She wiped a lock of hair away from her burning face with an abrupt swipe of her hand. “How did you know about that?”
“I didn’t…”
Jen watched him retrieve his jeans and shirt, and sighed soft under her breath when he covered up the results of their hot action. He glanced quickly at her, and curved his kissable mouth up into a silly grin.
“I figure it’ll be easier to talk with each other if we’re completely dressed.”
“Yes.”
His bass laugh flooded her senses as she followed him out of her private room to a rough-sided table in the center of the bar. He pulled out one of the chairs and waited for her to sit before pushing it tight to the table and taking out another one. He turned it and straddled his legs around the seat, laying his arms along its back. Soft blond hairs rubbed against his collar, his shirt flying open in the warm breeze of the heating duct near the middle of the room.
She wanted to tell him to button up his shirt, but she decided against it. Staring at his chest would make it easier for her to say what she had to say.
“So, spill it.”
Jen glanced up into his eyes for a second before focusing on his naked chest, delighting in the loud intake of breath her action sent her way. “I can’t help looking, Adam. You have such a nice chest.”
“Jen?”
Dragging in a deep breath of her own, she looked up at him again. This time she didn’t look away from his penetrating eyes. She was the one proven over the years to have a sixth sense, but Adam was making her feel as if he did right now.
Some things are worth fighting for.
“Both Barb and your brother mentioned your ex-fiancé,” he offered. “And even I’ve noticed the way you act every time your sister and mother are mentioned. You get all defensive.”
“I don’t get defensive.”
He leaned into his arms. “You don’t?”
She stiffened her back against her chair for a moment before relaxing. “I didn’t realize I did that.”
Adam only nodded.
She sighed, glancing down at her folded hands. “I think I might have told you my sister has her own type of ability. But hers only seems to work on me.”
He nodded again.
“And that my mother thought I was a freak because I seemed to know things before I should. Like when my grandmother died.”
“You told me that.”
“What I never told you,” she said, gazing into his face again, “was that my sister seemed to know what was in my heart. She always knew when I was feeling…love for someone.”
“Like me…” He stopped his words. “Like your fiancé?”
She sighed again. “And my first boyfriend in high school, the first guy I ever cared about in college. She even knew how I felt about this little boy I used to hang around with down the street from where I grew up. I didn’t even know I cared about him. He was the first boy she ever stole from me. My ex was the last.”
“Tell me what happened.”
Jen looked back down at her hands. “I thought things would be different. When Sam met my sister a month before the wedding he didn’t like her. One day he called her a bitch in front of me. When I agreed with him, he told me he couldn’t believe we were sisters. That made me feel so good inside, and I guess I let my guard down with Kimberley.”
“No offense to you, Jen,” Adam said lightly, “but your sister is a bitch.”
She glared up at him now, anger lacing in her voice. “Then why am I finding all of my guys sleeping with her? No, sleeping is not the word I want to use here. Fucking is a better word. Except for the grade school crush, all of those guys disliked my sister, but I still found all of them fucking her. And when I caught her humping Sam two weeks before the wedding, I said enough was enough.”
“And you decided not to allow your heart to get involved with another man.”
“Until…you,” she whispered. “You must have gotten to me somehow, or my sister wouldn’t be here. I haven’t seen Kimberley in six years. I really didn’t know she was in town. I told you earlier but I need to tell you again. When William first mentioned the hotel manager, I had no idea it was her. I sensed uneasiness after hearing about her from him, but I never suspected it could be Kimberley. Not until the stampede.”
“She showed up in the town right after the cows were herded together.”
“I know,” she said. “It’s why I acted so cold toward you.”
“Jen, I’m not going to change my mind about her.” He reached over and traced the line of her chin. “I’m not changing my mind about you, either.”
“I didn’t think Sam would change his mind, Adam.” She studied him closely, catching and holding onto his look. He didn’t turn away from her. Her new resolve to fight her sister seemed buried in the old hurt of her past failures. “I want to believe you’ll be different, but no man has ever been able to resist my sister’s advances. I want to trust you, but I’m not sure I can.”
His fingers settled on her cheek now, brushing a rough thumb over its surface. “Trust isn’t easy, but it is necessary.”
“Necessary?”
Adam dropped his hand and stood, gathering her up into his arms. “Yeah, it’s necessary. All relationships have to have trust, or there’s no relationship.”
“And you want a relationship with me?” Moving her hands around his waist, she leaned an inch away from his naked chest and gazed into his face. “You want to take a chance on a weakling like me? You want to deepen this connection between us?”
“Yeah,” he drawled in that deep, gruff voice of his. “And like all new connections, we have to believe in the other person. I think we need to give each other a second chance.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you.”
His mouth folded downward into a frown. “If I’m willing to give a second chance to a woman whose been picking up her dates for the last six years from smoky old barrooms, if I’m willing to trust her to be true to me, then the least she can do is give me a chance to prove my intentions are for real.”
The uplifting of his lips showed a lie to his slightly harsh words.
