The Return of the Rebel

by Jennifer Faye

  An army of goose bumps raced over her skin. She pulled away from his touch and ignored the fluttery feeling in her chest.

  She lifted her chin to face him. “We are. Your bungalow is in a secluded area just beyond the pool. Don’t worry, there’s a path over here on the side that we can use.”

  As they passed the pool she found herself glancing over at the crowd of young people on summer break, enjoying themselves. Her family were ranchers—and ranchers didn’t take holidays. Or so her parents told her every time she asked them if they could go on a trip like her friends did.

  It was always expected that when she wasn’t in class, she would be at home helping out. It’s what her brothers did. No one ever seemed to understand she was different. Was it so wrong to want to hang out with her friends? Or take vacations?

  It was always presumed she’d become a rancher’s wife—just like her mother and grandmother. After all, she was a Sinclair and ranching was in their blood. Except somehow the love of ranching had skipped over her.

  “This sure is different from Hope Springs,” Jax said, as though he, too, were thinking about the old days.

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “Neither. Just an observation.”

  The desert air was dry and hot as it rushed past them. Even though the private walkway was ensconced with palms trees, large rocks and various types of greenery, she gazed longingly at the glimpses of the enormous pool that had a wall of granite with a beautiful waterfall on one side. A dip in the cool water was so tempting. But employees were forbidden to indulge. She wondered if that rule could be suspended if someone like Jax invited her for a swim. After all, her priority was to keep her clients happy.

  “What has you smiling?”

  She was smiling? She hadn’t realized that her thoughts had transferred to her face. She’d have to be careful in the future. The last thing she needed was Jax getting any ideas about her meandering thoughts.

  “I was just imagining how nice it’d be to take a dip in the pool.”

  “It is hot out.”

  “It’s always hot in Vegas.”

  “So how is it that the only Sinclair girl ended up in Las Vegas? I’d have thought you’d be back in Hope Springs with a cowboy by your side and a baby in each arm.”

  Cleo stopped short on the narrow path. He almost ran into her. “Not you, too. You sound like my parents.”

  “Calm down. I can see I struck a chord. I just thought that with your close-knit family that you’d never want to leave.”

  “Well, you’re wrong. Besides, you did the exact same thing. I don’t see you rushing back.” She eyed him accusingly.

  “That’s different—”

  “How?”

  “You know I couldn’t stay there.” His posture grew rigid. “After my mother died, my father only got meaner. I wouldn’t wish that life on anyone.”

  The pieces of the past started to drop into place. “That’s why you were always out and about. You were trying to avoid your father.”

  Jax nodded. “It was easier than having to deal with him.”

  “But why did you have to play into the negativity by being at the center of all of the trouble in Hope Springs? How was anyone supposed to give you the benefit of the doubt when you never gave them a chance to trust you?”

  His blue eyes stared straight at her. “Why didn’t you write me off like the rest of them?”

  “Because I saw there was more to you than you were willing to let on.” She wasn’t going to say that she’d had a bad case of puppy love. Thankfully they arrived at his bungalow, putting an end to this awkward conversation. “This is where you’ll be staying.”

  She swiped her master key card and pushed open the door. When she stepped back to let him pass, he shook his head and waved at her to go ahead. “Ladies first.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  So the bad boy had transformed into a gentleman. She definitely approved of this change. But that didn’t mean she’d let her guard down around him. In her experience, people only showed you the side of them that they wanted you to see.

  She’d been so foolish in the past, always looking for the good in people. She’d been too trusting—too understanding. And what had that Pollyanna attitude gotten her? A broken heart and being disowned by her very own mother.

  In the end, people always let you down.

  “This is nice,” Jax said, drawing her back to the here and now.

  “Yes, it is. It’s our most private and exclusive residence on the grounds.”

  This was actually the first time Cleo had been inside the bungalow. Only the most valued players were invited to stay here. And it was hard to believe Jax was now one of the elite. A man like that would not need or want for much.

  But that still left her wondering, what was up with him using an alias? And his request for privacy was so different from the Jax she knew back in Hope Springs. In those days, he seemed to open his mouth just to annoy someone who was hassling him. Now he put thought into what he said and, more important, what he didn’t say.

  So what twist of fate had put him in her path? And why did it have to be him who held her future in the palm of his hand? Her stomach dipped. How did she get him to agree to keep her on as his host—permanently?

  CHAPTER THREE

  JAX KEPT HIS eyes on the room and not on Cleo. Did she have any idea how irresistible she looked? How in the world did she think that they were supposed to spend time together with her wearing a dress that accentuated her curves? But then again she’d look good in anything, including a paper bag.

  “Do you like what you see?” Cleo glanced at him from the entryway.

  Oh, he definitely liked the view. Way more than he should. He cleared his throat. “Yes... Yes, I do.”

