Buch lesen: «Rich Rancher's Redemption»

One

It had been two weeks since the funeral that...wasn’t. Jesse Navarro still felt like the world had shifted beneath his feet. But, he assured himself silently, that was probably the normal thing that happened when your brother walked into his own damn funeral.

He frowned into the afternoon sun and told himself it wasn’t easy to hold a fancy funeral when the guest of honor shows up. Alive. He pushed one hand through his hair and muttered, “Just be grateful, for God’s sake.”

And Jesse was. Grateful. Hell, he had his brother back. But he also had a damn mystery to solve. And Jesse didn’t like mysteries.

If Will Sanders was alive and just now showing up in Royal, Texas, then whose ashes had been in the urn they’d believed was Will’s? And who the hell was the guy who’d pretended to be Will for all those long months? And why did he do it?

“No,” Jesse said aloud, “I know why he did it. The money.” Hell, the Sanders name carried a lot of weight and not just in Texas. So the bastard had tried to cash in on Will’s name and had done a damn fine job of it, too. It wasn’t just Will’s name he’d stolen. He’d had Will’s face. Had his movements, his smile, down cold. He’d fooled Will’s family.

Hell. He’d fooled Jesse.

That was a hard pill to swallow. Somehow, Jesse felt disloyal for not spotting the damn imposter the minute he’d shown up at the family ranch. How had he been duped? In his own defense, Jesse could admit that “Will” hadn’t spent much time with the family. He’d avoided too much closeness and at the time, Jesse had just figured his brother had a lot on his mind.

Which, of course, he had. Or, the impostor had. The man had worked nonstop to keep up the illusion.

Jesse shifted his gaze to the main ranch house. A sprawling white mansion, it looked nothing like what you’d expect a ranch house to be. It was massive, elegant. All white but for the black shutters at the windows, the house boasted a wide, columned front porch and dormers on the second floor, and at night, the lights made it shine like heaven.

And somewhere inside that massive house, was the real Will Sanders. There were a couple of cars out front, and Jesse’s gaze narrowed on one of them. It was a beat-up, faded green Honda with Nevada plates, and the woman who’d driven it was inside. With Will.

The woman, Jillian Norris, didn’t fit her car. A woman like that belonged in a Porsche. Or at the very least a classic Mustang convertible. During all the chaos since Will’s return, Jillian had somehow become a friend of Jesse and Will’s sister Lucy, so she’d been at the ranch a few times. And every damn time, Jesse was slapped with an instant blast of heat that nearly swamped him. He’d spoken to her a few times, and her low, sultry voice had seemed to thrum in his blood, making it steam and sizzle in his veins.

He scowled at the distant horizon, telling himself that if he had any sense at all, he’d steer clear of Jillian Norris. Apparently though, common sense had nothing to do with what his body was demanding. Instantly, Jesse’s mind drew up an image of Jillian and everything in him tightened. Shaking his head, he could admit to himself, at least, that it had been that way from the first minute he’d seen her at the funeral.

Drop dead gorgeous, with curves that could bring a strong man to his knees, Jillian Norris had mile-long legs and bright hazel eyes that looked both wounded and defiant. An interesting mix that had drawn Jesse in from the beginning. At the memorial service, she’d stood at the back with her baby girl. Yes, she had a daughter, about two. A miniature version of herself, with big hazel eyes, white-blond hair and a wide smile.

Jesse’d wondered, of course, who the hell the woman was and why she was at Will’s memorial service. But then Will had strolled in, asked What the hell is going on? And suddenly there were much bigger questions that needed answering.

“And two weeks later, I’ve still got questions.” Jesse shook his head, slapped one hand on the top bar of the corral fence, then squeezed the plank of wood hard enough it should have snapped in two.

His little brother was back from the dead and he was grateful for it. But there were gaps in Will’s memories, leaving the family wondering exactly what had happened to him while he was missing. Naturally, Will wondered too, Jesse reminded himself, but somehow, it was harder to be on the sidelines. Hell, it was making Jesse crazy knowing there was nothing he could do to fix this situation. He was the older brother and he was used to riding to the rescue.

This time, though, no one had known a rescue was required and there had been nowhere to ride.

Chaos had erupted at the funeral, with Jesse’s mother shrieking Will’s name and flinging herself, followed closely by Lucy, into the man’s arms. Will had looked at Jesse for an explanation, but he’d been too glad to see his brother to find the words—and didn’t know if the right words had existed anyway.

