Читать книгу The Bride Said, 'Finally!' - Cathy Gillen Thacker - Страница 11

Jenna stared at Jake in raging disbelief. What did he think he had done in abandoning her, if not ruin her life?

“My parents said if I pursued you in any way, they’d use our reckless elopement as proof that Meg was not a proper guardian for you and your younger sisters. They said that in even asking you to marry me, as young as you were, given what had just happened to your folks, that I was taking advantage of you in the worst way. You and I might view the situation romantically, but it was quite possible Meg and the police would view the situation as my parents did—as simply running away. They reminded me that if the authorities stepped in to help locate you that you could have been deemed a juvenile delinquent just for attempting to marry without your guardian’s permission. And that I could be put in jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, whether Meg agreed with the court’s decision or not. They said if I wasn’t strong enough or mature enough to walk away while you and your sisters put your lives back together that they would do ‘the right thing’ for me. They promised to do everything in their power to see the courts removed Meg as your guardian, split you and your sisters up and put the youngest two—Dani and Kelsey—in foster care.”

Jake shoved a hand through the tousled layers of his inky-black hair. “You would, of course, have been legally free after your eighteenth birthday to do what you wanted. But for Dani, who was sixteen-and-a-half at the time, and Kelsey, who was fifteen, it would have been devastating.” Jake paused, his eyes filled with a mixture of regret for all the time they’d lost and compassion for what they’d been through. “I couldn’t do that to you. There was no doubt in my mind my parents would follow through on their threat. They really thought they were doing the best thing for you and your sisters. And knowing how devastated you all were by the sudden loss of your parents, I began to think maybe my folks were right, that I was wrong to take your youth from you like that, that you deserved the same chance to go to college and be a normal teenager that I’d already had.” Jake shrugged, pain sharpening the handsome lines of his face. “So I walked away from you, and didn’t look back.”

Doing her best to absorb all he had told her, Jenna felt for a chair and sat down. Jake slid a chair over and sat down in front of her, so they were sitting knee to knee. “You should have told me what was going on,” Jenna said, trembling.

Jake leaned forward and took both her hands in his. “How would that have helped you?” he asked softly. “To be told you needed to choose between being with me and the continued welfare of your sisters? Do you think that would have made you feel better to be put in a situation like that, after all you’d already been through?”

Jenna sighed. Of course it wouldn’t have. If he’d told her, made her choose, it would have torn her apart, and caused even more stress and heartache for her and her sisters.

Jake shook his head, recalling. He searched her eyes as he continued filling her in. “I wanted to fight my parents—you don’t know how much—but at the same time I had to be realistic about the odds of success. I was only twenty-two. I had not yet inherited the trust fund from my grandparents. I didn’t have the means or influence at that point in my life to help keep you and your sisters together on my own. Plus, you know the age thing, the fact I was four years older, finished with college, and you were still in high school had always been an issue. It’s not much of an age difference now, of course, but back then…well there’s a big difference between being in high school and being in college.” Jake sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “As mature as you were, there were times when I did feel I was pushing you to grow up too fast, so the two of us could be together the way we felt we were meant to be. So I felt guilty for ever asking you to elope with me. I felt like I’d been really unfair to you.”

Jenna saw the regret shimmering in his eyes and knew this was true. “I knew you were incredibly vulnerable, that you weren’t in any state of mind to even be thinking about taking such a monumental step. But at the same time I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know how to help you then, how to make it better, except by loving you.”

“Which you did,” Jenna said softly, recalling how good and warm and safe he’d made her feel in the first dark days after her parents had died. Jake had been there, holding her when she cried, attending the funeral with her, helping her take it one day, one moment at a time. Even now, she didn’t know how she would have made it through those first dark days if he hadn’t been there.

Jake swallowed hard. His hands tightened over hers. “But when we were caught, suitcases in hand, and when I saw your doubt, when you called it quits before we’d even gotten all the way out of Laramie, and said you had changed your mind, you didn’t want to elope with me, I knew you probably did need to be with your sisters more than me. That you needed the chance to grow up, free of any serious entanglements or pressures from anyone else—the chance I’d already had.”

Jenna recalled the euphoria she’d felt as she packed a bag, sneaked out of her house and met up with Jake in the Laramie High School parking lot, well after midnight. Then the humiliation and dismay when she realized his parents had followed him to the secret rendezvous. She only had to look at Patricia and Danforth Remington’s faces as they stepped from their Mercedes to know they were dead-set against her marriage to their only son. “Of course I had second thoughts,” Jenna defended herself hotly. It had been natural to back out of the elopement at that point. Withdrawing her hands from Jake’s grasp, she pushed back her chair, got up and began to pace. “I’d just lost my parents. I wasn’t going to willfully separate you from yours, which was what a hasty marriage to you would have done. So yes, of course I called it off.”

Jenna swallowed around the growing knot of emotion in her throat. “When you said you’d call me as soon as you could, I believed you, Jake.” She hated to think how many hours she had sat by the phone, just waiting for it to ring. How many nights she had gone to sleep with it in bed beside her. “I didn’t expect you to walk away from me forever,” Jenna murmured as she went to the window and turned her back on Jake. She’d thought—hoped—they’d continue to see each other and wait a few years. Hoped with time his parents would come to know her and realize how much she and Jake loved each other and change their minds, even endorse the marriage. She shook her head as she stared out at the dark Texas night. “I thought you’d come back for me as soon as you got things straightened out with your parents,” she confessed in a low, choked voice. “I thought we’d figure things out together.” Arms folded in front of her, she whirled around to face Jake. “Instead, I never heard from you again—not one word, not ever, until today!”

