He doesn’t deserve her, but he can’t stay away.

Will this wealthy rancher’s dark past stand in the way of love?

When Jesse Navarro meets single mom Jillian Norris, she makes him feel...everything. But he’s carrying the guilt of a past tragedy and knows he can’t take her for his own. Still, denying their sizzling attraction and ignoring Jillian—vulnerable and dedicated to her little girl—isn’t an option. Already Jesse’s defenses are weakening...

MAUREEN CHILD writes for the Mills & Boon Desire line and can’t imagine a better job. A seven-time finalist for a prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, Maureen is an author of more than one hundred romance novels. Her books regularly appear on bestseller lists and have won several awards, including a Prism Award, a National Readers’ Choice Award, a Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence and a Golden Quill Award. She is a native Californian but has recently moved to the mountains of Utah.

Also available by Maureen Child

The Fiancée Caper

After Hours with Her Ex

Triple the Fun

Double the Trouble

The Baby Inheritance

Maid Under the Mistletoe

The Tycoon’s Secret Child

A Texas-Sized Secret

Little Secrets: His Unexpected Heir

Having Her Boss’s Baby

A Baby for the Boss

Snowbound with the Boss

Visit millsandboon.co.uk for more information

Rich Rancher’s Redemption

Maureen Child

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07618-0

RICH RANCHER’S REDEMPTION

© 2018 Harlequin Books S.A.

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

To all of my wonderful readers for their support over the years.

It’s because of you that I’m able to tell the stories I love to write.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Extract

Extract

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.”

Tempting. Jillian hadn’t had a friend like Lucy in well...ever. For some reason, the two of them had clicked almost from the start and Brody and Mac had already formed a strong friendship, too.

But staying here on Will Sanders’s ranch would just be way too awkward.

Besides, Jesse would be here, too.

And she didn’t think it was a good idea to spend too much time around that particular man. He made her want things she had no business wanting.

Two

Jillian took a deep breath and realized that not even Will Sanders had made her feel so jumpy and excited and eager all at once. No, she amended silently, not Will. Impostor Will. Back then, the impostor had swept her off her feet so fast that Jillian had forgotten all about protecting herself.

And now that she had not only herself but Mac to worry about, Jillian had to be more careful than ever. Especially since Jesse made her want to not be.

“Thank you,” she said. “Really, thank you for offering, but we can’t stay here. It would be...weird, with Will here and—”

“Okay,” Lucy replied, “I get that. But you can’t stay in the motel forever, either.”

“We’re not going to.” Jillian pushed a strand of hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “You and Brody have been so nice. He’s so good to Mac...”

Lucy sighed a little. “He’s got his daddy’s disposition, thank goodness.”

“I don’t know, I think his mom’s pretty great, too.”

Lucy grinned. “But she’s got a terrible temper.”

Jillian laughed. “All the best of us do.”

From Brody’s room came the sound of laughter and the high-pitched whistle of a toy train. Jillian gave a little sigh. Brody had completely taken Mac under his very tiny wing. Only four years old himself, Jillian had the impression that he liked being the “big” kid in the eyes of nearly two-year-old Mac.

Jillian knew she was doing the right thing, staying here in Texas. Mac was happy, even in that crappy little motel they’d been staying in. There were parks to play in, ice cream shops to get treats from and there was Brody. It would work out, she told herself. She’d make sure of it.

“What are you thinking?” Lucy asked. “I can practically hear the wheels in your brain turning from here.”

Jillian leaned back against the couch next to her friend. Her friend. And wasn’t that a gift? She’d come to Texas hoping to get a settlement that would take care of her daughter only to have that dream ripped away from her. But she’d also found a good friend and a place to start over and that made up for a lot.

“Your brother—”

“Which one?” Lucy interrupted.

“Jesse,” Jillian said. “He’s found a place for Mac and I—” There was nothing in Vegas for her. She had no family except for Mac. No ties to that neon city and no real job prospects beyond being a cocktail waitress in one of the casinos. It was a good job and the pay wasn’t terrible, but spending hours a night walking around in high heels delivering drinks to people who’d already had enough wasn’t exactly her dream job. Besides, she had to have a babysitter for Mac and Jillian was starting to resent missing so much time with her little girl.

“That’s great, I’m so glad.”

