by Karen Rock
“Jewel Cade.” Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse tapped her pencil. “We haven’t heard from you on the topic.”
“Me?”
Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse’s pencil stilled. “You are a member of this committee, are you not?”
“Unfortunately,” Lara whispered.
Jewel cleared her throat. “Yes, I am.”
“Which type of beverage do you suggest?”
“I’m more of a Mountain Dew kind of gal.”
Lara and her crew giggled—including Kelsey.
Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse’s withering stare quieted the group. “Soda is not an option.”
Warmth flooded Jewel’s cheeks. “It should be,” she pressed on. “Not everybody likes things so fancy.”
“It’s a gala, after all,” Kelsey chimed in smoothly. “Fancy is the point.”
Lara’s eyes dragged over Jewel’s crumpled T-shirt and jeans. “For civilized folks, anyway.”
Jewel’s gaze circled the group of nodding heads, all save Sierra, who shot her a sympathetic look. With a groan, she shoved her chair back. She was a fish out of water and making a spectacle of herself. “If y’all will excuse me.”
Out in the hall, Jewel fired off an SOS text to her brother Justin begging for a ride. Sierra’s footsteps echoed behind her.
“Wait! Don’t leave.”
“I’m making a fool of myself.” Agreeing with anything Kelsey said stuck in Jewel’s craw, but she had a point. Jewel didn’t belong in the “civilized” feminine world of tea rose garlands and champagne punches. The ranch, range and saddle were the only places where Jewel belonged; stupid her for even trying.
Sierra placed a warm hand on Jewel’s shoulder and squeezed.
“Lara’s the one who’s acting like a jerk.”
“It’s no act,” Jewel said evenly. “She is a jerk.”
Sierra cracked up so hard she snorted, which, in turn, got Jewel laughing until they both held their sides, bent at the waist.
“Ain’t that the truth.” Sierra wiped her streaming eyes. “Don’t tell Heath I said so, since she’s Kelsey’s best friend.”
“Do you think he loves her?” Jewel asked, unable to resist the urge to satisfy her curiosity.
Which was all it was.
Just idle curiosity.
Sierra’s short nose scrunched. “It’s more complicated than that. Heath always puts what he wants and needs aside to take care of everybody else. We used to call Heath the mom whisperer. He was the only one who could soothe her when she got in one of her moods. I think he’s so used to making others happy and playing the role of knight in shining armor that he doesn’t know how to save himself.”
“So, the more Kelsey acts like a princess, the more Heath likes her?” If that was the case, Heath would never care for Jewel since she valued her independence and... Whoa—why was she suddenly worrying about who Heath cared about?
You nearly kissed him on the range earlier...
Sierra shook her head slowly. “The more Heath thinks Kelsey’s depending on him, the more obligated he feels, the harder it is for him to walk away.”
“What could she need him for?” Through the distant doorway, Jewel glimpsed the back of Kelsey’s elaborate upswept hair, pearls dangling from her ears. “She’s got money, looks, one of the most respected names in the county...”
Sierra’s narrow shoulders lifted, then fell. “Some women don’t feel complete without a man on their arm.”
“I’d rather have a horse.”
“I’m rather partial to animals over relationships myself.” Sierra shot Jewel a conspiratorial smile. “Now why weren’t we friends in high school?”
Jewel studied Sierra’s open, friendly face. “Because our families were—are—mortal enemies.”
Sierra half laughed. “Right. Almost forgot about that. Now we’re stepsisters.”
“I’ve never had a sister.” The idea filled her with a strange sense of wonder. She’d only ever had her brothers to compete against and prove herself to...what would it be like to have someone to simply talk to? Confide in? Sing karaoke Shania Twain with?
Sierra squeezed Jewel’s arm. “Same. Just a bunch of annoying brothers.”
They exchanged nods, and a palpable sense of camaraderie swelled the space between them.
“Won’t you come back to the meeting?” Sierra hitched up the slipping strap of her sundress. “I can take you home, but I wish you’d stay. Don’t let Lara and Kelsey’s crew chase you off.”
