Jillian should have been feeling guilty. She’d dropped a lot of money today on lingerie, shoes and a dress she couldn’t imagine wearing more than once. And then there was the mani/pedi Lucy had talked her into. Still a little shocked, she whispered, “I can’t believe I spent all that money.”
“It’s an investment,” Lucy assured her and broke off a piece of blueberry muffin.
Laughing, Jillian asked, “In what?”
“Yourself, silly.” Lucy leaned on the tabletop. “You’re going to meet a lot of people at the gala. And when you’ve got your pie shop open, they’ll all come and buy delicious goodies from you.”
Wryly, Jillian said, “Because of the black dress.”
Lucy grinned again. “Can’t hurt. Besides, don’t you deserve a treat once in a while, Jill? You don’t mind if I call you Jill, do you?”
“No.” She smiled. “My grandmother always did.”
“Good. So anyway, Jill, you look fabulous and Jesse will introduce you around and you’ll make a big splash.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh,” Lucy added as if an afterthought, “I was thinking that maybe the night of the dance, why don’t we just have Mac spend the night at my place?”
“Why?” Suspicious, she watched her friend warily.
“Well, you’ll be getting in late,” Lucy said, lifting her coffee cup for a sip. “You don’t want to wake her up just to take her home and put her to bed again, do you?”
“I guess not, but...” Cocking her head to one side, Jillian watched Lucy feign all innocence for a minute or two. “I get the feeling I’m being set up.”
“That’s because you’re a very smart woman.”
“Lucy...”
“Oh, relax already.” The other woman took another bite of her muffin. “There’s no big conspiracy or anything. We’re friends. I’m just helping out.”
“Uh-huh.” Jillian wasn’t convinced. “Lucy, this is really sweet of you, I think, but I don’t want a man in my life.”
“How about in your bed?”
“My—We’re talking about your brother here.”
“Yes and believe it or not,” Lucy said in a whisper, “I know that my brothers have sex. The lucky bastards. I haven’t had sex in too long to think about but that’s not the point at the moment.”
“What is the point?”
“That I’ve seen the way you and Jesse look at each other. Heck, the air between you practically sizzles.”
Jillian took a breath. Lucy was right. She’d been feeling it for weeks now and there didn’t seem any reason to deny it. “That doesn’t mean—”
“It means, you’re grown-ups. You clearly like each other. Obviously, you want each other. So, why not?”
“And this isn’t about matchmaking?”
Lucy slapped one hand to her chest in mock outrage. “Would I do that?”
“Yes,” Jillian said, laughing.
“Okay,” Lucy admitted, unrepentant. “I would. But I’m not. I’m just paving the way to a little recreational sex.” She sighed. “Just because I’m living like a vestal virgin doesn’t mean you have to.”
Jillian thought about it while Lucy went in to get them refills. This wasn’t about love. She did like Jesse. A lot. And boy, did she want him. One night didn’t have to lead to forever. Especially since forever just didn’t exist outside novels. But one night could be something special she’d always remember.
When Lucy came back with fresh coffee, she asked, “So? Does Mac spend the night with me?”
“Yes.” Nodding, Jillian said, “Just don’t expect something to come of this because it’s not going to.”
“Jill, the truth is, I want to see my brother happy. I want to see my friend happy.” Lucy shrugged. “Is that so bad?”
“No, it’s not. And I really do appreciate the thought, Lucy, but I’m just not looking for love.”
Lucy smiled. “Oh, sweetie, that’s exactly when you usually find it.”
Seven
The more Jesse thought about attending the gala with Jillian, the more he was worried she might get the wrong idea. She wasn’t the kind of woman to be with for a night and then dismiss. She was a mother, for God’s sake. His sister’s friend. And now she was going to be his business partner.
No way he could be as cavalier with Jillian as he always had been with the other women who had come and gone from his life in a blur. But he couldn’t offer her more, either. So what the hell was he doing?
Jesse walked into the main house, intending to dump all of this on his younger brother and see what Will thought about it all. Truth be told, he needed someone else’s input. His own brain had been chewing on the problem of Jillian for weeks and he was still tied up in knots.
But at the threshold of the great room, Jesse stopped dead. Will wasn’t alone. If he’d been paying attention, Jesse would have seen the strange car parked outside the house. As it was, seeing Megan Phillips Sanders sitting on a couch beside Will caught Jesse off guard.
His brother and the woman he was legally married to were looking at a photo album and hadn’t noticed his arrival.
“Looks like it was a nice wedding,” Will said, flipping through pages.
“I thought so at the time,” Megan said. “I thought it was romantic that you—I mean he—wanted the ceremony to be on a beach, just the two of us. Looking back, I feel like an idiot.”
“You shouldn’t,” Will told her. “I’m the idiot who trusted Rich, gave him the room he needed to steal my life and to trick you.”
Megan laughed shortly. “You notice how we’re both blaming ourselves and not blaming the one person who deserves the blame?”
When Will smiled in response, Jesse was relieved to see it. There hadn’t been many of those smiles since Will came home. Maybe Megan and Will could help each other through the mess that Rich had left in his wake.
