Eight
Two days later Dylan paced the confines of his L.A. office. He was restless. Something had shifted inside him last Monday at the new restaurant. From the second he’d seen Sage take in Jenna’s presence at his side and come to the correct conclusion about her pregnancy, he’d known he would defend her to anyone for any reason. For all time.
During his training in France he’d heard people refer to a coup de foudre—love at first sight—and he’d eschewed it for the fantastical notion it was. But thinking about that split second when he’d first noticed Jenna back in March, it was the only way to describe how he’d felt and behaved that night. It certainly described how he felt now. His family would just have to struggle to understand. Hell, even he struggled to get a grip on just how much one woman could turn his world upside down.
Since he’d walked back into her world five days ago, his every thought had been consumed by her, his every action taken with her in mind. Now, instead of focusing on the business and meetings to discuss the commencement of their planned East Coast expansion that had called him back to L.A., he was resenting the fact that it had taken him away from Cheyenne—away from Jenna.
He’d called her last night, but he’d sensed a reserve in her again, as if overhearing Sage’s words had somehow erected an invisible wall thwarting the tentative connection they’d been building on. If only Dylan hadn’t been forced to let her leave on Monday. If only he’d been able to pursue that kiss they’d shared at the restaurant just a little further. Instead, she’d all but fled from him and he’d had to let her go, his cell phone ringing in his pocket even as he watched her flee.
It was as if she was too scared to trust him, too scared to allow him into her life. But there was more to it than that. So many more layers to Jenna Montgomery that his hands itched to peel away. He’d have to bide his time, though, at least until Saturday, when he was due back in Cheyenne.
Dylan came to a halt at his office window and looked down over the sprawling metropolis that was Los Angeles. This had been his home, his city, for the past five years, and he’d fit in here. After training and cooking in restaurants in continental Europe and the United Kingdom, he’d been ready to come back to the States, ready to take on his next role in his career. But with J.D.’s death he’d been forced to take stock, to reevaluate his belief system and what was important in his life.
Right now, he missed Cheyenne. More to the point, he missed a certain woman who lived there. The perfect solution would be to take her and simply transplant her here into his life, his world. But even he knew that wouldn’t be fair to her. She had a life in Cheyenne, a business and a home. Until he’d shown up in her store, she’d had everything worked out quite perfectly, Dylan had no doubt.
He forced his mind back to work, back to the task at hand. He’d get through these days because he had to, and because, ultimately, doing so would let him return to where he most wanted to be right now.
His phone chirping in his breast pocket was a welcome interruption to the frustration of his thoughts.
“Lassiter,” he answered, without checking the caller I.D.
“Hey, Dylan, it’s Chance. How are you?”
“I’m good, thanks, and you? How’re things at the Big Blue?” Dylan smiled as he spoke. A call from his cousin was always a welcome break from everything else.
“I’m thinking of putting a barbecue together for Saturday. Think you could handle someone else’s cooking for a change?”
Dylan laughed out loud. “Sure. For you, anything.”
“Great. I was also thinking you might have a certain someone you’d like to bring along with you?”
“You been talking to Sage?”
“I might have.”
Dylan could hear the smirk that was undoubtedly on his cousin’s face.
“Chance—” he said, a grim note of warning in his voice.
“Hey, I promise I’ll be on my best behavior, truly. I just want to meet her.”
“And if she doesn’t want to come?”
“I guess I can probably feed you, anyway,” Chance drawled teasingly as if doing so would be a great hardship.
“That’s big of you.”
“But I’m sure, with your charm and skills, you’ll manage to get her to come along.”
“I’ll let you know. What time do you want us?”
“Let’s make it early. Hannah is visiting with her little girl, Cassie. She’s the cutest tyke.”
Since the discovery that Chance had a half sister—his father’s secret daughter—the family had been getting to know one another, with great results. Now Hannah was engaged to Logan Whittaker, the lawyer who had been responsible for finding her when the contents of J.D.’s will had become known, and their family continued to expand. It was a good thing, Dylan thought privately.
“You getting ready to settle down, cuz?” It was Dylan’s turn to tease now.
“Not likely,” Chance replied, “but it’s hard not to love her. She’s a good kid. Anyway, come around six.”
Dylan did a little mental calculation. By the time Jenna closed shop on Saturday and he picked her up, they could just about make it.
“We might be a little late,” he said, “but we’ll be there.”
“Great, I’ll let Mom know. She loves having family over. The more the merrier, right?”
Right, Dylan thought grimly as he disconnected the call. Now all he had to do was convince Jenna she wanted to meet more of his family, when all they probably wanted to do was subject her to the third degree. Damn Sage and his flapping mouth. Still, when push came to shove, his family was the backbone of who he was today, and Dylan wanted Jenna to see that, to be a part of it and to want their baby to be a part of it also. This gave her a perfect opportunity to see just what his family’s lives were like.
* * *
Dylan had never been happier to leave L.A. and take the flight that brought him back to Cheyenne. As he pulled up in his SUV outside Jenna’s house, he saw her at the front door before he could even get out of the car. He’d toyed with bringing the Caddy—he hadn’t quite been able to bring himself to part with it just yet—but he knew it would probably make her uncomfortable. Besides, with the temperatures tonight set to drop to around fifty degrees, they’d probably welcome the climate control in the SUV instead.
