“Grow up, Hope,” Jake said. “This childish behavior has to stop.”
“You’re the one who brought me up here, Jake,” she retorted. “You kissed me back.”
She saw the flush rise on his cheekbones. The admission that he wasn’t blameless.
He let her go and leaned his head back against the door, rubbed a hand across his eyes and heaved a sigh. “I came up here hoping we could straighten out this...whatever this is between us. I was hoping you’d see reason.”
“I’m fighting for my whole life, Jake. I’m trying to get you to see that you don’t belong with Miss Carter. You belong with me.”
“This isn’t getting us anywhere.” Jake reached for the doorknob, but Hope’s hand covered his.
“Why can’t you see what’s staring you in the face?” she pleaded.
“I’m engaged to someone else,” he said. “Even if I wanted to change my mind, I couldn’t. I’d never do that to Amanda. She’s waited three years—”
Hope’s eyes had gotten round as she listened to Jake. She could see a tiny crack of light, where before there had been darkness. For the first time, he was talking in terms of changing his mind. “You’re the one who’s been putting off the wedding?” she asked. “Not Miss Carter?”
“It’s been mutual,” Jake said.
“Why has she been putting it off, if I may ask?”
“That’s between her and me.”
“Well, why have you been putting it off?” she persisted.
“That’s none of your business.”
“I think it is,” Hope said. “I think you’ve been waiting for me to grow up,” she said with the beginning of a smile. “I think you’ve been hoping I would come back from all my travels and convince you—”
“That’s enough,” Jake said. “The fact is, Amanda and I have set a wedding date. Nothing’s going to change that now.”
“Lots of people decide not to go through with their weddings,” Hope argued.
“When I make a promise, I keep it,” Jake said.
Hope cocked her head and frowned. “Even if it means being miserable for the rest of your life?”
“Amanda and I are well matched,” he said. “We can be happy together.”
“I notice you’ve never once said you love her,” Hope pointed out.
“My feelings for my fiancée are my business.”
“If you tell me you love her, I’ll go away, Jake. I won’t say another word. I’ll accept the fact that I’ve lost your love to another woman, and I’ll let you go.” Hope’s stomach was turning somersaults. What if he said he loved Miss Carter, just to get rid of her?
Luckily for her, Jake was too honest to lie. “I want you to leave me be, Hope. I want you to keep your distance from me between now and the wedding.”
“Give me one good reason why I should,” she said.
“Because if you love me, you’ll understand how hard this is for me. My word is given. And I’m not going back on it.”
Hope swallowed past the painful knot that had grown in her throat. “You don’t play fair, Jake.”
He didn’t say anything, just looked down at her, a wall behind his blue eyes that shut her out.
“All right, Jake,” she said at last. “I won’t purposely tempt you again.”
She felt some of the tension ease out of him.
“But I’m not going to leave town. I’m not going to hide myself from your sight. I’m going to be right here every day from now until you commit yourself to Miss Carter. And I’m going to hope that between now and then you come to your senses.”
She looked up at him and said, “Open the door, Jake. And let me out.”
He seemed to realize suddenly that he was standing in her way, blocking the exit. He stepped aside, opened the door and held it while she walked from the room, shoulders back, chin up. She could feel the heat of him following her down the stairs. She was aware that he was no longer behind her when she headed into the kitchen. She greeted the women working there with a smile and said, “Need any help?”
“We’re about done,” one of the women said. “Things have pretty much wound down since that rumpus in the gazebo.” The woman glanced over her shoulder narrow-eyed at Jake, who’d appeared in the doorway, and said, “You need a ride home, Hope?”
Hope smiled more brightly, aware of Jake’s presence at her shoulder, and the worried, confused and distrustful looks on the faces of the other women. “I’m riding with Faith and Randy,” she said. “I’ll find them and be on my way.”
She was out of the kitchen and into the backyard a moment later. The sun was setting, and the fenced backyard was nearly deserted. Faith sat on the steps of the wrecked gazebo with Randy beside her. She rose as Hope approached her.
“Are you all right?” Faith asked.
Hope kept the smile pasted on her face for Faith’s sake. Her sister knew far too much about her feelings as it was. “Jake and I had a little talk and ironed things out.”
“Oh?”
Faith had a way of getting her to spill the beans by looking sympathetic. “I agreed to keep my distance,” Hope said.
“Did you, really?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” Hope said irritably. “He’s engaged to Miss Carter. The wedding is in two weeks.”
“I thought you might have had some luck changing his mind,” Faith said, sliding her prosthetic hand around Hope’s waist. “You can be very convincing.”
The knot was back in Hope’s throat. “He doesn’t love her,” she said fiercely. “But he’s going to marry her anyway.”
“Well,” Faith said. “Maybe he is. And maybe he isn’t.”
Hope frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip,” she said. And grinned at Randy.
“What’s going on?” Hope said, glancing from Faith to Randy and back again.
“Faith doesn’t want you to give up,” Randy said. “Isn’t that right, Faith?”
“Right,” Faith said. “If you love Jake, you have to keep fighting for him. No matter what.”
