The Dangerous Gift (5 page)

As Jared caressed her hair and traced sensuous circles on her sensitized scalp, she let her mind drift. She refused to overthink the moment. She needed this too. She was transported to a sensual world where she could forget the pain and bathe in his love. Not love. Jared didn’t love her as a woman. The thought he’d lied all those years ago flitted into her confused mind, and her subconscious recoiled. It didn’t explain the passionate kiss she witnessed between him and Darleen. She must remember Jared loved his blonde Amazon, not her.

Jared tore his mouth away from hers and stood up.
Wrenched from her sensual world, Jennie opened her eyes. Jared’s gaze raked her body as she shivered alone on the bed. The bulge in his trousers and laboured breathing betrayed his continued arousal. She smiled, but when his gaze remained bleak, Jennie’s heart plummeted and her stomach churned. Stupid woman, Jared regretted his actions. Jennie willed the tears not to fall, her self-respect in tatters again.

“Hell, Jen, I’m sorry.” Jared backed away, his gaze fixed on a point above her head.

“Just leave it. No harm done.” Well, if she didn’t count her shattered heart, led astray by her willful body again. With her looking needy and beetroot-red embarrassed, Jared would be in no doubt how she felt about him. Yet he denied how good they would be together. Why didn’t he leave?

“Get some rest.” With one last, haunted look, Jared rushed from the room as if hellhounds pursued him.

Jennie fell back against the pillows. Their softness suffocated her. Her ankle throbbed. Nauseous, she relegated the physical pain to a distant corner of her mind. Her mental torment dominated and consumed her. Her heart screamed and lay broken and bleeding. Tears tracked across her face unchecked, and the silent house echoed her soft sobs. Where was Jared? Could they move on from this emotional wasteland?

Jennie put a little weight on her ankle, and it buckled. Tiredness forced her back onto the bed. Finally she slept.

***

Jared

Jared poured himself another generous glass of his father’s single malt whiskey. He’d intended to give Jen a brief kiss of comfort and friendship, not the incendiary device he detonated when her soft lips had tentatively parted and kissed him back. He’d been rock hard as Jen’s curvy body caressed his muscular frame, until his father’s voice echoed in his mind. Overwrought from the day’s emotion, Jared had pulled back.

His father had lain down the law in no uncertain terms as soon as Jen blossomed. Jared was to leave her alone, however provocatively she acted. Ralf had seen the signs; Jen’s hero worship of Jared had deepened as she matured into her late teens. She thought she loved him, and Ralf wouldn’t let his son take advantage until she knew her own mind. Maybe in a few years after college, he’d said, after Jen met other boys her own age and experienced more of life it would be different. If she felt the same about Jared then, Ralf would give them his blessing. Until then, their relationship would be platonic.

Jared couldn’t ignore his dead father’s wishes. He must repair the boundary he’d breached with Jen, or he would hate himself. When the sting of their grief dulled in a few months, Jared would let her see how much he loved her.

Inebriated, Jared toasted his father.
So come on, Dad, I did as you asked. I kept my distance. Hell, I even ruined her eighteenth birthday. She’s a woman now and still wants me. Surely, it’s our time now?
Jared poured another drink and downed it in one gulp. Oblivion beckoned. Jared fell into an uneasy sleep, the empty bottle of malt whiskey at his feet.

***

Intruder

The horse shifted its weight as it dozed in the cold night air. Its rider stared at the distant ranch. Nothing was extraordinary tonight. Horses munched hay in their enclosures; longhorn cattle lowed in the pastures beyond the ranch buildings; and light spilled from the numerous windows. Each one showcased a cameo of family life. An unwanted pang of longing, ruthlessly suppressed. The main ranch house was in darkness now. Clenched fingers pressed into the reins’ thin leather and then relaxed. Time enough for retribution. Satisfied, the rider eased the patient horse into a walk and rode into the night.

