen wheeled in her suitcase. “Where’s Jason?”

  Joss shut the door. “He’s out at the new property we bought, following the inspector around. He should be back in an hour or so to say hi. And then he’s off to the resort. His brothers and stepdad are throwing him a bachelor party. Tonight it will be just the two of us.” Please God, they would get through it without any big scenes. “He’ll stay over at his brother Jackson’s house. Kind of a nod to tradition. I won’t see him till I’m walking down the aisle to meet him tomorrow.”

  Her mother took her hand.

  Joss quelled the urge to jerk away. “Mom, I want this to be a nice evening. Please.”

  And then her mother said something absolutely impossible. “I’ve had some time to think about my behavior, Jocelyn. It’s been…a lonely time since I left here two weeks ago. And slowly, I’ve had to admit that I have been losing you, pushing you away by trying to tell you how to live your life. I’ve had to start facing a few not-so-pretty things about myself. You are the one shining, beautiful thing I’ve done in all my life. And I’ve been trying to tear you down.”

  Joss wasn’t certain she’d heard right. “Um. You, um…huh?”

  Her mom put her other hand on top of Joss’s, so she held Joss’s hand between both of hers. “You were right,” she said. “It was all about me and what happened with your father. I never trusted a man after him. Not for years and years. And then, finally, I let myself believe that one man could be all right.”

  “Kenny…”

  “Yes.” RaeEllen gave a tight little nod. “I couldn’t stand to admit that I’d been wrong again. I convinced you to stay with him when you were having second thoughts instead of really listening and trying to understand what was bothering you about your relationship with him. And then I did it again, I refused to hear you when you told me that Kenny betrayed you. I lost sight of what really matters, of what my real job is as your mother now that you’re an adult. I treated you like a misbehaving child instead of respecting your decisions and offering my support.”

  “Oh, Mom…”

  “But I want to make things right with you. I want you to know that from now on, I’m not making everything all about me. From now on, I am on your side, Jocelyn. It’s your choice who you marry. And Jason seems like a fine young man. I support you in your choice. I hope—no. I’m sure that you and Jason will be very happy together.”

  Joss’s throat locked up and her eyes brimmed. She managed to croak a second time, “Oh, Mom…”

  And then they were both reaching out, grabbing each other close, holding on so very tight….

  “I love you, honey,” her mother said. “I love you and I…support you. Please forgive me for being such a blind, hopeless fool.”

  * * *

  When Jace let himself in the apartment an hour later, he heard laughter coming from the kitchen. Joss said something. And then she laughed.

  The sound echoed down inside him, warm. Sexy. Good. No one had a laugh like Joss’s.

  And then another voice answered Joss. Her mother’s voice, but lighter than before. Happier. RaeEllen laughed, too.

  He followed the cheerful sounds and stood in the doorway to the long, cozy kitchen.

  “Jace!” Joss came to him, kissed him.

  And then her mother came and gave him a hug and said it was good to see him. She actually seemed to mean it.

  RaeEllen, it appeared, had seen the light, which was very good news. It had been so bad the last time she showed up that he’d been kind of dreading her reappearance. Joss had never told him the things her mother had said that afternoon when he’d left them together to have it out. But he knew they couldn’t have been good. And he figured RaeEllen must have had a few choice words to say about him.

  Sometimes, in the past two weeks, he would catch Joss watching him, a mournful look in her eyes. He figured her mother had filled her head with negative garbage about him, and about the two of them getting married. But when he asked her what was wrong, she said it was nothing.

  He didn’t believe that. Still, he didn’t push her to bust to the truth. There was the whole love thing between them now and he didn’t want to get into that again. He knew she wanted—needed—for him to say the words.

  And he would. Hell, he had. But it hadn’t worked out because she read him like a book and knew he didn’t mean them.

  How could he mean them? He’d told her what he thought of love. He didn’t have an
y idea what love was. But he did want to marry her. He wanted her, damn it.

  He didn’t get why that couldn’t be enough for her.

  After tomorrow, he told himself, once they were married, things would smooth out. Hey, look what had happened with RaeEllen. She’d had a little time to think over the situation and decided to get with the program and be happy that her daughter had found someone she wanted to make a life with.

