Rich Rancher's Redemption

by Maureen Child

  Excitement shot through her, but she quickly stamped it out, as she would hot sparks before they could start a forest fire. She couldn’t do this. Jesse as a partner? Hadn’t she been telling herself to see less of him? Even if he was a silent partner, she would have to work with him. A lot.

  Oh, why was she even considering this? It was crazy. Impossible. “It could take years to pay you back,” she said, firmly shaking her head.

  “Not if you’re selling pies like this.” Jesse waved the fork at her. “Once people taste what you can do, you’ll be so busy it’ll make your head spin. The solid truth here is, you make a hell of a pie.”

  That idea made her smile and everything in her yearned. Jillian had had this dream of her own shop for so many years now. And since Mac’s birth, the dream had become more fierce. She wanted to have her own business, make her own rules, live her own life and show her baby girl that you could do anything if you were willing to work for it.

  She hadn’t expected this. Didn’t have a response ready. Maybe she should have said “no” right off the bat. But the thought of making her dream a reality years sooner than she’d hoped was too tempting to dismiss offhand. Still, she had to know. Understand.

  “I don’t get it,” she said softly, tipping her head to one side as she watched him, trying to gauge what he was thinking. “Why would you want to do this?”

  “Do I need a reason?”

  She laughed shortly. “Well, yes.”

  “Fine.” He sat back in his chair and studied her in the golden glow of the overhead lamp. “I figure if you can bake a pie like this in that tiny excuse for a kitchen in the apartment—there’s no telling what you could pull off with the room to grow.”

  “Hmm.”

  “This is a straight-up business deal,” he said, and Jillian met his shadowed gaze. “We’ll have the family lawyers draw up the paperwork—”

  “I don’t know...” She laid one hand against her belly in a futile attempt to ease the butterflies racing around inside. This was all happening so fast she couldn’t be sure about what to do. But in the next instant, Jillian told herself that this was the chance she’d been waiting, hoping for. Did it matter that Jesse was helping her? Again? Once she paid him back, the business would be hers completely, and wasn’t that what was really important?

  As if sensing that she was waffling, Jesse looked into her eyes and said, “The shop on Main has most of what you’d need. Anything else required we can get. Have you set up and running inside a month if you want it.”

  “A month.” She could have her own shop in a month. Jillian took a deep breath and held it, hoping to steady the nerves, the questions, rattling her. It didn’t help. A month. All she had to do was forego her pride and accept Jesse’s offer. But was it pride keeping her from accepting his help? Didn’t other businesses have investors? Why shouldn’t she?

  “Or sooner,” he tempted.

  Sooner. She chewed at her bottom lip and mentally raced through the colliding thoughts in her mind. The pros. The cons. The temptations and dangers of being too close to Jesse Navarro. About giving up the very essence of herself—her self-reliance. Since she was a child when her parents disappeared from her life, Jillian had learned to count on herself. Her grandmother had taught her to go for what she wanted but to never expect someone else to get it for her.

  She’d worked and saved and maybe in another year or two, she could pull off opening her own shop under her own power. Sure, she’d still have needed a business loan, but she would have taken as little as she could because the thought of being in debt was terrifying. But if she was willing to bend, she could have that dream much sooner than she could have imagined. All she had to do was get past the life lessons that had guided her for so long.

  Really, what was wrong with his offer? She wasn’t really giving anything up. She would still do the work and build the business on her own. It was as if she were getting a loan from a bank. Only this bank happened to be gorgeous and starring nightly in her dreams.

  As Jillian considered everything, her mind a whirlwind of disjointed thoughts, she realized something. She wanted to do this. Why should she wait years to have what she could have now? Self-reliance would still be her mainstay as it would be up to her whether her shop was a success or not. She wouldn’t lose anything by accepting Jesse’s offer. Instead, she could take a stand and start building the future.