Chapter 4

Jared

Catapulted out of slumber by the sound of running water, Jared felt as though someone had taken a skillet to his pounding head. The waves of nausea and moving walls made the journey to the office window difficult. He held on to the windowsill and blinked at the water flooding from the new bunkhouse’s double doors. He closed his eyes for a moment, then refocused them. No mistake. The paddocks and yard would be waterlogged too if he didn’t act now.

Jared stumbled outside. The ranch manager and several hands were already hard at work. “What’s the damage, Rod?”

“You okay, boss?” Rod’s expressive, weathered face didn’t hide his disgust.

Jared’s temper spiked. Hired hands didn’t judge him. He bit back his angry retort. Rod’s support after his parents’ deaths had gone far beyond his job role. Besides, he knew he looked like hell when he collided with the hall mirror on his way outside. “Too much whiskey. Is anything salvageable?”

The manager shook his head. “The main water pipe sprang a leak. Everything’s soaked. The floors and wooden furniture will dry out. The soft furnishings are ruined.”

Jared threw up in the dirt. The curtains, cushions, and quilts his mother made, destroyed. They were replaceable but not by her. His vision blurred, and Rod reached for him as he swayed.

Jared pushed past him and ran towards the house and Jen. The door slammed against the wall as he raced into her bedroom, and Jen stirred. He shouldn’t disturb her. Last night, he’d left her alone, unable to face his emotions. Now, despite what lay unsaid between them, he needed her comfort. At this moment, his emotional survival depended on Jen.

“Jared. What’s the matter? Come here.” Jen patted the empty side of her bed as she rubbed her eyes.

Jared stumbled across the room and practically fell into her open arms. There was no passion this time. The floodgates that held back his pent-up sorrow disintegrated. Last night’s alcohol and Jen’s compassion towards him breached his emotional dam, leaving his grief raw and exposed. Sobs racked his body as he finally accepted his terrible loss.

***

Jennie

Jennie’s tear-soaked shirt clung to her and chilled her. Jared’s weight numbed her left side. He looked a mess and smelled like a distillery, but it didn’t matter. She owed him. He’d held her like this when her own parents died and had given her a rock to cling to as her world disintegrated around her. Now she would be his rock and keep him afloat in his own tsunami of grief.

As he lay in her arms, asleep at last, Jared’s grief-stricken state made her decision to stay on at the ranch easier. She couldn’t abandon him when he was so low. She eased herself into a more comfortable position and started to make plans. She would have to postpone her master’s; she was only halfway through her course. Finishing her degree through the Open University was a possibility. If not, she would defer for a year and then decide. Perhaps when things were on steadier footing at the ranch, she could spend a few months in England and finish her course. Staying at the ranch right now and staking her claim was the right thing to do. She smiled as Jared muttered in his sleep. He looked years younger, and his face reflected a previously unseen vulnerability. Jennie stroked his hair back from his forehead. He was going to be hers, and together they would make the dude ranch a success.

Darleen occupied the place in Jared’s heart and bed that Jennie wanted. She pushed the unwelcome thought to the back of her mind. If Jared was with Darleen, there was no future for Jennie at the ranch. She feared that conversation, but she’d have to have it with Jared sooner rather than later. Her beloved mother Sarah had told her to always follow her heart, and this time she would. It was time to stand and fight for her man.

***

Jared

His eyes raw, Jared breathed in the fragrant smell of roses. His head was cushioned against Jen’s soft breasts, which rose gently as she breathed. As he eased his weight from her delicate frame, he saw her face was tired and drawn.

“I’m okay. There’s no need to move.” Jen stroked his head.

Jared enjoyed the caress and couldn’t resist teasing her. “Liar.” He lifted his head off her arm and lay beside her on the rumpled quilt.

“Okay, you’re a lump.” Jen rubbed her obviously numbed arm.

“Thank you.” The words didn’t begin to describe what she’d given him, but he said them anyway.