“Me, too.” She sat back on the overstuffed couch. “It’ll be great to get out of that motel. Anyway, Will and I were talking and then Jesse walked in and—”

“Really?” Lucy scowled a little. “I thought Will wanted to talk to you alone. If I’d known it was a free-for-all, I’d have been downstairs, too.”

“I get the feeling Jesse wasn’t invited,” Jillian told her. “He just...came.”

Lucy nodded. “Sounds like him. What did he have to say?”

“He told me about an apartment just outside town. It’s a small studio—”

“No way.” Shaking her head, Lucy said, “Will can do better than that.”

Jillian stopped her cold. It had been hard enough for her to accept any help at all. The thought of Will setting her and Mac up in some luxury apartment was just too much. She didn’t want charity. She wanted a chance.

Glancing around the quietly beautiful room she sat in now, she acknowledged that a studio wasn’t going to be anything like this, but that was okay, too. She was accustomed to making do and as long as she could find a job, save some more money, Jillian would be happy. She had plans and Royal seemed like as good a place as any to work on making those plans a reality.

“I don’t want him to do better,” Jillian said. “I can take care of myself and Mac. All I need is a place to start. Well, and a job.”

“I can understand that, about the apartment I mean,” Lucy said. “And as for the job, I might know of something if you’re interested.”

Surprised, Jillian fixed her gaze on her friend. “I’m interested.”

Lucy laughed. “I haven’t even told you what it is yet.”

Kicking her long legs out in front of her, Jillian crossed her feet at the ankle. “Is it walking around in high heels wearing a Valkyrie outfit listening to drunken come-ons all night?”

“Sorry, nothing so exotic.” Lucy grinned. “But now I want to see the Valkyrie outfit.”

Jillian rolled her eyes. “I’d be happy to never see it again. So, what’s the job?”

Shifting, Lucy pushed the stack of coloring books out of her way, then sat up cross-legged. “Okay, now understand, you don’t have to take it or anything, this is just an idea. But I think it could work and you could be with Mac at the same time and—”

Jillian’s lips twitched. “Just say it, Lucy.”

“Okay,” she pushed her dark hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ears. “They need help in the day care at the Texas Cattlemen’s Club.”

“Day care?” Jillian repeated, her mind already working through possibilities.

Lucy immediately started trying to convince her. “It’s really a great place, just a few years old, actually. Brody’s been there a few times, when I’ve got clients to see and Mom’s not available. But the thing is, Mac could be there when you’re working. She can make friends, and you wouldn’t have to worry about her and—”

Jillian held up one hand and laughed. “I don’t need the sales pitch. It’s a great idea.”

“Fantastic,” Lucy cried. “From what I hear, the pay’s not bad and you wouldn’t have to get a babysitter, since Mac could be with you, so you’d actually be making more money. I’ve already told Ginger Hanks all about you and she’s excited to meet you. I thought if it’s okay with you, we could go down there tomorrow. I’ll introduce you and you can check the place out and see if you’ll like it or not.”

“Thank you.” Jillian grabbed the other woman’s hand and squeezed. “I really appreciate this, Lucy.”

“Completely self-serving,” she said, squeezing back. “I didn’t want to lose you to Vegas.”

She snorted. “No chance of that.”

“Good. I’ll find out where this apartment is from Will and take you by there tomorrow, too, if you want...”

“Not necessary.”

Jillian’s heart jumped into a gallop at the sound. That voice was so deep it seemed to roll through the room, demanding attention. Slowly, she slanted a look at the man standing in the open doorway. What was it about cowboys?

Just by looking at him, she could tell that Jesse Navarro was the kind of man who walked into a room and all eyes turned to him. Men wanted to be him and women just wanted him. Jillian had seen his type before, but Jesse took it to a whole new level. She’d never run into a man who simply breathed confidence and strength. It was a little unsettling, especially when you yourself were feeling just a little off balance anyway.

In a couple of quick seconds, her gaze swept him up and down and as she did, her heartbeat did a fluttery thing that she had zero business experiencing.

He just stood there, watching her. His eyes were like melted chocolate, his dark brown hair curled over the collar of his long-sleeved white shirt. The hem of faded black jeans stacked on the tops of his scuffed black boots and he held his black cowboy hat in one hand at his side. So still, she thought, and somehow powerful in that stillness. Enough that her heart did another wild series of beats that hammered in her ears and made her breathing just a little rough.