Jake grimaced and stood. “I thought I was doing what was best for you and your sisters in walking away. I thought I was being selfless and gallant. If it helps to know—I’ve regretted it ever since.”

Jenna glared at him, her heart thudding in her chest. “Not enough, apparently, to stop you from getting married to Melinda that same summer,” she shot back.

Jake stepped closer. “It was a mistake, a rebound thing. Although,” he amended with a frown, “I didn’t know it at the time.”

Jenna, who’d eventually had her own rebound fling, equally disastrous, understood that. But just because she understood it didn’t mean she was willing to trust him again. Now or ever. “It still doesn’t answer my question, Jake.” Hands on her hips, she regarded him contentiously. “Why did you come to me for help with Alex? Why now?” Why hadn’t he left well enough alone? Yes, she was hurt, but it was a hurt she had recovered from. This new hurt was something else indeed.

Jake blew out a weary breath. He looked deep into her eyes and said firmly, “Because I want us to be friends again.”

“Friends.” Jenna studied him carefully, knowing with the two of them it had never been platonic. “Or more than friends?” she asked bluntly.

Half of Jake’s mouth slanted up in a slow, sexy smile. “You choose.”

Jenna lifted her brow and, her eyes holding his all the while, challenged dryly, “You sure don’t ask for much, do you?” Even if, in his dark blue sport coat, casual khaki slacks, light blue shirt and tie, he was as sexy as ever in that distinctly blue-blooded Texan way.

Jake closed the distance between them and clasped her hands between the two of his. “Tell me you don’t want the same thing and I’ll go away,” he whispered, his warm callused palms caressing the backs of her hands. “But if you do—if you have it in your heart to repair our relationship and at the same time help me with my little girl—” Again, that slow sexy smile that always turned her knees to water. “I’ll owe you, for a long, long time.”

WASN’T THIS what she had wanted? For him to come crawling back to her on his hands and knees? Okay, six plus years had passed, but he was still back. Eligible—handsome as ever. And he was offering to make all her business dreams come true, to boot. So what was wrong with this picture? Why, despite everything, did his incredibly presumptuous proposition look and sound so good to her? Why was she suddenly so willing to forgive him for taking her heart and stomping it to pieces? It wasn’t like she was still in love with him—or would ever love him again.

Jenna looked him square in the eye, determined to let him know where they stood before things progressed any further. “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

Jake merely grinned at her, as if to say: I wouldn’t make bets on that if I were you. Shrugging, he held her gaze and retorted dryly, “I didn’t expect you would. It may surprise you to know that making love with me is not usually part of my business deals.”

“Let me guess. But in our case, you’d be willing to make an exception.”

His deliciously mischievous grin broadened all the more. Jake rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, allowing finally in a deep, sexy murmur that sent shivers coasting up and down her spine, “We never did have that wedding night.”

Jenna flushed despite herself as she reminded him, “We never had the wedding, Jake.”

“Then, sure.” Jake spoke as if now were a different matter entirely.

“We won’t now, either,” Jenna continued flatly. Figuring this had gone on long enough—much more of it and she’d be fantasizing about his return to her life in a romantic sense, too—Jenna pushed past him. Wishing all the while, as she glared at him, that he didn’t have the power to rile her so. She didn’t need this kind of all-encompassing emotion in her life. She didn’t need him. And if she had her way, and she planned to, she never would again, either.

Looking as relaxed as she was upset, Jake paused to drop an envelope on the table, then swaggered after her as she turned to head for the door. She was nearly there when he clamped a hand on her bare shoulder. Ignoring her resistance, he gently guided her around to face him. Looking down into her face with an intensity that took her breath away, he taunted softly, “You’re telling me you don’t still feel it?”

Jenna swallowed hard and forced her knees to stop trembling. Darn it all, why had she worn such a sexy dress, anyway? She could have worn something casual that wasn’t the least bit provocative. She could have worn something not designed to make him eat his heart out for all he’d given up. “Feel what?” she asked instead, ignoring the way his gaze kept drifting to her lips and the exposed swell of her breasts.

Jake hauled her against him. “This.”

The next thing Jenna knew Jake had wrapped his arms around her back and lowered his lips to hers. His kiss was hot and so sensual it took her breath away. Furious, Jenna made a muffled sound of protest. But then she was surrendering to the emotions swirling through her at breakneck speed, threading her hands through his hair and kissing him back with every fiber of her being. Loving the taste and feel and scent of him, so dark and male and sexy. Loving the way he had always kissed her, as if he didn’t care how many roadblocks she threw in their way, as if he meant to possess her, heart and soul. Damn, but she had missed this, missed him and the special…and yes, powerful way he made her feel. Jake deepened the kiss even more and stroked his tongue intimately with hers, as if she were the only woman in the whole world for him.