Shaking his head, Jesse remembered that it hadn’t been until long after the confusion caused by Will’s arrival had settled down some that he’d found out who Jillian was. Some lawyer had told her to come to Texas and claim a part of Will’s estate on behalf of the child they’d made together. That little girl was a heartbreaker, but as it turned out, Mac wasn’t Will’s daughter after all. That had become clear the minute Jillian admitted that she’d never met the “real” Will before. Now she knew that like everyone in Royal, Texas, she’d met and been fooled by the impostor.

To give her her due, Jillian had been ready to leave once she found out the truth. But Will had convinced her to stay for a bit until this was all figured out. Jesse had quietly kept tabs on her and knew she and her daughter Mackenzie had been staying in a cheap motel outside Royal, and he imagined that being cooped up with a small child couldn’t be easy.

Now she was here, meeting with Will, and Jesse told himself he should be in there, too. He gritted his teeth in frustration. But Will was as stubborn as he ever was and had insisted that this was his mess and he’d clean it up.

Still, that wasn’t exactly true, was it? Will hadn’t done any of this. The impostor was the man to blame and if Jesse knew where he could find the guy—probably better he didn’t know.

Still, he wasn’t going to stand back and let Will try to untangle this wildly complicated situation on his own whether the man liked it or not. Jesse was and always would be Will’s big brother. And damned if he’d let Will forget it.

He settled his black hat firmly on his head again and pushed away from the corral fence. He started for the main ranch house, his long-legged stride eating up the distance. His gaze swept across the palatial white home and as always, he felt that quick tug of gratitude.

He’d grown up here. From the moment his mother, Cora Lee, had married Will’s father, Roy, the Ace In the Hole ranch had been home. Hell, Jesse could still remember his first glimpse of the ranch and the house that had, to a six-year-old boy, looked like a castle. All it had been missing were a few turrets, a drawbridge and a dragon or two, waiting to be slain.

And Roy had made sure Jesse and his younger sister knew, from that first day, that this was their house as much as it was Will’s. That they were, all of them, family. And nothing was more important than that.

Family came first. One of the first life lessons drummed into Jesse, Will and Lucy as they grew up. And the one lesson that never changed or shifted. Jesse would do anything for the people he loved, which was why he wasn’t going to leave Will swinging without support.

He’d already screwed things up pretty well with Lucy—but he wasn’t going to think about that right now. Instead, as he climbed the steps to the wide, wraparound front porch, another life lesson popped into his head. His mother, Cora Lee Sanders, was hell on tidy, and living on a ranch had meant that she was constantly at war with dirt, dust and God-knew-what-else being traipsed into her house.

Wipe those feet before you drag a mess into this house.

In spite of everything, he smiled as his mother’s stern warning echoed in his mind. But dutifully, Jesse scraped the bottoms of his boots on the wiry mat set out for that purpose, then opened the door and stepped inside. Instantly, the quiet wrapped itself around him and made him a little twitchy. Usually, this house was bustling.

Lucy and her young son, Brody, lived in the east wing, but four-year-old Brody had the run of the place and had never known a silent moment. Lucy was a single mom, and again Jesse had to struggle past twin pangs of guilt and regret at the thought. But his sister also had everyone on this ranch helping her out with the boy that kept all of them on their toes.

Jesse headed for the study, Roy’s old office. Since his death, the whole family used it since Jesse hadn’t been able to stake his own claim on the room in spite of being in charge of the ranch now. His boot heels hit the shining, hardwood floor in a series of taps that reminded him of a heartbeat, fast and hard.

The double doors were open, so he walked inside, subconsciously taking in the familiar room. Deep, maroon leather chairs, heavy tables and sturdy brass floor lamps. A thick rug with a map of the Ace In the Hole emblazoned across it, walls filled with books, and a bar where crystal decanters filled with whiskey, brandy and vodka glinted in the light. A river stone hearth simmered with a low-burning fire, and at the wide, broad desk sat Will, looking uneasy.

Opposite him, in one of the leather chairs, was Jillian Norris.

The instant Jesse’s gaze landed on her, he felt a jolt of something hot and fierce slam into the center of his chest. The woman made a hell of a picture. She was tall, at least five foot ten without high heels. Her long, wavy blond hair was pale enough to look like spun gold, even caught up in the ponytail he’d rarely seen her without. Those huge hazel eyes of hers looked both wounded and defiant. An interesting mix that had drawn Jesse in from the beginning. The few times he’d seen her, Jesse had noticed the stubborn tilt to her chin and the light of devotion in her eyes when she looked at her daughter.