  It would be the same with Joss. She would see how well things worked out. And she would be happy. He was counting on that.

  Jace took a seat at the table and hung around a while. RaeEllen poured him some coffee and he watched the two women bustling between the stove and the counter, putting their dinner together. When he got up to go, Joss followed him to the door.

  She whispered, “In case you didn’t notice, my mom’s come around.”

  “I kind of had a feeling she might have.”

  “I still can’t believe it. It’s like a miracle.”

  “Hey.” He smoothed that wildly curling cinnamon-shot hair of hers. “It’s not all that surprising.”

  “It is to me.”

  “She loves you,” he said, uttering the dangerous word without stopping to think about it. “She’s figured out that she needs to be on your side.”

  “Love…” Joss glanced away and then she was tipping her face up to him again, putting on a big smile. “Have fun.” She kissed him.

  He left feeling strangely regretful. As though he should have said something he hadn’t.

  As though he’d missed his chance somehow.

  * * *

  The bachelor party went on until after two. It was great, hanging with his brothers and his cousins, getting to know the two Traubs from Rust Creek Falls. Forrest was thirty-one, an Iraq veteran slowly recovering from a serious leg injury. His brother, Clay, was twenty-nine, a single father. They—and Jace—were the only unmarried men at the party. They both seemed like solid, down-to-earth dudes.

  But there were a lot of toasts. And Forrest and Clay joined in every one. By the end of the evening, they were both wasted. Jace grinned to himself watching them.

  He caught Jackson’s eye and knew his brother was remembering how it had been back in June the year before, when Corey had his bachelor party over at the Hitching Post and Jace and Jackson had really tied one on. Jace hadn’t slept at all the night of that party. He’d spent a few energetic hours with the one and only Theresa Duvall and then left her to rejoin his brother. He and Jackson had kept drinking right through Corey’s wedding and the reception the next day. It hadn’t been pretty. In fact, Jackson had started a brawl at the reception.

  Jace doubted that the Rust Creek boys would pull any crap like that tomorrow. But he’d bet they would be nursing a matched pair of killer hangovers. Jace didn’t envy them.

  And he didn’t miss the single life at all.

  Ethan raised his glass—again. “To Jace, the last single maverick.”

  His brothers all laughed, in on the joke, remembering the way their long-lost dad use to call them his little mavericks.

  Jace wondered what Joss and her mom were doing.

  Which he supposed was pretty damn pitiful. It was only one night away from her.

  Well, and then tomorrow. He wouldn’t see her in the morning either. The wedding wasn’t until five, so he’d be on his own for most of the day.

  He really needed to buck up. It wasn’t going to kill him to be away from her until the big moment when she came down the aisle to marry him.

  In the dress she bought to marry that cheating SOB Kenny.

  He didn’t like that she would be wearing that damn dress. Every time he thought of it, it bugged him more.

  But he hadn’t known exactly how to tell her that he wanted her to choose something else. And now, well, it was a little late to do much about it.

  She would be wearing that dress. Period. End of story.

  He decided for about the hundredth time that he would forget how much he hated that damn dress.

  At three in the morning, back at Jackson’s place, he said goodnight to his brother, gave the mutt Einstein a scratch behind the ear and headed for the guest room.

  It was lonely in there. He missed Joss, missed the way she tucked her round, perfect bottom up against him, how she took his arm and wrapped it around her, settling it in the sweet curve of her waist, before she went to sleep. He missed the little sounds she made when she was dreaming. Sometimes he wondered if he was getting whipped.

  Because he was completely gone on her.

  Every day, every hour, every time his damn heart beat, he got somehow more…attached to her.

  And no. It wasn’t love. He didn’t know what love was. He was just a not-very-deep guy who’d finally found the right woman for him.

  He wanted her with him.

  And he would have her.

  From tomorrow afternoon on.

  * * *

  At four the next afternoon, wearing his best tux, which he’d had sent up from Midland, Jace arrived at the resort. Lizzie and Laila had taken charge of decorating the small ballroom for the ceremony.

  The room was beautiful, set up like a church chapel, with white folding chairs decked out in netlike white fabric, satin ribbons and flowers, a long satin runner for the aisle and a white flower-bedecked arch above the spot where he and Joss would say their vows. Tall vases on pedestals sprouting a variety of vivid flowers flanked the arch, stood at either end of the aisle and on either side of the two sets of wide double doors.