“For calling you a lump?” Jen smiled as a faint rose blush stained her cheeks.

“No, for being there for me.” Jared held her gaze and hoped his eyes conveyed his gratitude. Jen seem to understand and nodded as she stroked her fingers through his short, spiky hair. “I really lost it earlier,” Jared muttered sheepishly. Reality dawned as he remembered the flooded bunkhouse. “A pipe’s burst in the new bunkhouse.” He should go back outside and help. He’d already let his men down once today.

“What’s the damage?” Jen sat up and eased off the bed.

“The soft furnishings are the main casualty.” Jared cursed the tremor in his voice.

“The things Annie made?” Jen leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “I’ll get a shower and see what I can do to help.” She looked at him with concern. He searched her face for any sign of censure or pity but found none.

Jen was his. It wasn’t that simple, though, was it? Her life wasn’t here, it was in England. She was in the middle of her second degree; she couldn’t just up and permanently move back to Texas, no matter what he wanted.

Jared felt the weight of her gaze and realized she was waiting for a response. He looked down at her injured ankle, which was still noticeably swollen. “You shouldn’t be working with your sprained ankle. It won’t support you.”

“It’s much better.” Jen flexed it without even wincing, but a black bruise marred her foot’s fair skin. Jared sat up, and she stilled him with a hand on his chest. “You need to rest. At least take a couple of hours. I can cope. I bet Rod’s out there,” Jen said as she walked into her en suite bathroom and closed the door behind her.

“Okay, I’ll shower and take a quick nap,” he called after her. Resting would help Jared recharge his emotional batteries before he faced the prospect of Jen leaving him again. They needed to talk about the ranch and more importantly about them. It was a long overdue conversation, but if he let her go without a fight this time, he didn’t deserve to call himself a man.

When he got over the hurt pride of his parents’ bequest, he understood their motives. They weren’t trying to push him out; they wanted Jen to be financially secure. It was almost as if they wanted them to be together now Jen was an adult and not a headstrong girl. Jared smiled as he recalled his father’s lecture. He had told Jared he would give them his blessing after Jen had seen life outside of the ranch. Jared sighed. Maybe he was reading too much into his parents’ actions. After all, they’d never expected they’d die so young, had they? He walked to his own room and flopped down on the bed. Within minutes, he was asleep.

***

Jennie

Jennie worked nonstop sorting through the waterlogged bedding, cushions, and curtains and hanging out what she recovered in the sun. Her bruised ankle throbbed constantly. Meanwhile, the ranch hands restored the building’s structure and fittings. The damage to the bunkhouse, although extensive, could be repaired. They pumped water from the dwelling, and the predictably hot Texan sun beat down onto the roof and walls, drying the damp wood. True, it wouldn’t look brand-new, now it was cracked and a little out of shape in places, but she would convince Jared a bunkhouse with weathered wooden floors and beds would make the dude ranch seem more authentic. She could visualize the ranch full of people, all eager to experience Texan ranch life. She wanted to be part of it too. Her business and advertising skills were sound. Her first-class degree in business and media proved that. On the downside, she lacked practical experience, except for her work placements, but she was intelligent, a hard worker, and she would learn on the job. Most importantly, she had made lot of useful contacts. She just needed Jared to see she would be an asset to the new business.

The hard porch steps provided welcome relief for Jennie’s tired body.

“Coffee, Jennie?” Rod passed the mug full of steaming-hot liquid into her waiting hands.

“Thanks, Rod. Is there anything else I can do?” Jennie enjoyed the drink’s burn on her tongue.

“No thanks. You’re a great help, but we’re about done here.” The ranch manager smiled.

“I’ll go and check on Jared.” Jennie ignored the inquisitive look that crossed his face. She surmised he was speculating about her relationship with Jared.

“Ice your ankle while you’re inside.” Rod turned to leave.

