A Christmas Blessing (18 page)

“Anything but,” he assured her, resisting the urge to run straight to the pay phone and call Jim Hill with the few bits of new information he had. He needed one last thing, though, the only thing he could think of that might help and that Jessie was sure to know, despite her doubts about so much else. He needed to find out her exact birthday. He knew how old she was—twenty-seven. And he recalled that her birthday was sometime in summer.

In fact he would never forget the celebration they’d thrown at White Pines her first year there. Erik had insisted on a real, old-fashioned Texas barbecue with neighbors coming from miles around and a live band for square dancing. He remembered every minute of it. That, in fact, was the night he’d realized that he was falling for his brother’s wife, that what he’d dismissed as attraction went far deeper.

Jessie had been his partner for a spinning, whirling, breath-stealing square dance. Her cheeks had been flushed. Her bare shoulders had shimmered with a damp sheen of perspiration. Her lush lips had been parted, inviting a kiss. He had obliged before he’d realized he was going to do it. The quick, impulsive kiss had been briefer than a heartbeat, but it had shaken him to his core. Jessie had looked as if she’d been poleaxed.

The band had shifted gears just then and played a slow dance. Jessie had drifted into his arms, innocently relaxing against him, oblivious he was certain to the fact that his body was pulsing with sudden, urgent need. Desperate to keep her from discovering just how badly he wanted her, he had spotted Erik across the dance floor and maneuvered them into his brother’s path. Erik had been only too eager to claim his wife.

If there had been regret in Jessie’s eyes, Luke had blinded himself to it. He’d taken off right after that dance and from that day on he’d steered as far away from Jessie as he possibly could without drawing notice.

Glancing at her, he wondered if she recalled that night as vividly as he did. Bringing up the memory was one way to learn the last piece of information he figured he could get for the detective—or so he told himself.

“Hey, darlin’, do you recall that shindig we threw for your birthday your first year at White Pines?”

Her blue eyes sparkled at once. “Goodness, yes. I’d never had such a lavish birthday party. Your parents actually had a dance floor installed under the stars, remember?”

“Oh, I remember,” he said, his voice dropping a seductive notch.

“I’d never square danced before.”

“You sure took to it.”

“It was exhilarating,” she said softly, and her eyes met his, her expression nostalgic.

If she was saying more than the obvious, Luke couldn’t be sure. He decided for his own sanity it would be best to steer away from the minefield of any more intimate memories.

“Was that July or August? All I remember was how hot it was.” Of course, he conceded to himself, his memory of the temperature might have had nothing to do with the weather. Jessie could have had his blood steaming with a look back then. She still could, he admitted. Air-conditioning hadn’t been manufactured that could cool him off in her presence.

“August second,” she said. “It was the day before my birthday.”

That nailed it down, Luke thought, rather proud of himself. He glanced at his watch, then slid from the booth. “Excuse me a second, Jessie. There’s a phone call I was supposed to make. I just now remembered it.”

She regarded him oddly, but said nothing. Feeling like a sneak, Luke practically raced to the phone booth. He reached the detective on the third ring.

“I was able to come up with a little more information,” he said and gave him what he had. “Does that help at all?”

“Some,” Hill said. “I ran the name through the computer after we talked, just to see if anything turned up based on what you had this morning.”

Luke sucked in a breath. “And?”

“Nothing much beyond the usual, social security number, credit rating, that kind of thing. There was one thing I found a little odd, though.”

“What?”

“Looks to me as if she’s been investigated before. There are some inquiries on the credit history.”

“Couldn’t that have been for a car loan or a job reference or something?”

“Possibly. It just didn’t seem to track that way.”

“How recently?”

“A few years back.”

Luke felt his heart begin to thud dully. “In the fall?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Most of the inquiries seemed to be around September or October.”

Erik and Jessie had been married on November first. Her name had started coming up at White Pines only a month or two before as someone about whom Erik was serious.

“Do you know something about that?” Hill asked.