  Then she considered Mac in all of this. Her baby girl. Jillian wanted so much for her. If she waited until she’d saved all the money she might need, it could be two or three more years before she could open a shop. And that meant it might be years before she could find a bigger apartment—or a house—and she wanted that for Mac. Her little girl deserved to have her own yard to play in. She’d seen Mac with Brody, here on the ranch where the kids had room to run and play and make all the noise they wanted to without worrying about upsetting the person in the next apartment.

  If she accepted Jesse’s help, she’d be able to put her dreams on the fast track and that meant a better life for Mac. Wasn’t that what coming to Texas in the first place had been all about?

  “I can practically hear you thinking,” Jesse said wryly.

  “It’s a lot to think about,” she admitted and watched him savor another bite of pie.

  “Not so much really,” he said and set his fork down. “You’ve got talent and a plan. I can help you with getting started on that plan. Pretty straightforward.”

  “When you put it like that, sure,” she said.

  “So is that a yes?”

  Jillian looked into his eyes and knew she was going to say yes. If there was still some hesitation inside her, she could understand it, but she wouldn’t let it sway her. Maybe it was just time to throw caution to the wind and take the chance being offered. She took a breath, held his gaze and took the plunge. “I think so.”

  “Good.” A smile lit up his eyes as he reached one hand across the table. “Well, then. Before you can change your mind, shake on it.”

  Steadying herself, Jillian slipped her hand into his and tried not to notice how her skin sizzled and burned at the contact. Electricity hummed up her arm to bounce around her chest like a crazed ping-pong ball. He squeezed her hand. “I’ll call the lawyers tomorrow morning.”

  Nodding, she took a breath and said, “Okay.”

  He let her go and for a second, Jillian really missed the feel of his much bigger hand wrapped around hers. That was probably not what she should be thinking about a business partner.

  “You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”

  She looked at him and shook her head. “No. Decisions are hard, but once they’re made, that’s it.”

  “Good to know.” He glanced at the piece of pie on her plate. “You going to finish that?”

  Jillian laughed and felt the butterflies settle. She handed her plate over and said, “I only hope the rest of Royal likes my pies as much as you do.”

  His dark eyes locked onto hers. His voice dropped to a husky murmur. “You can count on it.”

  They were talking about the pie shop, but there was an undercurrent, as well. What else could she count on? Jillian wondered. And why were her insides jumping again?

  “Mama!” An eager shout echoed through the house.

  Jillian blew out a breath and smiled. The tension between them shattered completely and then another voice shouted and the shared moment was over.

  “Uncle Jesse!” Brody’s voice.

  “Hey, you guys!” Lucy called out an instant later. “Mac saw your car here and we came to find you!”

  Jesse sighed a little. “Guess we’re done talking about this for now. Good thing we came to an agreement already.” Then he yelled, “In the kitchen.”

  She smiled at the sound of both kids clattering down the hall toward them. “Let me know what the lawyers say.”

&n
bsp; “Absolutely.”

  An instant later, both kids ran into the kitchen in a burst of noise and color—they were laughing in delight at their race down the hall. Lucy was right behind them.

  “Wow,” she said with a knowing smile as she strolled into the kitchen, “this looks...cozy. Something tells me we showed up too early.”

  “Not at all,” Jillian said, scooping her daughter into her arms as she got to her feet. “I was just about to come to your house to get Mac.”

  “Uh-huh.” Lucy’s smile didn’t fade, but her eyebrows lifted as she studied first Jillian, then Jesse.

  Jillian fired off a narrow-eyed look at her friend and wasn’t surprised when Lucy unapologetically winked at her.

  “Oh, what’s this?” she crowed when she spotted the pie on the counter. “God, I love pie.” Lucy grabbed a fork from the drawer and went for a bite. “This is amazing,” she said, already dipping in for another bite. “Jillian, did you make this?”

  “I wanted to thank Jesse for all of his help, so yes. I baked it this afternoon.”

  “Boy, when you want to thank me for something, my favorite is lemon meringue.” Lucy went for another taste, but Jesse smacked her hand away.

