Texas Homecoming (15 page)

"Yes, I really do. And I've got some Comanche magic for you, right here." Wes bent his head, and removed a thong with a large stone pendent on the end from around his neck. He showed the greenish stone to Baxter. Jasmine thought it was little more than a tumbled gemstone, like you could find in any nature store for a buck or two.

"It's got a paw print on it," Baxter said.

"That's a wolf paw. And on the back..." He turned the stone over.

"Is that a wolf?" Bax breathed, eyes wide behind his glasses.

Wes nodded. "The spirit of the wolf is a friend of mine. My personal totem. And I've asked him to hang out with you for a while. He'll protect you from anything bad...nightmares or bad guys, or anything that comes along."

Baxter seemed speechless as Wes put the thong around his neck. He took the stone in his hands and stared at it, turning it over and over. "Is he real or pretend?"

"He's real. I met him once, in person. He came right up to me when I was camping out one night. I didn't know what to think. I thought he was just an ordinary wolf at first, and maybe I was gonna be his supper."

"Were you scared?"

"Oh, yeah, you bet I was. But he didn't bite me. He just stood there and stared at me, and I sat where I was and stared back at him. He's been with me ever since. See, he wasn't an ordinary wolf at all. He was the spirit of the wolf. And that's a whole different thing."

Baxter lowered his eyes. "Then he's not real?"

Poking another log onto the burgeoning fire, Ben laughed. "That's what I used to think about all Wes's mumbo jumbo, kid. But I've seen enough to know better by now."

"He's real," Wes said. "He'll come around if he's needed. Until then, he kind of hangs out in the shadows, just keeping an eye on things. You don't see him, but that doesn't mean he's not there. Now, it's not that I think you need extra protection, because you're probably the safest little guy in Texas, with Luke and your mom right here, and the rest of us just down the road a piece. But I heard you had a nightmare, so I thought this might help you feel even safer."

Releasing the stone and letting it hang against his chest, Baxter said, "Thanks, Mr. Brand."

"You call me Uncle Wes, just like Bubba does, okay, Bax?"

Baxter smiled. "Okay."

Then Wes shook his hand, as if Baxter were an adult instead of a little boy. And Jasmine could see the way he sat up straighter in response to that.

She backed away as they continued talking. She poured the cocoa into mugs and carried them into the living room. The men sipped, and Baxter gulped. Then her son surprised her by saying he was going up to bed all by himself. He didn't seem the least bit afraid.

Ben volunteered to tuck him in and tell him a story, though, and Bax didn't argue. When they were alone, she looked at Wes. "That was a special thing you did, giving him that stone. Thank you."

He held up a hand as if fending off her thanks. "He's a special kid. I just wish it was as easy to convince grown-ups that they're safe and protected."

She averted her eyes.

"Now, I don't want to butt in, Jasmine. But I like you. My whole family likes you, and Luke...well, Luke needs to speak for himself, I guess. But we all know for a fact that no matter what it is that's chased you all the way from Chicago, it can't hurt you here."

She sighed softly. "I only wish that were true."

Wes seemed to study her for a moment. Then he went on. "Do you think you showed up here by accident?"

Jasmine tilted her head to one side. "What do you mean?"

Wes shrugged. "That packet of legal papers that led you here—I don't believe it just happened to show up at the exact moment when you needed a haven. You were led here, Jasmine, because there is nowhere else in the world where you and Baxter could be as safe as you are right here."

She narrowed her eyes on him, tilting her head to one side. "You really believe that?"

"I know it. We can help you. But only if you work up the courage to stop running. To turn and face it and to stand and fight it whatever it is. There's never gonna be a better time."

She swallowed hard. She could almost believe him. But damn, she barely knew these people, this family. How could she put them at risk with her troubles? How could she put her son's life in their hands? How, when everything in her was screaming at her to take Baxter and run, and to keep on running?

A vehicle pulled in, and Jasmine tensed. Wes went to the window and looked out "It's okay. Just Garrett dropping Luke off."

She took a breath, then got to her feet as she heard Ben clomping down the stairs. "Sounds like our ride home."

Jasmine nodded. "Thanks, you two. You really did take it above and beyond tonight."

