Chapter One

Finding her brother in jail wasn’t the homecoming Emily Hanover had pictured.

These past four years, she’d been living back east with her grandmother. This three-week trip was her first and likely her last visit home. She’d dreaded coming home and facing painful past memories, but she’d come because she sensed David was in trouble. It appeared she’d arrived just in time.

Emily stared at the torn welcome banner and ruined buffet table, destroyed by her brother, David, just minutes before her arrival.

Turning from the mess, Emily reached for the rusted door handle of the jailhouse. She ignored the cramp in her foot caused by shoes designed for fashion not comfort. Pushing open the door, she stepped into the dingy jailhouse.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. When it did she saw her brother sitting on the stained cot in the single cell, his head cradled in his hands.

“David,” she said, moving toward the cell.

At the sound of her voice, he lifted his head. He stared at her a moment before he smiled. “’Emily, you look so different. You look like a real lady just like Ma always wanted.”

Emily jerked off her laced gloves, unreasonably annoyed by the compliment. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

His smile vanished and he moved to the bars. “I’ve done it this time.”

The strong scent of whiskey and urine drifted from the corner of the cell. “You certainly have. I hear you got drunk, rode through town on a stolen horse, knocked an old man down, and injured the mare you stole.”

He closed his eyes. “I didn’t steal the mare, I just borrowed her. I only wanted to ride out and greet your stage. But the mare was too much for me to handle.”

“Why’d you try to jump the buffet table?”

He laid his forehead against the bars. “That was the mare’s idea, not mine.”The part of her that had been tamed by life back east worried about scandal. The wild Texas rose she’d been before she left Upton, Texas, only wanted to make things right. “When are you going to grow up, David?”

His expression grew mutinous, as if he were a child and not a man three years older than Emily. “You know I hate this town, Emily. I don’t belong here.”

“That’s no excuse.”

He managed a feeble grin. “I don’t know why you’re so upset. Everything will be fine once you pay off the old man.”

“I’m not made of money, David,” she said tersely.  “And you’re lucky he wasn’t seriously hurt.”

“Can’t you fix this? Please. I don’t know how to get out of this one.”

“What about the owner of the horse?”

He shrank back a fraction.

She stepped closer to the bars. “Whose horse is it, David?”

David dropped his gaze. “Jake Lazarus’s.”

Emily felt the color drain from her face. “Jake Lazarus.”

“I know you two got history.”

History. There’d been a time when she’d loved Jake with her whole heart. But her parents had shipped her back east before they could marry.

David offered a tentative smile, the same one that had coaxed her into trouble in the past. “Can’t you just pay Jake off?”

“He’s the last person I want to see.”

The door to the jailhouse closed with a bang. “But you’re gonna see him.” The deep voice came from the doorway and Emily recognized it immediately.

Jake.

She’d forgotten he could move as quietly as a mountain lion.

Turning, she found him by the door. Six feet, he was all sinew and hard muscle and his shoulders still filled a doorframe. Faded denims molded his powerful thighs. Dust covered his white shirt, scuffed leather boots, and low-crowned Stetson. His range coat hung open, the right side tucked behind his pistol.

A chill snaked down her spine.

Emily lifted her chin. “This is between my brother and me, Jake.”

He jerked off his hat. His hair, as black as coal, brushed the top of his collar. “Not when it involves my mare and my cook, Emily.”

Emily tilted her head back so that she could meet his gaze. There’d been a time when she could read his emotions. Now there was a wall between them. Her skin grew hot under his gaze.

“Jake, I’m prepared to pay for the damages.” Emily’s fingers trembled as she snapped open her purse. “I’ll pay you enough to hire another cook, plus ten percent for your trouble.”  She quickly calculated the price. She’d be nearly penniless when she settled this mess.

Distaste flickered in his eyes. “Money isn’t going to fix this one, Emily. It’s time David grew up and took responsibility for his actions.”

“David has to be back at the ranch for the evening feedings.”

Jake lifted an eyebrow. “And I got a ranch full of hungry hands and a cook who’s laid up for at least a week.”

“You’ll make more money this way.”

“You’ve been back east so long, I suppose you’ve forgotten how we do things here.”

His words stung. “I’m trying to make this right.”

“This is your brother’s mess, not yours. David injured my man, so the way I see it he can cook for my men.”

David gripped the bars. Fear flickered in his pale green eyes. “I’m not working his ranch! Jake Lazarus is trash, just like Ma and Pa used to say.”

Jake’s jaw tightened. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and menacing. “You will work for me if you don’t want me to press charges. They hang horse thieves in this state.”

David’s knees nearly buckled. “I didn’t steal the horse. I was just having a little fun.”

Jake leveled his gaze on David. “You took my horse without my permission. And thanks to you she’s got a sprain that’ll take weeks to heal. That adds up to jail in these parts.”

David looked to Emily. “Tell him I wasn’t stealing. I didn’t mean to hurt the horse. He’s just crazy enough to see me hang!”

Emily summoned all the diplomacy lessons she’d learned in school. “Jake, you know my brother can’t cook and he has to work the Double H. Isn’t there some compromise we could reach?”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. “I need a cook. No compromise.”

It would be easier to move a mountain than to get Jake to change his mind. He’d not leave here today without a cook. “Then take me instead.”

Jake looked genuinely shocked. Boldly his gaze traveled from her green hat with the jaunty peacock feather, over her velvet traveling suit, to the pointy tips of her kid shoes. “You even remember how to work a cookstove?”

His bold appraisal had her temper rising. “I’ll manage.”

“’Emily, don’t!” David shouted. “Ma and Pa would have hated the idea of you working for him.”

She didn’t take her gaze off Jake. “You can’t go to jail, David. That ranch was Pa’s dream and I won’t see it lost.”

Jake shook his head. “You look like you’d blow away in a stiff breeze.”

“I won’t.”

For a moment, he said nothing and she thought he’d reject her offer. “We work sunup to sundown on my ranch.”

“Understood.”

Something akin to approval flashed in his eyes. “For two weeks.”