“Of course it’s necessary, Jesse.” Lucy spoke up. “It’s not like Jillian knows her way around town yet.”

He shifted his gaze briefly to his sister. “Lucy, you’ve got that meeting in the morning with the architect about your new breeding barn?”

Jillian tore her gaze from Jesse, because it was way safer to look at the other woman in the room. “Breeding barn?”

Lucy waved one hand. “Jesse likes to call it that. But I am building a new stable for the horses I’m—”

“Breeding?” Jesse asked.

“Fine. Yes. A breeding barn.” She blew out a breath. “And he’s right. I forgot about the meeting. Okay then, Jesse will take you to the apartment tomorrow and then I’ll take you over to the TCC so you can find out about the job.”

Jillian felt like she was being pushed downhill. She wanted to stop but she had the feeling the only way that was going to happen now was if she ran into a tree. Still, she had to try.

“Thank you,” she said to Jesse, “but I’ve got GPS on my phone, so you really don’t have to take me—”

“It’s decided,” he said, then gave both women a sharp nod. “I’ll pick you up at your motel about ten, that all right?”

“Pointless to argue with him,” Lucy gave a dramatic sigh. “He’s got a head like solid concrete.”

Jesse frowned at her, but there was no anger in the look, Jillian noted. Just brother-sister stuff, which was sort of entertaining to see. If she hadn’t been right in the middle of it.

“If you’ll just give me the address,” she tried again.

“I will. Once we get there,” Jesse told her. “See you then.”

When he left, Jillian took a deep breath and let it slowly out again. “Your brother is—”

“Pushy? Opinionated? Arrogant?” Lucy provided with a grin. “My answer is D. All of the above.”

And don’t forget dangerously sexy.

Jillian swallowed hard. “Does anyone ever say no to him?”

“Many have tried, few have succeeded,” Lucy admitted wryly. “You’re okay with him taking you tomorrow, aren’t you? I mean, he really is a good guy.” She paused, gave Jillian a sly smile. “And he’s single.”

Jillian blinked. She’d seen that gleam in the eyes of other friends over the years and she knew that Lucy was trying her hand at a little matchmaking. Which just was not going to happen.

The whole setup thing always turned into a nightmare. Besides, she wasn’t looking for a man. The last one she’d found had been the impostor who had swept her off her feet then left her pregnant and wondering who the heck her baby’s father really was. No, she’d had enough of men. What she wanted now was to build a home for her baby girl. She wanted to make a future for the two of them and a man was a distraction she didn’t want or need.

“No thanks,” Jillian finally said, pushing up from the floor. Outside, the afternoon was slipping away and soon, a spectacular sunset would be staining the sky. “I’m not looking for a man. And I’m really not looking for one who likes to tell people what to do.”

“Oh, he’s not that bad. He’s not a bully or anything, he’s just...Jesse.” Lucy shrugged and stood up, too.

“Uh-huh. And was your husband bossy?” The instant the words were out, Jillian wanted to drag them back into her mouth and lock her lips closed. Since she couldn’t, she said, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned—”

“Relax,” Lucy soothed, reaching out to give Jillian a quick hug. “I’m the one who told you I’m a widow, remember? I don’t mind talking about Dane. I want Brody to hear about his daddy, so those of us who knew him have to talk about him.”

Didn’t make Jillian feel any better.

“But to answer your question, no, he wasn’t bossy. After hanging around with Jesse and Will for a while, he tried to be, but he just couldn’t pull it off.” Lucy laughed a little in memory. “Dane was nothing like Jesse, really. Or Will, for that matter. But to be fair to my oldest brother, he’s so used to taking charge I don’t think it ever occurs to him to not do it, you know?”

No, she really didn’t. Not one man Jillian had ever known had been the responsible type. They didn’t want to take charge because they hadn’t wanted to be blamed if things went wrong. Heck, her own father had walked out on his family when Jillian was just five because he hadn’t wanted the responsibility of a family. So she didn’t have any experience with men like Jesse. And maybe, she told herself, that was why he was bothering her so much. She couldn’t pigeonhole him into any of the types she was most familiar with.