JAKE HADN’T MEANT to kiss her while they were at the inn, maybe not at all that night. He’d wanted to take things nice and slow this time. Show her how much he still cared about her, and always would, before asking anything remotely intimate or physical in return. But when she looked at him like that, as if she were just daring him to love her, he never had been able to resist, even if his hot-blooded pursuit of her was likely to incense her. He wanted to feel the softness of her body cuddled against his. He wanted to taste the honeyed sweetness of her lips, feel the sensual twining of her tongue as it wrapped around his, inhale her sexy perfume, and thread his fingers through the thick red-gold waves of her hair. He wanted her to tell him—by the passionate nature of their embrace—how she felt about him. Even if she wouldn’t admit it out loud.

JENNA KNEW if they didn’t stop soon they would end up in one of the beds upstairs. That was exactly what she had wanted when they had been together before—the ultimate culmination of their love in the most physically intimate union a man and woman could enter into. But she also knew this was no way, and no place, to lose her virginity.

Furious that Jake had managed to evade all her carefully erected defenses—again—Jenna splayed both her hands across his chest, tore her lips from his, and pushed him away.

Stumbling backwards, Jenna glared at him. “You haven’t changed one bit,” she sputtered angrily. Darned if he hadn’t turned her whole world upside down, and with just one measly, heart-stopping kiss!

Jake grinned and rubbed his jaw. He looked like one thoroughly satisfied male, pleased as punch that it had taken her a good five minutes to summon up the will to make him stop. “The kiss was that good, huh?” he teased.

Even better, Jenna thought wistfully, not above admitting—to herself, anyway—that she had the same physical desires and needs, not to mention emotional yearnings, as every other woman in Texas. But she couldn’t let her desire for Jake sway her. So what if the two of them together had passion unlike anything she had ever felt before or since? So what if he alone had the power to make her tingle from head to toe and want him with every fiber of her being just by being in the same room with her? Physical desire still did not equate happiness. Jenna looked him up and down disparagingly. Seeing the depth of his desire, she returned her gaze to his face. “You still think everything and anything is there for the taking. You only have to want it badly enough for it to happen.”

The happiness in Jake’s eyes faded. It was replaced by irritation. “Everything and anything is there for our taking,” he shot right back. “And don’t give me that woe-is-me look, either, honey. ’Cause you have done your fair share of setting your sights on something—like being the premiere new clothing designer—and making it happen.” Jake regarded her steadily, then finished with velvet determination, “So there is no reason on earth you can’t do the same thing in regards to your personal life. You just have to want it.”

Guilt assailed her anew. “Well, I don’t want it!” Jenna jerked away from him, angry that he was making her want more than what she had, what she couldn’t—and never would—have: a satisfying love life with him.

He sized her up, skeptical of her self-serving fib. “Could have fooled me.”

JAKE DROVE her back to Laramie in silence. Jenna slammed out of his truck and stormed up to her apartment above the shop. To her dismay, he didn’t even attempt to follow, just made sure she was inside safely and then drove off. Not loudly, with a screech of tires, as he might have after one of their quarrels in his impetuous youth, but calmly and quietly.

Tears streaming down her face, Jenna locked the door behind her, muttering invective about his character all the while. Then, really letting her temper fly, she slammed her purse against the wall, and for good measure, kicked off her shoes, too.

Without warning, Kelsey’s head rose over the back of the sofa, nearly scaring her to death. Jenna gasped and slammed a hand against her chest. She had forgotten Kelsey was bunking here with her until she and her partner, Brady Anderson, could move out to the old Lockhart ranch. That wouldn’t be possible until the contractor they’d hired had finished sanding and varnishing all the floors and cabinets and installing new electrical wiring and plumbing. Meanwhile, the two had plenty to do, staking out pastures and putting up fences that would divide their property into separate cattle and horse operations, one half of the ranch being his, the other half hers. It was quite an undertaking for two people, who—up until a month or so ago—had been strangers, and all the Lockharts, save Kelsey of course, were feeling a little nervous about it. They just hoped their baby sister knew what she was doing. Which was more than Jenna could say for herself, given the thoroughly unrestrained way she had just kissed Jake Remington, behaving as if the two of them had never been apart!

Kelsey studied Jenna’s face. “The date was that good, huh?”

Jenna scowled at Kelsey. “The man is absolutely impossible! Not to mention arrogant, assuming and antagonizing.”

Kelsey nodded with exaggerated indignation. “And those are just the As.”

Jenna gave Kelsey a warning look. She was in no mood for jokes. “I mean it.” Feeling like she was burning up all over, Jenna lifted her skirt, peeled off her pantyhose, then padded barefoot to the refrigerator. “I’d hoped otherwise, but that Jake Remington hasn’t changed one bit.”

Kelsey followed Jenna to the kitchen and accepted a cold beer. “Neither have you, apparently.”

Jenna paused, her hand curled around the bottle cap in mid-twist. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She set the long-necked brown bottle on the counter and finished opening it with a sharp twist.

“Come on, Jenna.” Kelsey grinned as she opened her beer and took a long thirsty drink more suitable for a rough-and-tumble cowboy than the fine Texas lady she’d been reared to be. “This is your baby sister you’re talking to here.” She waggled her eyebrows at Jenna. “The one who used to sneak into your room at night and hear all about your clandestine dates with Jake. All those summers you two sneaked around to see each other, so his parents wouldn’t find out he was smitten with a poor local girl instead of one of the rich debs from Dallas they wanted him to marry.”

Jenna went to the pantry and brought out a bag of blue corn tortilla chips and an unopened jar of salsa. “He did marry one of them. He married Melinda Carrington.”

