by Addison Cole
“As I was saying,” her father began again.
“Wait, Dad. Jade’s got a point.” Steve’s eyes lit up. “You’re sitting on a valuable piece of property over there. It could set up you and Mom for retirement. Maybe it’s time to reopen that stream of communication.” If Steve felt any hesitation about the topic, he didn’t give an ounce of indication.
Then again, he wasn’t falling for a Braden.
“That might be so, Steven, but we’re not touching that property. We’re talking to the bank about subdividing the lower two hundred acres, and once we have that done, we’ll see where we stand.” Her father picked up his fork as if he was done with the conversation.
“So what happens to that land after you and Mom die?” Steve asked.
“Steven!” Jade snapped. She couldn’t believe he brought up their parents dying—and in the same breath as the land.
His father didn’t even make an effort to mask his anger. “Steven Joseph Johnson, if you are just waiting for us to die so that you can have that property—”
“Chill, Pop. I don’t want that land. I was thinking more about conservation property. It’s a way to protect the natural habitat for animals, and it’s a tax write-off. If you and Mr. Braden don’t want to argue about it or do anything with it, it’s the perfect solution to let bygones be bygones.”
Yes! Please! Please jump at this!
“No matter what happens with that property, bygones will never be bygones,” he said with a final chomp on a piece of meat. “Jane, this is the best roast beef I’ve had in ages. Thank you for making such a nice lunch.”
There was her answer—clear as day—black and white. Along with the realization came another splinter to her already broken heart.
Chapter Sixteen
MONDAY AFTERNOON BROUGHT scorching heat. Bare-chested, Rex stood with Hope at the side of the barn. He’d just finished shampooing her tail in preparation for the show. His chest muscles jumped as he rinsed the remaining lather from her tail, and he was in the process of conditioning when his father stormed into the barn with a scowl on his face.
“Something happen in town?” Rex asked.
“You could say that,” Hal grumbled.
Rex lathered up the conditioner. When his father didn’t continue, he asked, “Anything I need to worry about?”
His father came to Hope’s side and ran his hand along her shoulder. “How’s our girl?”
“Perfect.”
“Good.”
“You gonna tell me, or avoid the topic altogether? I can go either way.” Rex arched a brow and smiled.
“Eh, it’s the Johnsons. Looks like they’re downsizing.”
Rex stopped working on Hope’s tail. Ranchers didn’t just downsize. Selling off pieces of a ranch wasn’t done without first taking extreme measures to keep it intact. While the Bradens had been blessed with family money that came down for generations, the Johnsons hadn’t. If Earl Johnson was chopping up his property, it meant he’d come upon hard economic times. It also left a world of possibilities for where they’d end up.
“Hard times?” Where will that leave Jade?
“Looks like it.” His father crossed his arms and leaned against the barn wall. He rubbed the stubble on his chin. His biceps jumped in a familiar nervous pattern. Sadness percolated beneath his father’s tanned skin, emanating from his dark eyes, the creases in his forehead, and the third sigh to leave his lips in less than five minutes.
“Wanna talk about it?” Rex asked, in the same have-it-your-way fashion his father might have used to address him. He’d be happy to listen, or to give his father his privacy.
His father looked up, his mouth clenched in a tight line. He nodded a slow, silent nod.
Rex went back to work on Hope’s tail while waiting for his father to answer. He didn’t believe Hope would place at the show, but he’d darn well make sure his father had every reason to be proud of her.
“There was a time that Earl Johnson was my best friend,” his father said.
Rex nodded, knowing that telling his father he’d already known that wouldn’t help one bit and would likely stop him from sharing more.
“For years, he was my go-to guy, you know? We had plans, all sorts of plans, when we bought the properties. We were going to sell that land and make a fortune. He’d run cattle. I’d sell breed horses. Our kids would marry, and we’d be linked for life.”
