White Pines Summer

by Sherryl Woods

In the middle of the night, aching for her, Chance had realized he couldn’t have gone through with using her to get the ranch even if she’d said yes. He hoped he’d have the chance to tell her that. A look up the road suggested that his prospects for living long enough were iffy at best.

  Seven men, all bearing shotguns, emerged from those trucks. He recognized Harlan and Duke and guessed that the others were Luke, Cody, Jordan and a couple of the grandsons. What were their names? Harlan Patrick and Justin. They were young enough to look both eager and uncertain at the same time. It was a dangerous combination in a man armed with a gun. Chance kept his gaze fixed on the two of them as he waited to see who in the group would speak first. Naturally it was Harlan who stepped forward.

  “Chance,” he said, regarding him with obvious regret, “I’m mighty sorry to be here under these conditions.”

  Chance tried to ignore the vague sense that he’d disappointed someone whose respect he’d wanted. “It was something I owed my daddy. I made him a promise the day he died,” he explained. “I had no choice.”

  “We always have a choice, son.”

  “Yeah, right. Were you going to sit down with me over dinner one night and work out some arrangement to turn over some of your land?”

  Harlan shook his head, his expression filled with sorrow. “Sooner or later we would have done exactly that. We’d have talked, worked something out to rectify the injustice you believe was done to your father. But we’re not here about White Pines, boy. This is more important.”

  Chance swallowed hard. An uneasy feeling began nagging at him. What could be more important between them than the fate of the ranch? “If you’re not here about White Pines or the suit, what’s this about?”

  “It’s about Jenny,” Harlan told him.

  Chance’s heart slammed against his ribs. Had she told them about his proposal? Had they made the obvious link between her refusal and his initiating the lawsuit? He never would have done it if he hadn’t spent all night stewing over her rejection. He’d wanted to get her attention, not punish her. He’d wanted her over here today herself, shouting and fussing and making a deal. Judging from the glares of the men standing before him, he’d gotten not just her attention, but the whole damn family’s. He’d miscalculated once again. Just as it had been years ago, all the power and the decision making rested with Harlan Adams.

  Well, there was nothing Chance could do now except face the music. He brought his chin up a defiant notch.

  “What about her?”

  “You hurt her,” Harlan said coldly. “You tried to use her in a fight with me. I warned you about that. Nobody hurts my girl. Nobody.”

  Chance could have tried to explain, tried to appease him. Instead, he responded with pure bravado. “What do you intend to do about it, old man? Shoot me?”

  “That’s mighty tempting, but it’d be too easy,” one of the sons said.

  “Cody...” Harlan warned in a low voice.

  “Sorry, Daddy. I just wanted to make sure he realized we weren’t here as window dressing.”

  Harlan almost smiled at that. “Chance is a smart man. I doubt he’d make a mistake like that.”

  “If he’s so smart, why’d he go and hurt Jenny?” one of the younger boys demanded, his trigger finger moving nervously. “He made her cry. I’ve never seen her cry before.” He sounded both awed and dismayed.

  “Now that’s a good question, Justin,” Harlan said. He looked at Chance. “Care to give us an answer?”

  Chance figured his best shot was to try to bluster his way through. “Are you sure you’ve got all the facts straight about this? I asked the woman to marry me, didn’t I? She’s the one who turned me down.”

  “You were using her,” Harlan reminded him coldly. “What did you expect?”

  Something about this whole situation didn’t feel quite right to Chance. He could understand these men being furious about being served with legal papers. He could even see them getting bent out of shape if he’d deliberately hurt Jenny, but she hadn’t been hurt when she’d walked away from him the night before. She’d had the upper hand all evening long. It had been her decision to go.

  Or had he missed something? He’d convinced himself during the night that he didn’t have the capacity to touch her in any way. She’d been willing to walk away, hadn’t she? If she’d cared for him at all, wouldn’t she have taken a risk on the future by accepting his proposal and working on the details of their relationship later?