Kelsey shrugged and leaned against the counter, her Texas Rangers baseball-style pajamas molding her slender frame. She watched as Jenna poured chips and salsa into serving dishes and carried them back into the living room. “Yeah, and from what I heard Jake divorced her, too.”

“Your point, being…?” Jenna asked, as the two settled back onto the sofa.

“That,” Kelsey spelled out gently, “it’s pretty clear you never stopped loving him. And he probably hasn’t stopped loving you, either. Or else he wouldn’t be here.”

“The only reason he is here is because he thinks he can make money off my clothing designs. Lots of it. And, as a matter of fact, I do, too,” Jenna confided as she rubbed her tense shoulders with her hands. “I’ve known that for a long time. All I’ve needed was the money—and the backing—to expand.”

Kelsey loaded a chip with salsa. “I hate to burst your bubble, sis, but Jake could make money off dozens of other businesses in Texas, if that’s all he’s after.”

Unfortunately, Jenna knew that was true, too. She sighed and took another sip of beer. “He also wants me to help turn his little girl, Alexandra, into a lady and get her outfitted in some pretty dresses.”

“There are hundreds upon hundreds of children’s clothing shops in this state. Why come to you for that, when you don’t even design children’s clothing?”

“Because Alex is hard to please,” Jenna answered, remembering without wanting to how cute and lively Jake’s little girl had been, even if she had been out of control.

Kelsey shrugged and reached for another chip. “People who specialize in selling to the super-rich are well versed in ‘difficult,’ Jenna. Probably even more so when it comes to their spoiled-rotten kids.”

Irritated at having her theories shot down one by one, Jenna frowned at her baby sister, and continued trying to convince them both that Jake’s actions were not due to any long lost love for her, as he claimed. “There is no where else in Laramie to go for lah-de-dah clothing. He just built a ranch here. He and his daughter are living here now.”

Kelsey made a dissenting face. “He could still drive to Dallas.”

“His ex-wife will be here in two days.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “It’s a two-hour drive there, even less to San Antonio from here. So don’t give me that. He could easily go there to buy dresses for Alexandra if he wanted to.”

Jenna sighed.

“Face it, sis.” Kelsey leaned forward earnestly. “Jake Remington is here for one reason and one reason only. He wants you back in his life. Probably as his wife. Which is why he’s trying so hard to get you and his daughter together. Before he can make a real move on you, he’s got to make sure the two of you can get along.”

Kelsey had never stayed any guy’s girlfriend for long—she was way too fickle for that—but she was very good at analyzing what was going on between a man and a woman. Too good sometimes, Jenna thought, as her baby sister’s words hit close to home. “That door is closed,” she retorted stubbornly, refusing to let herself hope, even for one second, that her sister might be right about Jake’s intentions.

“I see.” Kelsey grinned and peered at her in a parody of Dr. Ruth. “And iss that vhat you told him vhen he kissed you?”

Jenna’s jaw dropped open. Her hand flew to her mouth. “How did you—?”

“Please.” Kelsey rolled her eyes, her exasperation with her older sister mounting. “With the two of you alone on some romantic excursion! With Jake in hot pursuit? Don’t forget, I used to hear about those kisses.” Kelsey clasped her hands to her chest and pretended to be overcome with an intense longing of her very own. “Just hearing about them was enough to make me swoon.”

Deciding it was high time she got in her nightclothes, too, Jenna vaulted to her feet and headed for her bedroom, Kelsey right behind her. Jenna was still flushing self-consciously as she took off her earrings and dropped them onto her vanity. “I was young then. Impressionable.” She lifted her hands to her neck and began struggling with the clasp of her necklace.

Kelsey gave her a knowing look as she stepped behind her to lend a hand. “And now you’re old enough to do all the things you used to only dream about,” she teased, releasing the clasp.

It was Jenna’s turn to roll her eyes. She dropped her necklace beside her earrings and turned. There was really no way to tell how experienced Kelsey was—she acted like she had done everything there was to be done and then some—but Jenna had a feeling that was all an act, meant to intimidate the guys and keep them at bay. Jenna shook her head. “You’re incorrigible.”

Kelsey acknowledged this with a mischievous grin. Then her smile faded as abruptly as it had appeared. She looked at Jenna steadily, her eyes brimming with concern, then said softly, “And you’re dreaming if you think a man like Jake is just going to go away.”

Jenna steeled herself against the hurt she was sure would come if she didn’t shield her heart. Jake had devastated her before. It had taken her years to recover. She didn’t care what he said, she was not going to let him do it again. She folded her arms in front of her stubbornly as she slipped out of her dress. “I don’t care what he wants! He’s not going to get it this time.” Jenna stomped over to her closet and hung up her dress. “I’ll do business with him. I’ll outfit his daughter, but that’s it.”

JENNA WAS HALF HOPING Jake would send his daughter over to her shop with someone else to order a few dresses, but of course that didn’t happen. The next morning, his charcoal-gray truck pulled up in front of her shop and parked at the curb, followed by the red sport utility vehicle with Clara at the wheel. Jake and Alexandra stepped out of the truck, Clara stepped out of the S.U.V. Clara waved and headed off down the sidewalk on some other errand. A few seconds later, Jake held the door for his daughter and Alexandra Remington stomped in with all the petulance an almost-six-year-old could muster. While Jake put his briefcase down next to the sales counter and took off his black Stetson, Alex planted her hands on her hips and glared at Jenna as if she were the enemy. “I figure I might as well tell ya straight out,” she said, in a cute imitation of her take-charge daddy. Her scowl deepened, as did the fire in her blue-gray eyes. “I don’t want ta be here.” Her lower lip shot out stubbornly. “I’d rather be home looking for a new frog—Daddy made me let Mr. Frog go last night, so if I want to play with one I’m gonna hafta find another one, and maybe a snake, too, this time.”

