Y awning, Rayne rubbed her eyes. She felt oddly at peace with the world. Happy. She knew there was some reason for this feeling inside.
But what was it? Still groggy, she searched her thoughts.
Then she remembered. Jack was here at the farm.
And in the barn last night…
She shut her eyes and allowed her mind to linger on Jack’s kiss. With her finger, she traced her mouth, recalling his lips against hers, and drew in a long breath.
Suddenly, Paul’s kiss came to mind. Though at the time, she had felt the tiniest rekindling of any feelings she might have harbored for Paul, his kiss had not stirred things in her like Jack’s—his kiss potent, making her heady with emotions she’d never experienced before.
She allowed the rush of excitement to swirl once again.
A big smile spread across her face. She’d have to tone that down, she knew. It wouldn’t do to have people asking questions. How would she explain?
Filling her room was a calm that she easily recognized as the muted quiet of a snow-covered landscape. The blue-and-yellow wallpaper reflected a shimmer from a break in the curtains hanging against the window. A white radiance only created by snow. Or did everything just look brighter today?
A million questions bombarded her thoughts—what did this mean? Did Jack feel the same way she did this morning? How would they work together now?
With a single kiss, her relationship with Jack had altered into something much more than coworkers. Something much more than friends. Oh how this changed everything.
But for better or worse? Rayne wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
And what would he think if she told him she had been talking to another company?
On the side table, her cell chirped, letting her know she had a text message. She reached over and lifted the phone.
From Jack. He’d left the text message in the middle of the night? She’d slept hard, then, because she hadn’t heard the message come through.
Rayne rose up on her elbows to read the words, Forgive for my actions. Leaving first thing in the morning.
What? Pain stabbed her heart. Was he sorry for kissing her? Or was he afraid of Rayne’s reaction? What might have happened, what might he have said, had Paul not interrupted them in the barn?
Though her mother had convinced Jack to stay the night to be safe, they’d not had another moment alone. And now it didn’t look like she’d get one.
Rayne wasn’t so sure it would be safe for him to drive back this morning either. Worry for his safety tore through her. Apprehension over his apparent regret of kissing her sank heavily in the pit of her stomach.
Rayne rose from her bed and thrust open the curtains. It was snowing so hard she couldn’t see the barn from her window. She pulled on her jeans and a sweatshirt and opened the door. The aroma of bacon and eggs met her as she bounced down the stairs, hoping.
When Rayne turned the corner into the kitchen, her heart leaped.
Jack sat at the kitchen table, her mother’s best breakfast spread before him. He was buttering toast and, though he smiled, uncertainty lingered in his eyes.
She couldn’t help the big smile she launched at him.
Her father busied himself, scooping fat-free margarine from a tub, frowning. Her mother turned from the hefty pan of bacon she was frying and glanced at Rayne. “Good morning, sugar pie.”
Rayne hoped her father wasn’t eating the bacon. “Good morning.” She tugged out a chair and sat at the table, tossing a questioning look at Jack. “You’re not going to drive in this, are you?”
Her mother leaned over the table, setting a plate of eggs in the middle. “Of course not. He’s agreed to stay for at least another day.” Her mother winked. “Isn’t that right, Jack?”
His dimples deepened with his smile, along with the color in his face. “Looks like a blizzard out there.”
Rayne hung her head, allowing a soft laugh. Her mother appeared to have a way with Jack. A way that she didn’t have with Rayne ever since she’d taken the job in Fargo.
Rayne’s father chuckled. He looked like the image of vigor this morning. Jack was good for him. Apparently, he was good for them all.
Had they given up on Paul, then? At the thought, Rayne was surprised he hadn’t made his way over this morning, especially after walking in on her and Jack in the barn. He’d been right about Jack caring about her. She saw that now. Would Paul continue to pursue her, or would he step out of the picture?
Rayne grabbed a slice of bacon and crunched on it while her mother poured her a glass of orange juice. Jack and her father discussed weather. Good. Jack was fitting in.
Rayne focused on eating breakfast and pondered what this day would bring, snowed in with her family and a man she couldn’t stop thinking about.
Jack smiled for Rayne’s family, but he was suffocating inside, feeling like a first-class moron. He’d wanted—no, needed—to see her. He’d needed to show her his design, so he’d driven to her family’s farm. Who does something like that?