“I told him I’d keep my distance,” Hope said.
“How much distance was it you promised him?” Faith asked.
Hope made a disgusted sound. “We didn’t measure—”
“Do you love him, Hope?” Faith interrupted.
“That’s a dumb question.”
“Do you love him?” she asked again.
“Yes.”
“Then keep fighting for him. Put yourself in his way. Keep your distance, but keep him thinking about you.”
Hope hugged her sister. “Have I told you lately what a great sister you are?”
“Nope. But you can sing my praises while Randy drives us home.”
Hope sat, crowded into the front seat of Randy’s pickup, thinking and thinking and thinking all the way home. Jake needed to see how she could fit comfortably into his life. He needed to see what a good partner she would be. And there was only one way to prove herself to him. By being there. The only question was, how could she get herself invited to spend time at Jake’s ranch?
* * *
AMANDA COULDN’T BELIEVE HER party had ended in such disaster. She’d watched Jake flatten the cowboy bothering Hope Butler, then stood mouth agape as he hauled Hope off into her house without a second thought for how it would look to their friends. It had been left to her to excuse Jake’s behavior and say goodbye to their guests.
“Amanda, are you all right?”
She turned to find Rabb Whitelaw at her elbow. “I’m fine,” she said, pasting a bright smile on her face.
Ever since Rabb had built the gazebo in her backyard she’d felt self-conscious around him. She didn’t understand her attr
action to him. She only knew it was there.
Maybe it was the fact he’d worked all those weeks with his shirt off. She’d wanted to touch his broad shoulders, his bronzed flesh. She’d attributed her attraction to the fact he was so obviously healthy, when she’d spent so many years nursing her mother’s frail form.
She’d been drawn outside again and again to spend time with him, using the excuse of offering lemonade or iced tea on a hot day. And she’d stayed to talk, admiring his strong hands at work, creating something lasting and beautiful.
She realized she was staring at his hands and wondered now, as she had then, what they would feel like on her skin. She felt a frisson of excitement and flushed as she realized what she was doing. Flustered, she said, “Did you enjoy the party?”
She looked into his hazel eyes and was glad to see they revealed no awareness of her wayward thoughts. He was Jake’s brother, for heaven’s sake!
Rabb eyed the gazebo and said, “I’ll be over tomorrow to start fixing that up for you.”
Amanda felt the tears welling as she wandered into the ruined gazebo.
“Watch out!” Rabb caught her arm to hold her in place as he removed a jagged piece of lattice that had caught on her skirt.
He saw the tears and said, “Are you hurt?”
“No.” But she was hurting.
A moment later he had her in his arms. “You’re all right, Amanda. You’re fine,” he crooned.
Amanda sobbed against his shoulder. She hadn’t even cried like this when she’d buried her mother. She had nothing to cry about. Her life was almost perfect. She’d loved her mother, but it had been a relief after eleven years of illness when she finally passed away quietly in the night. Amanda had been eighteen when her mother became ill. She was thirty-two and only now discovering the wonders of pursuing interests of her own.
Was it any wonder she hadn’t wanted to rush into a marriage three years ago where she would have had all the responsibility of caring for a husband? She’d been flattered by Jake’s attention, delighted by the prospect of having a boyfriend, looked forward to dating him and discovering the pleasures to be enjoyed by two consenting adults.
Only that hadn’t turned out quite like she’d thought it would, either.
“Are you okay?” Rabb asked.
He was smoothing her short-cropped brown hair with his hand. It was a comforting gesture; there was nothing sexual about it. Nonetheless, it felt sensual.
Maybe that had something to do with the way her body was pressed against his from shoulders to thighs. She had no idea how her hands had ended up around his neck. Suddenly she disengaged herself and stood back.
“Thank you,” she said. She felt awkward again, when there was no reason for it. Rabb was Jake’s brother. And a friend.
“Jake doesn’t suffer fools gladly,” Rabb said.
“I know,” Amanda said, managing a wobbling smile. “I don’t know as much as I’d like to about him, but I do know that.”
“And he has a soft spot for Hope Butler,” Rabb said.
“It seems so.” She was engaged to a man she admired, and soon they would be married. But there were issues they hadn’t discussed.
One of them was Hope.
Even a blind man could see the girl was infatuated with Jake. Oh, he’d pointedly ignored her all afternoon. Until that cowboy had flirted a little too much and Jake had jumped in to save her. So maybe he hadn’t been quite as unaware of Hope as he’d pretended. What did that mean? Anything?
Amanda felt tears stinging her nose again. If only Jake hadn’t ruined her beautiful gazebo. She loved that silly, impractical structure. She’d planted morning glories all around, and they’d grown through the lattice, creating a cool, sweet-smelling haven when she’d wanted to be alone to think. Now lattice and greenery alike had been ravaged by the fight between her fiancé and one of his drunken hired hands over another woman.
Another woman. She found it hard to think of Hope Butler as a woman. She’d taught Hope in high school, and Amanda still remembered chastising the girl for being late to class, for popping bubble gum, for a dozen other infractions, none of which had kept Hope from getting an A in her class. Hope was smart and she did her work.