Jenna’s eyes widened with distaste at the mention of reptiles, as Jake frowned and looked down at his daughter. “Alex. No snakes,” he said firmly. “I mean it. Snakes can be poisonous. And so can some frogs, for that matter.”

Alex sighed loudly. Tilting her head to one side, she sized up her daddy and decided, against all odds, to try again. She put her hands out to her sides and balanced herself on one foot. “You could always buy me one that’s not poisonous,” she suggested hopefully.

“No.” Jake’s mouth was set, his attention only on his daughter.

“Why not?” Alex challenged, her chin shooting out pugnaciously once again.

“Because I don’t like snakes,” Jake explained.

Neither did Jenna. In fact, she shuddered just thinking about them.

“You might if you had one,” Alex countered optimistically.

Jake’s expression remained firm and unyielding. “Well, we’ll never know, because we’re never getting one. And I explained to you why we had to let Mr. Frog go—he is a wild frog and wild frogs belong in nature. Mr. Frog would have died if we had kept him in captivity too long.”

“What other kind of pets do you have?” Jenna asked, guiding Alex over to her long, cozy sofa.

Alex sighed and looked all the more dejected and disappointed. “I don’t got any.”

Jenna shot Jake a look. Given Alex’s obvious love of animals, this was a surprise. “We just moved from a high-rise in Dallas,” Jake explained. “The building did not allow pets. I’ve been hoping to rectify that, now that we’ve moved to the ranch. I just haven’t had time.”

“Ah.” Jenna got out her sketch pad and seated herself on the sofa next to Alex. That sounded better. To her, not necessarily to Alex. Jenna began to sketch a simple, princess-style dress with a pinafore. Ignoring Jake entirely, she smiled down at Alex. “What kind of pet would you like to have, if you had your choice?”

Alex pushed the brim of her cowgirl hat out of her eyes and rested her chin on her hand. She crossed her blue-jeans-covered legs. “Maybe a zebra or a bear cub.”

“I think kittens and puppies make better pets,” Jenna said.

“How come?” Alex asked.

Jenna smiled. “Because they’re soft and fluffy and fun to cuddle and they’re meant to be indoors.”

“Maybe I’ll get a kitten then,” Alex said after a thoughtful pause. “Or a puppy. Maybe both.” Her eyes lit up enthusiastically as she drew a yo-yo from one pocket and a cap gun from the other.

“That might be possible, if you cooperate and start wearing dresses again, when I ask you to wear a dress,” Jake said.

Alex slid off the sofa and fired her cap gun at the ceiling. Loud pops and acrid smoke permeated the air. “Maybe you should get me a kitty and a puppy first and then I’ll see if I feel like wearing a dress,” Alex countered.

Jake confiscated the cap gun and shook his head. “Behave first.”

Alex shook her head. The stare down between parent and child continued. “I don’t hafta wear dresses at school,” Alex said finally, when she realized her daddy wasn’t any more likely to give in than she was.

“No, you don’t,” Jake said calmly. “But you could wear a dress if you wanted to wear one. And what’s more you’d look very pretty if you did.” He gave her a gentle, coaxing smile.

Alex made a face and with a loud sigh flounced back over to sit beside Jenna. “I don’t want to look pretty.” She leaned over to see how Jenna’s sketch was progressing.

“How do you want to look?” Jenna asked as her pencil flew across the page.

“So right now.”

“You can look ‘so right now’ in a dress,” Jake said enthusiastically.

Alex glared at Jake.

“Can’t you, Jenna?” Jake said, looking to Jenna for moral support.

Jenna shrugged and refused to take sides. “Depends on the dress,” she said. Pausing, she looked at Alex, who had gone back to playing with her yo-yo. “What’s your favorite color crayon?” Jenna asked.

That, Alex had to think about. “Red,” she said.

“What else?” Jenna prodded, making a few notes to herself on the side of her page.

“Blue.”

“Dark blue or light blue?”

“Both.”

“What about green?”

“It’s okay,” Alex replied seriously, “but I like blue and red better.”

“Okay. What grade are you going to be in next year?”

“First. I went to kindergarten last year.”

“Did you learn about letters and numbers?”

Alex nodded vigorously. “I can sing the alphabet song.” She paused to demonstrate. “And I can count to twenty!” She demonstrated again.

“All right! Way to go!” Jenna enthused, and won a shy smile from Alex that made her smile in turn. “Did you draw pictures?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Jenna finished the sketch and then filled it in with Alex’s favorite colors. “What was your favorite thing to draw?” she asked.

Alex furrowed her brow. “Kitties and puppies. And one time I drawed a kite and a big tree with lotsa leaves.”

Jenna nodded. Clearly, she and Alex were on the same page now. “I want to show you something in the storeroom.” Indicating Alex and Jake should follow, Jenna rose and went to the back of the store, where there were bolts of fabric. She pulled down three different shades of blue. “Which of these do you like best?” she asked Alex. “The dark blue, the medium blue or the light blue?”