“Not for certain, but I’d put my money on Daddy,” Luke said, fighting his anger. He’d known that Harlan suspected Jessie’s motives in marrying Erik, but he’d had no idea he’d gone so far as to check her out. “My guess is that Harlan was doing some checking before Erik and Jessie got married. He probably wanted to be sure that the Adams name wasn’t about to be sullied or that she wasn’t going to take Erik for a fortune.”

The detective didn’t react to Luke’s explanation except to say, “Maybe you can get the information you’re after from your father, then. He was probably pretty thorough. Do you want me to wait until you check it out?”

“No, get started. Even Daddy probably couldn’t bust his way into sealed adoption records.”

“What makes you think you can?”

“Because you’re going to tell me exactly how to go about it, and then I’m going to tell Jessie. She’s probably the only one who can get through the legal red tape.”

“If she wants to,” Hill reminded him.

Luke thought of the sad expression he’d seen on her face earlier. “She’ll want to,” he said with certainty.

“She might not like what she finds.”

“I’ll be with her every step of the way,” he vowed. “It’ll be okay.”

“You’re the boss,” the detective said. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I have anything. Where will I find you?”

“At White Pines.”

“Home for the holidays?”

“Exactly,” Luke said dryly. “Just your typical family get-together.”

It would be a lot less typical when he cornered his father about having Jessie investigated before the wedding. He was filled with indignation on her behalf. In fact, he might very well do something he’d been itching to do for years. He might wring Harlan’s scrawny old neck.

* * *

Luke’s expression looked as if it had been carved in stone when he came back from making that phone call. Whatever it had been about, the call had obviously upset him.

Jessie watched his profile warily on the ride home, wondering if she should try to probe for an explanation for his change in mood. She supposed she ought to be used to his sullen silences, but having caught a few tantalizing glimpses of the other, gentler side of his nature, she wasn’t sure she could bear this return to an old demeanor, an old distance between them.

“Bad news?” she inquired eventually.

“You could say that,” he said tersely.

“Can I help?”

He glanced her way. “Nope. I’ll take care of it.”

Jessie’s gaze narrowed. “You jumped in this morning when you saw I had a problem,” she reminded him. “Why won’t you let me return the favor?”

“Because I can solve this myself.”

“I could have solved my problem myself, but that didn’t prevent you from butting in, because you cared.”

Luke’s gaze settled on her and his mouth curved into the beginnings of a smile. “You saying you care, Jessie?”

“Well, of course I do,” she said hotly. “Luke, you know how I feel about you…” At the warning look in his eyes, her voice trailed off. Then, irritated with him and herself, she added determinedly, “And about what you did for me and Angela.”

“Let’s not start that again.”

“Well, dammit, it’s not something I’m ever likely to forget.”

“Stop cursing. It’s out of character.”

She lost patience with all the verbal tap dancing. “Lucas, you are the most exasperating, mule-headed man it has ever been my misfortune to know. It’s no wonder I’m cursing.”

He grinned at her outburst. “I care about you, too,” he conceded, his voice gentler. “If I really needed help with this, Jessie, I swear you’d be the first person I’d turn to.”

Ridiculously pleased, she said, “Really?”

“Cross my heart.”

“So does it have something to do with the ranch?”

He laughed. “Give you an inch and you go for the whole damned mile, don’t you?”

“You know a better way to get what you want?”

An oddly defeated expression passed across his face. “No, darlin’, I can’t say that I do.”

“Luke?”

“Drop it, Jessica. There’s nothing for you to worry about.” He glanced at her. “Except maybe how you’re going to bring Mother and Daddy to heel.”

She heaved a sigh. “I’d rather tackle your problem.”

“No,” he said with a grim note in his voice. “I can just about guarantee that you wouldn’t.”

Before Jessie could respond to that cryptic remark, he’d parked the fancy four-wheel-drive car in front of the garage and climbed out. Before she could move, he had her door open. He reached out, circled her waist with his hands and lifted her down from the high vehicle.

He was close enough that she could feel his warmth, close enough that his breath whispered against her cheek. She would have given anything to stay just that way, but the reality was they were at White Pines and there were far too many prying eyes.

Besides, judging from the grim, determined set of Luke’s jaw, he would not have allowed it.