The Hope Butler who’d turned up today was trying to look and act like someone much older. And not doing it well.
Amanda surveyed her gazebo and sighed. “I think I’ll take you up on that offer, Rabb. That is, if you let me pay you.”
“There’ll be no charge.”
“I can’t let you do that,” she protested.
“Then I’ll take it out in trade.”
She raised an eyebrow and he continued. “I’ll come by after church tomorrow, and you can make me lunch.”
Amanda smiled. “Done. I’m a good cook. What would you like to have?”
“Meat loaf and mashed potatoes.”
At that moment, Jake appeared at her shoulder, and she realized she was making plans to have a single man other than her fiancé over for supper. His brother, no less.
“Uh, Jake, would you like to join Rabb and me for supper tomorrow?”
“I promised my brother Colt and his wife that I’d take care of their two kids for the next two weeks, while they take a vacation. It’s the last chance they’ll have to be alone before their third child is born. You two want to come over and join me?” Jake asked.
“No,” Amanda said quickly. She was afraid she’d said it too quickly. She didn’t want Jake thinking she didn’t enjoy his company. It was the kids she wanted to avoid. The same aversion to responsibility that had kept her from committing herself to a husband, had also made her leery of kids. She’d had enough of caretaking to last her a lifetime.
Maybe someday she would want children of her own, but she’d spent too many years changing diapers for her mother to want that kind of obligation again anytime soon. She’d loved her mother and, given the choice again, she would make the same sacrifice. But she wouldn’t have been human if there hadn’t been days when she resented the restrictions her mother’s illness had placed on her life.
Now that she could make a choice, was it any wonder she wanted her life to stay as carefree as possible? Was it so wrong to want to make up for those long years when freedom had been impossible?
“If you don’t mind,” she said. “I’d really like to get my gazebo repaired as soon as possible.”
“I’d offer to fix it for you,” Jake said, “but I know Rabb’s a better carpenter.”
The two men exchanged a look that Amanda couldn’t decipher.
“When will we see each other again?” Amanda asked Jake.
“As a matter of fact, I’d like some time alone with you now, if that’s all right,” Jake said.
The two men exchanged another look that Amanda found equally perplexing, before Rabb turned to her and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Amanda.”
“Thanks, Rabb. See you then.”
A moment later he was gone, and she was alone with Jake.
It was ridiculous to feel awkward being alone with her fiancé. They were getting married in two weeks. Jake would be entitled to all sorts of intimacies then. As would she.
Amanda looked at Jake, wondering what it would feel like to have his hands on her naked flesh. It was as though her thoughts had conjured action. Because Jake took a step and drew her into his embrace.
She barely managed to keep herself from stiffening as she felt his hips pressing against hers. Even so, she pushed at his shoulders and leaned back enough to look into his eyes.
“What happened today?” she asked.
He averted his gaze. “He was my hired hand. It was my responsibility to keep him in line.”
“Hmm.” She raised a hand to brush at a lock of black hair that had fallen over his forehead. “What about t
hat trip upstairs with Hope? Is it your job to keep her in line, too?”
He brought his gaze back to bear on her, and she felt her heart clench at the tortured look in his eyes.
“That girl gets under my skin,” he admitted. “She’s a nuisance. That’s all. She’s promised to keep her distance from now on.”
“Until the wedding? Or afterward, too?”
He lifted a brow. “Are you jealous of her? You don’t need to be. You’re the one I’m marrying.”
Amanda felt doubt niggling at her, but she wasn’t sure how far she wanted to push Jake. He’d never said he loved her. But she’d never said the words to him, either. It had just been...understood.
“Kiss me, Jake,” she said. Make me feel loved. Reassure me that we’re doing the right thing.
His mouth came down on hers an instant later, hard and demanding. His hand rose to cup her breast, but she pressed herself harder against him, making it difficult for him to touch her. His hand slid down between them, across her abdomen, and her body tensed as she waited for his touch.
Before he reached his destination, she shoved hard at his chest and broke free. They were both breathing hard. His eyes glittered with...desperation.
Amanda shuddered. “Oh, God,” she said. “What are we doing?”
She stared at Jake, waiting for an answer.
“I thought you wanted this. I thought you wanted us to make love. You’ve put it off all this time. I thought you were finally ready.”
She shook her head. “No.” Another breath shuddered out of her. “Not like this.”
“Like what?” he said.
She searched his face, finding it devoid of any emotion. His eyes were shuttered, his features remote. “Do you love me, Jake?”
She was startled by the question. Strangely, she’d never asked it before. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.
“I respect you. I admire you. I think you’ll make a good wife.”
She smiled sadly. “I see.” She waited for him to inquire about her feelings for him. She wasn’t sure what she would have said. But he never asked.
He was a very attractive man. He’d proved he could be faithful to a wife, even though his wife had left him in the end. He was a successful cattle rancher, well respected in the community. He had a large and loving family. He was perfect husband material.
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