Alex touched each of the three bolts of fabric. “I like the one that looks like blue jeans.”

“Ah yes, indigo. Okay. Now…what about these reds? Scarlet, fire-engine or rose?”

“Fire-engine.”

“Good choice.” Jenna went back out to the showroom. She sat down, picked up her sketch pad and colored pencils and added the hues Alex had just selected. “Well, what do you think?”

Alex looked down at the short blue-denim jumper and fire-engine-red blouse. The jumper was adorned with kittens and puppies and letters of the alphabet, and paired with red cowgirl boots and a saucy blue cowgirl hat. “Now, granted, this is a dress, but it’s not your average dress,” Jenna said. “’Cause the jumper—the blue part here—is going to be made out of blue denim and looks more like overalls, except of course it’s not. And I’ve got you wearing boots instead of black patentleather shoes. Do you think you could wear something like this?”

For a second, Jenna thought Alex was going to shout a resounding yes or a Texas-sized Yee-ha! But her delight faded as soon as it appeared, replaced by a pout as big as the Lone Star State. “No. No dresses. Not even ones with kitties and puppies on ’em. Daddy, I want to go now.”

Jake knelt down in front of his daughter. He shot Jenna a brief grateful glance then turned back to Alexandra. “Alex, we talked about this. You have to have a few dresses now, like it or not.”

“No.” Alex dug in even more stubbornly. She folded her arms in front of her. “I don’t. I want to go home now. And I know you got to go to work. Can you please have Clara take me back to the ranch?”

“Honey—” Jake looked both exasperated and desperate. The clock was ticking. Before they knew it, Melinda would be here, and Alex wasn’t anywhere near even picking out a dress, never mind putting one on.

Jake shot an anxious look at Jenna.

“I think we’ve done enough for now,” Jenna said, knowing there were just some things that couldn’t be rushed, like it or not. “Clearly, Alex has other things she’d rather be doing. And I for one think she ought to have that opportunity.” Jenna looked at Alex. “Are you busy this afternoon?”

“Why?” Alex glared at Jenna suspiciously, clearly not about to be tricked into wearing any dress.

Jenna shrugged in a way that let Alex know she at least wasn’t going to force her to do anything she didn’t want to. Aware Jake was watching her every move, she knelt down so she and Alex were at eye level with each other. “I thought I might come over to play, say around one o’clock, if it’s okay.”

Alex blinked in a combination of surprise and delight. “You want to play with me?”

Jenna nodded. This was one little girl in need of some tender loving care if she’d ever seen one. “If your daddy say it’s okay.”

Alex looked up at Jake.

Clearly at a loss as to what Jenna was up to now, Jake shrugged. “It’s okay with me if it’s okay with you, pumpkin.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then. Bye, Daddy.” Alex kissed Jake goodbye, then skipped out the door to the curb, where Clara was leaning against her vehicle and talking to Wade and Shane McCabe.

Jake waited until they’d driven off, before he turned back to Jenna. “You were supposed to back me up on this dress issue.”

Jenna gathered up her sketch pad and pencils and carried them back to the storeroom, Jake right on her heels. “Oh, relax, would you?” she said, wishing he weren’t so close, and that he didn’t smell so good, like soap and man and woodsy, masculine cologne.

Jake’s silver-gray eyes darkened sexily. “You do remember what kind of time schedule we’re on here, don’t you?”

Jenna rolled her eyes and tried not to notice how very close he had shaved that morning. “Rather hard to forget with you breathing down my neck like that.”

Hands braced on his waist, pushing the edges of his sport coat back, Jake said, “You were supposed to convince her to at least order one dress.”

Ignoring the way he was towering over her, Jenna held her ground. “I did. Didn’t you see her face? Alex loved the alphabet dress I designed just for her. Granted, it’s a little casual,” Jenna shrugged, “but we have to start somewhere.”

Jake’s frown deepened all the more. “So she loved it for a second, before she dug in her heels,” he countered, exasperated. “She is still not going to wear it.”

“Yes,” Jenna retorted patiently, “she will. But only when she wants to.”

“Which is where you were supposed to come in,” Jake added.

Jenna made a face at him, designed to show him how ridiculously panicky he was being. “Which is where I am still going to come in if you will just take a chill pill and let me do my thing.” She turned on her heel and headed back out into the showroom.

Jake followed. “You have a plan?” he asked, the hope in his low voice as annoying to Jenna as his scolding had been.

“Of course I have a plan. I always have a plan,” Jenna snapped back irritably, wondering when Jake would give her some credit. She paused, aware her emotions were starting to get out of control again—something that happened frequently when Jake was around. She drew in a bolstering breath. “I’ll work on it this afternoon, when I go over to play with her,” Jenna finished calmly as she walked over to the sales counter and checked her schedule—she had been rescheduling appointments with customers right and left to make room for Jake.

“Oh.” The wind temporarily knocked out of his sails, Jake paused and raked a hand through his hair. He blew out an uneasy breath, looked at her seriously. “Good. ’Cause you know what is riding on this.”

“Absolutely.” Jenna smiled tightly, reminding herself to keep this strictly unemotional and aboveboard. She wanted this discussion with Jake finished within the next ten minutes, which would leave her plenty of time to prepare for her next appointment. “The expansion of my business.”