  Forcing his attention back to his surroundings, he observed the oversize leather couches. They looked inviting. He could easily envision settling in and watching a baseball game on the big-screen television. In fact, the idea sounded like something he’d enjoy indulging in right now.

  Not so long ago, he used to work nonstop. But then he’d gotten sick and everything had changed. He had yet to regain his stamina after his medical treatments. It frustrated him to have to slow down, but until this court case was resolved there really wasn’t any work he could do. This was his first vacation. He was curious to see if it was as great as people let on. Or if he ended up as bored as he imagined.

  “If there’s anything you’re missing, just let me know and I’ll take care of it for you.”

  He was positive the one thing he wanted, she would not supply. Not that he should or would act on the desire to taste her sweet lips. Cleo was the very last person he’d have a fling with. She deserved so much more—more than he could offer anyone.

  “Would you like me to get you anything? Extra towels? Some food?”

  “I don’t think so. You can go.” He didn’t miss the frown at his dismissive tone and total lack of manners. His weariness was messing with his mind. “Thank you for showing me here, but I’ll be fine on my own.”

  He turned his back to her and eyed up the couch. After a little television and some shut-eye, he’d be good as new—he wished. But with each day that passed, he was feeling a bit more like his old self.

  Cleo firmed her shoulders. “I’d like to finish our talk about me staying on as your casino host. Perhaps we can come up with some sort of compromise.”

  He was intrigued. “What sort of compromise?”

  She shifted her weight from one blue suede stiletto to the other, deciding just how much information she had to impart. Considering that not only her job but also the possibility of mending fences with her family was riding on her bringing in a large influx of cash, she had no choice but to be totally honest.

  “I’d bet
ter start at the beginning.” She worried her bottom lip as she sorted out in her mind a good starting point. “The thing is I sort of went over Mr. Burns’s head to get this position and now he’s out to get me.”

  Jax’s eyes lit up as a smile tugged at his lips. “What do you mean sort of went over his head? You either did or didn’t do it.”

  She hated how he put her on the spot. “Fine. I went over his head. But I wouldn’t have had to if he hadn’t kept passing me over every time there was an opening. And I’d already impressed his boss with a special project I’d previously worked on.”

  “Some things don’t change.” Jax laughed, remembering how he’d envied the way her father catered to her. He’d never known anything close to that amount of love. His own father had been too caught up in his own needs to worry about his son. The sobering thought killed off his laughter. “Why should I care about this mess you’ve gotten yourself in? I’m not the one who decided to buck the chain of command.”

  “So beneath that designer jacket and short haircut, you’re still the tough, ‘don’t care’ Jax, aren’t you?”

  “You don’t know a thing about me.” The fact that she didn’t think he’d changed stung more than he’d expected.

  “Then why don’t you tell me how you ended up in this exclusive bungalow?”

  He let out a frustrated sigh as exhaustion coursed through his body. “This is exactly why I need another host. I shouldn’t have to explain myself. A stranger wouldn’t butt into my life.”

  A pained look crossed her face, making him regret his heated words.

  “You’re right. You don’t owe me any explanations. I just need you to forget everything that happened up until this point and give me another chance to be the best casino host you’ve ever had.” She twisted her hands together. “But there’s one more thing you should know.”

  His patience was wearing thin and he was so tired. “What is it?”

  “This job isn’t just for me.” Her voice was so low, he almost missed what she’d said.

  “What are you talking about?” Then a thought struck him. His gaze sought out her left hand, finding her ring finger bare. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t a single mother. “Who’s relying on you?”

  She wrapped her long honey-gold hair around her finger in a similar manner to the way she used to twist her father and brothers around her pinkie. But they were a long way from Hope Springs and he wasn’t so easily swayed. If only he could get past his fascination with this grown-up version of Cleo. It was just a lot to take in at once.

  “It’s the ranch—the Bar S.” Her worried gaze met his. “It’s in a serious bind.”

  The worry in her eyes ate at him. “Kurt never mentioned anything about problems with the ranch when we’ve talked.”

  “I’m sure it’s a matter of Sinclair pride. That’s what got us into this trouble in the first place. It seems my father had been juggling money to cover his bases for quite a while without telling anyone that the Sinclair fortune had dwindled to nothing.”

  The knowledge that the high-and-mighty Sinclairs had come down off their lofty spot in the community didn’t give Jax the satisfaction he once thought it would. Maybe it was the distressed look on Cleo’s face that drove home the reality of what she was telling him. People were about to lose their way of life—their home.

  “But I don’t understand. What does any of that have to do with you being my casino host?”

  “I need money to send home to put toward the mortgage. It’s in arrears.”

  The Bar S was mortgaged to the hilt? He’d always looked at that ranch in awe and dreamed of one day having a spread just like it. Why hadn’t Kurt mentioned any of this to him?

  Later he would have to call Kurt and see if there was something he could do to help. Just as quickly, he realized he couldn’t do that without mentioning Cleo. This would take a lot more thought before he acted. And right now, he needed to straighten things out with Cleo.