  “Get your own pie.”

  “Hmm. Territorial. Interesting.” She shrugged, licked her fork, then looked from one to the other of them. “You know, I’m really glad you’re both here together because I need to ask a favor.”

  Jillian was wary. It hadn’t taken her long to know when her friend was up to something. “What?”

  “Oh,” Lucy said, reaching over to smooth Brody’s hair back from his forehead, “you know the gala at the TCC? Well, I’ve got tickets to go, but I just don’t feel right about it.”

  “Lucy...”

  She ignored Jillian and focused on her brother. “I mean, Jillian’s new in town and she’s been working so hard, this would be a great way for her to meet people and have some fun for a change.”

  * * *

  Jesse looked at Jillian and knew the woman was torn between wanting to go and wanting his sister to be quiet. Normally, he didn’t do the formal get-togethers at the club. He was most at home in his jeans, a work shirt and worn boots, riding a horse, being out under the sky. Jesse didn’t care much for spending an entire evening suffering through wearing a tux. But damned if he didn’t want to see Jillian all dressed up. Watching her now, he could see how irritated she must be toward his sister. That he could completely sympathize with. But Lucy had a point, too.

  “I don’t need a night of fun,” Jillian argued.

  “Oh, please.” His sister glanced back at her. “You proved how much you need one today. You were supposed to go and relax for a while and instead you made a pie. A great pie, but come on. Baking is not relaxing.”

  “It is for me,” Jillian said.

  Lucy sighed dramatically. “Jillian, everyone needs fun once in a while. Even the great Stone Face here, right Jesse?”

  “What’s a stone face?” Brody asked.

  “Never mind,” Jesse said, giving his sister a look that he gave her every time she was after something. It had never worked, but he kept trying.

  “I really don’t have anything to wear,” Jillian was saying as a last-ditch attempt to make Lucy drop it.

  Jesse could have told her the attempt was futile.

  “Oh, this year it’s called the Black and White Ball. We’ll go shopping.” Lucy whipped back around to look meaningfully at Jesse.

  He got the message and for whatever reason, he found it didn’t bother him at all to say, “So, Jillian. Want to go to the ball with me?”

  Jillian kissed Mac, glared at Lucy, then shifted her gaze to Jesse again. He knew when he saw the shine in her eyes that she was going to agree, but he liked hearing her say, “I’d love to.”

  “Excellent,” Lucy announced and immediately launched into plans for shopping, getting Jillian’s hair and nails done, and while his sister talked, Jesse watched Jillian—the excitement in her eyes, the smile curving her mouth, the way her shirt clung to her breasts—and he fervently wished his sister was anywhere else.

  * * *

  The following day was Jillian’s day off and true to her word, Lucy showed up at the apartment to pick up her and Mac. They dropped the kids off at the TCC day care for a few hours and hit the Courtyard shops. Most of the stores were no more than booths sectioned off inside a huge red barn that used to be part of a working ranch. But the land was sold, and some enterprising soul had turned the barn and several outbuildings into an eclectic shopping center.

  Jillian normally guarded her bank account like a miser. But going to this black-tie gala, she couldn’t exactly attend in jeans, so she was determined to treat herself. And the one dressy outfit she had with her had been fine for Will’s memorial, but would be completely out of place at a gala. How long had it been since she had been on an actual date? Not that this was a date, really. Jesse was just doing his sister a favor and Jillian wasn’t reading anything into it at all, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t look great, did it?

  “It’s a black-and-white ball this year,” Lucy reminded her as they entered the boutique. “So no red dresses, which is a damn shame if you ask me, because you probably look great in red.”

  The shop was in one of the outbuildings near the barn itself and it was pretty without being intimidating. Beautiful clothes hung in groups of color and style. The walls were a pale yellow and there were baskets of live plants and vases of flowers scattered throughout the room.

  “My Valkyrie uniform was red,” Jillian told her, “so trust me when I say I’m okay with going for black or white.”