“Hey.” Her lips curving upward into a slight smile, she loosened her hands and stood from him. His hands slid to the side of her waist and settled there. “Except for David, I was real careful to pick out decent guys. I can do that, you know?”
“Yeah?” he drawled again. “And what has your ability been telling you about me?”
Reaching her arms back around him, she drew his body close to hers and leaned her head on his smooth chest. “I think you know.”
“Tell me.”
“I won’t regret it next time we make love.”
And…”
Sometimes she had to believe in her own abilities. “And I won’t regret trusting you.”
“Beautiful, I’m glad to hear you say that.”
“But I’ll need to go slow.”
“Slow is my best speed.”
His whispered words promised all sort of things, things she couldn’t wait to explore with him.
Yet still her sister’s image sat just within her inner sight. Before she could explore all those possible promises with Adam, she’d have to settle things with her sister.
Somehow, somewhere, she’d have to find the strength to fight to free her future from her sister.
Chapter 19
Jen hung on to her new resolve until she entered the hospital, only to feel it slip away when she heard her sister’s voice. Kimberley stood behind her father, leaning close to her mother to whisper something meant for just the older woman to hear. Jen figured it had to be about her when she spied Kimberley’s too bright smile and cunning look.
Jen recognized the look.
“Jennifer,” her father said. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Dad.”
She refused to glance at the two other women, deciding instead to focus on her father. He walked from the nursing station to meet her at the entrance
of the unit, followed close behind by her thin and beautiful mother and the still radiant Kimberley. Jen’s strength faded from her, disappearing like dust on a windy day, as she moved closer to the two women.
Why do I let them get to me?
“Your grandfather was just asking about you.” Her father stopped within a foot of her, lifting his hand as if to touch her before dropping it to his side. For once his action didn’t tear into her. “If you want to go see him, I think I can arrange it.”
“Yes,” Kimberley’s hard voice said. Her sister glanced quickly at their mother before glaring at Jen. “Yes, go and see him. I’ve been waiting in this tacky lobby for an hour, yet… Granddad always did favor you. Ed and I never even registered to him when you were in the room.”
Jen ignored the cutting comment. She refused to get into an argument with her sister now, especially one involving their grandfather. Speaking to her father, she asked, “How is Granddad doing?”
“He’s fine.”
“My father wouldn’t have to be going through all of this, Jennifer,” her mother said, fake concern edging in the deep alto of her voice, “if you’d been watching over him instead of… spending time with that cowboy.”
“Grace,” her father said. “Jen has a right to a life of her own.”
“With a dirty, old cowboy,” her mother said, disgust clear in her voice. “I don’t think I like the idea of my daughter getting together with a no-account man like him.”
“He seems like a fine man to me.” Edward glanced at his ex-wife before turning to face Jen. He reached out and touched her face lightly this time. “Don’t let your mother upset you.”
“If Mother knew the Craines owned a large ranch ten miles from Winter Creek, I’m sure she would change her mind about Adam.”
“Jennifer,” her father said. “Let’s not start anything today.”
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“The cowboy’s family owns a ranch?”
Jen looked past her father’s shoulder, spying the look of interest shining in both the women’s faces. She nodded at her mother before focusing her attention onto her sister’s conniving face. Familiar weakness swept through her body at Kimberley’s look, causing her to back up a step. Her sister’s lips curved upward at her reaction. The same reaction she’d always shown Kimberley in these situations. Her Achilles’ heel, a fault Jen couldn’t quite back away from yet, one that left her feeling mediocre and powerless.
Jen was tired of feeling so helpless around these two women.
“Well, isn’t that interesting,” Kimberley said. “Good-looking and rich are nice qualities.”
Why did she have to tell everyone the Craines were well-off? Why did she have to say it in front of Kimberley? “Yes, but he’s still a simple cowboy at heart.”
“Your men are never simple, Jennifer.” Kimberley moved toward her, stopping with her back to their parents. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she said, “Why do you think I always want to steal them away?”
“Because you’re a manipulative bitch,” Jen said lightly, keeping her own tone level. “One who can’t seem to find a decent man on her own.”
Her tough words caused Kimberley to step back this time, with a look of astonishment lining her face. Jen felt her strength and resolve returning slowly as she watched her sister fight her inner feelings.
Flushed with unexpressed anger, Kimberley squinted through narrow eyes. “You won’t win, sister mine. Just like Sam and all the others, your precious Adam will be in my bed before the week is out.”
“Not this time.” Strength flowed hard and fast into Jen as she sensed her sister’s mystification. For once Jen saw, like a shadowy truth buried beneath a ton of lies, an imperfection in her sister’s beautiful armor. She grabbed at the vague flaw. “Adam is different.”
Kimberley allowed her lips to form into a hard smile, covering up her slight blemish with beams of steel. “Oh, good, you’re going to fight me this time. This Adam must be better than all the rest if you’re willing to fight for him.”
“I trust him.” And she did. When the words left her mouth, she sensed the truth behind them. All relationships have to have trust, or there’s no relationship, Adam had said to her yesterday. For their relationship to bloom and blossom, she had to believe in his ability to say no to the temptation of her sister. “I trust him.”