  Jace had only Jackson standing up with him. And Joss hadn’t chosen any bridesmaids; she wasn’t even having anyone give her away. It was going to be short and sweet and simple, which was just fine with Jace. They would marry and head for the Rib Shack to celebrate.

  And everything would be good between them. Everything would be great.

  He hung around up by the white arch with Jackson and the nice pastor from the Community Church, waiting, nodding and waving at the guests as they entered. He smiled at Laila’s single sisters Annabel, Jordyn Leigh and Jasmine. The three came in together, each in a pretty bright-colored summer dress. Forrest Traub limped in wearing his Sunday best, Clay right behind him. As Jace had expected, the Rust Creek Falls Traubs were looking a little green around the gills from partying too heartily the night before.

  At five o’clock, almost every chair was taken. Lizzie cued the wedding march. Ma and Pete entered together down the aisle, arm-in-arm, and sat in the front row. RaeEllen came next, escorted by Ethan. He walked her to the front and she sat between him and Lizzie, who was already in her chair.

  There was a strange, breath-held moment, when the wedding march played on and Jace’s heart seemed to have lodged firmly in his throat and he stared up the aisle toward the small door on the far wall, suddenly scarily certain that Joss had changed her mind about the whole thing. That she’d lifted her white skirts for the second time and sprinted away from the small ballroom and him and the future they had promised they would share together.

  But at last, the door opened. And there she was, more beautiful than ever, even if she was wearing that damn dreaded dress. She carried a big bouquet of orchids and daylilies, each exotic bloom more beautiful than the last.

  She saw him, there beneath the flowered arch, waiting for her. And she gave him a secret, perfect, radiant smile. And then she started walking, slowly, the way brides always do. Step, pause. Step, pause. He wanted her to hurry. He wanted her beside him. Somehow, as he watched her coming to him, his throat opened up and his heart bounced back down into his chest where it belonged. And he could breathe again.

  And still, slowly, so slowly, she came to him. His eyes drank her in and the strangest thing was happening. The craziest, wildest, most impossible thing. The thing that never happened to a shallow, good-time guy like him.

  Light. It shone all around her. Golden and blinding, and he couldn’t look away.

  Why would he want to look away? It was one of those mo
ments. A man like him might not understand it, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Joss was coming to him, her big, brandy-brown eyes only for him, and there was a light all around her, a light coming from her. She was a beacon, his beacon. All he had to do was look for her. Find her.

  Follow her light.

  All at once, she was there. At his side. And she gave him her free hand and they turned to the nice pastor.

  And Jace was in the light with her, a part of the light. Should that have freaked him out? Probably. But it didn’t. He didn’t mind it at all. In fact, it felt great. He knew that being in the light with Joss was exactly the place he was meant to be.

  And the pastor started talking, saying the words of the marriage ceremony. Everything was magical and hushed and…more.

  More than he’d ever known.

  Better than he ever could have dreamed. It was all coming clear to him, all so simple.

  And so right.

  Until the pastor said, “If there be any man or woman who knows a reason why these two should not be joined in holy matrimony, let them speak now or forever after hold their peace.”

  And all at once, there was something going on at the entrance, by the twin sets of double doors. The light that held him and Joss was fading.

  Joss gasped. And then she groaned. “Oh, no. Not Kenny…and Kimberly, too.”

  Jace turned toward the doors and saw the tall, fit-looking blond guy in the pricey khakis and the pale blue polo shirt.

  “Jocelyn, I’m here,” the guy said, noble-sounding as the hero in some old-time melodrama. “Don’t do this. Forget that guy. We can work it out. Don’t ruin our lives. I know there were…issues. I get that I blew it, but that was weeks ago. We need to get past all that garbage and you need to know that I love you and only you—and look.” He gestured at the plump, pretty girl in the yellow sundress, who stood blinking uncomfortably at his side. “I brought Kimberly. She’s here to tell you how sorry she is that she’s made all this trouble.” He jabbed at Kimberly with an elbow. “Tell her,” he muttered. “Speak up and tell her now.”

  Kimberly burst into tears.