“They haven’t,” Jewel automatically denied, despite the unease twisting her gut. She never backed down from two-ton bulls, yet judgmental women had her running for the hills. Why? A motorcycle engine rumbled in the distance, then grew louder. “But I texted Justin to pick me up on his way home from Fresh Start. That’s probably him now.”
Sierra’s face fell. “Shoot. Next time, then.”
“Maybe,” Jewel mumbled, then impulsively hugged Sierra before racing outside. The air was fresh and cedar-scented. Her lungs gulped it down as she straddled the bike behind her bearded brother and donned the helmet he passed her.
“Everything all right in there?” Justin twisted around in the banana seat and eyed her. “Looks like you’ve been chewed up, spit out and stepped on.”
“That about covers it. Let’s blow this pop stand.”
“Got it.” The motorcycle sped out of the parking lot and Jewel rested her chin on her brother’s broad shoulder, her hands linked around his middle as they raced home.
“Hey! It’s Aunt Jewel!” Javi pounded down Cade Ranch’s porch steps when they pulled up twenty minutes later. His terry cloth Superman cape, a perfect match for his briefs, flapped behind him.
When he flung himself at Jewel, she staggered back a few steps. “You’re getting big.”
Javi puffed out his skinny chest. “Pa says I’ve already grown half an inch this summer.”
“I bet you have.” Jewel pushed back his damp hair. The scent of the honeysuckle bushes crowding the porch filled the darkness with a heady aroma. “Much more and you’ll be as tall as me.”
Javi’s smile fell and he chewed his lip. “It’s okay to be little. Don’t feel bad, Aunt Jewel.”
Jewel pressed her curving lips flat and said, gravely, “I appreciate that, honey. Where are your parents?”
The screen door creaked opened and Sofia’s pretty face, backlit by the interior light, peered out anxiously. Her features smoothed when she caught sight of Jewel, Javi and Justin mounting the stairs.
“There you are, Javi.” Sofia briskly toweled Javi’s hair as she steered him inside. “You know better than to go outside after your bath.”
Javi wriggled as Sofia swiped his ears with Q-tips. “I heard Uncle Justin’s bike and look—here’s Aunt Jewel, too.”
“Hey, girl.” Jewel took in Sofia’s thin frame and pale face. She’d lost weight since Jewel had last seen her. “You feeling okay?”
Sofia dropped onto the sofa once she’d sent Javi upstairs to don his pajamas. “The first trimester’s always the hardest.”
James appeared on the landing overlooking the two-story living room. Their wailing four-month-old baby, swathed in pink fabric nearly matching her tear-streaked face, flailed in his arms. “Jesse’s not following the bedtime schedule.”
“Just show her the clock. She’s sure to go to sleep then,” Justin drawled, his voice dripping with his usual dark sarcasm.
Jewel shot Justin an amused look. James, the second oldest in their family, was a total control freak. He ran his life, and everyone else’s, on a tight schedule even Grand Central Terminal would envy.
“Pa?” Javi peeked his head out of his bedroom door. “I dropped my juice, and my blanket’s all red.”
Sofia began to rise, but Jewel forestalled her. “I’ll get Jesse. James, you take care of Javi.”
>
James met Jewel halfway down the stairs, passed over the fussing child and shot her a grateful look. “Good to have you back. You’ve been missed.”
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed, hiding her pleasure at the rare brotherly affection. Did he miss her enough to name her range boss yet?
Sofia reached for Jesse, but Jewel plunked down on the floor with the baby instead. “Take a break. This is what aunties are for.”
She stripped layer after layer of pink from the squirming child until she wore only her diaper. Jewel confirmed it was dry after a quick check. Once she laid Jesse on a blanket, Jewel blew into the baby’s belly while Justin dangled his Harley-Davidson key ring over her head. Jesse’s cries subsided into hiccups, then silence, then coos of merriment.
“Thank you!” Sofia dashed away tears. “I don’t know why I’m so emotional this pregnancy.”
“You just gave birth to this one.” Jewel crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at Jesse, winning her a gummy smile. “Don’t beat yourself up. I wish I were here to help you more.”