The way he hovered close made her hesitate. “Yes.”

He tugged off his glove and held his hand out to her. Automatically, she took it. He wrapped his long, calloused fingers around her small, soft hand. “You haven’t done hard work in years.”

 “My grandmother would be pleased to hear you say that. She’s worked hard to erase my years in Texas.”

“I never did like society types.”

Fire flashed in her eyes. “Then I suppose it’s going to be a long two weeks.”

Chapter Two

The wheel of Jake’s wagon hit a rut in the dusty road and his shoulder brushed Emily’s.

The simple contact should have meant nothing. But it stirred fire in his blood.

Annoyed, he tightened his hands on the reins. He’d done a lot of dumb things in his life but hiring Emily won the prize. He needed experienced hands to work his

spread, the Two Rivers ranch, not a woman he’d loved and never been able to forget.

He’d first met Emily when she was sixteen, and he twenty-three. It had been love at first sight for both of them and he’d asked her to marry him. Emily had agreed to be his wife, but when she’d told her parents, they’d shipped her off to boarding school.

Jake hated seeing her go, but he had always figured she’d find a way back to him. Even when she’d not answered his letters, he still had hope. Then her ma, and soon after, her pa, had died. They would have been free to marry then, but she didn’t return. Months turned into years and finally he’d given up.

He should have walked a wide circle around her and kept his distance. But the minute he’d seen her climb off the stage, he’d known he’d never be able to stay away. There were just too many unanswered questions.

Cool and proper, she wasn’t the girl he remembered, but a fancy lady who likely hadn’t gotten her hands dirty in years. He stole a glance at her. She sat up so straight he figured her spine would snap if he shouted, “Boo.”

Still, under all the finery, she was about the prettiest little thing he’d ever laid eyes on. Blond curls ringed her oval face. That fancy dress molded her slim waist and full breasts as if it were a second skin. And her blue eyes still sparkled with a quiet intelligence that made him want to learn about everything she’d been up to these past four years.

It had been a long time since his heart had felt like a sledgehammer in his chest.

Damn it all, he was already falling under her spell. He didn’t want to feel anything for her. She was poison. A siren. Only in the past year had he stopped wishing she’d return.

Yeah, he should have stayed clear, taken the money Emily had offered, and been done with the Hanovers, but lust and pride had overruled good judgment. David Hanover and men like him had been a thorn in his side since he could remember. The young rancher was sitting on rich, fertile land. He had water rights to last him a lifetime. But instead of taking care of what he had, he was letting it all go to waste. The Double H ranch was headed to ruins and David didn’t seem to care.

What he’d cared about was making trouble for Jake. David had never challenged Jake outright but he’d made him pay dearly for access to the water on the Hanover land and had dropped hints that Lazarus horses were inferior when buyers were in town.

Yep, men like David Hanover didn’t have the sense to run their own place, but they were more than happy to make trouble for men like him who wanted to build something out of nothing.

Jake wasn’t going to back down. He’d fought too many renegades and gone without for too long to scrape together the money for his spread.

And if Emily Hanover wanted to take her brother’s medicine, then so be it. Like it or not she’d stick out the next fourteen days.

Even if it killed him.

* * *

 

Neither spoke the remainder of the journey and Emily was glad. She wanted to forget about Jake and savor the quiet beauty of the landscape and drink in as much of it as she could. She only had three weeks in Texas before she had to return to Virginia and no one was going to ruin this time, not even Jake Lazarus.

But no matter how she tried to ignore Jake, there seemed to be no escaping him.

His large muscled frame ate up most of the buckboard’s seat. His scent, a mixture of leather and fresh air, enveloped her. Every rut in the road sent her shoulder bumping into his no matter how straight she tried to sit.

She may have pushed him out of her thoughts these past couple of years, but her body hadn’t forgotten him or his touch.

She stole a peek at him and glimpsed the hard set of his jaw. He’d grown even harder looking. There was no hint of the young man who’d whispered words of love in her ear or spoke of his dreams of building a fine horse ranch.

To her relief they arrived at his ranch twenty minutes later. Grateful to put some distance between them, she swung her skirts around, ready to hop down off the buckboard as she’d done a thousand times as a child on her ranch. But the folds of velvet twisted around her legs, slowing her down just long enough for Jake to reach her side of the buckboard.

He frowned at the rich fabric as he wrapped his long, leather gloved hands around her narrow waist. As if she weighed no more than a feather, he plucked her from the seat and lowered her slowly to the ground.

The contact was too intimate and sent an old, nearly forgotten heat through her body. But before she could react to it, he broke away and moved to the back of the wagon to remove her black steamer trunk. “I’ll stow your gear in the house. You can change inside. My hands will be back at sunset and they’ll be expecting supper on the table.”

Without another word, he carried the trunk into the house, leaving her to trail behind him.

Jake’s home had changed since she’d last seen it. No longer a rough dugout, it was a white frame house with a porch that stretched across the front. It reminded her of a house she’d once seen in a magazine and had described to Jake on one of their lazy afternoon strolls.

But unlike her dream house or the houses in Virginia, there wasn’t a blade of grass within fifty feet of the foundation. The porch wasn’t furnished with rockers to sit in and savor the setting sun or to relax after a long day of work. Instead, it was piled high with barrels and bags of feed. It was all business, just like Jake.

Emily paused at the threshold, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dim light. The single room was long and narrow and looked more like a barn than a home. Bales of hay were stacked in one corner and more feed sacks in another. A large cookstove dominated the other corner. Near it sat the room’s only furniture - a single chair, table, and a small cot covered with rumpled blankets.

She glanced at the simple staircase. “Is my room upstairs?”

“There’s no furniture upstairs. Only supplies.”

“Where do you sleep?”

He shoved her trunk against the wall by the large stone hearth. “The cot here suits fine.”

“You built this big house and you still sleep on a cot?”

“I spend most of my days working. I don’t have time to worry over luxuries.” There was no hint of apology in his rough voice. “For the next two weeks, the cot is yours. I’ll move my gear out to the barn.”