Rex raised his head. Our kids would marry, and we’d be linked for life had his attention. He moved to Hope’s face and petted her jaw. She nuzzled him between his ribs. How could you have known, old girl? He kissed the crest of her head.
His father had said Earl’s name only a handful of times, and it was always followed by a grunt and a snarl. Hearing his father say his name without that hostility surprised him. The fact that they’d been best friends wasn’t news; it was widely known in Weston. They’d grown up together, dated alongside each other, caused a ruckus together as teens. It had all fallen apart in the years following their joint purchase of the land between their properties.
“I just hate to think of him falling upon hard times,” his father said.
Rex saw himself in his father: the gruff exterior, the harsh words said without regret, and the pliable heart that could be twisted and turned and fooled; but inside that heart was a memory, and certain loves that went in never came back out. Rex hadn’t realized those connections could reach farther than his family until his own heart had taken a roller coaster ride with him as the unwilling passenger. The hills and valleys of the last few days made his heart’s ability to reach beyond his family palpable.
“You thinking about that land?” Rex asked as he rounded Hope with the hose and began rinsing her tail.
“Not for that bastard,” his father said as he pushed from the wall and stalked off.
He smiled at the familiar arrogance, but his mind was already running down a different path. He had been loathing the idea of attending the volunteer meeting for the horse show that evening after what happened at Jade’s barn. He’d agreed to what she wanted—friendship. The way she stalked off left him floundering and angry all over again.
Now that anger subsided, replaced with concern. Was she sad about the ranch? Angry? He wanted to see her, to know she was okay. He wanted to talk to her and ease any sadness she had. Maybe she’d known they were going to downsize. Losing a ranch, even part of a ranch, was devastating. He’d hate to think about his father giving up a single acre. Rex was paid handsomely for his work on the ranch. He had simple needs, and he’d pocketed nearly every penny of his income for just that reason. If ever there came a time—which in his heart he knew there never would—that his father needed anything, he wanted to be able to step in. He wondered if Jade had known of her father’s plans before she’d returned to Weston.
If his father was softening toward Earl Johnson, what might that mean for them—if there even was a them to consider anymore.
Chapter Seventeen
JADE THOUGHT ABOUT her parents all afternoon. By the time she was done giving Berle his afternoon massage and had gone home to shower, she’d convinced herself that her father had to be downsizing by choice and that their finances were just fine, which made her wonder why he wouldn’t just sell it all off and move into town. Then again, with the value of land and how much they loved their home, she was sure that he would rather allow her mother to remain in the home she adored and had raised her children in. Her father had a big enough heart to have lied to her mother about the reason for downsizing, too. Her mother would never allow him to do something so drastic just for her. She wished she could be certain about her father’s motivations.
She was dreading the volunteer meeting, and had even considered canceling her involvement, but she couldn’t do that to the Gesalts. She was still stewing over her run-in with Rex, and she knew her stupid heart would still do somersaults when she saw him at the meeting. She couldn’t eat dinner and finally gave up on doing anything that needed h
er brain to function. She took a cold shower to wash off the sweat she’d earned and to calm her nerves.
She’d hoped there would at least be a small drop in the unseasonably warm temperature before the evening, but she hadn’t been so lucky. Jade dressed in her lightest sundress. The spaghetti straps tied at her shoulders, which was a little juvenile, but she didn’t care. She’d have gone naked to keep cool if she wasn’t afraid of being caught in the Weston grapevine before the night’s end. She pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and forwent her leather boots for a pair of white sandals.
As she neared the Gesalts’, her stomach was doing flips. She’d find out what her appointed volunteer position was going to be, and then she’d hightail it out of there and go down to Rights Creek for a swim. When she and Riley were teenagers, they’d go down to the creek at night and skinny-dip. The creek had been one of their favorite haunts. Just thinking about how free she felt back then brought a smile to her lips. Rights Creek was about a mile past her house. She’d park at the end of the long dirt road and walk through the trail. She felt refreshed just thinking about it.