Will looked up at him. “Jesse?”

“Go ahead. Don’t let me interrupt.” He ignored the flash of irritation on his little brother’s face as he moved farther into the room and took a seat in one of the chairs.

Will’s frown only lasted an instant, probably because he knew it wouldn’t have the slightest effect on Jesse. He focused on Jillian again. “If I could make this easier on you, I’d like to.”

Jesse watched the woman. She looked...embarrassed, and he wondered if she’d had that expression before he’d intruded on this meeting. He should probably regret coming in here, but he didn’t.

“And I appreciate it,” Jillian said, her voice soft enough that Jesse had to strain to hear her. “But I’ve told you. You don’t owe me anything. Mac’s not your daughter.” She took a breath, then sighed a little. “I know that now.”

Will got up from behind the desk and walked around it. Leaning back against the front edge, he said, “I’m not her father, no. But the man who is was pretending to be me and that hits close enough to home for me that I can’t ignore it.”

She stiffened in her chair and folded her hands tightly in her lap. “Look, I don’t need your help. Mac and I will get along fine—”

Jesse heard the pride in her voice and knew Will did, too, when his brother spoke next.

“This isn’t charity, okay?” He flicked an impatient glance at Jesse, as if silently trying to tell him to go away.

Jesse shook his head.

Sighing, Will turned back to the woman who was saying, “What else would it be?”

“A favor,” Will said. “To me.”

She laughed, and even in this weird situation, Jesse’s insides responded to that low, throaty chuckle. He shifted uncomfortably.

“You want a favor. From me.” Disbelief rang loudly in her tone.

“Absolutely.” Will laid his hands on his thighs and leaned toward her. “The bastard—excuse me.”

She laughed. “I’ve heard worse and I think we can agree whoever the man was, pretending to be you, he deserves that description and more.”

Jesse admired that. She had her pride, but she was also willing to look at a situation and see it for what it was, not what she’d like it to be.

“Well,” Will said, “my mom would have a fit if she heard me cussing in front of a lady, so excuse me anyway.”

She nodded.

“As I was saying, the man who stole my identity stole more than my name. He took my reputation, too, and ran it into the ground.”

Jesse scowled, seeing the look of frustration on his brother’s features. He knew Will was having a hard time with all of this, but he hated seeing evidence of it.

“You didn’t do anything to me,” Jillian said softly.

“I know that, but as I said, it was done in my name and I’m going to feel terrible about that unless you help me out.”

A second or two passed before Jillian shook her head and smiled wryly. “Oh, you’re good at this, aren’t you? Getting people to do what you want, I mean.”

“Used to be,” Will admitted.

“Still are,” Jesse said quietly.

Jillian turned her head to look at him, and their eyes locked. Even on opposite sides of the room, there was a thread of connection that snapped and crackled between them. And Jesse saw by the flash of acknowledgment in her eyes that she felt it, too. Not that he cared.

“My big brother over there knows how hard-headed I am,” Will said and Jillian shifted her gaze back to him. “What I’m trying to say is, it’s important to me to rebuild my good name. So let me help. If I’m worried about you and your daughter, it’ll take time away from me getting back to my own life.”

Jesse watched for her reaction and he could see in her eyes that she wasn’t buying it. That was the only reason he spoke up when he did. “He’s not lying.”

She turned her head to look at him again and that electrical pulse between them erupted. Her gaze fixed on his and Jesse could have sworn even the air between them burned. He wasn’t interested in this. Had no time for the distraction of a woman—and this woman would be the Queen of all distractions. So he pushed away any sense of attraction he was feeling and focused on making his point known. “Will’s got a lot going on right now.”

She laughed shortly, but her eyes remained cool and flat. “Yeah. I know.”

“Then you should know he’s not going to rest until you and your daughter are taken care of.”

“I’m not a problem to be solved and neither is my daughter.”

“He didn’t mean—” Will said.

“That’s not what I said,” Jesse interrupted, cutting his brother off. “And I think you know it. So don’t go looking to be offended when there’s no intent.”

Will fired a hard look at him that Jesse ignored. He never took his gaze off Jillian, so he recognized when she accepted his words.

She nodded briefly. “Okay, you’re right. I was doing that.”

“I’m also right about you letting Will off the hook—”

“He’s not on a hook,” Jillian snapped. “I just said so.”

“I never thought I was—”

Jesse cut Will off again. “There you go. Offense where none’s meant. I’m trying to tell you that if you don’t let Will do what he thinks is fair and right here, you’re going to punish him for something that wasn’t his fault.”