Briefly, disappointment flickered in Jake’s eyes. “And Alex’s custody,” Jake added, as he sauntered around to join her behind the sales counter.

“And Alex’s custody,” Jenna agreed, then paused as her next thought hit. She tilted her face up to Jake’s, so she could see into his eyes. “Does Alex know what’s going on between you and her mother—that Melinda is threatening to sue you for custody because Alex is such a tomboy?” Jenna asked curiously.

“No.” Jake rested his shoulders against the wall. “And I don’t want her to know. Bad enough we’re divorced and Melinda has shown practically zero interest in her since day one.”

“Did you expect this to happen?”

“No, but I probably should have. My attorney warned me at the time of the divorce that custody arrangements are often challenged after several years have passed. Sometimes for money. Sometimes because one parent doesn’t approve of the way the other parent is rearing the child. She was particularly worried in my case because Melinda so easily gave up all rights to Alexandra. She thought Melinda might eventually realize she’d made a mistake and want to become more a part of Alex’s life.”

“Surely Melinda couldn’t win,” Jenna said, concerned.

“When it comes to fighting over a child, no one ever wins. The whole point is to avoid the battle,” Jake said. “And in this case, also to placate Melinda so she won’t be compelled to overreact to make up for lost time and opportunity. Right now, as far as I can figure, Alex is an accessory to Melinda’s life that doesn’t quite fit. Alex’s tomboy ways are embarrassing Melinda. Melinda doesn’t like being embarrassed. If I weren’t here, she’d probably send Alex off to boarding school to keep her out of sight of all our mutual friends in Texas. Since she can’t do that, more drastic action is called for. One way or another, Melinda is going to make sure that Alex doesn’t detract from her mother’s public image.”

“Or in other words,” Jenna guessed, “as long as Alex is a perfectly behaved little lady, the fact that Melinda’s not around never comes up. But let Alex be ‘clearly needing a mother in her life’ and Melinda’s absence is all people talk about.”

“Right. Which brings us back to square one,” Jake sighed wearily, looking for a moment as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders. “How to get Alexandra in a dress, so all this unwelcome attention will go away.”

“Simple.” Jenna smiled victoriously. “You just have to make her want to wear a dress.”

Jake gave Jenna a droll look. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do,” he explained.

“Yes, I know. But a master is on the scene now. So leave it to me, and stop worrying about it. And start worrying about how you’re going to pull the expansion of my business together by the time I get your daughter into a dress.”

Jake opened his briefcase. “Actually, I’ve already been working on this. I think we should come up with a complete line of designs—formal, casual and business wear—to be mass-marketed and then try and sign up a whole host of department stores to carry it. From there, we’ll contract with factories to make the clothes and—”

Jenna cut him off with a look. “No.”

Jake blinked as if he hadn’t heard right. “No?”

“I want a single, small but distinct, line of clothing bearing my name,” Jenna said firmly. “Marketed at one store. Made in one factory, right here in Laramie.”

Jake regarded her in consternation. “Jenna, I know you are used to being a one-woman operation, more or less, but you don’t have to limit yourself that way.”

Jenna folded her arms in front of her and regarded Jake sternly. “I want to keep things small so I can insure the quality.”

Jake put his papers back in his briefcase. “Obviously, you’ve thought about this.”

“A lot. I always knew I would expand and do it in a carefully controlled way. Do we have a deal?”

Jake nodded, his eyes never leaving her face. “I’ll start looking for a factory site this morning.”

“I already have one.” Jenna smiled. “The old carpet warehouse about twenty minutes outside of town. It’s standing empty and it’s for sale.” It would be the perfect place for them to set up shop.

Jake paused. He leaned against the sales counter and clamped his arms over the rock-solidness of his chest. “I’ll look into it, see what the asking price is.”

“Maybe we could go see it this afternoon, after I spend some time with Alex.”

Jake looked through his calendar. “Four o’clock?” Jenna nodded and handed him his hat. “I’ll see you then.”

“LOOK, DADDY, we’re having a tea party!” Alex said, several hours later.

Giddily she spun around showing off her wool beret, long chifon scarf and white elbow-length gloves. “And I even got high heels and pearls!” All of which she had added to her usual T-shirt and jeans. Beginning to see where Jenna was going with all this, Jake grinned and joined the group where they were gathered around the table in the second-floor playroom at the ranch, sipping from child-sized cups, and eating tiny little tea sandwiches and petits fours. “And what a nice tea party it is,” Jake answered, admiring the cozy camaraderie that had cropped up between the women in his life. Jenna in particular looked very happy and content. He wondered what it would be like to have the full wattage of Jenna’s smile aimed at him once again.

“And tomorrow we’re going to have another one and really play dress-up, too,” Alex enthused.

Jenna met Jake’s eye and grinned as she adjusted the silk stole around her shoulders and the genuine bridal-shop tiara perched on her head. “I didn’t have time to dig through the treasure trove in my storeroom,” she explained, “but tomorrow I’ll bring some sample garments and the clothes my sisters and I used to wear as kids.”

Aware the J&R ranch house hadn’t been filled with this much love and laughter since he, Clara and Alex had moved in, Jake took off his hat, and pulled up a chair. “You still have them?”

Jenna nodded. “Mom never could bring herself to get rid of them. She thought her grandkids might use them someday, and as it turned out, Meg’s son Jeremy has, as well as his friends.”

