by Tina Leonard
It was Rafferty’s turn to look confused—but no less determined to see his plan through. “I figured it was what you wanted. Even if you were too considerate to leave us in the lurch. But you don’t need to worry about that,” he consoled her gallantly. “I had another talk with the chef that was supposed to come out for a trial run yesterday. He said if he could leave the ranch from Friday to Sunday every week he would consider working here temporarily.”
It galled her to think how easily he was planning to replace her. “How noble of him.”
Her sarcasm was lost on Rafferty.
“If he doesn’t work out, we’ll find someone to replace him ASAP, Jacey.”
This time she couldn’t help it—she scoffed. “How noble of you.”
Rafferty’s lips thinned. “I’m getting the idea you don’t like my gift.”
Given what she had been planning to bestow on him…? The news that she was committing to the job for as long as they wanted and needed her at the ranch? Their presents to each other were so ironically mismatched it was almost funny. Or would have been, Jacey amended silently, if her heart hadn’t ached so very badly.
Figuring she could at least hold on to her pride, Jacey bounded out of the desk chair, all self-reliant energy once again. “No problem,” she stated with an inner cheer she could not begin to feel. “Caitlin and I will be out of here on the twenty-sixth—early. And you can replace me right away.”
Rafferty caught her wrist before she could complete her escape and reeled her back. Her hip bumped the outside of his knee. “I’m not sure the building will be ready for occupancy by then.”
She loathed the way he was still sitting casually on the edge of his desk. But then, his life was not falling apart. Hers was. “I won’t be staying,” she told him coolly. “I’m going to live with my sister in El Paso until I find another job.”
Rafferty blinked in shock. “What about us?”
What about them? It wasn’t as if they were going to drag this out indefinitely, even if his lovemaking had made her feel like the most special woman in the world. Jacey shrugged. “Consider me eased out of your life,” she said sweetly.
“You’re dumping me?” Rafferty asked incredulously.
Jacey folded her arms in front of her. “Consider us dumping each other,” she advised levelly, figuring this was the only way to take the high road. “That way, neither of us has to feel guilty.”
Rafferty’s expression hardened. “This isn’t what I want.”
Jacey leaned close enough to inhale the brisk, masculine scent of him. “Then what do you want?” she queried, unable to hide her resentment any longer. “Some sort of arrangement where you sneak into town to see me?”
Displeasure hardened the handsome features of his face. “I think we’ve done enough sneaking around,” he concluded. “Don’t you?”
Bitterness filled her heart. Why did she never see this coming? When would she ever realize she was about to be excised from a man’s life?
“You’re right about that. Our sneaking-around days are over!” She marched to the door, yanked it open.
“Jacey…”
She paused in the door of the study, tears stinging her eyes. She held up a staying hand. “You’re getting what you want, Rafferty,” she told him hoarsely. “Consider my leaving my Christmas gift to you.”
Without waiting for a response, she turned around and stormed out.
“BOSS, WE GOT SOMETHING to say to you.”
Rafferty looked up from the horse he was saddling. If ever there was a time when he didn’t need an employee revolt, it was now. But it looked as if he was about to have one anyway.
“We just found out you’re letting Jacey go,” Stretch said unhappily.
That was a gross misstatement. “I didn’t let her go. She quit.”
“Only because you forced her to,” Curly countered, “by bringing in some other dude that isn’t even willing to cook on weekends, like she is.”
“Without her, we’re going to go back to starving,” Hoss complained.
Rafferty tightened the cinches around his mount’s belly. “I hardly think that will be the case,” he said with a great deal more ease than he felt.
“Well, we sure won’t be happy,” Red growled.
Rafferty adjusted the reins, wishing he were already out on the range, riding hell for leather. “And you think I will be?”
Gabby folded his arms. “If you were unhappy, you would do something about it.”
“Yeah,” Stretch concurred. “We’ve done our part by helping her out as much as possible and getting her a really great Christmas gift.”