“Jesse, why don’t you let me—”

“I told him it’s not his fault,” Jillian argued, and this time she cut Will off.

“He won’t believe you,” Jesse said.

“Yes, I would.”

“Well, he should,” Jillian said.

“He won’t.” Jesse waved one hand at his brother. “He’ll wallow in guilt or some other nonsense if you don’t let him help.”

“I don’t wallow,” Will pointed out.

“And if I let him help,” Jillian countered, “then I feel guilty for taking advantage of a man who owes me nothing.”

“No, you won’t,” Jesse said, shaking his head. “You’re too smart for that. You’re a mother. You have your kid to think of. So you’ll do the smart thing and take a helping hand when it’s offered.”

She tipped her head to study him. “Oh, will I?”

Her long, blond ponytail swung forward to lie over her shoulder and across her breast. His hands itched to do the same. Hell. He was jealous of her hair. How sad was that?

“Yeah,” Jesse said, his gaze locked with hers. “You will.”

“You two just let me know when it’s my turn to talk,” Will muttered.

“He’s not going to let this go until you let him help,” Jesse said.

“He’s right about that anyway,” Will broke in, grabbing his chance to get a few words in.

“Why do you care what I do or don’t?” Jillian asked, but the question was for Jesse, not Will.

Truthfully, he wasn’t entirely sure why her welfare mattered to him one way or the other. He shrugged. “Maybe it’s because my mom was a single mother when she married Will’s daddy. Because I remember how hard it was for her before we came to live here at the ranch.”

Her gaze lowered briefly before she looked at him again. In her eyes, he saw acceptance. She gave him an almost imperceptible nod before looking at Will. “Okay, then. I’ll take your help and thank you for it.”

Will smiled. “You don’t have to thank me. Like my brother said, you’re helping me out of a sea of guilt just by saying yes.”

Jesse watched her and knew she was still a little uneasy with her decision, but for her daughter’s sake, she was clearly willing to swallow a bit of her pride.

“You were living and working in Vegas,” Will said. “Is that right?”

Jillian’s shoulders squared and her spine snapped straight as a plank. As if just the word Vegas invited judgment that she was prepared to defend herself against. “That’s right.”

“I can send you back there,” Will was saying, “You probably gave up your apartment when you came to Texas, so I could help you get a new one, if you like. Or if you prefer, I’ll find you a nice place here in Royal.”

She chewed at her bottom lip and Jesse’s groin went rock-hard in a flash of heat. Damn.

“I’d rather stay here in Royal,” Jillian finally said, then added, “if you don’t mind any gossip that might spring up. People will know why I came here—thinking you were Mackenzie’s father and all.”

“Doesn’t bother me,” Will assured her. “There’s always gossip about one thing or another and it’ll fade. But this is up to you. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go home?”

Now a sad smile briefly curved her wide, fantastic mouth. “Vegas was never home. Just a place to live and work. I came here for a fresh start. For Mac and for me. I’d still like that.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Will said, and walked back around to the chair behind the desk. “We own a lot of property in Royal. I’m sure we’ve got an apartment—”

“It doesn’t have to be anything big. Or fancy,” Jillian added quickly. “Just clean and safe. Somewhere we can be until I find a job and get a place of my own.”

“But—”

Will was going to argue, but Jesse knew what the woman meant. She was willing to take help but didn’t want to feel beholden as she would if Will tried to give her some extravagant apartment.

“There’s a place off Main.” Both Will and Jillian looked at him. “Good building. Safe. Clean. They’re studio apartments, but big enough for you and a baby.”

Relief shone in her eyes and she nodded even as Will sputtered, “We can do better than a studio. A place with more room. A yard, maybe—”

“No.” Jillian shook her head, looked at Will and said, “This one sounds perfect. We’ll take it.” Then she turned her gaze back to Jesse. She looked at him for a long moment, then said simply, “Thank you.”

Those eyes of hers met his steadily, and he felt that swift tug of something hot again. He didn’t let her know that, though. “You’re welcome.”

* * *

“How’d it go?”

Jillian walked into the large, plush living room of Lucy Navarro Bradshaw’s suite at the Ace In the Hole ranch. The room was huge and airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows along the front wall, displaying a wide view of the ranch the Sanders family called home. The furniture was feminine without being frilly. Overstuffed couches and chairs covered in cream fabric splashed with blue and yellow flowers. Heavy, pale oak tables held stacks of books and brass lamps with amber shades. Rugs in pale, subtle colors dotted the gleaming wood floors and to make it all seem less like a photo shoot layout, toys, trucks and coloring books were scattered everywhere.

