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Brett crossed the pasture, telling himself that there was no need to feel frustrated or impatient. The only problem was that he didn’t have a clue how to handle this thing with Jacie, which made him feel frustrated and impatient. First of all, he’d never tried to hit on a single mom, and there were obviously different rules in that game. Second, Jacie was still self-protective and even though it’d been years since she lived with him, Brett blamed that ass hat Calloway.
One thing was certain—thoughts of Jacie were always at the edge of his mind, ready to push front and center, very much as they had before she and Lil had approached him with their wild scheme.
Had the marriage actually happened, his parents would have killed him.
Brett gave a soft snort. His parents would have gotten over it. And maybe he and Jacie could have actually worked things out.
Or screwed them up forever. That was the thing about being young and uninformed. It was remarkably easy to screw things up. Well, he was older and somewhat wiser, but still had no idea how to tackle this situation. Push it? Walk away? Give it time?
He settled on give it time.
Molly turned into the drive as he reached the edge of the field. She saw him as soon as she got out of the truck. “Where were you?”
“Tractor problems.” He went to help her unload her horses. “Hey, guess what? I figured out your surprise.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah. She gave me a ride home.”
“Well, at least there’s that.”
Brett opened the back of the horse trailer. “Is it me, or are you trying to fix us up?”
Molly stepped inside and came out a second later with her sorrel mare. “I only have to do that if you’re too slow to do it yourself.”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe there are reasons I’m not making a move/”
Molly considered for a moment, then shook her head. “No. It hadn’t.”
“Well, there are.” Molly stood holding the lead rope, her head cocked. “And I’m not going to elaborate.”
She shrugged. “Fine. But if her name’s Kristen, you’re a fool.”
Brett let that one pass. “Have you ever considered the possibility that she’s already in a relationship?”
“She isn’t,” Molly said easily.
Brett suddenly felt like smiling, but he didn’t dare. “I don’t need any help.”
“If you say so.”
“Molly...”
She snorted as she walked toward the pasture. Brett let out a breath then went into the horse trailer to untie the gelding standing inside and followed his cousin to the pasture.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he said when he got to the gate.
“What kind of deal?”
“I won’t butt into your life, if you stay out of mine.”
She pretended to consider for a moment, so he said, “Jason Mann is back in town.”
Her mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t.”
All he did was to raise an eyebrow before turning to the horse and unbuckling the halter. The big gelding ambled off after the mare, leaving Brett and Molly facing off at the gate.
Finally she blew out a breath that lifted her bangs. “Fine. Be that way.”
“Oh, I am that way.” He smiled at her. “And you’re going to be that way, too.”
Jacie’s day had started out well enough, but halfway through she’d gotten the happy news that structural damage had been discovered in the second floor—rotted beams directly above the restaurant due to an undetected plumbing leak. When she’d spoken to the owners at a short meeting before the demolition began, their number one concern had been that the restaurant stay open during the height of tourist season. Jacie had warned them that if damage was found on the upper floors, then they might be looking at a few days of closure.
Now they were.
Jacie contacted the owner representative, Glenna McCoy, and arranged an owner meeting. Brian and Lars took the news fairly well, but it seemed that Georgia Duncan lived in a world where everything was supposed to go Georgia’s way. After talking to Brian and Lars and attempting to placate Georgia, Jacie called Mark at the main office, but couldn’t get through to him. It wasn’t that she didn’t know her course of action—it was that she needed to vent to someone who knew what was going on. He’d been project manager on numerous jobs, with her working closely at his side, but her stamp, not Mark’s, was going on this project and she couldn’t afford to screw things up.
No Mark. No venting. She headed upstairs to take another look at the beams to determine the extent of the rot. After she finished consulting with the construction boss, she realized she’d be late picking up Darby and called Molly to explain.
“Not a problem,” Molly said. “I could use a hand cleaning tack.” Then, she not only kept Darby busy, she walked the girl home across the field before Jacie had a chance to change out of her dusty work clothes.
“Thanks so much,” Jacie said after giving Darby a hug.
“We enjoy having her.” Molly studied her. “Tough day?”
“Pretty much a normal day. Up until now I’ve had easy days.”
“I don’t know how you do it. Math all day.”
Jacie gave a snort. “Look who’s talking.”
“Yeah. Brett says I’m crazy to teach during the school year, then spend my time off teaching, but hey,” she said with a shrug. “I love it.”
Jacie knew the feeling. She loved her job, too. After escaping from her home, she’d worked her ass off to get a degree in the most secure, highest-paying profession she could—which, it turned out, she loved and she was good at.
