Roz Denny Fox

by Precious Gifts

  Jake’s gaze had narrowed to a frown at her announcement. “Mom delivered the wagon. Who came with her?”

  “They weren’t together.” Hayley coughed. She hadn’t intended to tell Jake. Now that she’d let it slip, she grudgingly gave him details.

  “I don’t like Westin’s bully tactics. Why would Mom tell him we’re on to his development scheme?”

  “She didn’t. It’s okay, Jacob. The men left. Everything’s fine.”

  Not mollified in spite of her assurance, Jake yanked on a pair of leather gloves and climbed into the hole he’d made with the jackhammer the day before. “I think you ought to shut down this site until next summer. Like right now. After we finish today.”

  “I’ll do nothing of the sort.”

  “It’ll be two weeks, maybe more, before I can give you full days. When Ryan and Deputy Dawg were your only threat, it was bad enough. I figured they’d have to hunt long and hard to locate you. But Westin and his cronies know where you are and they know you’re alone most of the time. That makes two threats too many.”

  “Oh, not three?” Hayley grit her teeth and drove her chisel deep. Now she was back on track. It wasn’t hard to spurn Jake’s advances when he provided an opening like this. “Haven’t you conveniently forgotten that the Coopers tried to weasel me out of this twenty acres? Funny how everyone else is the bad guy for wanting me gone, but your intentions are so pure.”

  Jake wanted to fly out of the shaft and refute her every word. But his family was guilty. And so was he. Not just guilt by association, either. All night, as he circled the restless herd, he’d hatched a plan of his own to halt her digging. Even though his motives were based on love, that wouldn’t matter to Hayley. She still didn’t trust him. Until he overcame that obstacle, one plan to displace her would probably sound pretty much like another.

  Hayley more than half expected Jake to make excuses, or at least object to the way she’d lumped his family in with a bunch of thugs. The longer the silence drew out between them, the more she battled a cold sweat. Each time he whacked hammer to chisel, a knot in her stomach clenched tighter. Pretty soon she wanted to scream at him to deny her accusation. He had before. Why not now? She felt hot and cold. Nauseated. Sick. She crawled from the trench, wanting to blame her symptoms on her pregnancy. Hayley hated the need to give Jake the benefit of doubt.

  “Break time?” he asked, poking his head above the fissure. Though he was glad she hadn’t continued her indictment, the fact that she was taking a break without his pressuring her to told Jake he ought to step up the timetable for closing down her operation.

  She didn’t answer his question, and Jake noticed that her face was pale under a sheen of sweat. Her grip was so unstable she almost dropped her canteen.

  Flinging down his tools, Jake vaulted out of the hole. “Are you ill?” He scrambled to her side. His boots slipped on loose rock, knocking two large pieces into the shaft where she’d been working. “It’s nothing.” As if she’d admit the real problem, she thought.

  “Not a breath of air gets into these troughs. How long have you been working today? Since first light, I’ll bet.” He planted a flat palm to her forehead, then pressed it softly against her stomach. “I’m glad Mom brought the wagon, but, Hayley, you were supposed to fill it and leave it for me to truck back to camp. How many loads have you hauled down the mountain today?”

  His devotion and solicitude seemed to contradict his earlier silence. Maybe he hadn’t heard her question before…. Spurred by hope, Hayley smoothed a finger over the worry lines bracketing his lips.

  Turning his head slightly, Jake buried his mouth in her palm and planted a kiss. “Hayley, honey, you scare me to death. It’s plain foolishness for you to keep at this. To stay out here alone.”

  She felt the reverberations all the way to her toes. From his admission and the brief touch of his lips to her palm. Hayley quickly snatched her hand from Jake’s.

  His grave gray eyes assessed her. “I realize I’m crowding you. Last night, riding back to the roundup, I promised myself I’d quit rushing you. I just did it again. I want to start over. Take things slower. Next time I swear I’ll let you say when you’re ready to be kissed.” He made an exaggerated cross over his heart.

  She was ready. Hayley hitched in a long ragged breath, which Jake misread.

  He stepped back to give her some space. “No dice, huh?” he said gloomily.

  Hayley grabbed her canteen. “Does starting over mean that we’ll start off equal?” she ventured in a shaken voice. “You won’t give me orders?”

