by Julie Kenner
Jordan bit back a sigh of relief that the fury had faded a bit from his voice.
“I have to save Ware Bank. It was left in my care.”
“I understand that. And Maddie and I can help with that. I can’t believe my mother would have wanted the bank to fail.”
“Your mother.” He spat the words out. “She wouldn’t have cared a fig if Ware Bank failed. And she wouldn’t have lifted a finger to save it.”
Jordan realized too late that she’d taken the wrong tack. She’d made him angry again.
“Enough. I’m through waiting. We’re going to do this my way.” He lunged down the steps toward her.
Even as she jumped back, Cash and D.C. raced around the corners of the house.
They both shouted something, and Carleton whirled in Cash’s direction. He fired wildly once before Brutus neighed loudly and reared. It was the horse’s descending hooves that knocked Carleton Ware to the ground.
Cash reached him first and kicked the gun away. Then Jordan rushed into his arms and held on tight.
“UNCLE CARLETON wanted to kill both of us.” The shock and disbelief in Maddie’s voice was a near perfect match to what Jordan was still feeling as she stood in the living room of the ranch with the phone pressed to her ear. The difference was that through the picture window, Jordan could see the spot where her uncle had stood on the porch the night before pointing the gun at her. She could also see the charred remains of the stables. And the lightning-fast images of Cash and D.C. rushing toward Carleton, of Brutus whinnying and rearing and knocking her uncle to the ground were still replaying themselves in her mind. If it hadn’t been for Brutus, she might have lost Cash.
“But he didn’t succeed.” She turned and looked at Cash and D.C., who were standing in the kitchen drinking coffee. They were safe. And so were Jase and Maddie now. The reality of that was slowly sinking in. Her uncle’s injuries from his encounter with Brutus had been minor. He was refusing to talk, but Shay was confident that his accomplices would be more forthcoming.
Since it had been long after midnight by the time the detective had taken Carleton and his two henchmen into Santa Fe and Cash had arranged for Sweeney to transport the two horses to his ranch, she, Cash and D.C. had postponed calling New York with the latest news until morning. D.C. and Jase had spoken first. Then Cash had talked to Maddie. And now it was her turn to talk to her sister.
The sister she hadn’t known existed until a week ago. Her knuckles white on the phone, Jordan shifted her gaze back to the window, to the land that stretched for miles until it gradually lifted into those hills, and something inside of her settled. A week ago, she hadn’t known this place existed. She hadn’t known Cash existed. So much had changed in her life so fast.
“He knew about us and the turquoise mine all these years,” Maddie said. “And he never said a word.”
“Keeping secrets seems to run in the Ware family,” Jordan said.
“As far as secrets go,” Maddie continued, “Mike Farrell was no slouch. Jase and I found a box in our mother’s closet containing letters that he’d written to her over the years. She knew when I took my first step, when I cut my first tooth. He made sure she knew everything about me.”
Jordan felt the rush of emotions, this time happy ones.
“And there was a letter to our father that she’d never mailed. It was dated just before he died. She wanted his permission to dissolve their bargain and bring us together.
Jase and I figure she found out that he’d passed, so she never mailed it. And she evidently couldn’t find the courage to reunite us on her own. I’ll bring everything once this twenty-one-day thing is over. And we’ll search the ranch house. I’ll bet our father has a box of photos stashed away somewhere, too.”
When this twenty-one-day thing was over…
A little skip of fear moved up Jordan’s spine. She glanced out to the kitchen again. Cash was standing, his hip against the counter, his long legs crossed at the ankles, his head tilted to one side as he listened intently to something D.C. was saying. Two days ago, she’d been so certain that when the three weeks were up, she’d be back in New York. So positive that her life, her responsibilities were there. Was she going to let herself be trapped by the same kind of tunnel vision and fear that her mother had?