And maybe that was a good thing, since being a cocktail waitress in a casino gave her an up close and personal look at the worst kind of men. The takers. The whiners. The braggers. Now thanks to the impostor who’d convinced her he was crazy about her, she had another category. The liars. So far, Jesse Navarro seemed to be in a category all to himself.

“Well,” she finally said, “I take care of myself and Mac and I don’t take orders well.”

“Then this should be interesting,” Lucy murmured, and Jillian was pretty sure her friend was amused by the whole situation.

* * *

The apartment was clean.

That was the best Jesse could say about it the following morning. Hell, when he’d first suggested this place, he’d remembered the apartments being better than this. Bigger. Less...institutional. With Jillian and her daughter at his side, Jesse felt like apologizing for suggesting this apartment in the first place.

“It’s perfect.” Jillian walked farther into the numbingly boring, impersonal space.

“Put your glasses on,” he muttered.

She whipped around to look at him. “I don’t wear glasses. I see it clearly enough and this will be fine. It’s got a lot of windows, so it’s nice and bright.”

“Which just makes me wonder why you’re not seeing what I am when I look at this place. It’s like a prison cell,” he added, letting his gaze slide around the one big room.

At one end, there was a small, but complete kitchen, with a fridge, microwave, stove and dishwasher. The countertop was serviceable black, the cabinets were painted white and the sink was stainless steel. On the opposite side of the room was a double bed and against the front wall was a couch with a chair pulled up alongside and a tiny coffee table in front of it. There was a small bathroom with a tub/shower off the main room and he guessed the other doors were for the closet. Which pretty much described the whole place.

A beige, claustrophobic closet.

“Know a lot about prison cells, do you?” she asked.

He shot her a quick look. “Not personally, but I’ve seen movies. This would make a good set for one of them.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” she argued. “A little paint, a few rugs and a bright quilt will make it shine.”

“Shine?” he repeated dubiously. He walked toward the kitchen—took him four steps—and turned around at the sound of bedsprings squeaking. Mac was jumping up and down on the mattress, a gleeful look on her little face. Leave it to a kid. Even in a cell, they’d find a way to have fun.

“Mac, baby,” Jillian cooed, “don’t jump on the bed...”

“Might fall apart,” Jesse muttered, scowling as he looked around the room again.

Jillian scooped Mac up in her arms, then turned to face him. “It’s perfectly fine for us.”

“The whole place could fit inside my living room.” He shoved both hands into his jeans pockets.

She flushed at that and said, “Not all of us need that much room.”

“Not all of us want to live in a box, either,” he countered.

“Really?” She tipped her head to one side and stared at him. “This was your idea, remember?”

“Don’t remind me,” he muttered darkly. When he got back to the ranch, he was going to talk to Will about this building. Get someone in here, a designer or something to make these places less...depressing.

His gaze fixed on the woman watching him. Today, she wore yoga pants that looked as though they’d been painted onto her long, long legs and defined a figure he’d only guessed at before. She had a dancer’s body, he thought, slim, but curvy in all the right places. The long-sleeved red shirt she wore over those black pants strained across breasts he’d really like to get his hands on and that tail of wavy blond hair hung over one shoulder as if drawing an arrow he didn’t need to the breasts he was thinking too much about. Her hazel eyes were more green than blue today and he wondered what that said about her mood.

“Jesse!” Mac leaned out from her mother’s grasp and held both arms out to him.

Dutifully, he stepped forward and plucked the girl off her mother’s hip.

“You don’t have to hold her,” Jillian said, as if apologizing for her daughter.

“If I had to, I wouldn’t want to,” he said, and turned to look at the little girl clinging to him. She tugged at him, as completely as Brody did. But with Mac, he didn’t feel the twin tug of guilt that he did with his nephew. “What do you think, Mac? You want to stay here or go back to the ranch?”

“Horsies!”

Grimly, he nodded. “That settles it. You can stay at the ranch until you find a better place. There’s plenty of room there and—”

“No,” Jillian told him.

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t hear that word often, do you?” she asked. “Well, you’ll have to deal with it. Mac isn’t even two yet. Of course she wants to be with the horses, but she’s not the one making decisions for our family. We’ll be staying right here.”

He saw the stubborn glint in her eyes and knew she’d dig her heels in on this, so he let it go. For now. But the damn truth was, she and Mac could stay at the ranch with no problem. There was the main house, his mother’s cabin, a couple guest cottages...more than enough room for one woman and a tiny girl, and if they were there, Jesse wouldn’t have to feel like he’d dropped them off in a dump.