Jennie flexed her bruised ankle, and sharp pain shot up her leg. “Yeah, you’re right, it does hurt a bit.”

The older man tipped his hat and walked back into the bunkhouse to share his waiting coffee with the other ranch hands. Jennie rose as she sipped her drink greedily.

“So how’s Hop-along today?”

Startled by the unexpected deep voice, Jennie’s hand shook the mug and spilled the dark coffee onto the deck.

“Ryder! I didn’t expect to see you here.” Jennie’s tone was less than welcoming.

“I heard about Harry. I came to check you’re both okay.” Ryder levered his tall form out of the swing seat.

“News travels fast here,” Jennie said dryly.

“Jared called Darleen.” Ryder’s smug gaze said he enjoyed wrong-footing her.

Jennie’s heart plummeted, but her optimism interceded. Jared had chosen her, not Darleen, to lean on when he’d fallen apart earlier. “Would you like coffee, Ryder?”

“Yes, I‘d love one.” He opened the porch doors and stepped back to let her walk into the house.

“Thank you,” Jennie replied as she hurried indoors. The click of the latch and the steady thud of heavy footsteps on the wooden floorboards suggested Ryder was close behind her. She barely suppressed a shudder when his hot breath ruffled her hair. He was too close.

“So can you bring me up to speed on Harry?” Ryder sat at the kitchen table as if he belonged there as Jennie poured water into the coffeemaker. Although calmer now she’d regained her personal space, she still dropped some coffee beans, uncomfortable under Ryder’s intense gaze. She scooped them off the counter into the bin and carefully poured the rest into the coffee grinder. She ground the coffee beans, tipped them into the machine, and wished she wasn’t alone with Ryder.

“Your clothes are damp.”

Ryder’s intimate observation unnerved her. “A bunkhouse flooded. I helped Rod and the others clear up.” Jennie pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll call the hospital and check on Harry while the coffee brews.”

“Another unfortunate accident.” Ryder’s scrutiny unnerved her.

“I guess so.” Jennie nodded, noncommittal. Ryder wasn’t a confidant. Anything she said would go straight back to Darleen.

“Ralf hinted the ranch might be having financial difficulties.” Ryder looked away as if the subject embarrassed him.

Jennie disliked the inference behind his remark, but financial problems would explain why Jared wanted her in England rather than Texas. “What do you mean? You can’t drop a bombshell like that and then clam up. Go on, tell me. How do you even know about the ranch’s financial state?”

Ryder’s expression darkened, but he didn’t elaborate. “It’s not really my place to tell you, is it, honey? I would have said ask Harry, but now he’s out of action, you should discuss it with Jared.”

The aroma of fresh coffee filled the kitchen. With nothing to do until it brewed, Jennie escaped the awkwardness and called the hospital.

“Harry’s condition’s the same—critical and unconscious,” Jennie said as she ended the call. They sat around the scrubbed-pine table and drank the hot, strong coffee, and Jennie dug a little deeper, but Ryder remained vague. It seemed an offhand remark from Ralf had provoked Ryder’s comment, but nothing else substantiated his belief about the Unicorn’s financial status. Jennie knew all ranchers complained about livestock prices. It didn’t signify financial difficulty. Ryder wanted her worried for some reason. Not knowing why made her uncomfortable.

“I must get changed.” She picked up the coffee mugs, and Ryder looked disgruntled with her summary dismissal.
Tough.
She had to quiz Jared about the ranch’s finances, and they couldn’t put off their conversation about her future at the ranch any longer, either.

Ryder rose from the table in a graceful, sinuous movement. “Don’t fret, sugar. I’ll call Darleen down.” He walked into the hallway.

“Where is she?” Jennie hated the way her voice escalated.

“Jared’s room, I guess.” Ryder stared at her as if she were a specimen in an experiment.

Jennie unclenched her hands. She wouldn’t play Ryder’s game. “Does she always go into other peoples’ houses uninvited?”