Gripping the phone more tightly, she said, “I have news on this end, too. Pete Blackthorn knew about both of us all this time. He has a letter that our father addressed to both of us. He’ll deliver it when you get here. And he told me why we were separated.”
Jordan began to pace back and forth as she told her sister about the decision their parents had made all those years ago.
CASH WATCHED as Jordan paced, wishing he could do more to ease the burden of all she’d discovered in the past few days.
“She’s a strong woman,” D.C. said as he topped off Cash’s mug and then refilled his own.
“So’s Maddie,” Cash said. “But they’ve got a lot on their plates. It’s not only Eva Ware Designs and the ranch that they have to deal with. I’m betting they’re going to have to take on Ware Bank’s problems, too.”
“Good thing they each have someone to lean on.”
“Yes, they have each other.”
“I was thinking of you and Jase.”
Cash felt fear tighten in his belly. He’d nearly lost her twice yesterday. He didn’t want to let himself think about the possibility that he might lose her again in eighteen days. “For now.”
D.C. turned to him, studied him for a moment. “You don’t impress me as a man who’s slow off the mark.”
“What?”
“Life’s short. If I had a woman looking at me the way Jordan looks at you and I felt the same way, I wouldn’t wait eighteen days to stake my claim. If you don’t mind a bit of free advice, you could use the dude ranch thing as leverage—if you wanted to persuade her to stay here instead of returning to New York. She’s really into it. I have half a mind to put her in touch with the real Greg Majors.”
“Everything’s happened so fast,” Cash said.
“It’s happened fast for Jase and Maddie, too. But I’ve seen the way my brother looks at her. And he’s got that business background in common with Jordan. I’ll bet he’s already making plans—maybe to open a branch of his business out here in Santa Fe.”
Cash looked back at Jordan. She was still talking to Maddie, and she’d paused in front of the window to look out at the land her father had sent her away from. He’d wanted to give her time, to give them both time, but she looked so right standing there.
Suddenly, all his nerves settled. They might come from different worlds, different backgrounds, but she was right for him, too. It was just that simple. Just that true. Now all he had to do was convince Jordan of that.
D.C. set his mug down on the counter. “Well, I think my work here is done. I’m going to pack up and get out of your hair. I’ll stop on my way to the airport and get the latest update from your friend Alvarez.”
Cash nodded absently, never once taking his gaze off of Jordan as D.C. left the room.
IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON. when Jordan and Cash urged their horses up the last incline to the top of the bluff. Once D.C. had left, Cash had talked her into letting him complete that tour of the ranch he’d promised her—was it only two days ago? He’d driven her over to his place and had barely said a word. Then he’d given her a whirlwind tour of his home while Sweeney had saddled Brutus and Cash’s horse, Mischief.
His housekeeper had packed them some food and they’d ridden off toward the canyon that joined the two ranches. The ride had been fast and hard, and it should have cleared her mind. But she’d felt wired from the moment that D.C. had driven off toward Santa Fe. It was as if a clock were ticking and time was slipping away from her.
At some point while talking to her sister, she’d come to a decision. Now all she had to do was share it with Cash. She’d made business presentations hundreds of times. She knew how to persuade people. So why was she ten times more ner
vous than she’d been representing Maddie’s jewelry at that show yesterday?
When the horses reached a level piece of land, Cash turned Mischief around and Jordan followed suit.
“I brought you here because I wanted you to see this.”
Jordan looked around and simply absorbed the view. The land fell away on either side of the hills, pristine and breathtaking in its beauty. In spite of the shimmering heat, she could make out the miniature buildings of the two ranches. With the exception of those structures, nothing marred the landscape.
“I see now why my father didn’t want anyone to know about the turquoise mine. No matter how much money he could have made, it wouldn’t have been worth it.”
Cash smiled at her. At her count, it was the first one he’d given her all day, and something inside of her eased a bit.
“I’m sorry he didn’t live to meet you.”