Ben, much to her surprise, walked right up to her and gave her a hug. His big arms closed around her and squeezed. She tensed automatically, even now expecting a grope, a pinch, a bit of hip action. Something. There wasn't any. It was the kind of hug a brother would give to a sister. And there wasn't even a hint of anything else to it. He let her go and looked down at her. "We really, really hope you decide to stay, Jasmine. Penny and I want you to work with us at the dojo, teach those dance classes. And Bax is already like one of the family. You think about it, okay?"

For some reason she couldn't have hoped to name, her eyes were burning. She blinked, and muttered a response in a tight voice. Ben ruffled her hair the way he'd done to Baxter on occasion, and he and Wes turned to leave. When Jasmine turned to watch them go, she saw that Luke was standing in the doorway.

The men said their goodbyes. She heard Wes tell Luke to put him on speed-dial and call at the first sign of trouble. Luke nodded. But his face was drawn and tight when he came in.

At first she thought it was because of what he'd seen. Ben hugging her the way he did. "That wasn't anything inappropriate, you know," she said. "I've been groped by enough men to know when someone's up to no good, and your cousin wasn't."

Luke blinked out of his distracted state and closed the door behind him as he came inside. "I know," he said.

She blinked, frowned. "You know? How do you know? You trust him that much?"

He smiled. "Yes. But even if I didn't, there's the fact that Ben would burn out his own eyes before he'd look at another woman. He's completely devoted to Penny."

She pursed her lips. "Seems to be another Brand trait."

"The one-woman-man bit?" he asked. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it? I don't know how the hell it missed my father."

Jasmine tilted her head to one side. "He cheated on your mother?"

"He never married my mother. He did marry two other women, though, both at the same time. Fathered kids by all three. And who the hell knows how many more?"

She shrugged. "And his brother was the father of all those cousins of yours?" she asked.

"Yeah. Maybe it skips a generation. Orrin cheated on his wife, too. Only once, but still, Wes is the result."

"Oh. I wondered about that."

He looked at her, and she thought he looked tired. Bags under his eyes, a weary look to his drawn mouth. "Is Bax asleep?"

"Yeah. You want some cocoa or anything?"

He shook his head slowly from side to side. "No, Jasmine. All I want is the truth. We need to talk."

She met his eyes, swallowed hard and backed up a step. "Where did you really go with your cousin the sheriff tonight?" she asked him.

"To his office. To run your name—or should I say your names?—through the computer."

She blinked rapidly. "And what did you find?"

"I found that Jenny Lee Walker was murdered, and that there's a warrant out for your arrest for the crime. They're saying you killed her, Jasmine. And I know you have her wallet. Her credit cards. Her license. Her legal documents. And a gun in your bag. So now I want you to tell me what the hell is going on."

She turned her back on him. "How long before your cousin comes back to arrest me?" she asked.

LUKE COULD SEE IN HER
eyes that she was going to run. The way she backed away so he couldn't touch her if he wanted to. The way she kept glancing past him toward the front door, and then over her shoulder toward the stairs. She was calculating how she could race up there, grab her son and flee into the night without letting him stop her. Her eyes were so wide and so damned pained that he ached just looking at her.

He didn't move toward her, because he was sure she would run like hell if he did. Instead, he held up both hands, palms facing her. "No one's going to arrest you. Garrett punched all the buttons and then left the room before anything came up on the screen. He didn't want to be put in a position of having to choose between upholding the law and keeping his word to me."

She rolled her eyes. "As if there would be any question of which he'd choose."

"You're right, there wouldn't have been. He'd choose breaking the law so he could keep his word to me. Risking his job, losing it most likely. It wouldn't even have been a contest. But since he prefers not to lose his job over this, he figured he'd turn his back. I think political types call it plausible deniability."

She narrowed her eyes on him, doubting him, he knew.

"Look, Garrett was just here, wasn't he? If he were going to arrest you, he'd have done it. He trusts my judgment, and I don't think you're a killer. I'm willing to look the other way on the warrant until we figure this out. And Garrett...well, as far as he knows for sure, Jenny Lee Walker is alive and well and standing here in my living room."