“Come on, darlin’. Let’s go show ’em who’s in charge of our lives.”

“I was thinking maybe I’d slip away and take a nap,” Jessie said wistfully.

“Resting up before the big battle,” Luke noted. “A good idea.”

“You could do the same,” she suggested daringly, casting a sly look up at him. If the way his jaw was working was any indication, he did not mistake the seductive intent of the invitation.

“Darlin’, believe me, that would be a declaration of war,” he advised her.

Jessie was up for it. And Luke, she knew with every fiber of her being, was tempted. She winked at him. “One of these days you’re going to take me up on it,” she taunted him.

“Not in this lifetime,” he said emphatically.

Jessie just grinned. She had a feeling deep inside that he was wrong. He was going to cave in far sooner than he thought. She could hardly wait.

Chapter Thirteen

W
ith Jessie resting in her suite, Luke paced up and down in his own, trying to cool off before confronting his father with what he’d discovered. Walking into a room and hurling accusations after months of separation would hardly get their relationship back on track. Still, he couldn’t help wondering if Harlan made a habit of investigating any woman with whom any of his sons were involved. If that were the case, Jordan and Cody would probably send him into bankruptcy. Luke took a sort of grim pleasure in the prospect. He’d often wondered if his father would ever have to pay the price for his attempted control of his sons.

When he finally considered his temper calm and his approach reasonable, he bounded down the stairs two at a time and headed straight for Harlan’s office.

He found his father seated behind a massive desk piled high with files and spread sheets. Wearing a pair of reading glasses, he was squinting at a computer screen, a sour expression on his once-rugged face. Except for the glasses and perhaps a new wrinkle or two, the scene of his father engrossed in work was so familiar that it made Luke’s heart ache.

The glasses and the faint signs of aging, though, reminded him of just how long he’d been away. It wasn’t just since Erik’s death, but all the years since he’d declared his independence from Harlan’s manipulations and moved to his own ranch. He wondered how many other subtle changes there had been since he’d gone.

Harlan glanced up at Luke’s entrance. “So, there you are,” he said.

His pleasure at seeing Luke was betrayed by his eyes, even though his tone was neutral. He almost sounded uncertain, Luke thought with surprise. It was a far cry from the usual arrogance. He couldn’t help welcoming the change.

“About time,” Harlan grumbled, his tone more in character. “I wondered where the hell you’d disappeared to. Your mother didn’t even know you’d arrived. Wouldn’t have known it myself except one of the trucks was missing.”

“I had an errand in town. Jessie came along and we had lunch,” he added with his usual touch of defiance. Even after all this time, it was a knee-jerk reaction, he realized with a sense of chagrin. If his father commented on the weather, Luke found some reason to counter his claim.

His father nodded, ignoring the testiness. “Fresh air probably did her good. She looked a mite peaked to me last night.”

“She just had a baby,” Luke reminded him.

His father’s expression finally shifted to permit a small hint of approval. “Cute little thing, isn’t she?” he said with a note of pride. “Looks like an Adams.”

“I was thinking she looked like Jessie,” Luke countered, just to be contrary…again.

Harlan shrugged, not rising to the bait. “Who can tell at that age?” he admitted. “You boys all looked exactly alike when you were born.” His expression turned thoughtful. “Not a one of you turned out the same, though, in looks or personality. I never could make sense of how that happened.”

“We all got your stubborn streak, though,” Luke reminded him.

Harlan chuckled at that. “I like to blame that particular trait on your mama. Makes her crazy.”

“I can imagine.”

Harlan settled back in his chair and studied Luke intently. “You look tired. Why’d you really come home, son? You have something on your mind?”

“I just thought it was about time for a visit,” Luke replied noncommittally.

“Your mother’s going to be mighty glad to see you.”

Luke doubted it. Mary Adams was too caught up in her own social whirl and in her husband to pay much mind to the comings and goings of her sons. He was more interested in his father’s reaction. They had never parted without some sort of petty squabble, probably just the clash of two strong wills. Since Erik’s death the tension had been greater than ever.