Rafferty had seen what the present was. They had gone all out. Their gift to Jacey showed a lot of thought, as well as genuine concern for her well-being. “She’s really going to like that,” he said sincerely, willing to give praise where it was due.
“The only thing around here she doesn’t like, it would seem, is you, boss,” Curly said, scowling.
“We need you to fix this!” Hoss implored.
“Make her stay!” Red pleaded.
Stretch threw up his hands. “Help her understand how much she has changed things around here!”
If Rafferty could…
He hardened his heart against further hurt and disappointment. Forced himself to be reasonable, even if it hurt. “I’m not forcing a city girl to stay on this ranch, fellas. I’ve already done that, as you may recall. It didn’t work out.”
“Jacey is no Angelica,” Gabby retorted. “No disrespect…”
“None taken. And I know that.” Jacey was everything his late wife hadn’t been. Loving. Tender. Compassionate. Sensitive. Generous to a fault. The other half of his soul…
“She loves it here.” Stretch looked as if he was about to cry.
Rafferty knew how that felt, too.
“She loves us,” Curly continued.
She just doesn’t love me, Rafferty thought on an inward sigh, not sure how he had landed here when he’d thought he finally had everything, or was about to.
Some of his confusion must have showed, because the next thing Rafferty knew, the cowboys were all commiserating with him, trying to help, rather than simply accuse. “Look, boss, all we know is that everything was fine until she went off to talk to you, and then it wasn’t fine anymore, so you must have done something.”
He’d never been more generous—and selfless—in his life. Did Jacey think he wanted her to leave? That he wanted to have to drive all the way into town to so much as catch a glimpse of her? Yet he’d made that sacrifice so all her dreams could come true. He shook his head in rueful regret. “All I did was try to give her a Christmas gift. Something I thought she wanted.”
“Well, she must not have wanted it,” Gabby declared.
No kidding. Rafferty thought with heartfelt regret.
“Give her something else,” Hoss urged.
“Something better,” Red added.
“The kind of thing all women want,” Curly persuaded.
“First of all, Jacey isn’t ‘all women’,” Rafferty lectured the cowboys. She was one of a kind. The most special, incredible woman he had ever met in his entire life.
Stretch threw up his hands. “Then give her something she wants!”
That was the hell of it, Rafferty thought, even more dejected. He hadn’t a clue what that might be.
“THANKS FOR AGREEING to go to the grocery store with me,” Jacey told Eli as they headed for town in one of the ranch pickup trucks, with Caitlin in her car seat in the rear passenger seat. She was going to need help getting all the ingredients she would need to cook for the cowboys the next two days.
“No problem. Although I would have thought this was something you would want to do to with Rafferty.”
Not anymore, Jacey thought furiously, aware she had never felt more disillusioned and hurt than she did at that moment.
“Is something going on between the two of you?” Eli asked. “Did you quarrel?”
/> Her emotions in turmoil, Jacey bit her lip. “You might say that. I gave my notice.” But only after he took steps to ease me off the ranch and out of his life.
“I thought you were happy here.”
So had Jacey. She pretended to study the extensive grocery list in her hands. “It’s complicated.”
“Love usually is.”
Jacey shot Rafferty’s dad a sharp look.
He tightened his hands on the wheel and spared her an understanding glance. “You think I didn’t know? I’d have to be blind not to see the sparks between the two of you. And for the record, Rafferty hasn’t been this happy in years.”
That’s what she had thought. Sighing wistfully, Jacey steeled herself against further heartache. “It was never going to work anyway,” she said sadly. For once, the Christmas music on the truck stereo did nothing to lift her sagging spirits.
“Why do you say that?”
Jacey studied the Christmas lights on the houses at the edge of town. “I’m a city girl. I don’t ride. Don’t even want to learn.”
“So? His mother never rode, either. Horses scared her. Same for cattle and any other critters she might come across out on the ranch. The kitchen and home were her domain and she loved every second of it. And Rafferty loved her, as did I.”