Stunned, Emily moved toward the stove and noted a washtub filled with dirty dishes. “What do you expect me to do with this mess?”

His gaze, full of challenge, didn’t waver from hers. “Clean it.”

Her temper, so carefully tamed by her grandmother these past four years, ignited. “You’re joking.”

He flexed his long fingers. “Serious as a snakebite.”

She turned from the sink too disgusted to think about washing the caked-on bits of food. “This place isn’t fit for pigs.”

He stiffened then took a step forward. “Break our deal and your brother goes to jail.”

Emily stared at the grim lines etched in his tanned face. She had no doubt that he’d do exactly that.

He jabbed his thumb toward the door. “So what’s it gonna be, princess. Are you staying or going? I’ve burned half a day and have nothing to show for it.”

She gritted her teeth. “You’ve changed. And not for the better.”

“I could say the same to you.” He looked almost bored. “Staying or going?”

If he expected her to crumble, he was going to be one disappointed man. She’d work as his cook, even if it killed them both. “Staying.”

Chapter Three

Bone weary, Jake leaned on the corral fence and stared with pride at the seven horses prancing the ring. He and his four hands had spent the better part of the afternoon rounding up the horses they’d turned out on the north ridge last spring. As wild as the country, the spirited animals had fought tooth and nail for their freedom.

It had been one long damn day, and it would have been satisfying if not for Emily. Thoughts of her had lingered in his mind and more than once he’d wondered what she was doing - if she’d just up and left.

Just knowing she was on his land and in the house he’d built for her was enough to resurrect feelings in him he’d worked so hard to bury.

Damn Emily.

He wished he’d never laid eyes on her.

Isaac Ralston, a grizzled cowhand who’d worked the Double H before joining him three seasons ago, hitched his boot on the bottom rung of the fence and leaned forward. “You got a lot to be proud of, Jake. Not many men could build up a spread as fast and well as this.”

Jake allowed a small smile. “This place has sweat everything it could out of me, but it’s been worth it.”

He took one last glance at the ponies and turned toward the house. Instead of being dark and cold, the place was lit up like a firefly. Emily’s slender frame passed in front of the window and Jake found himself letting out a relieved sigh. She hadn’t left him. Yet.

Isaac scratched his chin. “Who the devil’s that woman in the house?”

Jake tensed. “Our new cook.”

“What’s wrong with Fred?”

“Got hurt in town today. He’s laid up for a good week.”

“Who’d you find to cook?”

“Emily Hanover.”

Isaac pressed his hand to his ear. “Say that again. My hearing’s failing me.”

Jake ground his teeth. Isaac knew his history with Emily. “You heard me.”

“You have lost your mind.”

“I know.”

“Why’d she come back?”

“Don’t know.”

“How long she staying?”

The thought of seeing her go again tore at his gut. “I don’t know.”

Isaac’s eyes narrowed. “One last question and I want you to think long and hard about the answer. Are you going to let her leave this time?”

 

* * *

 

Emily smoothed her hands over her stained skirt, and then pulled the hot biscuits from the stove.

She needed to hold on to her anger. There was so much to dislike about Jake Lazarus and this situation. But as hard as she tired, the hard emotions kept seeping away.

She was in Texas - in the wide, sweeping land she loved so much and it seemed such a shame to waste what precious little time she had left here.

In three weeks, she’d move back east, where the buildings were too close and the air thick. She’d walk away from the Double H ranch and the wild lands that she loved so much. She’d finally do as her mother had always wished - honor her memory in the only way left to her. She’d marry a fine, respectable city man.

Richard Danvers, the man who would become her fiancé once she accepted his marriage proposal, would have been a dream come true for her mother, if she’d lived to meet him. But each time Emily thought about him, the familiar tightness returned to her chest.

Her intended wasn’t a bad man; he simply didn’t love the things she loved. He hated the outdoors, feared horses, and had never been west of the Shenandoah Valley. He tolerated her spirited nature and openly spoke of the woman she’d become when they married.

She looked at her dress, now soiled by the afternoon’s chores. If anything, the restlessness inside her had grown.

“Richard would be appalled,” she whispered as she stared at the black smudge splashed over the periwinkle skirt.

A wicked smile curled her lips as she thought of his face turning red with disappointment and then anger.

She knelt in front of the stove and using a checkered cloth she’d found in a drawer earlier, opened the cast iron door. She pulled out the second tray of golden biscuits, set them on the dinner table and closed the oven door.

She brushed a stray curl from her flushed forehead and studied her handiwork. The table was scrubbed clean and the kitchen dishes cleaned. It was all she’d had time for this afternoon before she’d had to start supper.

If Jake thought working a ranch was punishment, he was wrong. This was the kind of work that filled her soul, gave her a reason to get up in the morning.

And as long as she kept her feelings for Jake in check, she’d be fine.

She started when the door banged open and a grizzled cowhand stepped into the cabin. He stopped instantly when he saw her. His mouth dropped open.

“I hope you’re hungry,” she said easily.

A handful of seconds passed before he snapped his mouth closed and mutely nodded.

“Miss Hanover?”

Her smile widened. “Isaac.”

He yanked off his hat. “You remember me?”

“Of course I do. You taught me how to rope a calf when I was twelve.” Etiquette kept her from hugging him. Too familiar, her grandmother would say. “Grab a plate. There’s no room to feed you inside but the evening’s nice and there’s room now on the front porch.”

Another cowhand shoved the old man. “What’s taking you so long, Isaac? I’m hungry.”

Isaac stumbled forward toward the table, and the other cowhand, like him, stopped in his tracks when he saw Emily. All the men had the same reaction. Emily was finally forced to make plates for them, shove them in their hands, and send them out the door.

One reed-thin cowhand glanced at her over his plate piled high with food. “God bless you, ma’am.”

As the last man filed out, Jake entered the room. His wide shoulders chewed up the space in the small cabin. He glanced at the table. Surprise flickered in his eyes as his gaze lifted to Emily.

