The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter

by Sherryl Woods

  He nodded. “Okay, maybe I didn’t set up the rules quite right. How about we go back to the house and figure out how much you owe me for the truck—and the toolshed,” he added pointedly. “Then we’ll set a salary for your chores around here. You can pay me back out of your earnings each week.”

  “Will I have to pay you every dime?”

  He chuckled at her negotiating skills. He’d raised one son who’d had the same knack for getting his way. He was head of an oil company now. He suspected Jenny could share a similar fate if she put that quick thinking of hers to good use.

  “We can negotiate that,” he suggested. “We’ll work out an appropriate payment schedule. Of course, that might mean you won’t be paid off at the end of summer. You might have to keep coming out here.”

  She weighed that for several minutes before nodding. “Okay.”

  He held out his hand. “Shall we shake on it?”

  The instant they had solemnly shaken hands on their new deal, Jenny stood and whooped with undisguised glee. “I know exactly how I’m going to spend my money, too,” she declared.

  “How?” he said, anticipating a litany of CD titles and video games.

  “I’m going to buy back Lone Wolf’s land and give it to Mom.”

  He thought the plan might be a bit overly ambitious, given her debt and her likely wages, but who was he to discourage her. “And where is Lone Wolf’s land?”

  She grinned at him. “You’re sitting on it.”

  Chapter Ten

  This had been her great-great-grandfather’s land? Harlan couldn’t have been more stunned if Jenny had announced she and her mother had robbed a bank. He gazed around at the lush, verdant banks of the creek and beyond to the rolling landscape he’d always considered his home.

  “You sure about that?” he asked, trying to piece together all of the implications. Was that why Jenny had stolen his truck in the first place, just to wrangle a meeting with him? Or maybe in some twisted way to get even with him for the perceived theft of her ancestor’s land? It was certainly one explanation for the resentful expression he’d caught on Janet’s face the day they’d gone riding over the ranch’s acres.

  It was several minutes before he realized Jenny hadn’t answered. When he looked at her, he saw that she was scuffing the toe of her sneaker in the grass and looking guilty as sin. Since things like theft and destruction didn’t stir that expression, he couldn’t help wondering what had.

  “Jenny?” he prodded. “How do you know that this was your great-great-grandfather’s land?”

  “Mom told me,” she admitted, reluctance written all over her face. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything, though. Please, don’t say I told. Please.”

  There could only be one reason for keeping such a secret that he could think of. Janet had some cockamamie plan to right an old wrong and get this land back. He’d heard of court battles like that, efforts to reclaim Native American lands stolen by individuals or the government.

  He didn’t know of too many that had been successful, though. The government’s treatment of Native American rights might have been shabby, but there were probably legal documents a foot thick to prove that the Native Americans had been compensated for every bit of land taken from them.

  The thought that Janet might try, though, was enough to make his blood run cold. The knowledge that she had insinuated herself into his life without ever saying a word about her intentions infuriated him. He would have sworn Janet Runningbear didn’t have a duplicitous bone in her body. It appeared his judgment had been impaired after all.

  “Don’t worry,” he reassured Jenny with icy calm. “I won’t say a thing to your mother.”

  No, he was going to sit back and wait for her to make her move. He would be ready for her, though. And he would make her regret the day she ever tried to tangle with Harlan Adams.

  Later that night, alone in his den, he fought against the wave of disappointment rushing over him. He’d been so hopeful that Janet and her rebellious daughter were the answers to his prayers. Now it appeared that Janet, at least, was nothing more than a liar and a cheat.

  He didn’t like the prospect of sitting idle, waiting for her to strike. That wasn’t his way.

  And maybe he couldn’t admit to all he knew and involve Jenny, but he could try to force Janet’s hand. Maybe it was time he found out once and for all if it was him she was attracted to, or, as he was beginning to believe, the land she thought belonged to her.

  With cold deliberation, he sat behind the desk where he’d kept White Pines books for so many years and plotted a strategy for making sure that not one single acre ever left Adams ownership. Janet Runningbear might be the smartest, slickest lawyer ever trained, but she was no match for him.

  Except maybe, he thought, in bed. As icily furious as he was about Jenny’s innocent revelations, he couldn’t seem to tame the desire Janet aroused in him. Maybe sex was the way to force the issue. He could satisfy this growing hunger that had him aching to touch her morning, noon and night. A woman revealed a lot when she made love to a man. He was almost certain he would know once and for all what was really in Janet’s heart, if he could just get past her emotional defenses.

  He sipped on a glass of bourbon, pleased with his plan. His pulse kicked up just thinking about it. There was nothing like the prospect for steamy sex or a good battle of wills to make a man feel alive. He had Janet to thank on both counts, he thought with a trace of bitterness. He’d have to be sure to express his gratitude when all was said and done.

  * * *

  Janet glanced up with surprise when the door to her office opened at midmorning and Harlan stepped across the threshold onto the threadbare carpet she couldn’t afford to replace until business picked up. Something in his expression alarmed her. She’d seen him looking determined. She’d seen him defiant. Both traits were evident now, but there was a cold, calculating gleam in his eyes that was something new and not entirely reassuring.

