The Dangerous Gift (2 page)

Chapter 1

The Unicorn Ranch, Texas. Five Years Later

Intruder

Relentless, the hot afternoon sun beat down on the roof of one of the many barns on the vast Unicorn Ranch. The intruder wiped away the rivulets of sweat. The incendiary device was easily hidden behind the light aircraft’s control panel. A final glance revealed nothing out of place. A brief moment of doubt. Annie and Ralf Stewart were good people, but unfortunately, they were determined to stand in the way of progress. This was their fault. The intruder jumped from the small plane and crawled through the broken barn window into the afternoon’s sultry heat. The pinto trotted from the shadows in response to a familiar whistle. Horse and rider galloped away from the barn, hoof prints indistinguishable from the many others that covered the ranch’s land in the course of a day.

***

Jennie

The shrill ring of Jennie’s cell interrupted her conversation. She maintained eye contact with her university supervisor whilst searching through her bag with her hand. She located her phone and looked down at the display.
‘
Jared.’
Jennie’s fingers tightened involuntarily around it. She forced her gaze back to her supervisor, who looked at her quizzically.

“Is everything all right, Jennie?”

“Sorry, yes, I think so, but I need to take this call. It’s from my family in Texas.” Jennie pressed the Accept button.

“Yes of course. That’s fine. I’ll see you next week.” The older woman smiled and joined the throng of students making their way across the faculty reception.

Jennie lifted the phone to her ear.

“Jen, can you hear me?”

She recognized Jared’s familiar, deep voice. She hadn’t heard it for over five years. Not since she’d fled to England to escape him. “Jared.” Jennie’s grip on her mobile phone tightened. Her heart pounded against her rib cage. Something terrible must have happened for him to contact her.

Jared’s next words confirmed her assumption. “I have some bad news.”

Jennie shivered. A thin film of perspiration covered her skin. Her knees trembled, suddenly weak and incapable of supporting her slender form. She collapsed into the huge sofa that dominated the faculty reception.

“It’s Annie and Ralf…” Jared’s voice faltered.

Jennie’s knuckles whitened, and a distant part of her registered the stark contrast to her red mobile phone. Tears blurred her vision. “What’s happened? Are they badly hurt?”

“Worse than that.” Jared paused. “They’re dead.”

Jennie swallowed the bile at the back of her throat
. Breathe.
She gulped air into her oxygen-starved lungs. Darkness beckoned. Her eyes closed but didn’t block out the horror.

“Jen, speak to me.” Jared’s desperation penetrated her shock.

Jennie forced her eyes open. Fingernails dug into her soft palms, welcome pain that stopped her from fainting. Jared needed her. “I’m coming home, Jared. I’m so sorry... I’ll get there as soon as I can.” Her reasons for staying away for so long no longer seemed to matter in the face of this tragedy.

“The funeral’s in three days.” Jared sounded relieved. Surely he knew she would want to be at his side. “I’ve booked your flight. It leaves at nine tomorrow from Heathrow. I’ve arranged a rental car in Dallas. See you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jennie severed the connection and let the tears she’d suppressed flow unchecked. The phone tumbled from shaky fingers into her lap. No one disturbed her in the now-quiet reception.

As Jennie meticulously packed later in her small flat, she wondered what she would find at Unicorn Ranch now that her guardians were gone. In hindsight, her flight from everything she knew seemed childish. Jennie liked London and loved her course. She was halfway through her master’s in business now, and Annie and Ralf had travelled to England to see her graduate nearly nine months ago, when she received her first in business and media. Her reasons for leaving and staying away, even the career she longed for, seemed unimportant now. There were no Annie and Ralf to go home to, but at least she could support Jared through his grief. She often thought about him, and part of her longed to see him again, but not under such tragic circumstances.