“Oh, I blame Rich all right,” Will assured her. “And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he’s caught and thrown into jail for a hundred years.”
Megan took the photo album and closed it with a slap. “That’d be good.”
Jesse was beginning to feel like some Peeping Tom, so he stepped into the room and said hello.
“Jesse, hello,” Megan said. She was a pretty woman with bright blue eyes, brown and gold hair, and she always looked like she’d stepped out of a magazine. Her clothes, shoes and purse always matched. Jesse had no idea how women did that.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt,” Jesse said.
“You’re not,” Will told him. “We were just talking. Megan was showing me pictures of her wedding to—well, me, I guess.”
Megan sighed. “Not you. I know that now. Wish I had known then.”
Jesse nodded. “We’re all feeling that way, Megan.”
“You’re being very nice.”
“None of this is your fault,” Will told her.
Jesse thought that Will looked more relaxed than Jesse had seen him in the last several weeks and for that, the Sanders family owed Megan.
To Jesse, Will said, “I was just telling Megan that I have to put up with house arrest and she has to keep up the pretense of our marriage if we want to catch Rich and throw him into the deepest, dankest cell the law can find.”
“I don’t think that’s a word, but I’m with you. And yeah,” Jesse said, shifting to look at Megan. “I’m sorry about that. Got to be hard on you pretending to care about the man who lied to you.”
She smoothed her palms over the black knee-length skirt she wore. “It’s not, really. Rich is gone and I don’t know if he even intends to come back this time. Don’t know how he could, really, since everyone thinks Will Sanders is dead. But either way,” she added, looking at Will, “everyone I know was used to you—I mean him—being gone on business a lot, so I just smile and nod wh
en people ask about my husband.”
“You’re being really great about all of this,” Will said.
“If I throw a fit, will it help?”
He grinned. “No.”
“Well, then, why bother, right?” Megan rose and picked up her purse from the table. “I’ve really got to get going now. But if it’s all right with you, I’d like to come back. Talk with you again, Will. About Rich and well...just all of it.”
He stood up and took her hand. “I’d like that, too. Feels like the two of us are sharing a leaky canoe. I think teamwork is required.”
Megan smiled at him. Jesse noticed the sparkle in her eyes and wondered if Will had seen it, too.
“If it’s okay, I’ll come back tomorrow and we can talk about what the plan is going forward.”
“Sure. That’s great.” Will walked her to the door, the two of them passing close to Jesse.
“It was nice to see you,” Megan said.
“You, too, Megan,” Jesse answered.
“Be right back,” Will said.
Jesse wandered toward the cold stone hearth and waited for his brother to see Megan off. So the two of them had been looking at a wedding album. Damn. That had to have hit Will like a truck. He couldn’t even imagine what it was like for him to look at wedding pictures featuring the man who’d tried to kill him pretending to be him.
And what must Megan be feeling about all of this? She’d married a man who’d turned out to be nothing but smoke and mirrors. Now she was married to a different man with the same name. Jesse was beginning to think Royal, Texas, was the playground of some really annoying gods.
“Man, that was rough,” Will said as he walked back into the room. He dropped down into a chair and stared up at Jesse. “I took your suggestion. This morning, I called Megan, invited her out to the ranch and when she got here, I shut up and let her talk. She told me everything from her point of view. I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but now I want to beat Rich senseless even more than I did before.”
Jesse perched on the arm of a chair opposite his brother. “How’s she doing?”
“Oh, great.” Sarcasm colored his tone. “She’s married to a stranger, just like I am. What’s that old TV show we used to watch in marathons?”
“Twilight Zone,” Jesse provided.
“That’s it. And that’s where I’m living.” Will shook his head, then scrubbed one hand across his eyes. “What’s life like in the real world?”
“Confusing as hell.”
Will’s eyebrows arched. “Good. Tell me. Give me something to focus on that’s not me.”
* * *
Jesse snorted and pushed up from the chair. Stalking to the fireplace, he laid one hand on the mantel and leaned in, wishing it was cold enough to have a damn fire. There was something soothing about the snap and hiss of flames over logs. “Apparently, I’m not only going to back Jillian in a pie shop, but I’m taking her to the TCC gala.”
Will shook his head. “Say again. Slower.”
So Jesse told him everything and realized as he did how much he’d missed being able to bounce things off Will. During that time when Rich was usurping Will’s life, he’d pretty much cut himself off from the family. Of course now Jesse could look back and see exactly why. The impostor couldn’t risk spending too much time with the Sanders family because they might have seen through the masquerade. At the time, he’d resented Will for putting their mother and sister through so much pain. Now, he was just grateful to have his brother back.
“So the pie was good, huh? Did you save me any?”
“Figures that’s what you took out of everything I just said.” Jesse shook his head. Had he just been thinking how good it was to be able to talk to the man?
“I’m hungry. Shoot me.” Will grinned and gave his brother a long look. “I’m glad you’re going to help Jillian out with the shop.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Rich pulled her into all of this then walked away. I figure the Sanders family owes her.”