  “What brings you into town?” she asked warily.

  “I thought maybe you and I could get a word alone here.”

  She hadn’t noticed that he had all that much difficulty getting her alone at White Pines when he was of a mind to, but she just nodded. “Something important come up?”

  “In a manner of speaking,” he said, perching on a corner of her desk, his jeans-clad knees scant inches from hers.

  It seemed to Janet that he was deliberately crowding her. In fact, it was just more evidence of his odd mood. He had been acting weird all day. She’d noticed it first when she’d dropped off Jenny.

  Now that she thought about it, Jenny had seemed awfully subdued since yesterday evening, as well. Had she gotten into more trouble? Was Harlan fed up with playing surrogate daddy? Had he come to tell her that he wanted to end their arrangement?

  “Jenny’s not giving you trouble, is she?” she asked, regarding him uneasily. Jenny, for all of her grumbling, would be heartbroken if her days at White Pines and with Harlan were over.

  “None that I can’t handle,” he said.

  The response relieved her mind on that score at least, but there was something. She was sure of it. “Then, what is it?” she prodded.

  His gaze locked with hers. “I think we should go away together,” he announced.

  Oh, boy, she thought as the breath whooshed right out of her. This was the last thing she’d expected. Well, not the last thing, but certainly she hadn’t anticipated such an invitation coming so soon. Janet felt her cheeks flame as she battled temptation and embarrassment.

  “Go away together?” she repeated dazedly. “You and me? Why? I mean, we haven’t even had a real date. Don’t you think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here?”

  “We had dinner at your place. We’ve had dinner at my place. We’ve been on a picnic down by the creek. You don’t call that dating?”

  “No,” she insisted. She didn’t have a better name for it, but she’d been swearing to herself for days now that
she was not dating Harlan Adams and that’s the way she intended to keep it. “Even if those meals counted as dates, that’s hardly a sufficient basis for assuming I would go off on some romantic tryst with you.”

  “I figured those kisses were a clue that you might at least consider the offer.”

  “Then you leapt to a wrong conclusion,” she said adamantly.

  An expression of pure frustration crossed his face. “Your daughter is asking me if I’m interested in having sex with you. My sons are practically salivating over every development in our relationship. I’d just like to get to know you someplace out from under their watchful eyes.”

  She stared at him with growing horror. “Jenny asked you about sex?” she asked with a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach.

  “Indeed she did,” he said. “Not the workings of it, of course. Just whether that was the only reason I was interested in you.”

  “Oh, sweet heaven,” she murmured. “I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t seem to care about an apology. In fact, he seemed torn between exasperation and admiration for her child’s audacity. She’d noticed that about him. Almost nothing threw Harlan Adams off stride. He was confident in a way that didn’t require controlling other people. For all of the teasing she’d witnessed between him and his sons about his manipulation, she noticed that each of them had gone their own way, apparently with their father’s blessing.

  “I can’t go away with you,” she finally said with some regret. “I won’t leave Jenny, for one thing. For another, I can’t afford the damage to my reputation. I’m having enough difficulty getting the people in town to trust a woman lawyer, who’s part Comanche, to boot, without giving them anything more to speculate about.”

  Harlan’s expression promptly clouded over. “Are people still giving you a hard time? I thought that would be a thing of the past by now.”

  “It’s no worse than I expected,” she repeated emphatically, regretting taking that particular tack with him again. She knew better than to get his white knight tendencies stirred up.

  “Who’s bothering you?” he demanded, ignoring her low-key attempt to sidetrack him. “I’ll have a word with them.”

  “No. You will not! We’ve been all through this. I will not have you fighting my battles for me. We’re talking about my career. I can handle it.”

  He seemed ready and eager to rush off and slay a few dragons for her, but he finally backed down at her adamant tone. It was another thing she liked about him. He didn’t just listen to her. He actually heard what she was saying.

  Somewhere in a corner of her heart she was beginning to recognize that Harlan Adams wasn’t like any other man she’d ever known. And all of those sturdy defenses that had served her so well the past few years were slowly but surely beginning to topple.

  “Let’s talk a little more about you and me, then,” he suggested, shifting gears so quickly it left her head reeling. “Where do you see us heading?”

  Janet wished she had prepared herself better for this moment. She had known a conversation like this was inevitable. Harlan wasn’t the kind of man to be satisfied for long by evasive answers and rushed, skittish departures. She had no idea what had triggered this particular confrontation at midmorning in her office, rather than some evening out at White Pines, but apparently he’d reached a decision about the future and intended to put his plan into motion.

  “I don’t know where we’re heading,” she said, which was too close to the truth to suit her and too wishy-washy an answer to suit Harlan.

  “You ever think about marrying again?” he asked.

  She swallowed hard. “You mean, getting married to you?”

  His gaze was riveted on her. “Or anyone,” he conceded grudgingly.

  Her throat went dry. She couldn’t have croaked out a reply if she’d had one handy.

  “Something wrong?” he inquired. “Cat got your tongue?”

  An odd note in his voice triggered an alarm somewhere deep inside her. “Is there some reason you’re forcing this issue now?”