Confident she would cope with whatever she would face back in Texas, she closed her suitcase and lay down on her bed. She was a woman now, well able to keep her emotions in check. After Jared’s cruel rejection, she’d buried her feelings for him and was more than capable of keeping them hidden. In her four years as an undergraduate, she’d developed a reputation for being aloof and cool amongst the men she knew. Happy to have friends, she rarely dated and never let anyone get close. Losing her parents and Jared’s cruel rejection had made her keep her feelings under lock and key. This stranglehold on her emotions enabled her to keep upright, when all she wanted to do was crawl under the covers and howl.

She reached over and set the alarm on her mobile. After checking it twice, she snuggled into her quilt, exhausted from the day’s emotion, but the restful sleep she sought eluded her.

***

Jared

“It’s as if they never existed.” Jen’s soft voice interrupted Jared’s fragile concentration.

He looked up from the computer screen, still amazed at her transformation. The gawky filly had been replaced by a svelte, graceful woman. He flicked open the top button of his shirt, suddenly too hot, despite the air conditioning. “It’s a ranch, Jen. Life goes on. It’s what Annie and Ralf would want.” Jared smiled as he thought about his parents’ passion for their ranch.

Jen frowned, her gaze tearful. “When did you get to be so philosophical?” She looked tired, and her skin was alarmingly pale.

Jared pushed back his seat and stretched his stiff limbs. An outdoor man, he disliked being confined to his office for long periods; his fit body was restless and needed exercise. “Really, philosophical? I’m just a realist. I know what my parents believed in. The Unicorn meant everything to them. Keeping everything normal honors their memory.”

Jen smiled and wiped the tears from her soulful brown eyes. “You’re right. It’s…I can’t believe they’re gone. I loved them. They were so good to me when my parents died. Why does everyone I love die?”

“I don’t know, Jen. You still have me, though.” Jared opened his arms, and Jen ran into them. Their years apart were suddenly unimportant. If anything, their separation had increased his attraction to her. Leaving as she did should have made his life easier because she wasn’t around to constantly tempt him. He’d dated women his own age, but never for long. They weren’t Jen.

He pulled her closer and stroked her head, and when she nestled against his chest, the urge to kiss her pain away threatened his platonic intentions. Her tears dampened his chambray shirt. Her familiar scent taunted him as she pressed her soft curves against him. This embrace differed from the countless times she’d sought his comfort since her parents’ deaths.

“We’ll get through this together, Jen.”

“I should be comforting you. They’re your parents…” Jennie squeezed him tighter but didn’t meet his gaze.

“You being here helps more than I can say.” Jared noted the frantic pulse at the base of her neck. His body tightened inappropriately. Did he frighten her? Or was she still attracted to him? He spared a thought for what they could have had, if his father hadn’t intervened. Now Ralf wasn’t around to judge his actions, and Jen was an independent woman, not a girl under his father’s protection. If she still wanted him, they could be together.

Jen pulled away and stepped out of his embrace. Maybe she sensed his hesitation? He pulled her back against him, and his arms tightened to bands of steel. Confusion dominated her startled gaze, but she didn’t look away this time. Like a rabbit dazzled by headlights on a dark road, she appeared mesmerized as Jared’s mouth hovered above hers. He resisted the urge to stroke his tongue across her bottom lip.

Jen sighed and closed her teary eyes moments before his lips touched her…flushed cheek, in the gentlest of kisses. He held her tight for a moment longer before letting her go, her nearness a temptation he couldn’t give in to, even now.

He’d come so close to kissing her lips. Only the echo of his father’s admonition to stay away from her stopped him. Ralf’s death was too raw for Jared to go against his wishes, even if he disagreed with them. Jared pretended to be interested in the documents littering his desk as he willed his unwanted arousal away.

Someone knocked at the door, once, twice, before its significance registered in his desire-soaked mind.

His gaze clashed with Jen’s, and he was certain his eyes mirrored the regret and fiery passion he saw in hers. She looked beautiful with her chocolate-brown hair escaping its pins.