Ordinarily, Jillian would have felt completely out of place in such an elegant, old-money kind of home. But Lucy made the difference here.

At five feet six inches, Lucy was much shorter than Jillian’s five foot ten. She had layered brown hair, big blue eyes and a friendly smile that had welcomed Jillian from the first. Thanks to Lucy, even with everything that had been going on for the last two weeks, Jillian hadn’t felt so alone in Royal.

She didn’t know why Lucy had befriended her, but she was grateful. Jillian had left behind everything she’d ever known when she came to Royal, Texas, hoping for some sort of settlement from the estate of the man she’d thought was her baby girl’s father. Will Sanders. It wasn’t until the service for Will, when the man himself had walked through the door, that Jillian had realized she’d been duped. A damn impostor, posing as the rich, successful Will Sanders, had gotten past Jillian’s defenses and left her pregnant. Now she had no home, no job, very little money and a daughter to provide for.

Thinking of her little girl had Jillian’s gaze sliding to Baby Mac, playing with Lucy’s son, Brody. The tiny girl had soft blond hair, big hazel eyes and a dimple in her right cheek that never failed to tug at Jillian’s heart. Mackenzie Norris, closing in on two years old, and the light of her mommy’s life.

There was nothing Jillian wouldn’t do for her daughter.

“Jillian?” Lucy asked. “Earth to Jillian...”

“What?” She gave herself a shake and smiled a little. “Sorry. Mental wandering.”

“Don’t worry. Happens to me all the time,” Lucy assured her.

“Mommy!” Mac’s face lit up. “I color.”

“I can see that,” Jillian said, taking a spot on the floor beside Lucy and her son, the small, sandy-haired boy with eyes the color of root beer.

Brody, in his four-year-old wisdom, tried to whisper, “She goes outside the lines.”

Lucy laughed and skimmed one hand down her son’s head. “She’s still little.”

Yes, that was the reason, Jillian thought, but a part of her hoped that Mac always went outside the lines. She wanted her little girl to push envelopes, to reach for stars and every other heartwarming cliché on the books.

“Why don’t you take Mac to your room and show her your books,” Lucy suggested.

“Okay.” Brody stood up and held one hand down to the toddler already scrambling to go with him.

When the kids were out of the room, Lucy gathered up the crayons and tucked them into a wide, plastic box. “So,” she asked, slanting Jillian a look. “How’d it go?”

Jillian gathered up the coloring books, stacked them neatly, then laid them down beside the box of colors. “Pretty well, all things considered.”

“That’s called answering without answering,” Lucy chided. “My mom used to do it all the time to us. Now I do it to Brody.”

Jillian laughed a little. “You’re right. Sorry.”

“What did Will have to say?”

“Everything,” she said after a second or two. Jillian thought back over their meeting and couldn’t fault the man at all. He’d been kind, understanding and generous, considering that Jillian and Mac weren’t his problem to deal with at all. Sighing, she leaned back against the closest chair and stretched her legs out in front of her. “He’s a really nice man. Much nicer than the ‘Will’ I knew.”

Lucy reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze of solidarity. “He’s a good guy.”

“Yeah,” Jillian agreed. “He is. He offered to pay our way home to Vegas and set us up in a new apartment.”

“Oh.” One word of disappointment.

She glanced at Lucy and the other woman shrugged.

“I was sort of hoping you’d stay here in Texas,” Lucy said. “I mean, I don’t have that many close friends and, well, we just clicked, you know? So I’d miss you.”

Surprised as much by Lucy as she had been by the woman’s brother, Jillian asked, “Why?”

A short laugh shot from Lucy’s throat. “Well, come on. Do you have so many friends that you wouldn’t miss one if they moved away?”

“No,” Jillian said after a moment or two. “I don’t. I’d miss you, too.”

“Glad to hear it,” Lucy admitted.

“But I won’t have to miss you.”

“What?” Lucy asked. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not leaving Texas,” Jillian said, then shrugged when the other woman gave her a grin. “There’s nothing to go back to in Vegas and I think maybe Royal is a good place to get a fresh start.”

“It’s a terrific place,” Lucy agreed, leaning over to give her a one-armed hug. “I’m so glad you’re staying. But where are you staying?” She paused, then brightened. “Oh. You and Mac could move into the east wing here with me and Brody. This place is huge—there’s more than enough room. Brody would love having his new friend here and frankly,” she added, “so would I.”