  “Promise.” Jake leaned forward and urged her free hand up for a limp high-five. He felt a whole lot better, glad to be given another chance. “I’m asking, not ordering, okay? But would you like to play hooky this afternoon?” He capped her canteen and traced a finger over her dusty nose. “We could use your truck and go into town. You’ve never seen Eden’s store or her design room where, with any luck, she’s going to make you a rich woman.” A dimple flashed in Jake’s cheek.

  Hayley shook her head, yet smiled tentatively. She thought he was kidding, but wasn’t altogether positive. “I can’t just quit work in the middle of the day.”

  “Sure you can. You’re the boss, aren’t you?”

  She ran nervous fingers down the front of her dirty jumper. “It’s impossible. I’d need to take a bath and change clothes.”

  Jake could tell the idea appealed. “A quick shower under the waterfall and throw on a clean dress. Meanwhile, I’ll finish loading the wagon. We can be on the road in, oh, twenty minutes.” He made a show of checking his watch.

  “It’s tempting.” The frown that had settled on her forehead began to fade. “I want to see Eden’s shop. I should bank the check she gave me. I hate to leave it lying around the trailer.” She paused suddenly. “We’ll get back here late. Aren’t you riding herd tonight?”

  “Nope. Not till tomorrow night. We’ll have time to take my mom and Eden to dinner. Tubac has this great Mexican restaurant. Wait…will that upset Junior?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t thrown up in a while.” A new sparkle lit her eyes. “I shouldn’t listen to you. But…oh, I want to go.”

  “All right. Go shower. Take Charcoal in case anyone rides in unexpectedly.”

  “What about him?” Her face fell. “We can’t leave him here.”

  “He can stay to guard the place if you prefer. But he loves trips to town.”

  “Let’s take him. I’m afraid he might tangle with the wolves if he’s here by himself. I’ve heard some close by the last few nights.”

  “Probably the Mexican grays the state reintroduced along the border last year. They were released south and west of here. The drought is driving wild animals from their natural habitats to look for water. I hope you’re not bathing at the spring after dark. It’s not safe, Hayley. One of our vaqueros sighted jaguar tracks again.”

  “Still safer than during the day when two-legged animals are on the prowl.”

  Jake started to say something, thought better of it and offered a hand to help her up. She climbed to her feet, obviously embarrassed by her awkwardness. “Easy, easy,” he cautioned. “Your center of gravity is off. You need to lean backward a little to compensate.”

  “I refuse to waddle like a duck, Jacob Cooper. It’s bad enough that I have to get patterns from Omar the Tentmaker for these jumpers.” Calling to Charcoal, she marched off down the hill with her shoulders squared and her chin high.

  After she’d disappeared, Jake let a small whistle escape his lips. He hadn’t had a lot of experience with pregnant women. He’d heard from married friends that pregnancy was a touchy time. Hayley looked fine to him. But she’d probably bite his head off if he told her so.

  Once he, too, had washed up and they were ensconced in her battered pickup, he decided to compliment her, anyway. The plum-colored maternity top she wore with denim pants brought out the lavender in her eyes. “You’re very pretty in that outfit, Hayley,” Jake
said lightly as he turned the key and stepped on the gas pedal.

  “It makes me look as round as I am high,” she grumbled.

  “It does not. What’s wrong with this truck? Does it always growl like it’s on its last legs?”

  “What do you expect? It’s older than dirt.”

  Jake gave up and closed his eyes. “Great, Hayley. You need reliable transportation. What if you went into labor early and needed to get to the hospital fast? Not only doesn’t this beast have air-conditioning, it’s cantankerous starting.”

  Charcoal, who sat between them, barked as if in agreement.

  “The baby isn’t due for ten weeks. I’m going to leave here the first week of December. I’m sure the truck will last that long. Gramps drove it for years without incident. Pop it into gear and pump the foot feed. That’s generally all it takes.”

  Jake muttered things best not repeated. He did as she suggested, and the engine caught. Except for an occasional miss, it ran smoothly after that. They made it into town without further malfunction.

  Edging forward, Hayley craned her neck around the dog to see out both side windows. “So this is Tubac? I’ve never been past the general store out on the highway.”