The gray sedan behind her had been following her since she’d turned onto the main road. She glanced in her rearview mirror and thought of Kane, remembering the way he’d shown up at her house uninvited and how he’d been everywhere she was for the few weeks after their breakup. She was glad he hadn’t become a real stalker and followed her back to Colorado. She turned into the Gesalts’ driveway, and the gray sedan kept going. Even though she’d clearly seen that the driver was not Kane and was in fact an old man, she breathed a little easier, then chastised herself for being paranoid. All the stress must be getting to her.
There was very little in life that Jade was afraid of, but as she pulled her car up beside a red Ford F250, she noticed Rex’s truck parked by the barn. A fleeting panic skittered through her. How was she supposed to act around him? He wanted a friendship, which she’d been stupid enough to say she wanted. How can I act like a friend when I want so much more?
She took a deep breath and weaved through the crowd toward the table. She focused on what she needed to do to survive the evening without being swallowed by lust or embarrassment. Get in, get my assignment, and get out. In, out, swim. In, out, swim.
There was no line at the volunteer table, and she scanned the sign-up sheets for designations. She trailed her finger down to her name and ran it across to the positions. Gate attendant. Great. She could handle that. She scanned the list for Rex’s name and looked beside it. Gate attendant. Sonofa….
Her heart thundered against her ribs as she spun around to leave and bumped right into Rex’s rock-hard chest, momentarily stunned into silence.
“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?” he said, placing his hands gently on her shoulders.
Jade’s mouth went dry. She swallowed hard and looked into his concerned eyes. In any other situation, a man holding a woman the way he was—standing so close she could feel his heartbeat between them—would indicate a natural, intimate discussion, perhaps, or a kiss. Jade would have given her right arm to be in either of those situations instead of gaping at the man she craved and could not have while he looked her up and down and asked if he’d hurt her.
“I’m fine,” she managed.
Hold me again. Please. I’ll trip; just catch me.
JADE’S ARMS WERE silky smooth beneath his hands. He hadn’t meant to be in her way, and now, as he looked into those deep pools of blue and smelled her scent, so fresh and feminine, he didn’t want to let her go. But with her hair pulled away from her face, giving him a clear, beautiful view of her delicate neck, the immediate response within his Levi’s drove him to release her and forced his mind to work again.
“You’re in a rush.” Nice line. Idiot.
“Um, yeah. I…”
“Jade.” He locked eyes with her, momentarily losing track of what he was going to say.
She licked her lips, and he had to shove his hands in his pockets just to hide his arousal. Those blasted innocent eyes and that sensual tongue sent a dangerous rush of desire through him. She wasn’t his to want.
“Friends.” The reminder left his lips before he had a chance to think.
Jade shook her head. “Friends? You’re really something. Don’t worry. There’s no need for you to drive it into my brain. I’ve got it.”
She stormed away, and this time, instead of standing there like a blundering idiot, he was right behind her.
“Jade, wait.” He caught up to her at her car and reached for her arm. She shook him off. “You’re infuriating! All I want to do is talk to you.”
“I know,” she spat, and opened her car door.
“What kind of response is that? I don’t know why you’re so irritated with me.”
She shoved the key into the ignition. He had to make a quick decision. He grabbed the keys from her, and she struggled with him to keep hold.
“What are you doing? Let go.” She pulled with all her might.
Rex realized how ridiculous things were getting and he let go of the keys. Jade fell across her seat.
“I’m sorry.” He smiled, stifling a laugh. The whole situation was stupid. He was a thirty-four-year-old man chasing down a woman and wrestling for keys. He’d lost his frigging mind.
An unfamiliar sedan pulled up beside his truck at the entrance to the parking area and parked beside him. He drew his eyes back to Jade in her sweet little dress, feverishly starting her car.
“What are you so afraid of?” he asked.