  “I just thought it was time to get our cards on the table.” He studied her pointedly, then added, “All of our cards. Call the bet, so to speak.”

  Panic flooded through her. What exactly did he know? Had he somehow figured out her intentions about the Comanche lands? She’d been doing legal research in all her spare time, but no one knew about that, she reassured herself.

  No one, except Jenny. Surely her daughter wouldn’t have said a word. She knew how important silence was, especially when there was every chance in the world that nothing would come of her plans.

  She studied Harlan’s face and tried to guess what was going on behind that enigmatic expression. She had a feeling whatever decision she reached about that was critical. If she jumped to the wrong conclusion, said the wrong thing, it could ruin everything.

  “My life’s an open book,” she said in what she hoped was an innocent-enough tone.

  “Is it really?” he said, then shrugged. “I wasn’t thinking so much of the past. I’m more concerned with the future.”

  “Harlan, I’m just a single mom struggling from day to day to make ends meet.”

  The comment sounded a little ingenuous even to her own ears. Harlan responded with a lift of his eyebrows, indicating that he wasn’t fooled by it, either. Janet sighed.

  “Okay, what do you want me to say?”

  “How about the truth?” he said with a surprising edge in his voice. “Start to finish.”

  The last suggested for the second time in a matter of minutes that he knew something, or thought he did. “Harlan, is there something specific on your mind?”

  “I’ve told you what was on my mind. It’s your head that remains a mystery.” He stood. “Why don’t we go grab lunch and see if we can clarify a few things over a cold beer and some of Rosa’s enchiladas?”

  “The last time you and I went to Rosa’s, I got the impression people were hanging on our every word and reporting it afterward. Why would you want to go there now?”

  He shrugged. “I was hoping the beer would loosen your tongue.”

  She stared at him in exasperation. “I’m being as honest here as I can be,” she protested.

  “Darlin’, if this is your idea of being candid, I’d trust you to keep my deepest, darkest secrets.” He stepped behind her and pulled back her chair. “Come on. Let’s see if a beer will work any magic or not.”

  “I hate beer.”

  “Then you’ll drink it down right quick, sort of like medicine,” he said, a glint of amusement in his eyes for the first time since he’d entered her office.

  Janet still couldn’t help thinking there were undercurrents here, deep ones, that she might never figure out. Something told her, though, that her future might depend on her trying.

  * * *

  A half dozen heads snapped up when Harlan escorted Janet through the door at Rosa’s. Mule rolled his eyes in disgust.

  “You two hooked up together again? Don’t expect me to get involved in another poker game with the likes of you,” the mechanic warned, scowling at Janet.

  “Don’t worry,” Harlan informed him. “We’re here for a little private conversation.”

  He passed right by his regular table and urged Janet into a booth all the way in the back. It wasn’t quite out of the sight of prying eyes, but it was the best he could come up with under the circumstances.

  “That was a little rude, don’t you think?” Janet said when they were seated, a half dozen pairs of eyes staring at them. “Just the kind of thing that will stir up more gossip.”

  “Oh, will you stop fussing about gossip? Seems to me you have more important things to be fretting about.”

  “Such as?”

  He reached across the table and touched a finger to her lower lip, all the while keeping his gaze locked with hers. “Such as the way your skin burns when I touch you like this.”

  He could feel her trembling even as she blinked hard and
deliberately looked away. So, that much was real, he decided. She couldn’t be faking a reaction like that, for devious purposes or otherwise. Which meant her reluctance to commit to anything more than the casual encounters they’d shared thus far was pure cussedness on her part.

  Or perhaps a belated attack of ethical considerations, he amended. Maybe she’d decided she couldn’t get any more involved with a man she intended to try to fleece out of his land. He supposed even would-be thieves had a code of honor they wouldn’t breech.

  He finally allowed his hand to drop away. “You trying to tell me that doesn’t mean anything?” he chided.

  “It doesn’t,” she insisted stubbornly.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Okay, I’m attracted to you,” she snapped. “Is that what you wanted to hear? Does it make your heart go pitty-pat? Is your oversize ego satisfied?”

  He chuckled at her irritation. “As a matter of fact, yes on all counts.”

  She lifted the menu and pointedly retreated behind it.

  “You two planning on arguing all afternoon or were you thinking of ordering lunch?” Rosa inquired, not even trying to hide her amusement.

  Harlan wondered with a sigh exactly how much she’d heard before she spoke up. He supposed whatever it was, his sons would know every word before nightfall. He wondered idly if Rosa’s silence could be bought. He glanced up and studied her speculatively.

  “Rosa, darlin’, what would it take to keep you from telling Maritza or any of your other myriad relatives in Los Piños that I was even in here today?” he asked.

  Janet peeked around her menu, curiosity written all over her face. “You’re trying to bribe Rosa to keep silent?” she demanded.

  “You bet,” he muttered grimly. “Come on, Rosa, what will it take?”

  The heavy-set Mexican woman shook her head as she regarded him with an expression of pity. “You cannot buy loyalty, old friend.”

  “I can’t seem to get it, either,” he grumbled. “Whatever you heard here today, just forget it, okay? That’s not so much to ask, is it?”