  “In that case I wish we had more time to explore. Anthropologists call Tubac the City of Nine Lives. It’s been a lot of things. Indian village, Presidio, boomtown, ghost town, mining town and now an art community that lives its motto, Where Art and History Meet.”

  “It’s charming. Did anyone ever tell you you’d make a good spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce?”

  His laughter filled the cab. “As kids, Dillon and I pretended we were Juan Bautista de Anza, Presidio commander, and Fray Francisco Garces, the Spanish explorer who established the fort. I could impress you with my knowledge of Tubac’s history, but I won’t. I’ll leave the hard sell to my mother and Eden.”

  “I’m already sold,” Hayley said around a nervous laugh. “It’s more a matter of being able to afford to live here. And Francesca’s in Tombstone to help me with the baby.”

  If Jake hadn’t promised to back off and give her space, this would be the time to tell her about his house, the one he wanted her to share. With Hayley, though, he was beginning to see the importance of laying solid groundwork first. So he merely pointed out Eden and Nell’s combined shop, then found a place to park.

  “Jacob. Hayley.” Nell poked her head out from a back room as the bell over the front door tinkled. “What are you doing in town? Nothing’s wrong with the baby, I hope?” She hurried to meet them.

  “I’m fine,” Hayley assured her. “Jake came to help me dig, but talked me into goofing off, instead. Don’t ask me how.” Glancing at him, she smiled.

  Eden appeared in the doorway Nell had just vacated. She wore goggles and held a small bright torch. “My brother-in-law is a smooth-tongued devil.” She grinned wolfishly. “This time he did good. Come see the pendant I’m making. The first of your opals, Hayley. I hate to brag, but it’s beautiful. Only fine opals are cut into cabochons.”

  Hayley and Jake followed Eden. “I’ll have a look,” Hayley murmured. “However, you may as well be speaking Greek.”

  “Stick with me and you’ll learn gem terminology. Opal is so fragile it sometimes has to be underlaid. Depending on the number of layers, those are known as doublets or triplets. Substantially less valuable than cabochons, like the one I cut from your ore. It looks like the sky with a trace of clouds,” she finished rhapsodically.

  Jake slid his hand over Hayley’s shoulder and squeezed. “I think Eden’s trying to say your opals are top quality.”

  “Thank you, Jacob, for interpreting,” Eden drawled. “Why are you off playing when you should be helping my husband with roundup so he can get home faster?”

  “I’ve been pulling my weight out there and then some. I had business in town. Carl Brown has my blueprints ready. Could you or Mom give Charcoal a bowl of water and show Hayley around while I dash over to Carl’s office? And if you lose that nasty tongue, I’ll take all you ladies out to dinner.”

  “Nasty, is it?” Eden hissed the acetylene in the torch in his direction before she shoved up her goggles and shut off the flame. “But far be it from me to turn down a free meal. Can you get away, Nell?”

  Nell’s hands and arms were covered in clay. “Sounds good. The pot I’m working on is a lost cause, anyway.” She folded the clay together and shut down the wheel. “Eden, give Hayley the grand tour. I need a word with Jacob. I’ll walk him to the door,” she said, shucking her apron.

  He clutched his heart with both hands. “What did I do now? If you’ve lost more of your prize chickens, my fingerprints aren’t on them this time.”

  “You really did steal those laying hens you sold me!” Hayley yelped.

  Jake gave a helpless shrug as Nell marched him toward the front door. “I fessed up to Mom—and I didn’t take your money,” he declared firmly.

  Eden and Hayley could be heard giggling. Jake noticed that his mother looked serious, however. She trailed him outside the shop before she spoke, and when she did, her voice was furtive. “Andrea Sheldon, who sells my pottery at her gift shop in Arivaca, came by today to pick up a new supply. She said two men were in town, one flashing a badge. They mentioned you by name and had a picture of a woman resembling Hayley.”

  Jake lost his teasing manner. “Did anyone direct them here? Damn, obviously Ryan and Tilford meant what they said. I thought they were all talk.”

  “Andrea said they knew she handled my pottery. She told them all roads leading out of Arivaca dead-ended on private land. Which is true. She also said she sold my work, but didn’t know me personally. I thanked her for fibbing.”