“It’s not a dump,” she said, and he blinked. Had he said that last part aloud?

“You’re not that hard to read,” Jillian explained.

That made him frown. No man liked to be told he was clear as glass, and Jesse more than most had always prided himself on his poker face. Unless he wanted them to, no one knew what he was thinking. Well, until today.

“Dump!” Mac cried, clapping her hands.

He laughed shortly. “She agrees with me.”

“Again,” Jillian pointed out. “She’s a baby.” Then, turning around, she plopped both hands on her hips and gave the whole apartment a thorough look-see. Took her about ten seconds.

“I’ll get a couple of rugs, but the hardwood floors are gorgeous.”

“Not very big,” he said.

“I’ll paint the walls a pretty green, I think...”

“Won’t need much.”

“I’ll get a crib for Mac and put it at the foot of the bed...”

“Don’t get a big one.”

She inhaled and sighed heavily, ignoring him. “Maybe a little table and two chairs...”

“Very little table.”

“You know,” she said, suddenly spinning around to face him, fire in her eyes and battle on her features. “You’re not being helpful.”

“I’m not trying to be,” he said flatly. “This isn’t much bigger than that motel you and Mac have been staying at.”

“It’s big enough. I’ll get that job, take my time, look around and find something else when I’m ready.”

“You should be ready now,” he argued.

“I don’t take orders from you.”

“I’m not giving you an order. If I were, you’d follow it.”

“Is that right?” She actually laughed and if he hadn’t been so irritated, he’d have been charmed. That deep voice of hers sounded even sexier when she was laughing. Her eyes lit up and that incredible mouth of hers moved into a smile that was too damn seductive.

“You think a lot of yourself,” she said, “but nobody tells me what to do.”

“Somebody should,” he countered, then huffed out an exasperated breath. “Look, I suggested this place, but now that I’m seeing it again, it’s just not right. You and Mac, you deserve better.”

Irritation slid off her face and she gave him another smile. This one warmer than the last. “Thank you. And you’re right. We do. But I’m the one who’s going to get it for us.”

Hard to argue with pride since he had plenty of that himself. “Can’t talk you out of this?”

She spun around again, taking another all-too-brief look. When she met his gaze, she said, “Nope. But you could drive us to the motel and help me move our things over here.”

“Yeah,” he said tightly. “Guess I could do that.”

“Jesse! Horsies?” Mac asked, cupping her little hands on his cheeks to turn his eyes to her.

“Not right now, sweet girl,” he said and frowned at the disappointment in the tiny girl’s eyes.

Over the last couple of weeks, Mac and her mother had been at the ranch several times, and each time they were, the little girl had demanded time with the horses. He’d taken her up for her first ride himself and she hadn’t been able to get enough. He knew what that felt like. He’d been about six the first time Roy Sanders had set him on a horse, and Jesse had known in that moment that he’d found where he belonged. Now little Mac had fallen for the same animals that had stolen Jesse’s heart so many years ago.

So he tugged a lock of her hair gently and said, “We’ll see the horses later, okay?”

“You shouldn’t promise her something you might not be able to deliver on,” Jillian warned. “She doesn’t forget a thing.”

He slanted his gaze to hers and locked on like a targeting system. “I always keep my promises.”

Her eyes said she didn’t believe him, and Jesse wondered what had made her so distrustful. Of course, the minute that thought entered his mind, he remembered why she was in Royal in the first place. A man had lied to her, used her and left her pregnant and alone. The kind of man who did that was no man at all to Jesse’s way of thinking. And if he ever found the bastard, he’d make sure the son of a bitch paid for the pain he’d put so many people through.

But was it just the impostor who’d put that wary look in Jillian’s eyes? Or was it more? And why did he give a flying damn?

He didn’t.

“Come on,” he said abruptly. “I’ll take you back to the motel. We’ll get your stuff.”

“Stuff!” Mac laughed at the new word, and Jillian smiled.

Jesse met her eyes and he watched as her smile faded. Probably best, he told himself. If that mouth of hers kept curving so temptingly, he wouldn’t be able to resist tasting it.

And then where would they be?