He picked up a biscuit as if to prove it was real. One bite and his eyes closed, as if lost in a moment of pure pleasure. “There has to be poison in this.”

She savored his shock. “It was tempting.”

He finished the biscuit then looked at her. “How’d you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Cook.”

“I was raised on a ranch, remember? I know my way around a kitchen and a barn.”

He studied the stains on her dress as if seeing her for the first time. “I figured you’d forgotten.”

“I haven’t forgotten anything,” she whispered.

He kept all traces of emotion out of his voice. “You come back to Upton for good?”

“No, just a visit.”

His jaw tightened “Why leave? You’ve got a spread just aching for someone who gives a damn to run it.”

She dropped her gaze to the now empty serving plates and started to pick them up. “I’ve obligations.”

He leaned closer, his gaze searching. “What could be more important than saving the Double H?”

“Lots of things.”

“Name one,” he challenged.

“Marrying Richard.”

Chapter Four

Marrying Richard.

Jake drove the ax blade into the log and split it in one swipe. He picked up the splintered wood and tossed it onto the growing pile by the back cabin. He’d been chopping wood for a good hour in the hot midday sun and had worked up a fine sweat. But he refused to stop until he was so tired he’d forget about Emily’s parting words to him last night.

Marrying Richard.

Who was he kidding? The words had stalked Jake like a half-starved prairie dog all night and into the next day. Lord knows why he should care who Emily Hanover married. She’d left him four years ago for another life. And he’d made peace with that.

He had.

At least until he’d walked into his home, and seen Emily standing by the stove barefooted, wearing that fancy dress dusted with flour and ashes. Stray curls had escaped that tight bun and framed her face, hinting at the woman he’d once loved so much.

If she’d just stayed wrapped in her laces and silks and behind the wall of ice she’d erected, he could have walked away. But she hadn’t.

The old Emily was peeking out.

And he wanted her.

He centered another log on the chopping block and pulled the ax blade over his head. As he swung forward he heard the footsteps behind him.

“You think you’ll really need that much chopped wood this summer?” Isaac grinned as he leaned against the side of the barn. He reached in his vest pocket and pulled out his tobacco pouch. “Memory serves, it gets a might warm around here in July and August.”

Jake drove the blade through the wood. “What do you want, old-timer?”

Isaac chuckled. “You’re prickly today.”

Jake wiped the sweat from the back of his forehead with the back of his hand. “What of it?”

“You were in a good mood when you rode into town yesterday.”

“That was yesterday.”

The old man sprinkled tobacco on rolling paper, expertly rolled it into a cigarette, and then twisted the ends closed. “Before you saw Miss Emily Hanover again.”

He shot Isaac a sharp glance. “My mood doesn’t have anything to do with her.”

Isaac cackled. “And pigs can fly. Not one man in that bunkhouse got a wink of sleep last night. Emily Hanover is pretty enough to tempt the devil himself. Always was, always will be. Hell, if I were five years younger I might toss my hat in the ring.”

Jake tossed the ax aside and grabbed his shirt, which he’d hung on a nail. He wiped the sweat from his face, then his bare muscled chest. “I’ll give you that she’s a fine-looking woman.”

“Damn, damn fine,” Isaac muttered.

Annoyed, Jake jerked his shirt over his head. “What’s gotten into you, old man?”

Isaac laughed. “I might be old, but I ain’t dead.”

A smile tugged the corner of Jake’s mouth. But the good mood faded as quickly as it came. “She’s changed.”

“Maybe her clothes are fancier, but the gal I saw standing by that stove, was the Em that used to ride the meadows bareback at lightning speed.”

Jake closed his eyes summoning the memory. He’d been in Upton less than a month when he’d first seen her riding that pony of hers along the bottomland that separated his property from hers. She’d been a wild filly, so full of spirit and life. “I always thought she’d come back.”

“We all did. But I reckon her ma knew what she was doing when she sent her east. Likely those greenhorns got their hooks into her somehow. You know how loyal she is to her kin.”

“She’s a grown woman. Her parents are dead. She can make her own decisions now.”

“Family’s a powerful thing, Jake. Don’t underestimate it.”

“How can I fight what I don’t understand?”

Isaac struck a match against his boot and lit the tip of his cigarette. Smoke swirled around his head. “The way I see it, Emily Hanover owes you thirteen more days of cooking. That’s a good bit of time.”

“She said yesterday that she’s returning to Virginia to marry some fellow named Richard.”

Isaac snorted. “Emily is as much a part of Texas as the Red River. She’d wither and die back east. And I know she couldn’t love no East Coast dandy.”

Jake closed his eyes. “Why didn’t she come back sooner? Or write? One letter would have been enough to keep me going.”

Isaac studied the tip of his cigarette. “Ever thought about asking her?”

“No.”

Isaac studied Jake an extra beat. “Maybe you’re right to leave well enough alone. You don’t need trouble like Emily.”

His throat tightened. “Right.”

“Fact, why don’t you go on down to the pond? That quiet place you like so much. You look as if you could use a dip in cold water.”

Jake shoved out a sigh. “You’re right.”

Determined to put Emily out of his thoughts, he swung his shirt over his shoulder and started down the path that led to the stream. The pond was brimming with clear, cool water now but by mid-July it would be all but dried up.

He pushed through the tall brush ringing the muddy bank. The secluded area suited his foul mood. The last thing he wanted now was conversation.

He pulled off his boots and stripped off his pants. He rose, savoring the mild breeze against his hot skin, then waded into the cold water.

Jake dunked his head and body under the water. For a moment he paused, enjoying the way the waters lapped around his body.

He rose up out of the water in time to hear a woman’s shriek.

Jake turned and on the opposite side of the pond he saw a very naked Emily. She must have waded in while he’d been underwater. Her attention was riveted to the bank as if

she feared someone would come over the ridge. She didn’t know he was behind her.

A slow smile curled his lips.

Her backside was as pale as the moon, as ripe as a fresh apple. He saw the hint of her full breasts as she raised her arms and unpinned her hair. She tousled it, letting the rich curls spill past her shoulders before she dipped her head under the water.