Jordan felt her throat tighten. “Me, too. But you’re showing me a lot about him. And I’ll learn more.” She shifted her gaze to the land again, knowing that it was an integral part of her father. “In the city, there aren’t any places like this where I can get away and just breathe. Maddie told me that this place was special—that I would find something here.”
And she had. She turned to Cash. It wasn’t just the land. It was the man. They came from different worlds just as her parents had. Like her mother, she was a New Yorker. Like her father, he was a rancher who loved the wide-open spaces.
When he placed a hand over hers on the pommel of the saddle, she glanced down and saw the sharp contrast. His fingers were larger, his palm callused, and yet somehow they fit. She met his eyes. There were so many differences between them and yet she felt the pull—sure, steady and right. And she felt her heart drop just as fast and hard as if it had fallen off the ledge in front of them.
“I also brought you here for another reason, Jordan,” Cash said.
“I figured. To seduce me.” She tried a tentative smile, but he didn’t return it.
“We’ll get to that. But first I have something to say.”
“Me, too.” Ignoring the flutter of panic in her stomach, Jordan hurried on. “I was wrong.”
For a moment his hand tightened on hers. “About what?”
“About us.”
His eyes narrowed and the intensity of his gaze nearly had her throat drying up. She could do this. She had to do this. “I was wrong about the ground rules I set up at the very beginning of this…relationship. I thought I knew what I wanted—a mutually enjoyable time that we could both walk away from in twenty-one days. No harm, no foul. But I’ve changed my mind.”
When he said nothing, she lifted her chin. “A woman has a right to do that.”
“It depends. What have you changed it to?”
Without knowing exactly how, Jordan found her fingers had become linked with his. “I want more time.”
“Why?” he asked again.
Panic fluttered again, but she shoved it down. “Because I need it. Because I think what we’re discovering together deserves it. And I don’t want to make the same mistake my mother did. I understand now that she walked away from my father and from Maddie because she was so focused on her goal of creating a successful jewelry empire that she couldn’t see that she could have had that and more. When I thought that I had to go back to New York and make sure that her legacy lived on, I was being as blind as she was. I want more. I need more.”
“Why?”
Jordan swallowed hard. “Because I really want to desvelop a business plan for the dude ranch, and I want to be here a lot of the time to run it. I can still oversee the business side of Eva Ware Designs. And I want to help Maddie, too. I don’t want her to merely step into the job of head designer at Eva Ware Designs. She can do that if she wants, but she has her own reputation to build. I’m going to encourage her to do that. And then there’s Ware Bank.”
He gave her a brief nod. Whether it was approval or disapproval, she wasn’t sure.
“There’s no excuse for what my uncle did or tried to do, but I do understand his desire to keep a family business running. But I don’t have to be in New York all the time to help out with that.”
“You’re nervous. You always talk a lot when you’re nervous. So I don’t think you’ve gotten yet to the real reason you want to change the ground rules. Give me the bottom line, Jordan. Why?”
She felt a sudden flare of anger and tamped down on it. Because he was right. And she was stalling. She studied him sitting there on his horse, and it wasn’t some fantasy she saw. It was Cash Landry. And suddenly she knew.
Meeting his eyes steadily, she said, “I want to change the ground rules because I want more than twenty-one days with you. Because I love you.”
He raised their joined hands to his lips in a gesture that had her heart tumbling again. “Same goes.” He smiled that slow easy smile. “I know how much you like to map things out and see where you’re headed. So how much more time are you thinking of?”
The mix of heat and amusement she saw in his eyes had her stomach settling. It reminded her of exactly what she’d seen that first morning she’d woken up in bed with him.
“I was thinking of a lifetime.”
He pulled her close then, and when his mouth was only a breath away from hers, he murmured, “I hope you’re open to negotiations. I brought you out here to convince you we’d need two lifetimes. Maybe more.”
“Deal.”
Then he kissed her.
Brutus whinnied, Mischief pawed the ground. But Jordan held on tight.
She’d come home.
