To his amazement, he discovered that for the first time in his life he was worrying about disappointing people he cared about and admired. At the same time, the very real risk of getting caught added an element of danger and excitement that heightened all of the other emotions he was feeling.
And what a mix they were. Sara enticed him and baffled him. She was surrounded by enough warning signs to scare off men far more intrepid than he was and yet, he ignored them, just like he ignored the alarms that went off in his head every time he got close to her.
He wasn’t used to being so out of control, to feeling so much desire that nothing else in the world seemed to matter…including Three-Stars.
He knew in his gut that he was putting the ranch at risk every time he slept with Sara. If Trent discovered the affair, Jake could kiss their deal goodbye. And still, he had stolen into her room under Trent’s very own roof and made sweet, passionate love with her all through the night. He hadn’t waited five minutes after Trent had left for town before sneaking up the stairs to take up where they’d left off when her father had interrupted them earlier.
Was he deliberately trying to blow the deal? Was he consciously putting his own dream at risk so that Sara would somehow realize her dreams without his having to make the actual sacrifice? He was perverse enough to do something like that, but he could honestly say he didn’t have a clue about his real motives. He simply couldn’t stay away from her.
And the helplessness that that implied did scare him, more than Trent, more than Annie, more than the prospect of losing the ranch.
He’d almost crept out of the house to safety, when a hand snagged the back of his collar and jerked him to a halt.
“Not so fast,” Annie said, hauling him around to face her with so much force Jake practically skidded on the just polished kitchen floor. Annie wasn’t a big woman—barely five-five and a hundred and twenty pounds, he guessed—but fury gave her unexpected strength.
The room was still dark, but light spilled out of Annie’s quarters just beyond. She was still wearing her robe and a fierce expression that warned him not to argue with her.
When she pointed him in the direction of the table, he grimaced, but he dutifully sat. He felt an awful lot like a kid trapped in the principal’s office awaiting the verdict on his fate. He’d spent a lot of time under just such circumstances before he’d quit school and run off to chase the rodeo. It had been years before he’d accepted the foolishness of his actions and managed to get his degree.
Before he could wander too far down that particular memory lane, Annie snapped his attention back to the present.
“You didn’t pay a bit of attention to me, did you?” she demanded, glowering at him. “You went right ahead and started messing with that girl.”
Jake prided himself on not being a kiss-and-tell man, even when the facts were plain as day. He regarded her blandly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Annie rolled her eyes in disbelief, but spelled it out just in case. “You and Sara, that’s what.”
“What about us?”
His persistent vagueness simply irritated her. She shot him a look of pure disgust. “Jake Dawson, I wasn’t born yesterday. You spent the night with her. Don’t even try to deny it.”
“I was in my office,” he swore, not entirely certain if he was trying to protect Sara’s honor or save his own hide. “Fell asleep at the computer.”
“That’s funny. You weren’t in there when I checked the doors right before I went to bed last night.”
Through the years Jake had grown very adept at verbal tap dancing. He didn’t even hesitate. “I came over in the middle of the night. I couldn’t sleep.”
“But staring at that old computer screen did the trick. Knocked you right out,” she said with obvious derision. “Come on, boy, you can do better than that.”
In the face of Annie’s continued skepticism Jake finally gave up. “No, I can’t. That’s it. Take it or leave it.”
To his surprise, Annie’s face crumpled. She sank down heavily across from him. “Why, Jake? Why Sara, of all people? There are dozens of women in town who’d fall all over themselves for a second glance from you. Why did you have to pick on Sara?”
Her bleak tone and worried expression got to him as her cross-examination had not. “I wish to hell I knew,” he said honestly.
That earned him a faint smile. “Well, well, well,” she murmured thoughtfully. “If you can admit a thing like that, maybe there’s hope for you, after all.”
He regarded her suspiciously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think maybe I’ll let you try to figure it out on your own,” she said. “Now go on home before Mr. Wilde comes down to see what’s going on. I can’t lie to his face the way you can bend the truth to mine.”
She had relented so quickly, it made his head spin, but Jake recognized a near miss when he saw one. He leaned down and kissed Annie’s cheek. “Thank you.”
“Don’t go thanking me. I expect you to do some hard thinking. If I don’t like the answers you come up with, I won’t hesitate to go to her father with what I know. I owe him that, after all these years.”
“Just how long is this reprieve going to last?” Jake asked curiously.
“Until I say it’s over,” Annie responded. “I wouldn’t take too long, if I were you, though. The older I get, the less patience I seem to have.”
“Is that it or are you still a sucker for a happy ending?” Before she could reply, his expression sobered. “I’m not sure a happy ending is possible here, Annie.”
“Sure it is,” she said with more confidence than he felt. “I have faith in you.”
“That makes you one of the few.”
“Along with Mr. Wilde and Sara,” she retorted. “Think about that, why don’t you.”
Jake thought about little else the rest of that day and the next and the next. If there was an answer to Annie’s riddle, he couldn’t find it. Or maybe he just didn’t like the one that kept coming back to him: marry Sara. Forget the bet. Forget his own vehement opposition to marriage. Forget everything except the love that shone in Sara’s incredible emerald eyes every time he touched her.