Molly craned her neck to see where Darby had disappeared to, then when she spotted her near the apple tree in the back yard, she turned back to Jacie. “I wanted to wait until Darby was out of hearing range to tell you this. I located another horse and so, if she’s interested, I could squeeze Darby into the remaining sessions of horse camp.”
Jacie felt her face light up. “She would love that so much. All I’ve been hearing about is the lucky kids who get to go on to intermediate and advanced intermediate.”
“Now she can be one of those lucky kids,” Molly replied. “I’m just glad she likes camp. She fits in really well.”
“For a city kid?” Jacie asked with a grin.
“She’s rural at heart.”
And so was Jacie. She was already thinking about how different it was going to feel when they went back to their small Seattle house, which was so close to the neighbors that she had to keep all blinds drawn for most of the day. It was nice to look out the window and be able to see open space. Not that she didn’t love Seattle. She did. The shopping, the culture, the food. Her high-paying job.
A trade off. Like all things in life.
When Jacie arrived at camp to pick up Darby on Monday, her daughter was carrying a red, white and blue lariat. She cocked an eyebrow and Darby grinned. “I’m going to learn to rope.”
“Part of horse camp?”
“Brett told us kids that if we wanted to practice on his dummy for a little while after camp, we could.”
“And where did you get the rope?”
“One of Molly’s brothers.”
Jacie felt an unexpected sense of relief that it hadn’t been Brett who’d given Darby the rope. It wasn’t a fair comparison; she remembered all too well how Clinton had wooed her with material items prior to marrying her mother, and she did not want Darby to become attached to anyone because of gifts. Not even Brett. She felt stupid now when she thought about how easily she’d fallen for Clinton’s charming ways, even after Lil had told her that the guy creeped her. She’d totally bought his line, only to discover that all he’d wanted was her mother, and her mother’s money, for himself.
“It’s not a new rope,” Darby explained, bringing Jacie back to the present. “But it’s still good.”
“Like Brett said, roping takes a lot of practice.”
“If I do practice, can I get a plastic cow head to stick on a hay bale when we go back home?”
“Of course,” Jacie said with mock seriousness. “That will look lovely in our tiny yard in Seattle. I’m certain the neighbors will have no issue with that.”
“Jacie.”
She turned to see Brett crossing the gravel from the barn. He jerked his head sideways, indicating he wanted to talk to her alone. Jacie told Darby to stay put and then walked with him to the edge of the driveway.
“I don’t know how serious Darby is about learning to rope, but I have an extra calf head if you want to set something up in your yard for her.”
“Funny, but we were just talking about that. I’d have to borrow a hay bale, too.”
Brett smiled that crazy hot smile that made her insides go liquid. “I happen to have a few of those. I can drop off a bale tomorrow while you’re at work.”
Jacie glanced over her shoulder at Darby, who was awkwardly coiling her rope, then back at Brett. “Thank you. That would be nice.”
“Just being neighborly,” he said. She wondered if she heard shades of irony in his voice, but when she met his blue gaze all she saw was casual warmth. Okay. Maybe he’d accepted the way things had to be. Which meant she had no business at all feeling a whisper of disappointment.
Jacie had a long discussion concerning the rotted beam situation with Mark early Tuesday morning. He had some decent ideas, but the consensus was that they’d have to close the restaurant while they solved the problem—which was exactly what Jacie had told the owners the previous day.
No one had been happy about the closure, but according to Earl, the hotel manager, the person who’d been least happy was Clinton, who had some kind of award dinner planned for the time frame Jacie suggested. He wanted Jacie to reschedule. She wanted him to reschedule.
Her time table worked better with the budget, so that was the timetable they were sticking with. She’d called Glenna on Monday to make certain the owners understood this, then later that day she’d caught sight of Georgia and Clinton having an intense discussion over drinks at the Montreau. Sensing potential trouble brewing, she’d called Mark as soon as she’d gotten to the office on Tuesday. She had to make sure she wasn’t overlooking anything. According to him, she wasn’t. She’d just hung up the phone when there was a knock on the door frame and Lil came in, looking stressed.
Jacie instantly got to her feet, but Lil waved her back down into her chair. “I’m fine. My mom called and they’ve taken my grandmother to the hospital with a broken hip. I need to get over to Spokane for a couple days. I cleared it with my boss, but there’s one problem. Miss Kitty. I’d ask Aunt Tilde, but she’s allergic to cats.”
“She can’t stay alone?”
“Meds. I have to give her meds twice a day and watch for a reaction. Do you think Darby would babysit?”
“You have to ask?”
Lil made a self-conscious face. “Could she also stay at your place? She’s...uh...not used to sleeping alone.”