Jake was glad Jenna and her sisters had done what they could to preserve the Lockhart family heirlooms, with their sentimental value. No doubt they’d mean a lot to them all someday. “How old is Jeremy?” Jake asked, as a bonnet-and-shawl-clad Clara handed him a plate.

Jenna’s lips curved fondly. “Same age as Alex, almost six.”

Alex tugged on Jenna’s sleeve. “Can Jeremy come to our tea party, too?”

“If his mom says okay,” Jenna allowed kindly, before shooting a look at Jake. “But you’re going to have to ask your dad.”

Alex looked at Jake for permission.

“Sure, honey.” Jake smiled, happy Jenna had become buddies with Alex and Clara so quickly. “Go ahead and invite him.”

Alex studied Jake as Clara handed him the plate of peanut-butter-and-jelly and cucumber-and-cream-cheese sandwiches. “Daddy needs a funny hat, too.”

Jenna gave him a flowered-brim garden hat. Alex giggled riotously. “Not that one, silly. Let him have…this one.” She ran to her toy chest and returned with a child-sized magician’s hat.

Jake put the small black top hat on his head. “Much better.”

Alex beamed. “Would you like some apple juice?” Being careful to be very prim and proper, instead of rowdy and out-of-control, Alex reached for the tea set.

“Don’t mind if I do, thank you,” Jake told Alex. While Alex poured Jake some apple juice, Jake traded glances with Jenna, silently telegraphing his appreciation.

“The petits fours are delicious,” Clara said.

“They’re from Isabel Buchanon’s bakery, over on Main Street,” Jenna explained. “If you haven’t been there yet, you ought to give it a try. She’s got the best baked goods in town, no question.’

Clara smiled. “We’ll have to run by there.”

The pager clipped to Clara’s belt began to beep. Clara looked down at the number flashing across the screen. “That’s my daughter, Lisa.” Jake reached into the pocket of his blazer and handed over his cell phone. Clara made the call, said hello, and listened. “Honey, you can’t be in labor yet. You’re not due for another two weeks—oh, dear. Yes, that’s a definite sign. Have you called your obstetrician? Is Randall on the way? Of course I’ll meet you at the hospital, honey. I wouldn’t dream of missing this.”

“Problem?” Jake said.

Briskly, Clara untied her bonnet and removed the shawl from her shoulders. She looked calm and in control. “Lisa’s water broke and she’s started having contractions.”

“Do you want me to drive you to the hospital?” Jake said.

Clara shook her head. “This being a first baby and all, there’s no telling how long it will take.”

Jake stood and helped Clara with her chair. He wrapped his arm around the older woman’s shoulders and gave her a hug. “Give Lisa and Randall our love. Let me know if there’s anything they need.”

Clara hugged Jake back. “I will. Bye, precious.” Clara knelt down to give Alexandra a hug and a kiss.

“Can I see your new grandbaby after it’s borned?” Alex asked.

Clara smiled. “You sure can.” She said goodbye to Jenna then was off.

Silence fell over the playroom. Suddenly, no one was much in the mood for a tea party. But that was okay with Jake. He looked over at Alex. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Alex perked up immediately. “You do?”

“It’s on the back porch.” Jake smiled at his daughter, but did nothing to give away the nature of the surprise. “Want to see?”

Alex vaulted out of her chair and wobbled over to him on her high heels. “Can I wear my dress-up clothes?”

Jake frowned. Now that Alex was actually wearing something feminine, even if only for dress-up purposes, he hated to have her take it off. But given what he had on the porch, there was no helping it. “I think you better take them off for this,” he said.

“Okay.” Alex sighed, clearly disappointed, but not about to give up her surprise for the sake of arguing. She ripped off hat, gloves, scarf and high heels, but hesitated at the long double strand of pearls—which looked a little ludicrous with her jeans, T-shirt, and buckskin vest. She looked over at Jenna hopefully. “Can I keep these?”

“Sure,” Jenna said, smiling, as she too took off her tiara and stole and excess jewelry.

“Thank you,” Alex promised sincerely, giving Jenna an admiring look. “I’ll take good care of them. I won’t lose them or anything.”

Jenna reached over to squeeze Alex’s shoulders. “I know you won’t, sweetheart.”

Jake waited for Alex to put on her boots. “Ready?”

Alex nodded. She took his hand, glanced over at Jenna. “You come, too, Jenna.”

Jake nodded, seconding the invitation with a frank, sexy look.

Obviously curious, Jenna followed as Jake took his daughter’s hand in one of his, Jenna’s in the other, and led the way downstairs, past the dining room, through the kitchen and onto the large and homey screened-in back porch.

To Jake’s amusement, at first Jenna—like Alex—saw nothing amiss. Both scanned the rough-hewn furniture with red plaid cushions, the abundance of green, leafy plants and blooming geraniums, the Navajo rugs strewn across the cool cement floor and the ceiling fan whirring overhead. Then they heard it. The quick, frantic scampering of little feet. A yelp. A howl. A hiss. Alex and Jenna barely had time to draw surprised breaths before they caught sight of a fast-moving bundle of butterscotch fur and a pair of lively dark brown eyes. And an even faster bundle of gray fur. Both dashing past in a blur.

“Daddy, you did it!” Alex exclaimed, clapping her hands together with all the delight Jake had expected.

Jenna turned to Jake. “Did you ever!” she agreed dryly.