  “You know, men, as much as I respect the fact that you all stick by Jenny, it seems to me that what goes on between the two of us is just that—between the two of us.”

  “Not anymore,” Harlan said grimly. “You turned it into a battle that drew the rest of us in when you dangled a marriage proposal in front of her as a way of getting a share of the ranch. It stopped being personal right then and became business.”

  “What exactly does that mean?”

  “It means I want you to steer clear of her and settle this ranch thing with me, Luke, Cody and Jordan. I want you to stay so faraway from her you’ll only be a dim memory.”

  Chance stared at him incredulously. “You’re forbidding me to see her?”

  Harlan shrugged. “That shouldn’t be a problem, should it? After all, you were just playing games with her head, weren’t you?”

  There was no way to answer that question without landing in even hotter water. Chance, however, really hated being told who he could and couldn’t see. He especially hated the prospect of not seeing Jenny again. If he’d had to choose between her and the land... Well, thank goodness, it hadn’t come to that. Not yet, anyway.

  “What if I tell you to forget it?” he asked. “What if I tell you that I’ll see her when and if I choose to?”

  His uncle didn’t look nearly as distraught at those words as Chance had anticipated. In fact, he almost looked as if he’d been expecting it.

  “Then I’ll go back into court with a response to this suit that will destroy forever any good impressions you had of your daddy,” Harlan said.

  Chance swallowed hard at the implacable note in his uncle’s voice. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Harlan would do exactly as he’d threatened. Nor, at last, was there a doubt in his mind that the old man had the ammunition to do it. Oddly enough, none of that mattered anymore, not as much as working things out with Jenny. He doubted, though, she would ever trust his motives or him. He supposed she even had a right to hate his guts, but it was her right, not her daddy’s to dictate.

  “Well?” Harlan asked. “What’s it going to be?”

  “I’ll stay away from her,” Chance said at last. Then he allowed himself a slow confident smile. “But only if Jenny tells me herself that’s the way she wants it.”

  “We’re telling you,” Cody said. “And we’re the ones you need to listen to.”

  “Sorry,” Chance said. “It has to come from Jenny.”

  His uncle met his gaze evenly. “Fine. You follow us on back to White Pines and she’ll tell you to your face.”

  Chance wasn’t sure he wanted to risk it just now, especially not with the entire family looking on, but he couldn’t see he had much choice.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” he said.

  They actually waited until he’d climbed behind the wheel of his truck before they got into their own pickups and headed back down the driveway. He noticed that one of the trucks, the one with the two boys, waited and fell into place behind him. No prisoner had ever been more carefully escorted.

  On the short drive to White Pines, Chance wondered just what he was going to say to Jenny or why the heck it mattered to him so much that she not push him out of her life forever. All he knew was that the prospect of never seeing her again left a huge empty space inside him.

  * * *

  “It’s not going to work,” Jenny declared for the hundre
dth time since her father and the rest of the men had left to confront Chance. “Telling him he’s to leave me alone won’t exactly break his heart. All he cares about is the ranch.”

  “If that’s so, we’ll know soon enough,” her mother said calmly.

  Jenny sighed. “Tell me again exactly how we’ll know.”

  “Sweetie, just count the trucks coming up the driveway. My hunch is there’ll be one more than the number that left here.”

  “And that will mean?” Jenny asked.

  “That Chance insisted on hearing straight from you that you never want to see him again.”

  “Well, if you ask me, all that proves is that he doesn’t like to lose,” Lizzy piped up.

  “My sentiments exactly,” Jenny murmured.

  “Wait and see, you two. I think this plan Harlan came up with is ingenious.”

  Lizzy groaned. “Mom, you think everything Daddy does is ingenious. You’re prejudiced.”

  Their mother did not appear to be the slightest bit annoyed by the accusation.

  “Wait and see,” she said again with quiet confidence.