Jacie laughed. “I think Darby will make the sacrifice.”
So Jacie arrived home with Miss Kitty in a pet carrier and a tote bag full of toys and food and medication. Darby was overjoyed to have the cat under her care and not only fed her, but washed her bowl afterwards. Jacie texted a report to Lil, telling her that she wished Darby was as enthusiastic about washing her own dishes and got a smiley face in reply. After Darby went to bed, Jacie curled up on the sofa to work through some calcs. Despite the rot, the project was progressing smoothly and barring the crew uncovering any new structural damage, she would finish on schedule and under budget. Under budget was the best part, something concrete she could use as a bargaining point for a future promotion.
Miss Kitty walked through the house a couple times, perhaps trying to find Lil, then gave up and settled herself on the foot of Darby’s bed. When Jacie finally called it a night, she closed her daughter’s bedroom door. Unlike Miss Kitty, she was used to sleeping alone and didn’t need to get startled by something warm and furry snuggling up to her in the middle of the night.
When Jacie went to pick up Darby the next day, Brett had quite a crew of kids roping the dummy as they waited for their parents. Jacie watched, impressed at his patience as he corrected swing after swing, encouraging each kid as they threw their loops. When Darby saw Jacie standing near the gate, she coiled her rope and said goodbye to Brett, who straightened and sent Jacie a nod of acknowledgement. Jacie nodded back and then as soon as Darby reached her, turned and started walking down the drive.
“What did you learn today?”
“Pressure,” Darby said, tapping the coils of her rope against her leg as she walked.
“I know about pressure,” Jacie said with a smile.
“This is pressure on horses, Mom. Horses move away from pressure.”
“So do people.” Jacie brushed the hair back from her cheeks where the wind had blown it. “Your swing looks pretty good.”
“I missed.”
“Point your index finger at your target just as you release.”
“Maybe you can show me,” Darby said. “I asked Brett if you could rope and show the kids how good you are, but he said you probably wouldn’t want to.”
“I’ll show you when we get home.”
Miss Kitty met them at the door, complaining about being alone all day and Darby scooped her up. Maybe a kitten would make the transition back to Seattle easier, because Darby was already muttering about not wanting to go home and leave Blue Bonnet behind, and her communication with her besties back home seemed to be tapering off. Jacie was confident that Darby would adapt to her old life quickly, but transitions were never easy for nine-year-olds. Sometimes they weren’t that easy for twenty-eight-year-olds either.
Brett spent the next week in his fields, thus missing Jacie when she picked up Darby. The kids continued practicing roping without him and Molly informed him that after a shaky start, Darby showed signs of becoming a deadeye, like her mother.
He missed seeing Darby’s mother, but maybe not seeing her was for the best. After all, she had ‘circumstances’ to deal with. He finished watching a movie, turned off the living room light and headed down the hall to his bedroom. Before he snapped on the overhead, he saw a flash of light through the window. Curious, he walked across the dark room and pushed the curtain aside. Another flash of light cut through the darkness near Jacie’s house. Someone was in her backyard with a flashlight, close to midnight.
Brett had no idea what to make of it, but after three or four minutes of watching the light swing around, sometimes cutting directly across his window, he decided it was time to investigate.
He headed off across the field hoping he wouldn’t spook the mares. As he got closer to Jacie’s house he heard her saying something in a low voice.
“Jacie?” he called, hoping he didn’t scare the crap out of her. A sharp gasp and jerk of the flashlight told him he’d failed in that regard. “It’s only me. I saw the light.”
Instead of hanging back as he’d expected, since she’d been keeping a healthy distance of late, she came to the fence and whispered, “I lost Lil’s cat.”
“It’ll probably come back.”
“You don’t understand. She’s older and she’s an indoor cat. Usually she sleeps with Darby but when I went to check on her before bed, the window was open and the screen was ajar.”
“You searched the house?”
“We don’t have a lot of furniture, so there aren’t many hiding places.”
She had a desperate look about her, very similar to the way she’d looked when she and Lil laid out the wedding scheme to him. “You want help?”
“Yes.”
He climbed through the fence and then stood, listening. They heard the faint rustling noise at the same time, both slowly raising their eyes to the tree curving over their heads. No meowing, but there was something up there. Jacie flashed her light up through the branches and sure enough, they caught the reflection of two round greenish eyes.
“Hope that’s a cat and not an owl,” Brett said as he took hold of a lower branch and hefted himself up to the fork, trying to get some purchase on the slick bark with his boots. Jacie didn’t say a word—probably didn’t want to risk waking Darby. Brett stood on the fork and reached for the cat which scooted backwards out onto a limb.