Jacey took a deep breath and pushed back the tears she felt gathering behind her eyes. “Well, then, I guess I’m not ambitious enough for him.”
Eli frowned in disagreement. “How can that be true, given how many different dishes you’re going to be making over Christmas, just to ensure that everyone has their favorite food?”
“That’s different.” It was so much fun it didn’t even feel like work.
“Is it? Every other cook we’ve had—aside from my wife—]has set out a very brief, pedestrian menu, and if the hands didn’t like it, that was just tough. You go out of your way to cook extraordinary meals.”
“But it’s not my profession.”
“Then maybe it should be.”
Jacey didn’t want to admit how tempted she was. “I can’t continue working on the ranch, and be around Rafferty, knowing he wants me gone.” It would be just too painful.
Eli turned into the grocery-store parking lot and began looking for a space. It wasn’t easy—the lot was full. “So you’re just going to give up because it’s easy?” He finally eased into a space.
Despair filled Jacey’s voice. “You can’t make someone love you.” As much as you might want to do so.
“Nor can you stop on a whim,” Eli countered sagely. He turned off the engine and patted her hand paternally, once again becoming the father she’d lost, way too young. “I’m not sure what has gone on here, but I know a misunderstanding when I see one, Jacey,” he murmured. “Whatever my son meant to say to you, whatever he was trying to accomplish, it’s not what he ended up doing. The only question is, what are you going to do about it?”
JACEY THOUGHT about what Eli had said, while the two of them did the holiday marketing. By the time she got back to the ranch and put the groceries away, she knew what she had to do. Find Rafferty Evans. Give him a piece of her mind. And see where they went from there….
“He went riding,” Gabby said.
Curly added, “He’s back now.”
“Check the stables,” Red advised.
Jacey drew a deep breath and settled the sleeping Caitlin into the Pack ’n Play she kept in the bunkhouse. She tucked the swaddling blanket around her slumbering babe and straightened. “You fellas mind watching Caitlin for me for a few minutes?”
Smiles all around. “Be happy to, Jacey,” Curly said.
Red grinned. “You know we love her.”
“We love you,” Stretch emphasized, to a rumble of masculine agreement.
Jacey felt a lump in her throat the size of a walnut. This right here, she thought, was Christmas. Now, if only she could extend that joy….
“I love you fellas, too,” she said softly. So much she didn’t know what she was going to do if she couldn’t be a part of the bunkhouse camaraderie anymore. Figuring it was now or never, she headed for the stables but was thwarted again.
“He went up to the ranch house about fifteen minutes ago. Check there,” Hoss told her.
Jacey turned around and marched back to the house.
Eli was doing what he did most afternoons—he was napping on the sofa.
Rafferty was not in the kitchen, living room or study.
Heartbeat accelerating, she headed back to his bedroom.
Knocked.
The door opened. Rafferty stood there, newly showered and dripping wet, a towel wrapped around his hips. Jacey swallowed around the sudden dryness of her throat. Fighting the urge to make love to him then and there, she pushed back her desire and strode past him. “I need to talk to you.” Ignoring the incredibly sexy way he looked, she shut the door behind her and whirled to face him. Deciding to get to the point, she stated bluntly, “I don’t want to leave.”
A flicker of happiness crossed his face, then was replaced by an emotion she could not read. His eyes solemn, he returned softly, “I don’t want you to leave, either.”
Jacey gulped. “I like it here.”
His lips curved into a smile. “I like you here.”
His teasing sent a spiral of warmth deep inside her. Deliberately, she kept her eyes locked with his. “Then why are you trying to get rid of me?” This much she had to know.
Rafferty looked confused again. “I’m not.”
Jacey sighed in frustration and trod a little closer. “Let’s refresh. You just found a replacement chef for the ranch, an alternate place for me and my baby to live, and gave me an astounding five-figure check to ease my exit. I’d call that a pretty big hint, big guy.”