He got out from behind the wheel and walked around to open her door for her, his eyes drinking in her appearance. He hadn’t seen her for four days, but it felt like four weeks. Was it his imagination or was her tummy just that tiny bit rounder, her breasts that much fuller? Everything inside him tightened up a notch.
“Hi,” she said, ducking her head as if she was a little shy.
“Hi back,” he replied, bending his head to kiss her on the cheek. She blushed a pale pink when he did. He loved that he could do that to her, unnerve her like that. “I missed you.”
She flicked her gaze up toward him and he saw her bite her lip, an action that sent heat rushing to his groin.
“I missed you, too.”
She sounded puzzled by the fact and it made him quirk his lips in a smile. Dylan handed her into her seat and closed the door, suppressing the urge to punch the air and give a primal whoop of satisfaction. Progress. At last he was making progress.
He filled the time during their thirty-mile drive out to the Big Blue with what he’d been doing in L.A.
“So your sister lives in the house in L.A., too?”
“Yeah. Dad bought the property about twenty years ago and Angelica has really made it her own. She has a knack for decorating, for making a place feel like a home.” He sighed inwardly. “It’s always good to see her, but she’s been pretty angry since Dad died. Things are strained between all of us.”
“Angry?”
“Yeah.” Dylan suddenly wished he
hadn’t brought the subject up, but it probably deserved airing. “Dad was pretty old-fashioned, but I always thought he was fair. What he did to her when he left a controlling share in Lassiter Media to her fiancé, rather than to her, was a slap in the face. It’s really upset her, especially since she’d basically been the one running Lassiter Media up until J.D.’s heart attack.”
“Wow, I can see why she’d be upset. Is that why the wedding got called off?”
Dylan nodded. It still made him sick to his stomach. “Lassiter Media was Angelica’s life, and now she’s left wondering if the whole reason Evan asked her to marry him was so he could gain control of the company. Not exactly the basis for a good start to marriage.”
Jenna was quiet for the rest of the journey, until Dylan reached across the center console and laced his fingers through hers.
“You okay?” he asked, flicking her a glance.
“Just a bit nervous.”
“Don’t be. Chance is a great guy.”
“Who else will be there?”
“His mom, Marlene—she’ll love you, don’t worry. And his half sister, Hannah, is visiting with her daughter, Cassie. And look, we’re nearly there.”
He pulled in through the gates to what had, in his mind, always been home. After his parents died, J.D. and Ellie had brought him and Sage here to the ranch. Originally, the main house had been far more modest, but as the Big Blue had become more successful, it was replaced by the two-story wood-and-metal structure they were now approaching. Wraparound porches with hand-hewn wooden railings graced both levels.
“Wow, this is quite a place,” Jenna commented, sitting up a little straighter in her seat. “You and Sage grew up here?”
“Lucky, huh? Just think, all this land and these big wide-open spaces for two little boys to burn their energy off in. I had a great childhood.”
It occurred to Dylan that she hadn’t talked much about her own upbringing. Aside from knowing she was born in New Zealand and had, for the most part, grown up in the U.S., he still had a lot to find out about her.
They got out of the car and walked up to the entrance. Dylan pushed open the front door and guided Jenna inside, yelling out a “hello” as he did so. Footsteps sounded in the hall and an older woman came forward.
“Dylan! Great to see you!” She enveloped him in a huge hug.
“Aunt Marlene, I’d like you to meet Miss Jenna Montgomery. Jenna, this is my aunt, Marlene Lassiter.”
“Mrs. Lassiter, I’m pleased to meet you.”
“Oh, go on now, we don’t stand on ceremony here. Call me Marlene and I’m going to call you Jenna. Head on through. I’ve still got a few things to see to in the kitchen. Hannah and Cassie are outside on the patio and Chance is fiddling with the grill, as if he thinks he knows what he’s doing.”
“No Logan today?” Dylan asked.
Marlene shook her head. “No, he called me to apologize and say he’d been called out of town for legal work for some high-profile corporate client but just between you and me I think he’s ducked away to avoid the wedding planning.” She finished with a wink and a sparkle in her eyes that took the sting out of her words. “So, go on outside. They’re waiting for you.”
Jenna appeared to hold a little tighter to Dylan’s hand. He guessed it was a bit overwhelming when you came here the first time. He looked around the house he’d grown up in. Maybe the second time, too. Out on the patio she seemed to relax a bit more. The expansive gardens stretched out before them.
“Is that a pond?” Jenna asked.
“It’s a saltwater pool designed to look like a pond. When Sage and I were younger we used to swing from a rope tied to a branch on that tree there—” he gestured to the limb in question “—and drop into the deep end.”
“Wow, you really had it all, didn’t you?” she said, almost to herself.
A little girl bounced toward them, her bright red hair hanging in disordered ringlets around her pretty face and her green eyes sparkling with mischief.