“You just want to beat me out as range boss, admit it.” Justin quit playing with the baby, sauntered to the sofa and sat, stretching out his long legs.
“I am beating you.” Jewel covered her face with her hands then opened them, playing peekaboo to Jesse’s delight. “I’m working miracles over at Loveland Hills.”
“Ma mentioned you saved the herd from sorghum poisoning.” Justin shook his head. “You’d think Heath would have more sense than to lead them south during a drought.”
“They don’t have many options,” Jewel said, strangely defensive of Heath. “It’s not like they can get to the Crystal River easy.”
“And whose fault is that?” Justin demanded. “Not ours.”
Jewel shrugged, her stomach knotting. Her brother spoke the truth, but riding with the Lovelands blurred lines a bit.
“You’re not taking their side, are you?” James clomped down the stairs with Javi. “I warned you about Heath trying to charm you into feeling sorry for them.”
“Simmer down, James,” protested Sofia. “There’s nothing wrong with seeing both sides.”
“I’m going to Emma’s birthday party!” Javi, now clad in a superhero-patterned pajama shirt and bottoms, raced into the kitchen. “They’re having a princess cake!”
“Remember your loyalties, Jewel.” James slipped a pacifier into Jesse’s mouth. “And what happened to her nightgown?”
“That wasn’t a nightgown, it was a pink straitjacket.” She tickled Jesse’s rounded tummy. “Look how much happier she is naked.”
James slid Jesse’s chubby arms into a onesie. “Don’t corrupt my daughter.”
“Don’t turn her into some pampered girlie girl, either.” Jewel frowned at her brother, thinking of Kelsey’s well-heeled group and how out of place they’d made Jewel feel.
Where would she ever fit in?
Her eyes drifted to the darkness beyond the window panes, picturing the pastures she’d ridden from childhood. As Cade Ranch’s range boss, she’d always have a place where she belonged, where she didn’t feel less than others.
“This is Emma’s birthday invitation!” Javi dropped a purple card onto Jewel’s lap. “Will you be there?”
“Your mother and I haven’t decided if you’re going yet, Javi.” James slid his fingers into Jesse’s waving fist.
Javi’s left-sided dimple vanished. “Emma’s my friend.”
Justin picked up the TV remote and turned on a Rockies game. “Our families are having a dispute.”
“What’s a dispute?” Javi asked.
Sofia patted the empty cushion beside her. “An argument.”
Javi flung himself into it. “Then use your words so you stop fighting.”
“It’s not that—” the crack of a bat and the roar of the crowd at the baseball field interrupted James “—easy.”
Javi leaped up, scooted in front of the TV and blocked the view. “Yes, it is! Emma’s my cousin now and Grandma Joy said family always sticks together.”
“Cades always stick together.” Justin craned his neck to glimpse the action accompanying another cheer.
“Grandma Joy’s a Loveland,” Javi pointed out with powerful child’s logic. “Will you still stick by her?”
An appalled silence descended, muffling all but the baseball announcer’s babble. Sofia rose slowly to her feet and slipped her hand in Javi’s. “We’ll talk more about it tomorrow. Say good-night to your family.”
Javi scampered up the stairs, stopped on the landing and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Night, Lovelands!” he shouted at the windows then dashed into his room.
“I’ll be darned.” Justin dropped his elbows to his knees and craned his head to peer up at the empty banister. “Javi’s one strong-headed Cade.”
“He’s made up his mind, all right.” James slipped the pacifier from his now-dozing baby’s mouth.
“You should let him go.” Jewel ruffled the floor rug’s fringe with the tip of her boot.
“It’ll only encourage his crazy idea about us being close with the Lovelands.” James brushed a finger over Jesse’s rounded cheek. “They’re the ones suing us for millions we can’t afford.”
“We could sell Cora’s Tear.”
James gaped at her. “Who gave you that stupid idea?”
“I can guess,” Justin muttered through clenched teeth.
Jewel met her brothers’ hard stares dead-on. “Heath mentioned it.”
At James’s bitter laugh, Jesse’s eyes flew open. He lifted her to his shoulder and patted her back. “Of course he did.”