Three

The Texas Cattleman’s Club was impressive. A large, rambling single-story building, it was built from dark wood and stone, and had a tall slate roof. It looked just as a Texas men’s club should look, Jillian thought. Historically, the TCC had been a rich man’s private retreat. But all of that started changing several years ago, according to Lucy. Women became members, then took positions on the board and slowly but surely began to drag the TCC into the twenty-first century—with, no doubt, its oldest members kicking and screaming the whole way.

But Jillian could understand why the men had fought to hold on to one of their last bastions. Yes, she was a feminist. But there were times she wanted to be around only women. So why wouldn’t men want the same thing occasionally?

Still, their loss was definitely her gain. One of the first things the female members of the club did was to open a day care center at the club. It was just to the left of the entrance in what had once been a billiards room. There were lots of windows and a set of French doors that opened out onto a shaded grassy area where the kids could play. The walls were white, but dotted with artwork provided by the children who spent the days there.

There were tiny tables and chairs and rugs in bright primary colors. Pint-sized easels were arranged on one side of the room where kids could paint and draw. Shelves filled with books and toys were neatly arranged along one wall. There was a small half kitchen with a fridge, a sink and a microwave that came in handy for preparing snacks and meals for the kids.

Ginger Hanks, about fifty with graying red hair, bright blue eyes and a knowing smile, was the manager, and there were two other women employed there, as well. If she got the job, Jillian would be the third helper, and as she was shown around, she realized she really did want the job.

She’d always loved kids, and being able to have her little girl with her while she was at work was a bonus she couldn’t even imagine.

“The number of children we have every day differs,” Ginger was saying as she led Lucy and Jillian around the room, taking a tour. “Sometimes it’s twenty, other days it’s five or six. Members of the club are welcome to leave their kids here while they use the facilities, or even if they’re going out to lunch or shopping or something. We also have a few children who are here every day while their parents work.”

“It’s a great place,” Jillian said and earned a wide smile of approval from Ginger.

“Thank you, we think so.” Ginger bent down to scoop up a crying baby from one of the cribs pushed against the wall. The instant she did, the infant stopped crying. “Of course, you have to love children to work here.”

“Oh, I do. I have a nearly two-year-old myself,” she said and half wished she’d brought Mac with her. But a job interview hadn’t seemed the right time to bring her daughter, so she’d left Mac at the Sanders ranch with Lucy’s mother.

“Lucy told me, and you’re welcome to bring her to work with you.” Ginger looked around at the kids coloring, doing their numbers and letters, playing with dolls or trains.

“I told you,” Lucy said, nudging Jillian.

“That’s a relief to me.” Jillian held out her hands toward Ginger and asked, “May I?”

The older woman gave her a long look before nodding and handing the baby over. Jillian cuddled the baby boy close and began an instinctive side-to-side sway. Ginger gave another approving smile.

“You’ve got a way with little ones, don’t you?”

“Oh, I love babies,” Jillian admitted. “I used to think I’d have a houseful of my own.”

“You’ve got plenty of time for more babies.”

Yes, she did. But she didn’t have a man in her life and since that wasn’t going to be changing anytime soon, Jillian could admit to herself that Mac would most likely be an only child. Just as she had been. The difference was, Jillian would make sure her little girl never felt as though she weren’t important. Mac would never know what it was like to listen to her parents shout at each other. Never know what it was to have those parents walk away from her without a backward glance. She would never have to doubt that she was loved.

Sighing a little, she told herself she could indulge her love for babies right here—if she got the job.

“That’s little Danny Moses, isn’t it?” Lucy asked, taking a peek at the baby’s face.

“Sure is,” Ginger confirmed. “He’s good as gold, too. His mama’s out on a lunch date with his daddy, so we’re keeping him happy here.”

Jillian’s heart hurt a little as she held the baby and looked down into that tiny face. Days were going by so quickly it could make her head spin sometimes. It seemed like just yesterday Mac was this size and now she was talking and walking, and Jillian knew she had no time to lose—it was time to build that future she’d dreamed of.

“I’m glad Lucy brought you here today,” Ginger said thoughtfully.

“Oh, so am I,” Jillian told her, flashing a smile. “I don’t want to put you on the spot or anything but I really would love to work here.”

“That’s plain to see,” Ginger assured her and took the baby from Jillian. “I’ve got another woman coming in for an interview later this afternoon. Once that’s done, I’ll be in touch soon.”

