JEWEL HALF LISTENED to the Flower Gala committee’s debate about centerpiece flower choices, her mind returning to her explosive kiss with Heath. Almost a week had passed, and they hadn’t talked about it…or talked at all. In fact, despite working closely, driving cattle from one bad pasture to worse, they’d kept their distance, rarely meeting each other’s eyes.
What would they see if they looked?
The rightness of his arms around her, his lips pressed to hers, still lingered. First kisses were supposed to be awkward, but with Heath, it’d felt natural, instinctual. For once, she’d let down her guard and become free and open.
And his rejection came back to bite her. Hard. While the kiss had felt right, what they’d done to Kelsey was wrong, even if she wasn’t that nice.
Jewel mashed her eyes shut, wishing she could blot out the moment he’d pushed her away, told her they were wrong, and he was promised to another.
“Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse, perhaps we should lower our voices since Jewel’s trying to sleep.”
Jewel opened her eyes to an innocent-faced Kelsey and, just like that, her guilt over kissing another woman’s man evaporated. Kelsey might be pretty on the outside, but she had a bit of a mean streak, too, no matter how many “good deeds” she did around town. Why didn’t Heath see through her? Were looks all that mattered to him?
Although, he had called Jewel beautiful…
She bit her lip, berating herself for being naive. He must have been caught up in the moment, the storm, the near-death experience. As for her, it’d all been real. More fool her.
Clearly, he preferred someone domestic, refined, wife material, like Kelsey. To win Heath’s affection, would she have to change, or could he accept her for who she was?
Then again, did she even want to win his heart? With their families feuding and her focus on career, not relationships, it was odd to consider it, especially since his rejection at the shack still stung.
“Are we boring you, Ms. Cade?” From her seat at the head of the committee’s table, Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse stared down the length of her impressive nose at Jewel.
“No, ma’am.”
Beneath the table, Sierra lightly nudged Jewel’s foot in sympathy.
“Then would you share your thoughts about flower selections?” Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse’s pen hovered over her notepad.
“She probably thinks skunkweed’s a flower,” whispered Kelsey’s best friend, Lara, behind a raised hand, loud enough to catch Jewel’s ear and make Kelsey and her gang snicker.
“You’re the skunk!” Sierra hissed. Her outflung hand knocked over her tea, sending the tepid fluid racing across the table, straight at Lara’s designer dress.
Lara shot out of her chair. “You did that on purpose!”
“Calm down. We’re grown women. No one is tossing tea at each other,” Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse said repressively.
“Or putting down other people, or laughing at them like playground bullies,” asserted Sierra, staring a blustering Lara and a sober-faced Kelsey in the eye while she wiped up the mess.
Jewel dabbed up the last of the tea and tossed the napkins.
“Although skunks are actually really sweet,” Sierra whispered in Jewel’s ear at the trash bin. “You should come to my practice and see the abandoned baby I’m raising. You can bottle-feed him.”
Jewel nodded, returning Sierra’s smile, then lowered her voice. “Thanks for defending me back there.”
Sierra’s ponytail swung as she shrugged. “We’re sisters now. We’ll always have each other’s back.”
“You bet.”
Jewel’s heart swelled as they took their seats. A sister. When her mother married Boyd Loveland, she’d thought only of what her family would lose. Now she saw all they stood to gain. The Lovelands were good people. She adored little Noah and Emma, worried about Daryl’s teetering marriage and Cole’s broken heart, enjoyed Sierra’s company and Heath…well…that was another level of emotion altogether.
“Back to flowers. Ms. Cade—your thoughts?”
Jewel gnashed her teeth at Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse’s persistence. Her former principal had never been one to concede a point. Jewel’s hands clenched on her lap. Skunkweed her butt… Then an unconventional idea struck her. “The Flower Gala is to celebrate flowers, right?”
Several of the women exchanged long looks, but Jewel refused to be intimidated, to be run off to hide on the ranch.
She had worth, even in the outside world.
“Are you making a joke at our expense, Ms. Cade?” Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse’s penciled eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline.
“No,” Jewel rushed to say. “It’s just, I was thinking that all kinds of flowers should be celebrated, not just the fancy ones like roses.”
“Last year we created an entire bower of white roses donated from my family’s garden,” Kelsey said. “Many considered it the most beautiful gala ever.”
Jewel spied a few of the women rolling their eyes, and the sight bolstered her. “I was thinking that this year, we could celebrate local wildflowers.”
“Roadside weeds?” sneered Lara.
“This function’s raising money for wildlife conservation. What better way to honor it than by putting a spotlight on the everyday beauty we rarely take time to notice?” Jewel asserted.
An excited murmur broke out. Sierra turned to Jewel, her blue eyes bright. “We’ve never done anything like this, and I’m all for celebrating what’s in the wild.”
Jewel smiled. “You like it?”
Sierra grinned back. “I love it! Leave it to you to shake things up.”