  Lucy shook her head and her layered brown hair swung around her face with the motion. “I really want to see that uniform. But for now... Ooh. Look at that.”

  Jillian followed in Lucy’s wake and she felt both eyebrows arch at first sight of the dress. “I don’t know,” she said warily. “There’s not a lot of fabric there.”

  Lucy sighed dramatically. “What are you, eighty? You’ve got a great figure, why not flaunt it? Knock Jesse off his feet.”

  Jillian eyed her friend suspiciously. “That’s not what this is about.”

  “No, of course not,” her friend cooed, lifting the hanger off the rack to further admire the really tiny dress. “But it couldn’t hurt to make his eyeballs pop out, could it?”

  Jillian thought about that for a second and if she was going to be honest with herself, she had to admit that it would be fun to make Jesse’s jaw drop when he saw her. So far, he’d only seen her in jeans, with Mac or with the other kids at the day care.

  “You could at least try it on after all the trouble I went to find it,” Lucy urged, waving the dress back and forth as if trying to hypnotize her friend into submission.

  Jillian laughed. “It’s the first store we’ve been to and the first dress you saw.”

  “Oh, don’t be logical.” Lucy pushed the dress into Jillian’s hands. “Just try it on while I look for more.”

  Sighing a little at the futility of actually winning an argument with her friend, Jillian carried the dress to the counter and a woman there opened a changing room for her. In a few minutes, she was wearing what little fabric there was and wondering if she could be arrested.

  “Well?” Lucy asked from outside the door.

  “My old uniform covered more.”

  Lucy laughed. “Come on, let me see.”

  Opening the door, Jillian stepped out and stopped in front of a full-length mirror. She tugged the hem of the slightly full skirt down, but it stopped midthigh no matter what she did. She pulled the bodice up, but it remained in place, displaying breasts that hadn’t seen the light of day in more than a year.

  She looked over her shoulder into the mirror and swore she could see the dimples at the top of her butt, the back was cut so l
ow. “Oh, I don’t think—”

  “It’s perfect,” Lucy said breathlessly as she handed the three other dresses she’d brought just in case, over to the clerk. “We won’t need these.”

  Jillian’s head whipped up. “No, wait, I should—”

  “Buy some sky-high black heels, wear your hair down and ooh, we should get you some black lingerie while we’re out, too.” Lucy slapped her hands together and scrubbed her palms. “Isn’t this fun?”

  “Lucy, I don’t know about this...”

  Her friend stepped up behind her and met Jillian’s gaze in the mirror. “My brother’s eyes are going to do more than pop. They’ll probably jump out of his head and roll across the floor.”

  Jillian laughed, then tugged at the hem again. “There’s an image.”

  Lucy slapped her hands down. “Stop tugging. You look amazing. Just enjoy it.”

  She half turned in front of the mirror, examining herself from every angle. The dress did look good on her. It was just that there was so little of it. Then she thought about what Lucy had said about Jesse’s reaction. Jillian told herself that shouldn’t matter, but she knew she was lying.

  Of course it mattered. She might not want a permanent man—because so far, in her experience, men hadn’t been permanent at all—but a temporary man might be just the thing. She’d spent so many nights dreaming about Jesse, wanting him, wouldn’t it be better to just have him? Once the sexual tension was eased, she could get past this, right? Focus on her life, her daughter, her future.

  They’d just reached an agreement. They were going to be partners. But if this incredible sexual tension remained between them, working together wouldn’t be easy. So really, sleeping with Jesse would be the smart thing to do. Oh, that was just a really sad attempt at justification.

  “Well?” Lucy asked from behind her. “What’s the decision?”

  Jillian looked her friend in the eye. “Where do we find me sky-high black heels?”

  Lucy grinned.

  Two hours later, they were both exhausted, and stopped at the Courtyard café for coffee and muffins. The sky was clear and sharply blue. The sun was shining and already warm, but in the shade, they didn’t mind the growing heat as much.