“The door…” Jen nodded and shivered. She smoothed her disheveled hair into a semblance of order.

The visitor knocked again, more insistently.

“All right, I’m coming.” A deep breath calmed his aroused body, and Jared smiled at Jen. “Perhaps you should get ready for the service. This could be Harry now.” Her pink tongue laved her bottom lip, and his gaze jealously followed its path. “Go.”

Jen nodded and scooted upstairs as Jared answered the door.

“Good of you to come over early, Harry. Can I get you something to drink?” Jared stood back to allow him into the office.

Harry Barnes, the Stewarts’ lawyer, placed his well-worn briefcase on Jared’s desk. “I could do with bourbon, but until my official duties are completed, I’ll stick to mineral water, please.”

Jared poured the sparkling water into a long glass, added ice and a slice of fruit, and passed it to his father’s oldest friend. Harry’s pallor was physical evidence of his sadness. He patted the older man’s back. “Sit down, Harry. It’s been a terrible shock for all of us. We could postpone the will reading to another day. I don’t mind, and then you can have the bourbon.”

Harry smiled, but it didn’t reach his troubled, steel-grey eyes. “It has to be today.”

“Why?” Jared’s stomach knotted.

“Your parents left a note, which requested Jennie’s presence at the will reading. I’ve written to her.” Harry eyed Jared warily.

“Have you got the letter with you?” Jared reined in his anger. This wasn’t Harry’s fault.

“Yes, it’s here.” Harry extracted the letter from his crowded briefcase.

“I’ll take it up to her. She’s getting ready for the service.” Jared’s mind ran over the possible reasons for his parents’ request as he walked upstairs. None provided the comfort he sought.

Outside Jen’s room, the gush of water from the shower in the en suite filled his mind with images of Jen’s naked body caressed by soapy bubbles and steamy water. His body hardened. He nearly kissed her earlier, but his reasons for not doing so remained valid. He’d crushed her hopes with unnecessary ruthlessness five years ago because she was too young for him. The age gap was the same, only Jen was no longer a girl. They would be spectacular together, his heart insisted. Attraction hummed between them like a current, waiting for a spark to ignite it. One kiss would be a lightning rod for his emotions.

He shouldn’t want Jen, his conscience reminded him. He must salvage his self-control somehow. Her life plan didn’t include him or Texas. She was studying for her master’s in Business, at an English university, with the expectation of a high-powered job. A slick London P.R. company would surely snap her up when she finished her degree. There would no kissing, whatever the provocation. Conscious of the time, he knocked on the door to give her Harry’s letter.

***

Jennie

Surprised by Jared’s brusqueness, Jennie rushed upstairs and sought sanctuary in her room. His voice in the hallway below sounded normal and unaffected. She envied him his nonchalance. Her insecurities had returned the moment she’d arrived at the ranch. She must have imagined that Jared had almost kissed her.

Duty swept her doubts away. The funeral was in fifty minutes, and she needed a shower before she dressed. Her tears mingled with the shower’s water as she finally allowed her grief for Annie and Ralf to show. She would miss Annie’s warm hugs and Ralf’s well-meant advice.

A knock on her bedroom door forced Jennie from underneath the shower jet. She slipped on her silk bathrobe. When water dripped down her back, she shuddered and shook her hair free of the bathrobe’s collar and caught it up in a crocodile clip. A second knock, louder and more impatient, echoed around her bedroom. She sighed. It must be Jared. She hurried across the room and opened the door as it vibrated with a third knock.

“Did you want something?” She instantly regretted her sharp tone. Jared looked so sad and stressed. She reached out, wanting to touch him and help erase the grief from his strong, tanned face. He wouldn’t meet her gaze and shied away from her touch, a sure sign he regretted their earlier closeness. Jennie withdrew her wayward hand. She still remembered the burn of his rejection. She wouldn’t let herself be that vulnerable again.