Could he believe in that? Nothing in his life had prepared him for the possibility that love really did exist. Years of doubting couldn’t be wiped out with good sex and a gentle smile.
So he continued to fight it. He kept his distance from Sara, too. It was too hard to think straight when she was close. He’d accused her recently of thinking too much. Now the tables had turned. He couldn’t seem to stop thinking. Round and round in circles his thoughts went, reaching no conclusions, just tormenting him with unanswered questions.
When he couldn’t stand it any longer, he headed into town for an evening alone at the Old West Grill. He’d foolishly figured that the night out would put some perspective on the strange new feelings tormenting him. He counted on a glance into another pretty face stirring his blood as it always had. Wouldn’t that just prove that this thing with Sara was as temporary as every other relationship he’d ever indulged in?
He’d been at the bar for an hour now. Three women he’d dated in the past and one he’d never met before had approached him with willing smiles and smoky, seductive voices. He hadn’t felt so much as a flicker of awareness, much less the throbbing desire that had once been second nature.
Staring sourly at the line dancers, he took his first long, slow swallow of beer. It was already warm. He was in deep trouble. No doubt about it. He couldn’t even drink worth a darn.
“You look like a man with a lot on his mind,” Zeke noted, sliding onto the stool next to him.
“Give it a rest,” Jake muttered, cursing the fates that had delivered Zeke to the grill tonight of all nights.
“All I said was—”
“I heard what you said.”
“Well, excuse me for taking an interest in you, same as I always have.”
Jake sighed heavily.
“Sorry,” he apologized and meant it. “There’s no reason for me to take my foul temper out on you.”
“Sara seems to be a little short-tempered these days, too. Any connection?”
Jake scowled at the far too perceptive old man. “Drop it, okay?”
“If you say so. Just thought you ought to know that it’s hurting her concentration, which, as we all know, wasn’t that great to start out with.”
Alarm instantly flared deep in Jake’s belly. His protective instincts kicked into high gear.
“She’s fallen?” he asked.
Jake rolled his eyes heavenward. “Hell, boy, that’s a given. Last time, though, she forgot to let go of the reins. Horse pretty near dragged her to hell and back. Scraped her up pretty good.”
Jake was off the bar stool in a flash. “Take care of my check, will you? I’ll pay you later.”
“Where the devil are you going?”
Based on the satisfied gleam in Zeke’s eyes, Jake had a feeling the question was merely cursory. “On second thought,” he said, “forget the payback. Tonight’s drinks are on you.”
Zeke nodded soberly. “Least I can do.”
Jake hesitated. “You know, old man, you are a pain in the butt. No offense.”
“None taken. It’s the only way I know to get along with an ornery cuss like you.”
It was a familiar ritual. They could have gone on trading barbs for hours on end, but an image of a scraped and bleeding Sara plagued Jake too badly. He cut the conversation short and headed back to the ranch.
Fortunately, driving at a recklessly fast speed required all of his concentration. He thanked heaven he’d only had that one sip of beer so he was no danger to anyone as he sped home. Concentrating also kept him from wondering why his heart had plummeted when Zeke had delivered his news about Sara’s accident. He might have been forced to admit that he really cared.
Up in her room, Sara was dabbing antiseptic cream on burning scrapes from head to toe when she heard the roar of an engine being pushed to the limits of its endurance.
Drawn to the window by the noise, she spotted Jake’s truck careening up the driveway. He hit the brakes so hard it sent gravel spewing in every direction.
He was out of the truck before the motor died. He left the lights on and the front door sitting open. She gathered he was in a bit of a hurry, which definitely aroused her curiosity. Had the deal for the ranch gone sour? Could she be that lucky?
When the front door crashed open downstairs, Sara tiptoed into the hallway to see what all the commotion was about. Rather than heading straight for her father’s office, Jake stopped squarely in the middle of the front hall.
To her astonishment, he stood right there and roared her name. When he spotted her, he took the stairs two at a time.
With her gaze fixed on Jake, Sara was only marginally aware that the door to her father’s office had flown open and that he was staring after Jake.
“What the devil? Boy, have you gone and lost your mind?” he shouted after him.
Jake’s gaze never left her face. His hands settled gently on her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
Stunned to silence by the fierce glitter of genuine concern in his eyes, Sara could only nod.
“Are you sure? Zeke said you fell and the horse dragged you.”
Ah, she thought, so that was what this was about. Her latest debacle. Zeke had definitely been busy. She’d only limped away from his place an hour and a half earlier.
“I’m fine,” she reassured him softly, casting a worried glance toward her father.
Jake followed the direction of her gaze, saw Trent and released her so suddenly she almost fell.
“Would somebody tell me what the devil is going on around here?” Trent demanded.
Sara glanced into Jake’s eyes, pleading with him silently not to tell her father what had happened. Since Jake had a vested interest in keeping their plans a secret, she was fairly certain she could count on him to improvise something to get them out of this awkward situation.
“One of the men just told me that Sara had taken a spill from her horse this afternoon,” he said without missing a beat.