Even in the cold water, he grew hard. He couldn’t decide if the gods had cursed or blessed him.

He waited until she’d rose up out of the waters and slicked back her hair with her fingers before he spoke.

“Afternoon,” he said.

Chapter Five

Emily screamed and covered her naked breasts with her hands. She lowered her upper body under the water, careful to keep her back to him. “Please tell me this isn’t happening.”

“You think I like my privacy interrupted?” The laughter in his voice was proof he didn’t mind having her here one bit. “The last person I expected to see in my private watering hole was you.”

Honestly, this week couldn’t get any worse. “I don’t suppose you’d consider leaving, Jake?”

Water splashed, a sign he was enjoying this. “I was here first. You leave.”

She clenched her teeth. “I can’t. I’m not properly dressed.”

“So I noticed.”

What she wouldn’t give for a blanket. “A gentleman would leave.”

“I’m no gentleman.” More water splashed, but this time ripples of water drifted toward her. He was moving closer!

Emily moved toward the bank but the water level was quickly becoming too shallow to cover her. She was forced to stop. “Don’t you come a step closer.”

He chuckled. “I won’t bite.”

Her gaze shot heavenward. “At least tell me you have pants on.”

“I have pants on.”

“Really?”

“No, not really. I’m naked as a newborn babe.”

She groaned. “Then I’m not turning around. “

“Chicken?” he challenged.

“You are enjoying every minute of this, Jake Lazarus.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re too scared to face me.”

She muttered a very unladylike oath. “I’m not afraid of you or anything.”

“You’re afraid. Fact, I think living back east has run all the gumption out of you. Yellow.”

Nobody called her yellow. Lifting her chin, she faced him.

Her mouth dropped open.

The sight of him left her too stunned to speak.

Beads of water dripped from the dark mat of hair covering his muscled chest and dripped to the water’s edge, which lapped against his flat belly. His black hair was slicked back and accentuated his raw-boned features and tanned skin.

He looked like one of those Greek gods she read about in school. Only he wasn’t marble, but flesh and blood.

“Better close that mouth or you’re gonna catch a fly.” Jake’s rich voice warmed her skin like the sun.

Mortified she’d been gawking, Emily snapped her mouth closed. “I - I - I...didn’t mean to stare. It’s just that...”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Like what you see?”

Color burned her cheeks. Yes. “No!”

He scooped up a fistful of water and let it trickle through his long fingers. “Maybe I’ve spent too much time alone. But I could have sworn I saw lust in those pretty blue eyes of yours. The east might have stripped your courage, but not the woman in you.”

This whole situation was spilling out of control. “Ladies don’t succumb to the baser emotions.”

Jake inched closer. “That so?”

Emily glanced over her shoulder at her skirt and blouse, which she’d just hung neatly on a branch. There’d be no reaching either without giving Jake a first class view of her derriere. “The expression on my face was one of shock not lust.”

“There was a time when I could make you crazy with wanting me,” he said in a low voice.

“That was a long time ago.” Despite her best efforts, the years dividing them were melting away.

The twinkle faded from his eyes. “I remember every detail about the time we spent together. Fact, I’ve relived every moment so much I’ve about worn holes in them all.”

His words raked her soul. The thought of him hurting stung. But the fact remained he’d never come after her. He’d let her parents drag her away from everything that she loved. She tightened her arms around her chest, as if somehow she could protect herself from old feelings. “I don’t want to talk about the past.”

“I remember that last night in the barn.”

Emily closed her eyes, trying to forget. On that long ago night Jake had slowly unfastened the buttons of her bodice and kissed the white mounds of her breasts rising above her chemise. Her body had throbbed with wanting and she’d been ready to surrender completely to him.

Jake had been the one to stop their lovemaking, saying he wanted to wait - until their wedding night. But when they went to speak to her parents, nothing had gone as they’d expected. Her parents had thrown Jake off their land and locked Emily in her room. Two days later, her mother caught her trying to sneak out to see Jake. The next morning she found herself headed out of town on the eastbound stage to her grandmother’s.

She had hoped and prayed for him to come save her, but he never came.

She never saw Jake again.

Until yesterday.

She steeled herself against the pain. She’d never let him know how much he’d hurt her.

“You haven’t forgotten,” he said. All traces of humor had vanished from his eyes.

“No.”

“There’s a lot that’s gone unsaid about that time.”

Hurt. Abandonment. Loneliness. The memories were too painful to voice. 

“I always figured you’d come back to me. No matter how far they took you away, I thought you’d come back.” His voice was little more than a hoarse whisper.

She froze. “Why didn’t you come after me?”

His eyes narrowed with surprise. “I wanted to.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Your ma said if I loved you, I’d give you the chance for a decent education. I didn’t want to rob you of that. They said you’d be back in a year. But you never came.”

She felt dizzy. “You spoke to my mother.”

“The day they shipped you off, I came looking for you. I was set to ride after the stage when your ma stopped me. I could honor her decision because I believed you’d be back in a year.”

“I never knew.” She rubbed her temple, which had started to pound. “I wanted to come home but Grandmother always had a trip planned or she’d be sick.”

“Always something else more important.” Bitterness dripped from his words.

“It wasn’t like that.”

He held up his hand to silence any more excuses.

Suddenly, she felt so utterly defeated. Uncaring about her nudity any longer, she whirled around and hurried up the bank. She snatched her clothes off the tree limbs.

Dressing quickly, she ran all the way to Jake’s house. She stopped on the top step of his porch, pressing her fingers into the stitch in her side. “How am I ever going to get through the next two weeks?”

Numb from the flood of old emotions, she moved across the porch to the front door. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t see the letter wedged between the door and doorjamb until she opened the door and it fluttered to her feet.

She picked up the letter. Immediately, she recognized David’s handwriting.

“Now what?” she whispered. She pulled the cream-colored letter from the envelope.