“Oh, you poor misguided thing,” Kimberley said, leaning close to her. “You may think your Adam is different than any other male, honey, but he isn’t. All men want only one thing when it comes to women, and I know you’ve promised not to give into the temptation. David told me about your promise to Granddad and the school. If it was given just to the school, I doubt keeping such a stupid promise would mean much to you. But a promise to Granddad is another story. I know you’ll never disappoint our dear grandfather.”
“You know David?”
“Intimately,” she whispered. “I’ll admit I caught him on the rebound from you, but still, I caught him.”
The bastard. How dare he continue to lie about me? When all along he was sleeping with my sister? After all those weeks of treating her like a slut, he’d been seeing Kimberley. The bastard. Yet, even though David had slept with her sexy, beautiful sister, he’d acted like he wanted to get back with her. This thought left her feeling stronger than she’d felt in a long time around Kimberley.
“You must not have made much of an impression on him,” Jen said.
“Oh, but I did.”
“Then why did he want to get back together with me?”
Kimberley’s thin mouth tightened like a razor-thin blade, a deep slash cutting a slender groove between her lips.
Jen turned her back to her sister and wandered toward her silent father. “I’d like to see Granddad now.”
He looked from Jen to her sister before settling his gaze on Jen again, a hint of a smile warming his face. “I’m glad you’re getting back to your true self.”
Jen felt the corners of her lips flow upward. “So am I, Dad.”
“I missed the old you,” he added. “I missed the way you were when you were young.”
She grinned at her father. “You mean, you miss Kimberley and I fighting all the time.”
His gaze settled on Kimberley before leaping back to her. “You may have been fighting, but at least you were talking to each other.”
A matronly nurse stepped into the waiting room then, blocking the exit. “Dr. Ferguson, your father-in-law is insisting on getting up.” Though her voice seemed level, Jen heard the frustration in it. “He said, ‘If my granddaughter doesn’t show up within the next ten minutes, I’m leaving this hospital.’”
“Sounds like Dad,” Edward said, with a relaxing grin. “Don’t worry about it, Mary. I’ll take care of him.”
“I wish you would, Doctor,” the long-suffering nurse said. “Your father-in-law isn’t the only patient we have to take care of, you know.”
“I know,” he said gently, moving to the doorway. “Tell Dad Jen is on her way.”
The nurse turned toward her and nodded. “Good. I’ll let him know you’re here, dear.”
“No need,” Jen said. “I’ll just follow you to his room.”
* * * *
When Jen entered the room she found her grandfather sitting on the edge of the bed with the bedside table in front of him. The moment she stepped inside he pushed the table away, sending the crossword puzzle book he’d been working on to the floor.
“Hello, Granddad,” she said. “I’m glad to hear you’re doing okay.”
He grunted, glaring at the nurse standing in the doorway. “Do you mind? I’d like to talk with my granddaughter in private.”
“As long as you stay in bed,” the nurse said. “You’ll make him lay down, I hope.”
“I will.”
When the woman left, closing the door behind her, Jen turned to spy the older man reaching down for the upended book.
“No, I’ll get that for you,” Jen said. “
You’d better stay on the bed.”
“I supposed the old nurse is lingering in the hallway, listening at the door,” he said, in a voice loud enough for the nurse to hear. “You can just go tell her to bug someone else for a while.”
Jen shook her head, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “I think you just did.”
“Good,” he said, temper getting the better of him. “The old battleaxe needs to find another patient to meddle with. I’ll be fine now that you’re here.”
“Granddad, you need to calm down.”
“The way everyone is treating me around this place, you would think there was something seriously wrong with me,” he added. “I didn’t have a heart attack or anything, for crying out loud. I only breathed in some bad air.”
“And it was my fault.” She hadn’t meant to say the words. Yet when she heard them, she knew they needed to be said. “Mom claimed it was my fault you were hurt.”
“Your mother doesn’t know what she’s talking about, Jenny girl.”
All the mixed up emotions she’d felt since arriving at the hospital fled her, leaving only guilt. Tears gathered beneath her eyelids as she reached down to pick up the book and place it on the table. She rolled the table to the foot of the bed before settling at the edge of the hard mattress.
“Don’t let your mother upset you.”
“If I’d been less selfish,” she started, not looking up from the floor, “I would’ve allowed you to move from my home. I wanted to keep you around for as long as possible.”
“I love you too, Jenny girl.”
“You wouldn’t have been hurt,” she said, glancing up at him now. “If you were in the assisted living place we toured, this would never have happened. If I hadn’t been in Winter Creek, with Adam, you wouldn’t have needed to cook dinner.”
“None of this is your fault.”
“Yes, it is, Granddad.” She stood and moved to the guest chair, pulling it close to her grandfather’s aging form. When had he gotten so old? When had he lost all of his vigor and strength? “But I’m not going to stop you again.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said, reaching out to touch her cheek. “Edward found me a temporary place in Southside Park. I’ll be moving into that room when I leave here.”
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