Sara supposed she ought to be grateful for his glib tongue, but she wondered how a woman could ever trust a word that came out of his mouth. She waited expectantly to see how far he carried this particular theme.
“From what the hand said, I thought it might have been worse than it apparently was. I figured I ought to come by and check on her,” Jake concluded, which of course didn’t explain why he’d been in such a frantic rush.
But it was close enough to the truth to satisfy her father without revealing anything damaging. Sara mouthed a silent, “Thank you.”
Even so, her father climbed the stairs to join them, his expression worried. His sharp gaze surveyed her from head to toe.
“No damage done?” he asked. “You’re sure?”
“Daddy, I’ve been falling off horses since I was little more than a baby. I’m pretty good at it by now,” she said dryly.
He shook his head. “You always did have more gumption than sense,” he agreed. “Never hesitated to get right back on. I kept thinking you’d wind up afraid of the creatures, but you never did.”
He gave Jake a grateful glance. “Thanks for checking on my girl. You’re a good man, Jake. One of these days you’re going to find a woman who’ll appreciate that kind of caring.”
Color burned in Jake’s cheeks. Sara had to avoid his gaze to keep from chuckling at his obvious discomfort.
“Maybe he already has,” she said quietly.
Jake choked at that. Her father stared at him with sudden fascination. Sara had known exactly what she was doing by dropping that particular hint. Her father would never let it rest. He’d plague Jake about it until he squirmed.
“Is that so?” he said with satisfying predictability. He took Jake’s arm and propelled him toward the stairs. “Let’s go down to my study and you can tell me all about her.”
Jake shot a dire look in Sara’s direction as her father led him back down the stairs. She would have given just about anything to be an invisible speck on the wall in that room while her father cross-examined Jake about this new love of his. She had a feeling, though, that she would pay dearly for her part in provoking that conversation.
“Jake,” she called after him.
He glanced back at her.
“You might want to go out to your truck and turn off the lights and shut the door,” she suggested sweetly. “Otherwise, you’ll have a dead battery by morning.”
That reminder of his earlier rush would either add fodder to the conversation to come or give Jake the excuse he needed to hightail it out of the house and avoid Trent’s curiosity all together.
The amused, knowing look she got for her trouble told her he was fully aware of the lifeline she’d thrown him.
“Thanks for reminding me.” He gave his boss a regretful look that was about as sincere as a snake oil salesman’s after a product failure. “Sorry. Another time, maybe. I’m beat and tomorrow’s going to be a busy day. Once I’m out there, I might as well head on home.”
“Whatever you say,” Trent said agreeably, but he was clearly disappointed.
Sara slipped hurriedly back into her room. Without Jake to plague with his questions, her father might very well decide to come upstairs and bug her for answers. Pumping her for information would be far more dangerous than taunting Jake. Sara wasn’t nearly as adept at hiding her feelings.
Just in case, she hopped into bed, pulled the covers up snugly and switched off the light.
Sure enough, minutes later she heard her father’s heavy tread on the stairs. He paused outside her door, then apparently reached the conclusion that she was in bed, because he slowly walked on to his own room.
Only when she heard his door shut did she breathe a sigh of relief.
* * *
Unfortunately, it was a short night and her father had a long memory. He was eag
erly awaiting her arrival the next morning when she went downstairs for breakfast. He waited until she’d filled her plate with eggs, sausage and toast and taken her first sip of coffee before fixing her with a penetrating gaze.
“You really okay?”
She forced her brightest smile. “Fit as a fiddle.”
“Jake seemed mighty concerned about you last night. You sure that fall wasn’t worse than you’re letting on to me? He’s not the kind of man to make a mountain out of a molehill.”
“You can see for yourself that nothing’s broken.” She was tempted to stand up and dance a jig to prove it, but resisted the urge. Her father wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.
“Where did it happen?”
They were wandering onto tricky turf, Sara thought grimly. She dearly regretted being unable to make a mad dash from the room. That really would stir up a hornet’s nest of unanswerable questions.
“A couple of miles up the creek,” she improvised. “It was slippery. The horse lost her footing and stumbled. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Woolgathering again,” her father concluded. “Sara Jane, how many times have I told you—”
She held up a hand. “More than enough.”
“You don’t seem to hear me. Maybe you should stay off of horses.”
He might as well tell her to stop breathing, Sara thought angrily. Especially now when so much was riding on her horsemanship skills. She held her temper in check and shook her head.
“It was nothing,” she insisted.
If he knew what she was really up to, he’d probably go into cardiac arrest right before her eyes. “Stop being such a worrywart,” she pleaded. “Nothing awful’s happened to me yet. Just some bumps and bruises. I know for a fact you’ve suffered worse.”
“Which just proves that there’s always a first time,” he said grimly.
“Enough, please. I’m a grown woman. It’s my decision. I love to ride and I’m not about to stop.”
He sighed. “Okay, okay.” After a moment, his expression brightened. “So, what do you know about this woman in Jake’s life?”
Sara almost choked on her scrambled eggs, before managing a reply. “Not a thing.”
The Bridal Path: Sara Page 12