Emily -

No matter how hard you or I try, I’m not meant to be a rancher. Ranching was Father’s dream, not mine. Now that he and Mother are gone there’s no more reason to pretend. This land is killing me by inches and I can’t take it any longer.

I’m leaving Upton and headed east. I’ll contact you when I’ve settled. Enclosed is the signed deed to the Double H.

Sorry for everything.

David

Chapter Six

David was gone.

Hot tears burned Emily’s eyes. She tipped her head forward, letting the tears spill down her face. She’d have let out all the hurt and anger, but the crunch of boot on gravel had her straightening.

She wiped the tears from her face and turned. Jake. The last man she wanted to see. “I need to start supper.”

Instinctively, he understood something else was wrong. He closed the distance between them in quick, even strides. “What is it?”

She managed a half smile and handed him the letter. “David’s left.”

He read the letter, then folded it carefully and put it back in the envelope. “It’s for the best.”

“He’s giving up!” she said. “He’s walking away from a wonderful life.”

“It was a life he hated.” He handed her the letter. “Sounds like David might finally be growing up.”

She hugged her arms around her chest and walked to the edge of the porch. A gentle breeze brushed the top of the tall grass and rustled the trees. David had given up on their parents’ dream, but that didn’t mean she would.

Her parents had wanted her to be a lady. Marry a fine respectable man. David had failed them. He’d walked away. But somehow she’d find a way to realize their dreams for her.

She brushed the tears from her face. “With David gone, there’s no more reason for me to stay.”

“What about the Double H?” His voice was tight, tense.

“Keep it.”

A bitter laugh rumbled in his chest. “And us?”

She turned toward the cookstove. “There is no us, Jake.”

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Jake guided the saddled horses to the front porch. He tied their reins to the hitching post and headed inside to find Emily.

He had learned a lot in the four years since Emily had left. He’d learned a good bit about ranching and raising colts into fine horses. Hell, he’d forged friendships in town and won the respect of the other ranchers in the area. But today, he’d learned his greatest lesson of all. Emily thought he’d abandoned her four years ago.

He knew now he shouldn’t have waited for her return. After her year of schooling, he should have gone looking for her and brought her home as his wife. Pride and youth had gotten in his way three years ago, but not today.

This time he was going to fight for Emily.

The way he saw it they’d lost four years and they weren’t going to lose a minute more.

As he’d expected, Emily stood by the sink, peeling potatoes for supper. In two days, she’d already changed the serviceable cabin into a home. The homey scents of fresh bread and cinnamon cookies always filled the cabin, five years’ worth of dust had vanished, and a dented tin cup full of bluebells sat on the windowsill.

Jake was more convinced than ever. This was where Emily belonged.

He closed the door. Emily’s shoulders stiffened. The bond between them was fragile, but it was still there.

Still, she did not turn around.

He picked up a cookie and took a bite. “These cookies are just as good as the ones you used to bake for me. Remember how you’d wrap them up neatly in a napkin and bring them to me in that dinted tin pail?”

She tossed the freshly peeled potato into a large pot on the stove. Her eyes were full of regret and sadness, but she kept her voice even. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

He held up his hands in mock surrender. “Won’t say a word.”

Her eyes narrowed as if she waited for him to bring up what had happened at the pond. When he didn’t, her shoulders relaxed a fraction.

Emily dried her hands on a towel. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to ride over to the Double H. I’ll be back in time to put supper together for the boys.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Tossing the towel aside, she tried to move past him.  “Then you’ll let me borrow a horse?”

Jake blocked her path. “I’ve got my horse and one for you saddled outside already.”

“How did you know I wanted to go?”

“I can still read you like a book.”

She jerked off her apron and threw it on the kitchen table. “You don’t have to come with me.”

“I want to go.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“There might be animals that need tending,” he said, thinking quickly. “Who knows what shape David left the place in.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but seemed to accept his logic. “Fine, but no talk of the past. What’s done is done.”

“Sure.”  He cradled her elbow in his hand and guided her through the main room of the cabin. He paused by the front door and plucked an old floppy hat from a peg. He punched out the dented top before he settled it on her head. “To protect that lily white skin of yours. I’ll bet it hasn’t seen sun in four years.”

Self-consciously, Emily touched her cheek. “Sun is unbecoming on ladies.”

Jake jerked the door open. “That grandmother of yours sure does have a lot of rules. You ever get tired of following so many rules?”

“It’s what I’m supposed to do.”

He pulled her outside into the bright sunshine. “Well, today is gonna be about doing things you’re not supposed to do.”

She hesitated. “What are you talking about?”

“Riding. What were you thinking about?”

Jake loved the way color stained her cheeks when she was nervous. Hell, she’d turn as red as a strawberry if she knew the true direction of his thoughts. Visiting the Double H was about the last thing he wanted to do with her. If he had his way, he’d bolt the front door and make love to her all afternoon.

Still, he hid his thoughts. She was skittish and ready to bolt. He needed a little more time. Emily needed to figure out that Texas and ranching was just as much a part of her as flesh and bone. Once she rediscovered herself, she’d find her way back to him.

“You’ll like the horse I picked for you,” he said.

She tore her gaze from him and settled it on the mare. Despite her melancholy, her eyes sparkled with joy. She moved past him and went to the horse to pat her nose. “What’s her name?”

“Rosie.”

Emily nuzzled her face next to the horse’s. “She’s a beauty.”

Jake untied her reins and handed them to her. “You still know how to ride, don’t you?”

“Watch me.” Despite her full skirts, she swung into the saddle as if she’d been born in one.

Quickly, he took his own reins in hand and climbed into his own saddle. “Remember the big oak near the pond?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll race you.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “I’ve not raced in years.”

He shook his head, feigning a look of pure pity. “Forgot, I suppose.”

Challenge sparked in her delicate features. “I could always outride you.”

“That was four years ago. You’re out of practice.”

“Don’t count on it, Jake.” Even as she spoke, she was goading her horse forward. In seconds, she and the mare were streaking across the yard toward the stand of trees near the pond.

“That’s exactly what I’m counting on,” Jake murmured as he took off after her.