At last the conversations died down and Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse tapped her pen to bring them to attention. “Your idea has merit, Ms. Cade. I suggest we vote. Mind you, if we go with this theme, we’ll also need to rethink our previously agreed upon tea rose garlands. All in favor of using local wildflowers to decorate the gala, raise your hands.”
Jewel peered beneath lowered lashes, holding her breath. Would the women approve of her idea? Of her? To her amazement, all but Kelsey, her two minions and Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse’s hands lifted. Air rushed from Jewel’s lungs.
“Tied!” Lara crowed. “Now let me explain why wildflowers would be the worst—”
“Ahem. I haven’t voted yet.” Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse raised her hand. “Wildflowers it is.”
Sierra whooped, and several women shot Jewel approving nods. One reached across the table and patted her arm, saying, “Your mother would be proud.”
Jewel smiled back at Judge James, her sister-in-law Amberley’s mother. “I hope so.”
“I know so,” Judge James vowed, her certainty filling Jewel so full of pride she thought she’d float right to the ceiling. For the first time, she belonged somewhere besides the ranch. And she sat in a chair, not a saddle, in the dressy slacks Sierra lent her, not Wranglers, and it wasn’t terrible. Or scary. Or demoralizing.
In fact, it felt great.
She was more than just a ranch hand, more than the girl who’d felt “less than” because of her-father’s lack of attention. What’s more, she earned respect by being herself, not by how well she roped or rode.
“Moving on to our previously tabled discussion about punch,” Mrs. Grover-Woodhouse announced.
Jewel raised her hand. She’d found her voice in the real world and wouldn’t lose it again. Besides, she really wanted a “tacky” Mountain Dew sherbet punch and what’s more, she suspected she wasn’t alone…
In fact, she didn’t feel alone at all.
The rest of the meeting sped by and before she knew it, Jewel lounged in her family’s living room, regaling James and Sofia with her triumphs.
“Javi’s going to love the Mountain Dew sherbet punch.” Sofia, stretched out on the sofa, tipped her head back and closed her eyes in bliss as James massaged her swollen feet. “Though he’ll be up all night with the caffeine.”
“We’re using caffeine-free. I came up with that one, too.” Jewel’s chest puffed ever so slightly as she fidgeted with the parenting magazines on the wagon-wheel coffee table.
“Sounds like you had a lot of good ideas.” James’s fingers kneaded Sofia’s arch.
“Heath would agree. He asked for my herd health report.”
James’s hands stilled. “You didn’t give it to him, did you?”
Jewel shrugged. “Why not? Someone might as well read it after I went to the bother of writing it.”
“That information belongs to the Cades.” James slid out from under Sofia’s feet and paced to the fireplace, where he stared at a wedding picture of their mother and father. “Nothing’s changed just because Ma’s married a Loveland.”
“Don’t be silly, James.” Sofia sat up and slid her feet into fuzzy pink slippers. “We’re a family now. Haven’t you learned you can’t keep things from changing?”
“Doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying.” He strode to the kitchen counter and returned with a postcard he dropped in Jewel’s lap.
“Have you even read my report yet?” She eyed the picture of a lit-up Eiffel Tower.
James ducked his head. “I’ve been busy.”
“How? The cousins are here…you have lots of help.”
“He’s not delegating,” Sofia interjected, wagging a finger at him in a silent tsk tsk tsk.
“You’re kidding, right?”
At Jewel’s question, James frowned. “Justin’s doing an excellent job, but he’s needed at Fresh Start, too. I can’t turn everything over to him.”
“How about me? Will you be able to give up control if you name me range boss?”
Jewel’s heart sank when James cleared his throat and pointed at the postcard instead of answering. “Read it.”
“Yes, boss,” she grumbled, then skimmed her mother’s handwriting on the back. “Sounds like they’re having a good time,” she mused aloud, then stopped on the last sentence and reread it. Her eyes flew to James. “What’s this about an arbitration hearing?”
James dropped a thick cream-colored envelope in her lap. Their attorney’s name appeared in the return address. When she pulled out the missive, her hands shook slightly as she read.
“Before the trial, Ma and Boyd want us to try to settle the water access dispute with the Lovelands in arbitration.” James took the letter from her, refolded it and slipped it back inside the envelope. “It’s scheduled for this Friday.”
Jewel’s mind raced as she considered the ramifications of the Brahmans gaining access to the Crystal River. Their gut-fill looked worse, despite the recent deluge, the watering spots as dry as ever. If they could cross the easement, her cattle would be saved.
Her cattle.
The thought brought her up short.
The Brahmans belonged to Heath and the rest of the Lovelands, not her. Striving alongside them through this miserable, dry summer, however, bonded her with the gentle gray beasts. Despite everything she and Heath were trying to avoid, their worlds were subconsciously colliding on every level. A traffic accident in slow motion, destined and inescapable.
The door opened, and Justin sauntered inside. He carried with him the faint scent of leather and exhaust from one of his motorcycle rides.
“What are the chances we’ll settle with the Lovelands?” Jewel asked.