“Or an opportunity,” Rafferty corrected, gently clasping her arms. “I didn’t want to be responsible for holding you back. I wanted to help you have everything you ever wanted, career-wise. So you wouldn’t look back one day and think you had made a mistake taking a temporary job at the ranch and then never moving on again. I didn’t want you to get three years down the road and regret getting off the career path you were on, or neglecting to blaze a new one, just because you were comfortable here.”
This was sounding a lot like Mindy, and not at all like Rafferty Evans.
Jacey licked her suddenly dry lips and fought the increasingly self-conscious flush in her cheeks. “And if you weren’t trying to help me achieve the dreams I should be seeking, what kind of Christmas gift would you have given me?” she asked curiously.
Without hesitation, Rafferty walked over to his bureau, opened the drawer and took out a velvet jewelry box. Expression sobering all the more, he came back and handed it to her. “This is what I wanted to give you,” he said, his voice suddenly hoarse.
Jacey opened it up.
Inside was a platinum diamond engagement ring.
The gift she had been hoping he would present her with, the one that would make all her dreams come true.
“I wanted to ask you to marry me,” he continued, threading his hands through her hair and lifting her face up to his. “But then…I overheard you talking to your sister while you were wrapping presents, and realized I wasn’t being fair. So I went another direction, hoping that if I sacrificed what I wanted and gave you what you wanted instead, it would all work out in the end.” His eyes lasered in on hers. “Hoping you’d know what I realized a long time ago—that we belong together.”
Well, at least he got that part right, Jacey thought. “First of all. Opening up my own business one day is a dream, but not one I want to pursue until Caitlin is a lot older. Right now, all I want to do is be on the mommy track, enjoy every moment of her pre-k years and cook for you and the guys. Maybe take some cooking classes now and then so I can really expand my repertoire. Second, and even more important…” Her voice caught a little. She forced herself to go on as she withdrew an envelope from her pocket and handed it to him.
�
�This was my gift.”
He opened it up. Inside was a card with a deliriously dancing Snoopy, and the hand-written note, “I.O.U. unlimited tender loving care—and holiday cheer—from this day forward….”
A smile spread slowly across his face. “There’s nothing I want more, especially now that my Ebenezer Scrooge days are over.”
Their eyes met and held.
“I’m glad you like your gift.”
“I do,” he said gruffly.
“So.” She cleared her throat. “If this ring is a proposal of marriage—”
“It is.” His tone left no doubt about what he wanted.
Tears of bliss filled her eyes. “Then my answer is yes,” she replied just as resolutely. “I will marry you.”
They pledged their commitment to each other with a long, tender kiss.
Drawing back, Jacey looked deep into his eyes and said the words she had longed to express. “I love you, Rafferty Evans, with all my heart and soul.”
His voice turned low and gravelly. He pressed her tightly against him. “I love you, too, Jacey. So much more than words can ever say.”
He kissed her again. And again and again. And by the time they had finished, they knew that they were meant to be together.
Not just for now, but forever.
THEIR EXUBERANT MOOD only accelerated as Christmas descended upon them. And when at last Jacey sat down in the bunkhouse to open presents, and she saw what the cowboys had worked so hard to arrange, her heart filled with even more love. “A Global Positioning System for my car!” No wonder they’d had to go all the way to El Paso to have it installed in the dashboard. “Fellas! What a great gift!”
The cowboys grinned from ear to ear. “We don’t want you getting lost anymore,” Stretch said.
“This way, wherever you are, you’ll know how to find your way back to the ranch,” Hoss added.
“And don’t forget the new stereo system, too, with the six-CD changer,” Curly piped in.
“No way I could,” Jacey gushed. She shook her head in admiration. “You guys outdid yourself.”
Red traced the Lost Mountain Ranch logo on their presents from Rafferty and his dad. “These new sterling-silver belt buckles are pretty fancy, too.”