Chapter Seven

Horse hooves thundered behind Emily. It didn’t take a glance over her shoulder to know Jake loomed behind her. She could always outride him over wooded, hard-to-maneuver land, but in the straight open fields, his power and speed gave him the advantage.

Girlish excitement bubbled inside her as she looked ahead to the stand of trees they were racing to. She had never felt more alive as she did racing across the meadow. She’d forgotten just how fresh the air was and how blue the sky.

One hundred yards from the trees, Jake passed her. He tossed her a quick wink but did not let up until he reached the trees.

He reined in his horse and faced her. His hat set low on his head, shadowing his eyes, but she could see the arrogant set of his jaw.

“You always did like winning,” she said good-naturedly. Out here with the horses and the warm sunshine it was hard not to be happy. She slowed the pace of her mare as Jake approached.

He drew his horse up beside hers and they continued over the stream up the hill toward the Double H. “Never developed a taste for losing.”

A gentle breeze carried Jake’s scent of leather and man. Her heart tripped a beat as she glanced at him. He sat so tall and held his shoulders back like a man comfortable in his own skin. Seeing him now, she realized how much she’d loved him.

Her throat tightened. If not for her parents, her life would be so different.

She tipped back her head, refusing to let tears spill. She’d cried enough these past four years to last a lifetime.

They moved along the edge of the pond, riding until the horses cooled. They dismounted and let the animals water by the stream.

Silently Jake tugged off his gloves as he stared at her. “Let’s take a walk.”

“Where?”

He was already moving, pulling her behind him. “You’ll see.” He took her to the place that had been solely theirs - the meadow where the old oak tree stood.

She stared up into the leaves rustling overhead as she moved to the tree and the initials - EH + JL - that she’d helped Jake carve into the thick bark. Reverently she

traced the scarred wood with her fingertips. “I must have dreamed about this place a million times since I left.”

Jake laid his hands on her shoulders. “After you left, I’d come here at night. I felt closer to you here. Sometimes, I’d sit up all night staring at the hill, praying you’d ride over it.”

The hope in his eyes squeezed her heart to the breaking point. He reached out to her, but she stepped back. If he touched her she’d shatter.

He fisted his hands at his side. “You can’t live out your ma and pa’s dreams any better than David. He belongs on a ranch as much as you belong in a city.”

“I’m stronger than David.”  If she said the words enough, maybe they’d be true.

“Even iron breaks, Em.”

Before she could respond, Jake pulled her in his arms and held her tight. If she’d been wise she’d have pushed him away. But his embrace filled the void in her soul that had plagued her for years. In his arms, everything felt right. There was no one but them.

“It’s not too late, Em.”

She didn’t want to think about the future. She wanted to feel.

Looking up into his dark eyes, she saw the passion and love. She forgot about Richard. Her family. Obligations.  She only wanted him.

As if reading her mind, he lowered his head to kiss her. His kiss was tentative, as if he wasn’t sure she was real. But when she slid her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts to his hard chest, he banded his arms around her narrow waist and hauled her against him.

His second kiss wasn’t gentle. It radiated four years of wanting and waiting.  Desire flooded her limbs, making her body weak, boneless.

A groan rumbled in his chest as if he were a man half-starved. He drove his tongue into her mouth, exploring, plundering. Mewing, she gave in to the passion.

Jake scooped Emily up in his arms and laid her on the soft patch of grass. Quickly he straddled her and covered her body with his. As he shrugged off his shirt, he seemed to savor everything about her - the rose scent of her hair, her petal soft skin, the spray of curls framing her face.

She moistened her lips and slid her hands up his jean-clad thighs to his flat belly. “I’ve wanted this forever.”

Needing no other encouragement, he trailed kisses from her lips and the hollow of her neck. Her fingers bit into the tanned flesh of his back. Nimbly, he unfastened the buttons trailing between her breasts and pushed her shift open. Beneath her silky chemise, hardened pink nipples strained against the fine transparent fabric.

Greedily, he lowered his mouth and suckled her nipple though the delicate gauze. She arched and laced her fingers through his hair.

“Jake,” she whispered. The urgency in her voice made it almost unrecognizable. 

He trailed kisses over her breasts, making her hiss a breath between her clenched teeth. Years of wanting and waiting exploded inside her.

His hand slid up under her skirt and cupped her buttock. A fever pounded in her veins. She pressed her hips against his erection.

Jake tugged the strings of her pantaloons free and slid his hand to her moist center. When he touched her tender flesh, her head fell back. “What are you doing to me?”

“You like it?”

“Yes.”

“Want more?”

“Yes,” she whimpered.

He stripped off his boots and pants, and then pushed her skirts up to her waist. Poised to enter her, he said, “I love you.”

She didn’t have time to speak before he drove into her, tearing her maidenly barrier. For a moment, desire vanished and she froze.

Jake kissed her lips, not moving inside of her, waiting for her to become accustomed to him. Slowly, pain gave way to passion. She tilted her hips up, accepting all of Jake.

He started to move inside her, slowly, easily at first. She dug her fingers into his back as the embers in her veins heated. He began to trace small circles around her center.  The wanting built to a fever pitch and when she thought she could take no more, she climaxed. “Jake!”

Her surrender sent him over the edge. His thrusts became hard, more insistent until he spilled his seed into her. He collapsed against her, his sweat-slicked skin molding against hers.

Emily wasn’t sure how long they lay in the grass, under the warm sun with their bodies spooned together.

As the passion cooled, Emily’s senses started to clear. Suddenly, the realization of what she’d done struck her like a bolt of lightning. She rose and started to right her skirts and button her blouse.

“There’s no rush,” Jake said lazily.

“I have to take a walk.”

The stiffness in her voice had him rising up. “What’s wrong?”

She fastened the pearl buttons trailing between her breasts. “We shouldn’t have done this.”

His eyes narrowed. “I love you, Em. And you love me. I know it or you wouldn’t have responded like that.”

“I have responsibilities.”

“To who?”

“To my family!” she shouted.