Jillian forced a smile, though she wanted to say, Don’t meet anyone else, hire me. “Thank you.”

When they turned to go, Jillian didn’t see Ginger give Lucy a wink and a thumbs-up.

* * *

All right, Jesse kept his promise.

Jillian leaned on the corral fence and watched her daughter sitting atop what looked like a gigantic horse. The afternoon sun was bright, but the air was already warm. Early summer in Texas wasn’t that different from Vegas weather. Of course, that was where the similarities ended.

In Las Vegas, the city was bright, crowded, noisy and jammed with locals and tourists. There was never a quiet moment unless you left the city and then you were in the middle of a desert, with no shade, no water, no trees. No nothing.

Here, though, there were oak trees, rivers, lakes, and there was quiet when you wanted it and plenty of noise to be found when you didn’t. People were friendlier, less cynical. Jillian already knew more people in Royal after two weeks than she had known in Vegas after five years of living there. It was a different sort of feeling in small-town Texas and it was just what she wanted for her daughter. Mac would grow up in a place where people would know her, look out for her. She’d have friends and a home and a mother who would always be there for her.

It had been a big day so far. A new apartment—that would be fine once she fixed it up—and a job interview that she really hoped would work out. And now, she was back on a ranch staring at a cowboy who turned her insides to mush. Jillian’s thoughts dissolved when a delighted squeal pierced the air. She fixed her gaze on the big man walking beside her baby and that horse. Jesse had one strong hand on her little girl’s back, steadying her, while he held the horse’s reins in the other hand, keeping the animal just as steady, Jillian hoped.

“Don’t be worried. My kids are all great with horses.”

Jillian turned to watch Cora Lee Sanders walk up to join her at the fence. In her sixties, Cora Lee was about five feet three inches tall, had thick, wavy, shoulder-length gray hair and sharp, grayish green eyes. Today she wore dark blue jeans, a yellow shirt beneath a black jacket and black flats. She also boasted a silver belt buckle at her waist that glinted in the afternoon sun. Cora Lee was every inch a matriarch. There were lines in her face, of course, but they were etched there by laughter, tears and years of living that had made her the woman she was today.

“It just makes me nervous,” Jillian admitted. “That horse is so big compared to Mac.”

Cora Lee smiled, laid her forearms on the top rail of the fence and watched her son walk slowly around the corral. “I can understand that. As mothers, we all will do whatever it is we have to to watch out for our children.”

“True.” She looked at Cora Lee and saw a woman who’d been through her own trials and had triumphed. Just as Jillian planned to.

“But in this case,” the older woman said, “worry is unnecessary. That horse? That’s Ivy. Sweet mare. She was one of Lucy’s first rescues. Would you believe when the vet first brought her here, you could count her rib bones, poor thing. Someone tied her up in a barn and then moved, never telling anyone Ivy was there.” Cora Lee’s mouth turned into a tight frown. “If it hadn’t been for one of the Stillwell boys cutting across the property taking a shortcut home from school and hearing her, she’d have died there, too.”

“That’s terrible.”

“It really was. Nothing on this earth should be treated with such vicious neglect. But with a lot of love and good food and time, she’s healthy now and even pregnant for the first time.”

Jillian smiled, looking at the horse with new admiration. Ivy hadn’t let her past get in the way, either.

“She’s the most gentle animal on the face of the planet. And lazy with it, if truth be told. Likes nothing better than standing still under a shade tree and avoids running as if it would kill her.”

Jillian’s lips twitched. “Well, that’s good then.”

Cora gave her a quick look. “And not only that, but Jesse’s a good hand with children. Patience. He got that from his father, not me.”

Glancing at the woman beside her, Jillian waited, sure there was more. She wasn’t disappointed.

“His biological father, I mean. That was the most patient man on the face of the planet.” She chuckled, then added, “Now, Roy Sanders, the man who raised Jesse and Lucy and was their father in every possible way, was as impatient as I am.” She laughed a little harder, gave a sigh and shook her head. “It’s a wonder the two of us got along at all. But my, we had some good times. Some wonderful fights, too.”

“Wonderful fights?” Even Jillian could hear the doubt in her voice. But she had too many memories of her own parents before they’d abandoned her, indulging in shouting matches that had terrified her.