She blinked. He thought her stance eased just a little. She breathed, but it was a broken, stuttering breath. "Why do you believe in me, Luke? You don't know anything about me except that I'm an unwed mother, a former stripper, a liar, a total screw-up...." Her body was shaking now, too, in time with her breaths, and her eyes were brimming.

He moved closer, slowly, put his hands on her shoulders. "You wanna know what I know about you? Hmm?"

She lifted her wet eyes to his.

"You're the most devoted mother I've ever seen. You'd step in front of a speeding truck for Baxter, if it came to that. And I think maybe you have, a time or two. You're an incredibly talented dancer. You move like the wind, and watching you makes me get all choked up somehow. You're terrified, scared right to death of something right now, and you're afraid to trust me—probably because I'm a man and you've never yet met a man who did you anything but wrong. And everything you've done— no matter what it might have been or how bad it might seem—you did to protect Baxter. And that includes lying to me about who you are."

She lowered her head. "You don't need the kind of trouble I'm in, Luke. You don't want it, trust me."

He hooked a finger under her chin. Then he leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. He tasted the same sweetness he'd tasted on her lips before. A little gloss, a little color, a little cocoa and the salt of her tears this time, too. But he tasted more of her this time, because she let him. She didn't go stiff, and she didn't pull away. She stood still and let him explore her mouth, and she moved hers beneath it. He didn't embrace her, he just kissed her. She didn't fall against his chest. She just stood there, trembling.

And finally he lifted his head away. He said, "I need to be completely honest with you, Jasmine. I'm scared. I'm scared to death of wanting you as much as I do—because it isn't like any kind of one-night-stand wanting I've ever felt before. It's something more. My father was a bastard who could no more stay with one woman than fly to the moon. He was no kind of father to me at all, and I grew up my whole life with my mother telling me I was just like him. For a long time I believed it. Until I came out here, found this bunch of cowboys who turned out to be family, and saw that I wasn't just my father's blood. I was theirs, as well. And maybe I could be the kind of man my father never was. And maybe I could have the kind of life I never had. A solid home. A real family.

"But that's just a maybe. I don't know for sure. I don't know if I can be what I plainly see you and Baxter need more than you need air. I don't know."

She frowned at him. "I didn't ask—"

"I do know that I can help you. Me and my family, we can help you get through this mess. And I know that I want you to stay and let us do that. After that...hell, Jasmine, we're just gonna have to wait and see."

She stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "What did I ever say or do to make you think I was expecting you to take care of me or to become some kind of father figure to Baxter? Huh? Did I once suggest that I wanted to be some kind of small-town farm wife? Do I
look
to you like I belong out here in the middle of nowhere, chasing chickens with a broom? Do I? And as far as my sharing my son with you—with anyone—"

He was stunned. "I didn't mean...I was only trying..."

"You are so full of yourself, you know that? You are so freaking full of yourself. What, do you think I'm whiling away my hours fantasizing about you marrying me or something? You're insane!"

"Look, I insulted you, and I hurt you, and that wasn't what I meant to do. I was just trying to explain why I'm not on my knees groveling at your feet like any sane, rational man would be doing by now."

"It wouldn't matter if you were, Luke Brand. I grew up with a mother who cared more about whatever low-life man she was sleeping with at the moment than about her only child. I grew up waking to no breakfast, to empty bottles and overflowing ashtrays, and my mother hungover in bed with a stranger. I grew up to her brushing me off, sending me to my room, shooing me away so she could have her fun, and I vowed—I
vowed
—that I would never let any man come between my baby and me. He is the only person I need in my life. And I love him so much that I don't have any love left over to give to anyone else. So you can just take your stupid ideas and—"

"I'm sorry. Jasmine, please, I'm sorry. I did this wrong, and you're upset anyway, and this is way too soon for any of this, and we got way off the subject."

She sniffed and kept her face averted. He thought maybe some of those tears had spilled over, but she wouldn't let him see, and he didn't want to force it. "You're right we did get off the subject didn't we? You wanted me to tell you whether or not I murdered my best friend in the entire universe. The answer is no. I didn't kill Rosebud."