  In his exhausted state, his brain just wasn’t making all of the necessary connections. “So you want to be a casino host to make money for the family?”

  She nodded. “The position pays a lot more than being an accountant.”

  He leaned back on the banister at the bottom of the steps. “Oh, yes. You mentioned making a percentage of what I wager.”

  She cocked her head to the side and stared at him intently. “Are you okay?”

  “Of course. Why?”

  “It’s just... Oh, never mind.”

  This wasn’t good. The last thing he needed was for her to figure out that something truly was wrong with him. It was difficult for him to maintain a normal existence while waiting for his test results without having to deal with the pitying looks or the sympathy.

  “Jax, you have to do this. You owe me.”

  This sparked his attention. He always made it a policy to pay his debts. The thought of owing Cleo didn’t sit well with him. At all. “I do? Since when?”

  “Remember when I saw you on the day you left town? You asked me not to tell anyone what you were up to and I kept that secret for you.”

  Getting away from Hope Springs had turned his life around. If his father had his way, Jax never would have made anything of himself. Only his father hadn’t lived long enough to learn how he’d graduated from college at the top of his class and had made a killing in the stock market. Not that it mattered. All of that, including Cleo, was in his past. And he wasn’t going to get caught up in looking back—he didn’t when his biopsy came back positive and he refused to look back now.

  Oblivious to his inner struggle, Cleo continued, “I knew what you were running from and I wanted to help. If your father had known where you went, he’d have tracked you down and dragged you back. He’d have made your life miserable.”

  “You knew where I went? How?”

  “I didn’t know for sure. But I had a pretty good guess. You didn’t talk about your family much, but when you did, you mentioned your mother’s sister in Virginia. I figured that’s where you went.”

  He nodded. “It is. I spent the summer with her before I went on to college.”

  “Your mother would have been so proud of you.”

  He grew uncomfortable with all of this digging around in his past. His mother had been sick off and on most of his life until her frail body finally gave in and she passed away when he was a teenager. No one ever spoke of her because very few people knew her since she was usually housebound from one ailment or another. The doctors would have him believe that she had a weak body, but he never believed that was what did her in. He was convinced her spirit had been broken by his father, who bullied everyone and ruled the house with an iron fist.

  “I’m sorry.” Cleo stepped closer to him. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “It’s okay. It’s nice having someone else around who remembers her. You were always kind to her and she liked you.”

  “I liked her, too.”

  He remembered how Cleo would stop by the house with school fund-raisers. She never rushed off. She’d sit down with his mother at the kitchen table and chat. At the time he hadn’t liked Cleo wedging her way into his life, but now looking back he realized she’d recognized a loneliness in his mom and had tried her best to fill it.

  “Your mother was a really nice lady. And she made the most delicious chocolate chip cookies.”

  Before he could say more, his phone buzzed. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. At last, he’d know his test results. He glanced over at Cleo. “I’ll be right back.”

  He moved to the kitchen, seeking privacy. No one knew about his brush with death, and he intended to keep it that way. He didn’t want people looking at him as if he was less of a man.

  He went to answer the phone but the other party had already disconnected. Jax rushed to check th
e caller ID but it was blocked, leaving him no clue as to who was trying to contact him. If it was important, they’d call back.

  He returned to the front room, where Cleo was studying what was bound to be an expensive painting. He could never tell a Rembrandt from a Picasso. He just knew what he liked.

  Jax stuffed his hands into his pockets. His fingers brushed over the smooth metal of the old pocket watch that he kept with him as a good-luck charm. More times than he could count it had brought him peace of mind. Only today its magic hadn’t worked.

  Today it reminded him of the past and the fact that Cleo’s grandfather had given him the watch. Jax’s gut was telling him that her grandfather would want him to help Cleo, no matter how hard it would be for him.

  * * *

  Cleo could feel Jax’s presence before she heard him. She turned and noticed the dark shadows beneath his eyes. She didn’t know what the man had been up to lately, probably too much. He certainly needed some rest.

  “I’ll get out of your way. But before I go, I’d like to confirm our arrangement.”

  Jax’s brows rose. “I didn’t realize we’d come to any agreement.”

  “Seriously, you’re going to make me plead with you?”

  He looked as though he were weighing his options. “You really want to put up with me for the next few weeks?”

  Was he talking about catering to his every whim and desire? Her mind filled with the vision of him pulling her close and pressing his lips to hers. Okay, so maybe she hadn’t totally outgrown her childhood crush. But fantasies were one thing. Acting on them was quite a different subject.

  She’d learned her lesson about love. Men were to be treated with caution. She may date now and then, but she never let those relationships get serious. By dating the same guy less than a handful of times, she never let herself get close enough to risk her heart.

  With Jax, it’d be a temporary arrangement—no chance for either of them to get the wrong idea about their relationship. “If you agree, I’ll do a good job for you.”