“It’s not like that,” Jewel insisted, cringing inside at how naive she sounded. “Whether you accept it or not, we’re a family—the most dysfunctional, messed-up one in the county, maybe even the state, but we are family now.”
James’s brows lowered. Just then, the porch door opened and two of their cousins, Hayden and Graham, sauntered inside, doffing their hats. They were tall, lean young cowboys with red cheeks and cropped brown hair. “We’ve got the cattle settled for the night, James. What’d you like us to do next?”
“Best ask your range boss.” James nodded at Justin.
Jewel bristled as Justin conferred with the boys about tomorrow’s drive. “He’s not officially the range boss.”
James laid Jesse back on the blanket and swaddled her. “Not yet. Best remember your loyalties, or I’ll make it permanent.”
Her heart momentarily stopped, then resumed a frenetic beat. “Is that a threat?”
James’s dark eyes rose and lasered into hers. “Let’s just say, for now, it’s a friendly reminder.”
And one she’d needed to remember, Jewel thought, as she drove back to the Loveland ranch in a borrowed pickup, or she’d lose everything she’d worked her whole life to achieve.
If she failed to become range boss, who was she?
Not her own person. Not someone people looked up to.
She’d be no one important.
Just like her father raised her to believe.
From now on, no more letting Heath get under her skin or sweet-talk her. She’d focus solely on the job: keeping the Loveland herd intact.
As for her heart, she needed to guard it, too, lest a sensitive singing cowboy turn her from the path she’d chosen.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SWEAT DRIPPED IN Heath’s eyes as he rode Destiny alongside the plodding, bellowing herd. Overhead, the intense sun bore down and cracked the earth. Everything was still, breathless, insects and animals alike sheltering beneath rocks or trees. He stared at the hazy sky, watching two vultures with their white-tipped wings circle slowly, deliberately, waiting for something somewhere to die.
The weather report predicted another record-breaking day of dry heat. Had he gambled correctly
in driving the cattle from the natural spring to the next pasture? They’d lingered for nearly a week, nipping the forage down to its roots, but water alone couldn’t sustain the cattle. Worry twisted his gut. What if the next grazing area’s water hole had dried up?
“Some of ’em are getting gut fill.” Beside him, Jewel stared straight over Bear’s black head. He tore his eyes from her dainty profile and followed her gaze to the lumbering Brahmans. Concern burned in his chest as he noted their bouncing abdomens. Ribs and hip bones jutted slightly beneath thick gray hides. They weren’t starving, not yet, but they were losing weight. If the next pasture didn’t have enough water, some of the more fragile members of the herd would be at risk.
“Noted.” Heath clucked to a lagging Destiny, and she picked up the pace to tramp up a steep incline.
“We should have moved the herd a couple of days ago.”
Jewel’s know-it-all tone set his teeth on edge. “The spring’s one of our most reliable water sources. I wasn’t in a hurry to leave it.”
“If we hadn’t overgrazed it, we could have returned in a couple weeks.” Jewel screwed off the top of her canteen and drank a long gulp before passing it over.
He nodded his thanks and guzzled the tepid, slightly metallic-tasting water. “What do you mean?”
Jewel’s calloused fingers brushed his when he returned the canteen. His breath quickened at the sandpaper feel of them. Her skin was as rough as her manner, yet it electrified him somehow. “Pastures should be grazed for only a day and then returned to after a two-week break. It allows for regrowth. The idea is to raise the pasture with the livestock.”
He turned Jewel’s words over in his mind. “Makes sense.”
“Of course it does,” Jewel blustered. From the corner of his eye, he caught her pleased grin. An answering pulse of happiness loosened his joints and lowered his shoulders. He liked making Jewel smile. Too much.
“Is that part of the herd health report you gave your brother?”
“Not that he’s going to read it,” Jewel grumbled.
“I would.” The cattle dogs’ barking and Daryl’s “yip yip yip” filled the sudden silence. Heath sneaked a sidelong glance at Jewel. Her features seemed frozen in place, and her knuckles shone white against the tan leather reins. “If you’ll let me.”