“You’re my uncle Dylan, aren’t you? But Mama says you’re more like a cousin something-removed. What’s that?”
“Cassie! Let Dylan and his guest say hello to the rest of us first, before you start bothering them,” a woman’s voice called from the patio.
Dylan watched as Chance’s half sister, Hannah, rose from her seat and came over to greet them.
“Hi again,” she said to him before turning to Jenna. “I’m Hannah Armstrong.”
“Jenna Montgomery,” she said. “Is that your daughter? She’s adorable.”
Hannah beamed with pride. “Yes, that’s my little treasure. She’s quite the character. Here, you leave Jenna with me and go and see what Chance is doing over by the grill.”
Dylan gave Jenna a glance to see if she was comfortable with that. She inclined her head slightly.
“Sure, I’ll be fine,” she said, but he could see by the pallor of her cheeks that she was still a little nervous, as if, given the right provocation, she’d turn and run like hell back to Cheyenne.
“I’ll say hi and then I’ll be right back.”
“It’s okay,” Hannah assured him in her gentle voice. “I won’t bite.”
* * *
Jenna let Hannah draw her over to where she’d been sitting a moment ago, and they relaxed in the late afternoon sun.
“I’m gonna help Grandma with the horse derves,” Cassie announced importantly, before skipping back inside the house.
“Wow, she’s full of energy, isn’t she?” Jenna commented, her lips still pulled into a smile over the little girl’s mispronunciation of hors d’oeuvres.
“Sure is. Has been like that from the day she was born. Never a dull moment with her around, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
There was a steely vein of pride running through Hannah’s voice. One that made Jenna press her hand on her lower belly. Yes, that’s how she felt, too. As scary and unknown as what lay before her was, she wouldn’t have it any other way, either.
“It’s so beautiful here,” she remarked, looking around again, trying to take it all in.
“I know. When I first saw the place it totally blew me away.”
“You didn’t grow up here?”
“No, I’m from Boulder, Colorado. But I’m getting married next month and Cheyenne will be our permanent home after that. In the meantime, Cassie and I are staying here. She’s loving having an uncle she can twist around her little finger, not to mention a Grandma who just adores her.”
Jenna tried to put all that information together, but something was still out of sync in her mind. “Marlene’s not your mom?”
“It’s complicated. Chance and I share a dad,” Hannah explained with a wistful smile. “But they’ve all been so welcoming since we found out about one another. Especially Marlene, which was so much more than I could have hoped for.”
“They seem very tight-knit,” Jenna observed, watching Dylan and Chance laughing together over something one of them had said.
“But inclusive at the same time. Don’t worry.” Hannah patted Jenna’s hand. “I wondered what I’d be letting myself in for, but they made me welcome from the start. You’ll fit right in.”
Would she? Her heart yearned for stability; she’d created as much as she could herself by working hard and buying her own home. She was almost fanatical about establishing roots, about grounding herself in familiarity and routine after her younger years filled with instability. From what she saw here, the Lassiters were clearly just as invested in permanence.
“Here you are, ladies. Some icy cold lemonade for you, honey,” Marlene said to Jenna as she returned, putting a tray with a couple of frosted pitchers and some fresh glasses on the table in front of her. “And margaritas for us.”
Jenna felt uncomfortable. So they knew al
ready that she was pregnant. She murmured her thanks and watched Cassie carry a tray with inch-high edges to Chase and Dylan.
“Used to be a time she’d serve me first,” Hannah commented with a rueful smile. “But now it’s all about her uncle.”
“She might have him wrapped around her pinky,” Marlene observed, “but it’s mutual. It’s good to have a child around here again. It’s been too long since those boys were growing up.”
The older woman turned to face Jenna, a warm glow lighting her hazel eyes. “How are you keeping with the baby, Jenna? Well, I hope?”
Jenna’s upset that news of her pregnancy had preceded her must have been evident on her face.
“Oh, I’m sorry, hon. Is it supposed to be a secret? Chance told me and I just thought the whole family knew.”
Jenna hastened to reassure her hostess. “No, really, it’s okay. I’m just not used to people knowing just yet.” She smiled to soften her words. “As to how I’ve been? I’ve been pretty lucky. A little nausea in the early stages but my main problem has been tiredness.”
“You’re in your second trimester now, aren’t you?” Marlene asked. When she nodded, the other woman said, “You should notice you’re feeling better again soon. This is where you get to experience all the fun of a pregnancy, without the sickness or the aches and pains. Is your family looking forward to the baby’s arrival?”
Jenna squirmed a little. She was totally unused to someone being so inquisitive, though friendly. “I don’t have any family locally,” she settled on saying—unwilling to admit to anyone here that her father was doing time at the state penitentiary in Rawlins.
“Oh, you poor girl,” Marlene clucked sympathetically. “Never mind. If you’ll let us, we’d be glad to help you out. If you have any questions, anything at all, you just ask away.”
“Thank you.” Jenna blinked back the burn of tears at the kindness of Marlene’s unexpected offer. Her eyes hazed over again and she lifted a hand to wipe at the moisture that began to spill.
EXPECTING THE CEO'S CHILD Page 8