  “Well, I just hope and pray Daddy has all his meddling out of his system by the time I’m ready to find a man and settle down,” Lizzy announced. “I’d like to handle the details of my courtship myself.”

  “Then you were born into the wrong family,” Jenny said dryly.

  She crossed the living room to the window and peered outside again, searching for a stirring of dust on the long winding driveway that would indicate that the confrontation with Chance was over and the troops were returning home. Lizzy came up beside her.

  “Daddy won’t let you down,” she said softly.

  “I know.” Jenny nodded. The only real question was whether or not Chance would let her down, whether he would choose the ranch over her. She’d been so sure on more than one occasion that her feelings for him were reciprocated.

  “Isn’t that Daddy’s truck?” Lizzy asked urgently, pointing to a tiny moving speck in the distance.

  Jenny’s heart skipped a beat. “Looks like it,” she said. “And there are Luke’s, Cody’s and Jordan’s behind it.”

  “Damn, I wish I’d thought to get those binoculars from Daddy’s office,” Lizzy said. “Isn’t that another truck behind them?”

  “It’s probably Justin’s,” Jenny said.

  “No, no, his is behind the one I’m talking about.” She turned and grinned at Jenny. “It’s Chance. It has to be.”

  Jenny pressed her nose against the windowpane to get a better look.

  “Jenny, you’re fogging up the glass. In a minute we won’t be able to see anything,” Lizzy complained.

  “Have either of you considered just going out on the porch to meet them?” their mother inquired.

  “And look anxious? Are you kidding?” Jenny snorted. “That would defeat the whole purpose of this crazy stunt. Chance has to be convinced I don’t care if I ever see him again.”

  Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Do the words straightforward and honest mean anything to anyone in this room?”

  “Of course,” her mother said. “But when it comes to men, sometimes a winding road will get you to the destination a whole lot faster than a straight line.”

  “Whatever that means,” Lizzy said.

  “It means you shouldn’t put all your cards on the table at once,” Jenny explained. “Keep them guessing.”

  “And you—Miss Direct and to the Point—subscribe to this?”

  Jenny grinned. “Not really, but I have been persuaded today to listen to my elders and learn from their wisdom.”

  “You’ll see,” her mother said. “Very soon, I suspect.”

  Sure enough, within minutes the pickups were slamming to a stop in front of the house, and sure enough, Chance’s was among them. It looked as if he’d been surrounded by a posse. He didn’t appear overjoyed.

  “Mama,” Jenny said worriedly, “what if they just kidnapped him?”

  Janet chuckled at her concern. “Does anyone look bloodied? Any shotguns raised?”

  “No, but Chance does look as if he’d like to murder someone,” Jenny concluded after studying his grim expression. “I think maybe I’ll just slip out the back door and head for...” She shrugged. “I don’t know, any place but here.”

  “Jenny Runningbear Adams, don’t you dare leave this room,” her mother commanded, getting gracefully to her feet. “I think I’ll tell Maritza that our guest is here and she can serve tea now.”

  Jenny and Lizzy exchanged glances as their mother left the room.

  “Tea?” Lizzy said. “Since when do we have tea?”

  Jenny chuckled. “Maybe that was another lesson we missed. Maybe it goes with bulldozing a man into admitting he’s in love with you.”

  Before her sister could respond, booted footsteps sounded in the foyer. Jenny glanced nervously at the door.

  “Go on in, son,” her father was saying. “Ask her what she wants.”

  “Is it vital I do it with an audience?” Chance asked.

  The low rumble of his voice raised goose bumps on Jenny’s arms.

  “What do you think, Luke? Cody?” That was Harlan again.

  “I suppose he can be trusted to be alone with her in her own house,” Luke responded.

  “Besides, Jenny’s got better aim than half of us,” Cody said. “I ought to know. I taught her to shoot.”