Nodding, Jesse said, “That’s how I felt.”
“But the gala thing...” Will’s grin widened. “I’ve never known you to do something you didn’t want to do. So—”
“I don’t want to go to the damn dance,” Jesse assured him. “What I want is her and that’s not okay.”
“Why the hell not?”
Jesse straightened up then scrubbed both hands across his face. “Because she’s not the kind of woman for an uncomplicated affair and I’m not looking for anything else.”
“Again I ask,” Will said, “why not?”
“Seriously?” Jesse just stared at him. “You were here when Lucy’s husband died, Will.”
“What’s Dane’s death got to do with—” he broke off and sighed. “Guilt. Is that what this is about? You think you don’t get something because you’re not through paying your debt to some otherworldly fate?”
“Dane died because of me,” Jesse ground out.
Will scowled at him and snapped, “He died because a horse trampled him.”
“He was helping me.”
“Because he asked you to teach him.” Will stood up and faced his brother. “He wanted to fit in on the ranch. He wanted to be a part of it all and you obliged him. Not your damn fault that stallion went crazy.”
He wished he could believe that, but Jesse knew different. He never should have allowed Dane into the corral with that horse. It was too wild, and he had been too inexperienced.
“I shouldn’t have let him get so close.”
“Hard to learn from a distance.”
“Our nephew doesn’t have a father because of decisions I made.”
“Believe it or not, Jesse, you are not the center of the universe. Fate, Karma, whatever, doesn’t revolve around whatever it is you’re doing from day to day.”
“Brody’s father is dead. Nothing you say can change that.”
Still scowling, Will reminded him, “Brody has two uncles, a grandmother and a mom who’s nuts about him. That’s more than a lot of kids have.”
Facts didn’t seem to ease the regret and guilt that could still rise up and choke him without a moment’s warning. Just the other day, he’d watched Brody riding his first pony and thought that Dane should be there, seeing his son grow. Instead, the man had died, never even knowing that Lucy was pregnant.
“You’re just determined to wear a hair shirt and beat yourself over the head with this, aren’t you?”
Jesse shot his brother a hard glare. “For a while there, I was glad to have you to talk to again. Not so sure, now.”
Will smiled. “If you’re just looking for someone to agree with you, talk to yourself.”
“Thanks. Helpful.”
“You want helpful? Here it is.” Will dropped into his chair again, stretched his legs out in front of him and crossed his feet at the ankle. “Go to the dance. Kiss that woman. Don’t be an idiot, and take her to bed if she’ll have you. Let yourself live again, Jesse. Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like I’m not the only one on house arrest.”
* * *
The night of the gala, Jillian was as nervous as a teenager on her first date. “Silly.” She looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and hardly recognized herself. She hadn’t really bothered to fix her hair and take care with her makeup since Cora Lee had hosted that service for Will a few weeks ago. And that had really been more casual-dressy. This was something else entirely. And she hadn’t worn anything so blatantly feminine since she quit her job and retired her Valkyrie uniform.
Anxious, she smoothed her hands down over the front of her dress and wondered again if she’d done the right thing buying it. Sure, it looked good on her, but maybe it would send the wrong signals to Jesse. They were going to be business partners so they should keep things platonic.
“Yeah, this dress does not say ‘Be my friend,’” she said, frowning. “It’s screaming ‘Take me, I’m yours.’”
At that thought she slapped both hands to her middle and forced deep breaths into her lungs. Mac was at Lucy’s, and Jillian knew she didn’t have to worry about her girl. Mac had been so excited to have a sleepover with Brody she’d forgotten to kiss her mommy goodbye.
“And that’s a good thing,” she assured her reflection.
Jillian made another adjustment to her hair, lying in soft waves down her back. Having her hair loose made her feel a little better about how much skin was displayed by the deeply cut back of the dress.
When the knock on the door sounded, she jumped, then laughed at herself. “Get a grip, Jillian.” She checked the fall of the short, slightly full skirt, then resolutely left the bathroom.
Still nervous, she opened the door and simply stared. Jesse. Like he stepped out of a dream. Tall and gorgeous, the man had been born to wear a tuxedo. He might not be pleased about it, but Jesse was gorgeous. In his elegantly tailored tux, with a crisp white shirt and black bow tie, he looked as if he should be on the cover of GQ. Of course, you couldn’t take the ranch out of the man completely. He wore shining black boots and a black cowboy hat that only added to the whole picture that was taking her breath away. “You look very handsome.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said, “but you look beautiful.”
The way he was looking at her—as if he could simply gobble her up—made her feel beautiful. And it made her feel other things, as well. Things she’d been trying desperately not to think about. But with the heat in his gaze as he looked at her, those thoughts roared into life and refused to be pushed aside. She took a breath to steady herself. “Thank you. Why don’t you come in? I’ll get my purse and wrap.”
Stepping past her into the apartment, Jesse stopped and stared at the room in front of him. Jillian smiled at the stunned expression on his face.
“Look a little different in here?” she asked unnecessarily.
He glanced at her briefly and grinned. “I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Rich Rancher's Redemption Page 10