“No. Really?” he muttered to the cat, who blinked at him. “Come on kitty, kitty. Be a nice cat.” He hefted himself higher, reached out and the cat backed up a few more inches. He let out a sigh and looked down at Jacie. “Get me a saw.”
“Right,” she muttered as he climbed higher, banging his knee against the tree as his boot slipped again.
“Son of a bitch.” The cat inched back, until the branch started to sag under her weight, then Brett gave a mighty lunge, almost losing his anchoring hold on the tree, and managed to get hold of the cat by the scruff of the neck.
Slowly he dragged her toward him, then firmly cradled her against his chest, glad that she didn’t see fit to shred his face. Instead she burrowed her head into his neck as he climbed back down the tree, sliding the last few feet, but still managing to land upright. Instantly the cat was plucked from his arms.
“Thank you, thank you,” Jacie murmured as she hugged the cat close.
“Any time.” He dusted off his hands.
“Are you okay?” Jacie asked in a low voice.
For a moment he looked down at her. Was he okay? He couldn’t say. All he knew was that Jacie looked damned beautiful in the moonlight, hugging that cat to her chest. Too beautiful to let this pass.
Jacie knew without a doubt that Brett was about to kiss her. And she knew with equal certainty that she was going to let him. He’d climbed a tree for her in cowboy boots, captured a geriatric feline and got her to safety without either of them getting hurt. He was a good guy. More than that, he was her fantasy guy and it had been so long...
He reached out and lightly touched the side of her face, a slight frown drawing his eyebrows together as he gauged her response. Electricity skittered over her skin at his touch. Her lips parted slightly, but she said nothing, did not step back. His palm cupped her cheek, warm and work-roughened. She might have leaned into it. She wasn’t certain because a moment later she lifted her lips, inviting him in. And he obliged, his hand sliding around to the back of her neck as he grazed her lips with his, lightly. When she didn’t jump back or run screaming into the night, he deepened the kiss and almost ten years of doing without slammed into her.
He tasted amazing, his tongue felt amazing, and if she didn’t stop kissing him, she didn’t know if she ever would. She took a step back, still clutching the cat and his hand dropped back to his side. Jacie cleared her throat.
“Well, that was...” She couldn’t come up with adequate words.
“Unexpected?” he asked dryly.
She let out a small snort. “Hardly. I think the signals have been pretty obvious.”
“Like road flares. So what are we going to do about it?” Brett asked. “Pretend it didn’t happen?”
“We’ve moved past the denial stage,” Jacie said in a low voice. Miss Kitty squirmed in her arms, having had enough. Jacie took the cat in a firmer hold and said, “I need to get her into the house. Don’t leave, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After the cat was inside and the door firmly closed, she motioned to the picnic table with her head. They sat on top, side by side, with their feet on the bench, their thighs not quite touching. Jacie rested her forearms on her legs, her hands lightly clasped between her knees.
It was time to bare the soul. Be honest. Try to make him understand where she was operating from and there was no better place to start than the beginning.
“I think you should know that one reason I didn’t follow through on our plan to marry was because I had a wild crush on you.” She drew in a breath. “I was afraid of being pathetic, so I kept it to myself.”
“You were pretty good at hiding your feelings...and I felt the same way.”
Slowly she turned her head to meet his eyes. “I wondered...recently that is. At the time, I’d had no clue.” Her mouth tightened. “Also...I was afraid you might stick around out of a sense of duty after the baby was born. I couldn’t have handled that. Being a duty.”
Brett’s hand came up to settle at the back of her neck and his fingers started rubbing some of the tension away and replacing it with a longing that she couldn’t satisfy at this particular time and place. And he needed to be aware.
“I can follow your reasoning. And maybe even see why you disappeared without contacting me.”
“The fewer people who knew, the better.”
“I was already kind of in on it, you know.”
“Yeah.” She glanced sideways at him. “I treated you poorly.”
“So what now?” he asked as his hand left her neck and he settled it on his thigh.
“Good question.”
She let out a sigh and put her palms behind her, tilting her head up to look at the bright stars overhead. They never had stars like this in the city. She’d almost forgotten how beautiful the stars were in Montana, or what a heady experience it could be sitting with a guy, alone in the night, feeling the aura of attraction building, surrounding them, pulling them together.
“I have to protect Darby,” she said. “She’s the most important thing in my life and I have to be careful about what I do.”
He must have sensed the “but” because he didn’t say anything. Instead he waited for her to continue speaking, his expression intent.
Jacie let out a soft breath. “I have to protect Darby, but...there’s more. I haven’t had sex in a decade.”