“What about you? Don’t you care about your happiness?”

“Like David always cared about his own happiness?” Bitterness dripped from her words.  She started to brush the grass from her skirt. “He may have let our parents down, but I will not.”

Jake jerked his pants up and stood. “So you’ll give up your entire life for a dream that means nothing to you.” He stabbed his fingers through his hair. “I want to marry you. I want us to have a family.”

She stared at the distant meadow, her face of sadness and worry. “I have to go.”

“You’ll wither and die back east. It’s not right for you. I’m right for you. Texas is right for you.”

“You think you know me so well.”

He snatched up his shirt and put it on. “I thought I did, but maybe I don’t. If you’re too blind to see what is good for you then maybe you’re not the woman I need.”

She stepped back as if he’d slapped her.

Jake mounted his horse and rode off.

Chapter Eight

Devastated, Emily went to the one place she’d always felt safe. The Double H.

From the crest of the hill, she scanned the valley where her childhood home set nestled. Everything looked fine at the ranch, and it gave her hope that maybe David hadn’t done such a bad job with the place.

But as she moved closer she could see the place was in near ruin. There wasn’t an animal left on the property. The corral fence was broken, green slimy water filled the horse trough, and a broken shutter on the house banged open and closed.  

“I never realized it was so bad,” Emily whispered.

She knew David had been selling off his livestock for some time, but she hadn’t realized he’d cleared all the animals out.

Guilt washed over her. The place was testament to David’s misery.

She climbed down off her horse and tied its reins to the hitching post. Slowly, she walked toward the house. Sagebrush tumbled over the dried floorboards of the porch.

I should have come sooner.

Tears choked her throat.

She climbed the sun-bleached steps and pushed open the front door. The rusty hinges groaned just like they had since she was a girl. She smiled. How many times had her pa said he’d oil them?

The braided rug her ma loved so much still warmed the floor in front of the now cold, soot-stained hearth. A thick coat of dust covered every square inch of the long room. Nothing had changed and yet everything had changed.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a note leaning against a coffee tin. She recognized David’s bold script. It read: I knew you’d find your way home.

Emily smiled at the note. She closed her eyes and inhaled the scents of home.

Home.

A slow smile curved the edges of her lips. In that instant, she knew. This was where she belonged. She couldn’t live her parents’ dreams. She had to live her own.

* * *

Jake strode past Isaac toward his barn, ready to unsaddle his horse. His mood was as black as coal and all he wanted was a quiet corner and a bottle of whiskey.

“You look fit to be tied,” Isaac said.

Jake reached for his saddle’s cinch. “Go away.”

“Nope,” he said sauntering toward Jake. “I’ve a mind to stay.”

“I’m in no mood for this, old-timer.”

Isaac leaned against the corral fence and stared at the frown lines etched in Jake’s face. “She left you again.”

“That’s right,” he ground out.

“What you gonna do about it?”

Jake’s head snapped up. “What the hell am I supposed to do? She left me.”

“Go after her.”

“Like hell,” he growled.

Isaac rubbed the back of his head. “She’s had a lot to take in a short amount of time. Lost her parents. Her brother. And my guess is that you want to make another change. Like marriage.”

Jake shoved out a sigh. “What’s so bad about that? I love her.”

“Then go and tell her so.”

“I did.”

“Then do it again. And again. And again until she hears it.”

Jake stopped unsaddling the horse. “She’s supposed to marry another man.”

“She ain’t married to no one yet. But she will marry him if you don’t do something about it.” Isaac put his hand on Jake’s shoulder. “You have been kicking yourself all these years because you didn’t go after her the last time. Don’t make the same mistake twice.”

Jake retightened the cinch. Isaac was right. He’d fought for everything he ever had and if he had to fight for Emily, then so be it. 

He mounted his horse and rode like the devil himself was on his heels all the way to the Double H. He dismounted and stormed into the house.

“Emily!”

There was no answer.

He strode through the rooms calling her name, but he didn’t find her.

She’d gone.

* * *

Emily stood at the stagecoach stop in Upton. She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as she posted letters to Richard and to her grandmother. 

She imagined Richard would be secretly relieved when he received her polite refusal to his marriage proposal. He wasn’t a bad man but he wanted different things from life. If they’d married, they would spend the rest of their lives trying to change the other into the person neither could be and each needed.

Her grandmother was a different story. There’d be hell to pay when her grandmother found out she wasn’t returning.

But Emily didn’t care.

She was home. Where shebelonged.

She’d been telling herself for weeks that she’d come back for David. But the truth was she’d returned to Upton for herself and Jake.

She’d not taken five steps from the coach stop when she heard his voice. “I’m prepared to hog-tie you if you plan to get on that stage.”

Jake.

She smiled and slowly turned to face him. His hair was windblown and his face flushed. There was a hint of desperation in his eyes. He looked a decade older. “Mighty bossy, aren’t you, Mr. Lazarus.”

He shoved out a sigh and strode toward her. “I didn’t go after you the last time but I will this time.”

She closed the gap between them and placed her hand over his heart. It raced like a stallion. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He clamped a gloved hand over hers. “What are you saying?”

She gazed up into his proud handsome face. “I love you.”

“What about what’s-his-name back east?”

“I just posted a letter telling him I won’t be coming back.”

“And your grandmother?”

She grinned. “Grandmother is going to put up a fight. She wants me living in Virginia.”

He brushed a curl from her face. A ghost of a smile touched his eyes. “I bet I could take the old woman.”

Emily laughed. “Don’t bet on it. She’s mighty tough.” They stood there an extra beat, just happy to be close. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I was scared, confused.”

“Sounds like you’re thinking pretty clearly now.”

“Very.” She took his hand in hers. “Jake Lazarus, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

He took her hand and started walking briskly down the boardwalk. “That’s my line.”

“I can be a bit independent minded.”

He chuckled. “So I noticed.”

“So is that a yes or a no?”

He stopped in front of the justice of the peace’s office. He swept her up in his arms and kissed her for so long she was breathless. “That’s a yes.”

 

The End