  “Hayley won’t listen to reason. I don’t know what to do, Mom. It’ll be mid-November before I can hang around her mine full days. This roundup isn’t going well.”

  “Big as that baby’s getting, Hayley shouldn’t be out there digging anymore.”

  “You tell her. It won’t do any good. Eden told her you worked right up until the day both Dillon and I were born.”

  “At home. Sitting on a stool, moving my foot up and down to turn the pot carousel, doesn’t compare to crawling in and out of holes, shoveling tons of dirt.”

  “Don’t get huffy with me. She’s not ready to accept what I’m offering. Every time I think I’m making headway, she pulls back.” He sighed. “She’s been badly burned, and she’s afraid to trust another man.”

  Nell reached for his arm, saw the clay caked on her hand and let her hand drop. “Jake, maybe you ought to give up. Stop knocking yourself out.”

  He looked her square in the eye and put his feelings into words. “I can’t, Mom. I love her.”

  “I know you think you do. But are you sure that when the chips all fall, she won’t go back to Ryan? It’s his baby she’s carrying. That’s a powerful tie.”

  “She’s smarter than that. I’m sure of it. Hayley’s like an injured rabbit. One who doesn’t know who to trust or which way to run. Eventually she’ll see that I’m not going to let her down.”

  “Oh, Jacob. I hope you’re right, son.” Nell’s troubled gaze remained on Jake’s broad shoulders as he zigzagged across the street to Brown & Brown architectural offices.

  He returned with a spring in his step, whistling a chipper tune. “Mom, you and Eden head on over to the restaurant and snag a table on the patio. Hayley wants to stop at the bank. We’ll walk through the plaza—that way she can see some of the other shops in town.”

  “Okay, but where are your house plans?” Eden asked. “Carl said you’re interested in the hacienda he first designed for Dillon and me.”

  “You guys turned it down. It’s exactly what I want. I initialed the blueprints and sent them to the builder. Art Wahl’s going to break ground on Monday.”

  “So soon?” Both Eden and Nell gave a start. Hayley had wandered over to inspect one of Eden’s display cases. If she was curious about Jake’s house plans, she didn’t sho
w it. His pensive gaze tracked her every move.

  Eden, who’d been unsure of the real situation up to now, let her mouth form a soundless “oh.” Even then she turned to Nell for confirmation. “I’ll fill you in on the way to the restaurant,” her mother-in-law whispered. “Let’s go, everyone!” Nell said aloud.

  The four went out, leaving Charcoal behind. Nell locked up while Jake took Hayley’s hand and crossed the street. He didn’t let go as they sauntered past one of the art galleries and paused to look at the paintings in the window. He released her at the bank while she opened an account, but recaptured her hand as they left.

  She’d relaxed by then and was laughing at something he said when he shoved open the door to the restaurant where they were meeting the others. Jake slipped an arm around her waist as they stepped aside to let a boisterous trio of young women make their way out of the building.

  “Well, I declare. Jacob Cooper.” A well-made-up blonde stopped and gushed his name. Her attention faltered on the woman he had tucked under his left arm. The blonde’s expression changed. “Oh, look, Tina. I do believe this is the shabby little gold digger. Daddy said she plans to turn our valley into a wasteland. With Wade Cooper’s help,” she added, pouting at Jake.

  Hayley tried to duck out from under Jake’s arm, but he tightened his grip. “Ginalyn, apologize to Mrs. Ryan.” Jake momentarily blocked the women’s exit.

  “Mrs.?” Ginalyn Westin cooed, her eyes firmly locked on Hayley’s stomach. “Gosh, Jacob, maybe the girls and I ought to add up the months you’ve been out of circulation.” All three women snickered.

  A muscle jumped along Jake’s jaw. “Spread whatever dirty rumors you’d like about me. But apologize to Hayley.”

  Ginalyn, who’d probably mastered the coy look at age two, ran her gaze over Hayley’s home-sewn outfit. Ginalyn and her friends were wearing designer jeans and silk blouses tucked into narrow waistbands. “I’m positive I didn’t misunderstand Daddy. Isn’t she digging for gold out by the springs where we used to go skinny-dipping?” This time Ginalyn made no attempt to soften the derogatory twist of her lips.