Epilogue
Eighteen days later
THE SUN had begun its descent behind the mountains southwest of the ranch as Cash stirred the coals in the barbecue pit. They were just beginning to turn white at the edges.
“Let me know when you’re ready for the steaks,” Jase said.
Cash glanced over to the corral near the new stable. Maddie and Jordan sat together on the top rung of the fence watching Julius Caesar and Brutus take each other’s measure. Jordan had arranged for Julius Caesar to be shipped across country, timing his arrival to coincide with Jase’s and Maddie’s yesterday.
The women’s heads were close, and in the slanting sunlight they made a pretty picture. “I think the ladies will let us know when they’re hungry.”
Jase followed the direction of Cash’s gaze, then reached into a cooler and pulled out two beers. “If we leave it entirely up to them, we won’t be eating those steaks until breakfast.”
Cash took a long swallow of the beer Jase handed him. “They stayed up all night talking. You’d think they’d run out of things to say.”
Jase’s brows arched upward. “I’ve never known Jordan to be at a loss for words. And the two of them have a lifetime to catch up on.”
“True.” Cash smiled slowly. “With Jordan at the helm, they have another lifetime to plan.”
Jase chuckled. “I see you’re getting to know her. But I imagine Maddie will get her two cents’ worth in. She went to bat for her cousin, Adam, and convinced Jordan that they shouldn’t press charges for the robbery if Adam agreed to get help for his gambling problem. The D.A. was agreeable as long as Adam promised to testify against the loan shark he borrowed so much money from. I think Maddie felt sorry for him.”
“And Jordan probably saw it as a good business decision because she believes him to be a talented designer. Without pressure from his mother, he might turn into an asset at Eva Ware Designs.”
“They’re going to make a good team.” Jase turned to Cash. “By the way, I owe you one.”
“What for?”
“Those karate moves you taught Maddie. One of them saved my life. Hers, too.”
Cash smiled at him. “Then it was time well spent.” He glanced at his coals. “Ten more minutes and we’re going to have to round ’em up and bring ’em in. I’ll open a bottle of chardonnay as bait and we’ll take them a couple of glasses along with the lette
r Pete Blackthorn delivered while they were riding.”
“Good plan.”
“I’ve got another one. Tonight, I’m taking Jordan back to my place. That will give you and Maddie some privacy.”
Jase studied Cash. “If you can pull that off, you’re going to be my new best friend.”
“Watch and learn. I know just what bait to use then, too. Making love in the back of my pickup is on our to-do list.”
Jase raised his beer bottle in a toast. “I like your style.”
“I’M STILL TRYING to get my mind around the other Wares,” Maddie said. “I knew from the time I met them that there was something different about them.”
“Different is way too mild a word. Carleton was absolutely nuts. I saw it in his eyes. I’m amazed he was able to hide it all these years.”
Maddie shivered a little. “I saw it in Dorothy’s eyes, too.”
“At least Adam might be salvageable,” Jordan mused. “I think you’re right about him. He’s a lot like our mother—focused on his career as a designer. I think she saw a lot of herself in him. That may be why she didn’t want to prosecute him when she discovered he robbed the store. And the gambling may have been his way of acting out against his mother’s constant derision and dissatisfaction.”
“Our mother may have had some faults, but they were light years away from Dorothy Ware’s.” Maddie glanced at Jordan. “I have a question about Eva.”
“Ask away.”
“Are you angry with her for what she did? I mean, she didn’t want either one of us, and then she was the one who insisted that we never know about each other.”
Jordan shook her head. “I’m not angry at all. She may have been the cause of our separation, but in the end she brought us together.” Jordan let her gaze sweep the landscape. “And in the end she opened up new worlds for me. Not just this place, but all the new business challenges I’m finding here.”
“I feel the same way about New York and about working at Eva Ware Designs. I’m learning so much from helping Cho to finish her designs. I can’t help but feel grateful to her.”