“Nil.” An easy chair creaked when Justin sat and bent down to pull off his boots. “Their cattle used to destroy our property, trample our forage and crossbreed with our herd, to name a few of the reasons why we won’t give them back the easement. The main one, though, is that they’re Lovelands.”
“The feud is over.” Jewel slapped her hand on her thigh for emphasis.
“Just because we know who really started it doesn’t excuse the decades of strife in between,” James said with his annoying calm. “Remember the year they dammed up the Crystal River and nearly wiped out our herd?”
“Rotten Lovelands,” Justin muttered.
“That’s all in the past.” Jewel turned the postcard over in her hands. “We should hear their side.”
“The only side that counts is ours.” James gestured to Justin. “Keep your boots on. I’ve got something to show my range boss outside.”
The moment the door closed behind them, Jewel stormed to the kitchen, flicked on the faucet and filled a glass with cold water. She was so tense there was a good chance parts of her body would start breaking. “Bossy, controlling older brother!”
How dare he? She’d spent her whole life proving she was worthy of the range boss position and James all but threw it in her face that he was giving the job to Justin.
“Would you mind grabbing me a glass, too?” called Sofia.
When Jewel returned and passed it over, Sofia gave her a grateful smile. “Sorry to put you out. My doctor wants me off my feet as much as possible.”
“It’s no trouble.” The cool water did little to lower Jewel’s temperature. James wanted to get her goat by calling Justin his range boss and it worked. He’d promised to make the formal announcement at the end of the summer. Would he honestly consider her for the job over Justin?
“I thought James was controlling before,” Sofia said, and sighed. Her large brown eyes, so like Javi’s, met Jewel’s. “But this—” she gestured to the pillows he’d heaped around her, cocooning her “—is prison. He doesn’t even want me attending the Flower Gala.”
“Are you going to listen to him?”
Sofia snorted. “I’ll listen to the doctor. If I’m cleared, you’ll be seeing me boot scootin’ with the best of ’em—or waltzing…guess that’s more like a gala, right?”
Jewel shrugged. She’d never attended it or any dance. “How do you deal with him? He’s such a control freak.”
Sofia laughed. “Can’t disagree. But I know it comes from love…and fear. He doesn’t want anything to happen to the family after losing Jesse.”
Jewel’s heart throbbed painfully at her deceased brother’s name. “I thought he was getting better.”
Sofia waved her free hand. “Baby steps.”
“I’m glad you have patience. I don’t.”
“I also love him. He’s not perfect and neither am I. Mostly I just don’t take him seriously. Usually, I nod and then do what I want anyway.”
“You two seem so different,” Jewel observed, thinking of her and Heath. He had a sensitive side Jewel lacked…or at least, hid, whereas she had an aggressive side he only seemed to reveal when arguing with her.
“We’re alike where it counts.” Sofia tapped her heart. “We both value and want the same things.”
Jewel sipped her water, considering what she wanted in life. Before, it was only the range boss position. Independence. Respect. Now she found herself considering a bigger future, one with a husband, children. Heath’s influence? “When did you know James was ‘the one’?”
“He drove me crazy at first.” Sofia’s lips twisted wryly, and her eyes took on a dreamy expression. “But then, when we took Javi to cut down a Christmas tree, James sang the wrong words to ‘O Tannenbaum’ and admitted he forgot to bring the marshmallows for the hot chocolate. He wasn’t as in control as he pretended and wanted to change. Falling in love isn’t really falling, it’s more like two people bending until they meet in the middle.”
Jewel nodded. These past few weeks, she and Heath had made concessions on the range, learning to give and take, trust and support. Could their bending extend to their personal lives, too? “You believe people can change?”
Sofia nodded vigorously. “Even you Cades.”
Jewel laughed. It did seem a tall order.
“So…are you talking about someone special?” Sofia’s voice rose at the end, teasing, and warmth flooded Jewel’s cheeks. “Someone you’ve been working with perhaps?”
“Me? That’s crazy talk.” Jewel stood, trying, and failing, to look indignant.
Sofia swatted Jewel’s leg as she passed by. “Your secret is safe with me. Though your brother may have already guessed. Why do you think James is so worried about you working over there?”
Jewel gaped at her. “James is worried about me?”
“He doesn’t want to lose you to the Lovelands. He wouldn’t know how to manage without you.”
Fussing baby noises emerged from the monitor beside Sofia. She heaved herself to her feet. “Duty calls.” She caught Jewel in a hug and whispered, “Remember. It’s your life, not your brothers’. And if you want to change, don’t be afraid to try.”
Jewel watched Sofia disappear upstairs, then strode outside. Leaning against the porch banister, she stared at the stars, noting the constellations. Depending on the seasons, they changed positions. And the moon, it waxed and waned, but it was always the moon. Could she change, become more vulnerable and open, without losing her strength? Her independence?
Sofia said falling in love was more like bending to meet in the middle, but if Heath didn’t bend, too, she’d fall flat on her face.