A moron, that’s who. A moron on the fast track to losing his focus and, worse, his job, if he kept this up.
And then what did he go and do? He’d kissed her. Listening to her father tell him an account in which he’d almost lost the farm that had been in the family for years, Jack nodded but was only half listening as he glanced over at Rayne. He looked down at his plate, shuffled his eggs around, and daydreamed about kissing her again.
Rayne possessed something that Jack found irresistible. He couldn’t have imagined something so powerful could emanate from her. She seemed like such a quiet, creative soul. But maybe that’s where the secret lay, and he was drawn to her in a way that he was never drawn to Kiera, Rayne’s exact opposite.
Jack took a bite of the eggs. This was all so…unexpected. It wasn’t part of his plan.
“Never, ever take your eyes of the mark, off the goal,” her father said, and continued with his farm tale.
The words seemed to stab at Jack’s heart, at his mistake this weekend. He’d prided himself in being a focused man, shooting for the goal. But now his focus was a jumbled mess.
Rayne’s father had a penchant for tossing out proverbial words of wisdom. Most were true and well placed, of course, but over time a person might think he sounded a bit condescending. Still, Jack liked him. He was a good man. And clearly, Rayne loved her father, her family, deeply.
He sensed she struggled with being away from them.
“Well, I’m going to rest. Thank you for breakfast, Mamma.” Rayne’s father scooted from the table and took his plate to the sink where Mrs. Flemming was already doing the dishes. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
Jack felt a little guilty for catching them in a personal moment. Rayne was lucky to have her parents, a family to go home to for a visit. Something Jack had lost long ago. Memories Jack had worked hard to shove from his mind began to seep back in. What was he going to do all day to keep his mind from them?
Rayne’s father shuffled from the kitchen, Rayne at his side. Jack stood and moved next to her mother at the sink.
“Is there something I can do?” he asked. “Since I’m here until the storm lets up a little, maybe I can help.”
She stuck a dish into the dishwasher and chuckled. “Well, when Paul finishes up at his own place, he’s heading over here. As soon as the weather lets up a bit”—she peered out the kitchen window at the clouds—“and it looks like that’ll be soon, maybe you can help break the ice on the ponds for the cattle.”
“Uh, sure, I can do that.” He didn’t have a clue how. “As long as you don’t think I would be more of a hindrance to Paul than a help.”
A warm hand slid over his shoulder. Rayne was at his side. “I’ll help. Jack isn’t accustomed to farm work, Mom.”
Jack bristled but then saw the teasing in Rayne’s eyes. What was he getting into? “I can work.”
“Are you sure about that?” Rayne squeezed his bicep and smiled, color creeping into her cheeks.
Good thing he worked out.
Rayne’s mother laughed. “I know what you’re thinking. The snow is too deep for the truck, even if it’s a four-wheel drive.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, all right.” Rayne smiled, a twinkle in her eyes.
Her mother thrust her hands into the steaming dishwater, apparently washing the dishes before sticking them in the dishwasher. “A few years ago, Rayne talked her daddy into using snowmobiles to feed the cattle during the winter. She could talk her daddy into just about anything.”
Rayne had turned a farm chore into something she considered fun. He smiled down at her. Right there, in the kitchen, with her mother standing next to them, Jack wanted to kiss her again. He looked at the smile on her soft lips, recalling how it had felt to kiss her, how his soul had stirred. His gaze traveled back up to her eyes.
Had she been thinking of that as well?
“Before you head out, can you stoke the fire for me?” her mother asked.
“I’ll show Jack what to do and then be back to help you finish up here.”
Jack followed Rayne out the kitchen door to the back porch where she loaded his arms with logs for the fire. In the distance, Jack spotted a familiar truck lumbering down the road.
Rayne carried a few logs as well, and Jack followed her into the living room where they stacked the wood against the wall a short distance from the large wood-burning stove.
“Mom and Dad use this to help heat the house.” She stood straight and gestured to the stove. “Just stick a few logs in while I go help Mom finish up in the kitchen. Then we’ll head out.”
Jack snickered. He had the feeling Rayne was enjoying bossing him around for a change. Peering inside the stove, he carefully placed a couple of logs inside. Boots stomped near the front door; then it swung open.
Jack turned to see Paul standing in the small foyer, tugging off his gloves and glancing around the house. “Anyone home? I came to help with the chores.”
His gaze landed on Jack, and Paul frowned.