“You’re always laughing at me, and we’re always wrestling in…trucks.” She shook her head, and she, too, was soon laughing. “We are pathetic.”
“A little,” he said. No one had come out of the sedan, and he wondered what the driver was doing on the other side of his truck.
“Did you want something?” she asked in a friendlier voice.
Do I ever. “Just wanted to talk, that’s all. But I can see you’re in a hurry, so don’t let me keep you.” He watched her mulling over her answer. She looked at him, then at the steering wheel, then at him again. She rolled her lower lip into her mouth and licked it as it unrolled.
She was killing him, action by sensuous, mind-blowing action. One stroke of her tongue at a time.
She relaxed into the driver’s seat.
“I’m sorry I was watching you the other morning,” he said. It was the one thing he’d really wanted to tell her. He’d never spied on a woman before, and when she’d first noticed him in the woods, sitting on Hope, captivated by her silhouette, he’d felt all sorts of wrong and even more sorts of right all at the same time. But in that crazy mix, he realized that she’d probably thought he was a little like a Peeping Tom.
She looked up at him through her thick, dark lashes. “I didn’t mind.”
And just like that, she flipped back to the tempting seductress who’d told him to taste her. Every nerve in his body challenged him to kiss her, touch her, do something to indicate his desire, but if he’d realized one thing, it was that he was not the best interpreter of her moods, so instead, he smiled.
A man came around the bed of his truck, and when Rex looked up, the man curiously retreated. Something was off about the look in the man’s eyes, and Rex wondered if he was messing with his truck.
“What the heck?” he said.
“What’s wrong?” She looked back at his truck.
“Nothing. Some guy’s by my truck.”
“Did you want to talk? I guess I can stay for a few minutes.”
Rex saw the guy pop his head around his cab, then disappear again. He was torn between finding out what that guy was up to and trying to salvage things with Jade.
“Look, you’re obviously sidetracked. Why don’t we catch up another time?” Jade slammed the door and started her car.
“Jade!” he said, but she was already pulling out of her parking space. She sped off, and the sedan that had been next to Rex’s truck backed up and looked as though it was going
to follow Jade. Rex’s pulse soared, and he took off running toward the sedan, legs pumping, biceps pulsing. Jade. Just as he reached the rear bumper, the man he’d seen peering around the bed of his truck stepped from the car.
“Hi,” the gray-haired man said. “I’m looking for the Carroll house? I’ve circled the area twice, but I can’t see the addresses on the mailboxes. It’s so darn dark.”
Lost? He’d completely misconstrued the man’s intent—and there was no denying what he felt. The urge to protect Jade was ten times what he felt for any member of his family. He had to find her.
“Pull out of the driveway and make a left. Third house down on the right.” He spoke quickly, pulling his keys from his pocket and heading toward his truck with one thing on his mind: finding Jade. He pulled onto the road behind the old man, who was driving way too slowly. Two minutes later, the old man pulled into a driveway and Rex put the pedal to the floor in search of Jade’s car. She couldn’t have gone far.
He sped toward Jade’s house. Knowing he’d overreacted about the guy by his truck pissed him off even more. He’d had a chance to talk to her and he’d blown it again. He was at her house a few minutes later, and her car wasn’t there. He continued down the road, cursing at the situation. Life was a heck of a lot easier when he wasn’t driven by his heart, but that option no longer existed.
He pulled onto a dirt road to turn around and caught sight of Jade’s car parked between two large trees. What the heck? When he pulled in, his headlights shone on the trees beside her car, illuminating carvings covering most of the trunk. Rex smiled as he realized where he was. He parked his truck and headed down the dirt path.
He hadn’t been to Rights Creek since he was a kid. He’d always preferred the ravine to the creek, although he knew plenty of kids who hung out there when they were teenagers. Guided by the moonlight filtering through the trees, he followed the narrow path to the wide creek. He heard a splash before he saw movement in the water.