  After that things happened very quickly. Maritza brought in a tray with teacups, a teapot and tiny sandwiches and cakes. Her mother shooed Lizzy from the room, and then Jenny was alone with Chance. The gaze he fixed on her was hot enough to brand cattle. She forced a bright smile.

  “What brings you by?” she asked.

  “As if you didn’t know.”

  “I have no idea. Last I heard, you failed to convince me to go along with your scheme to get a chunk of White Pines, so you were suing for half the ranch.” She gestured toward the tray Maritza had left. “Care for some tea?”

  He eyed the china cups suspiciously, as if he expected them to shatter at first touch. “I don’t think so.”

  Jenny shrugged and poured herself a cup, more for something to do than out of any desire for tea. She added several lumps of sugar and a splash of milk for the same reason. She would have tossed in a shot of liquor if any had been nearby.

  Chance’s scrutiny turned speculative. “You nervous about something, darlin’?”

  “Why would I be nervous?”

  “I thought maybe you didn’t feel so good about having to lie to me.”

  “What lie? Why on earth would I lie to you?”

  “If you tell me you never want to see me again, that would be a lie. You know it and I know it.”

  She returned his gaze blandly. “Is that so?”

  He’d been standing behind her father’s favorite wing chair, but now he moved toward her and sat next to her on the love seat, thigh to thigh. No wonder they called them love seats, Jenny thought. A man and woman crowded next to each other on one of these were forced into a certain intimacy. She could feel his heat reaching out to her. It took all her restraint to keep from pitching herself straight into his arms.

  Which, of course, was exactly what he intended.

  “Say it,” he instructed quietly, his gaze locked with hers.

  “Say what?” she murmured.

  “That you never want to see me again.” He reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her face, then trailed his finger along her jaw.

  Jenny couldn’t have spoken two intelligent words, much less the whole lie she was expected to spit out. Her heartbeat was so fast, so unsteady, a cardiac monitor would have labeled it unhealthy—or love.

  “Well?” he encouraged.

  “Chance...”

  “Yes, darlin’. I’m waiting.” />
  Jenny shot to her feet and raced for the safety of the spot he’d vacated behind the wing chair. She clamped her hands on the back so he wouldn’t see them trembling.

  “I want you to go,” she said even as her heart cried out for him to stay.

  For a fraction of a second he looked stunned. Then he was on his feet and moving toward her again. A cougar stalking its prey couldn’t have looked any more intense.

  “Okay,” he said softly, “I’ll go, but only after one last kiss.”

  Her pulse ricocheted wildly at the suggestion. “Absolutely not,” she said breathlessly.

  “Why not? You’ve kissed me before. This won’t be any different. Just a little goodbye kiss between acquaintances if that’s the way you want it.”

  That, of course, was the trouble. He wasn’t just an acquaintance and that wasn’t the way she wanted it. She wanted him to plunder her mouth. She wanted him to make mad passionate love to her right on that infernal love seat. One little kiss was more dangerous than he could possibly imagine. It would never be enough.

  “No,” she said emphatically.

  His eyes glittered. “Too risky?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then prove it. Prove you can kiss me and then tell me to go away.”

  “Why? What difference does it make whether or not I kiss you? The game’s over, Chance. You’ll go into court and take your best shot. Maybe you’ll win, maybe you’ll lose, but you’ll have done what your father wanted. You can get on with the business of living your life, instead of his.”

  “This kiss isn’t about White Pines,” he told her. “It’s about you and me.”

  “There is no you and me. The fight over the ranch has made sure of that.”

  “Then I’ll give up the fight for the ranch,” he said.

  Jenny wasn’t sure which of them was more stunned by his statement. Chance looked as if he couldn’t believe he’d uttered the words. Jenny wasn’t sure she’d heard them.

  “Damn,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair. “I should have known I couldn’t do it.”

  Jenny smiled, more relieved than she’d ever admit. “Couldn’t do what?” she asked innocently.