“If you’re arguing with the right man, yes.” Resting her chin on her hands, Cora Lee said, “My own mother used to say, don’t fight in front of your children. But Roy and I figured that wasn’t healthy, either. Children grow up expecting everything to be sunshine and roses all the time and then they’re never happy. But your kids see you arguing, then see you hugging and making up, they know you can disagree without the world crashing.”

Jillian smiled. “I never thought of it like that, but I think you have a point.”

Nodding, the older woman said, “You kids today don’t know how much good a clearing-the-air fight can do for a marriage. Keeps things hopping, that’s for sure.”

The only fights Jillian had experienced were blurry memories of raised voices, tears and drama, with one or the other of her parents vowing to leave and never come back. There’d never been any hugging and making up. Maybe if there had been her parents wouldn’t have left.

“There you are, Mom,” Lucy called as she and Brody walked up to the fence to join the party. “We went to your cottage because Brody said you’d have cookies.”

“You bet I do,” Cora Lee said, scooping her grandson up onto her hip. “Who’s my favorite four-year-old in the whole world?”

“I am!” Brody shouted and threw his arms around his grandmother’s neck.

“Displaced by Grandma and her cookies,” Lucy mused.

“Must be nice,” Jillian said without really thinking about it, “to have your whole family right here on the ranch.”

“Oh, it is,” Lucy agreed. “But thank God we don’t all live in the same house.”

“Thank God,” Brody parroted.

“That’s enough of that, little man,” Cora warned and shot her daughter a hard look.

Lucy just grinned. She pointed to where a small, English-style cottage sat amid a stand of oak trees. It had dormer windows, a stone chimney and a bright red door behind the snowy white porch railings. Roses, dormant now, climbed a trellised arch just in front of the porch.

“That’s Mom’s place. She moved in there once we were grown, said the big house should belong to Will.”

“It was only right,” Cora Lee said. “Time for my kids to build their own lives and they didn’t need their mama watching their every move.”

“There wasn’t any point trying to talk her out of it, either.” Lucy nodded and swung around to point toward another house not far away. “That’s Jesse’s place.”

Jillian turned her head to study it for a long moment and decided it suited the man to a T. The building was low and long, with a stone front porch that seemed to run around the perimeter of the place. There were two stone chimneys jutting into the sky from a slate gray metal roof and a wide set of double front doors in the center. The house itself was wood and glass and managed to look masculine and cozy all at the same time. There were chairs, rockers and swings dotting that porch and she could imagine sitting there in the evening, watching a sunset. With that image came another of her and Jesse sitting on one of those swings together, and the instant she realized what her brain was up to, Jillian shut it down fast. Thankfully, no one else seemed to notice that her imagination was working against her.

“There are three guest cottages along the back of the big house,” Lucy was saying, “so whoever’s staying there has easy access to the pool and—”

“What’s that house there?” Jillian pointed to what looked like an oversized bungalow with chimneys on each end of the house. Again, a wide front porch graced the building, but here, there was a balcony on the second floor, too.

“That was my house,” Lucy admitted. “Mine and my husband’s.” Her voice dropped and a small sigh escaped her. “We were in the process of building it when Dane’s accident happened. When he died, I just stayed at the main house. I didn’t want to live there without him.

“The house was finished before I gave birth to Brody, but we never moved in. The big house works for us.”

Jillian wondered if she could push her foot any further into her mouth or if even she’d already reached her limit. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Cora Lee said, speaking up for her daughter. “Life happens whether we’re ready or not, doesn’t it, little man?” She turned her gaze on Brody.

“Can I have cookies?” he asked.

“You bet.” Cora Lee hitched him higher on her hip and looked at her daughter. “Brody’s with me.” Then she added, “If you’re going to be here a while, Jillian, why don’t you bring Mackenzie by, too? We’ll all have cookies together.”

“Thank you,” she replied without agreeing to anything.

When it was just she and Lucy again, Jillian said one more time, “I’m really sorry, Lucy. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

Lucy laid one hand on her forearm. “They’re not bad memories at all. How could they be?” She shook her head and looked out at Jesse and the little girl squirming excitedly in the saddle.

“You said Dane had an accident?” Jillian asked quietly, since her friend seemed willing to talk about the past that no doubt still haunted her.

“He did. I loved Dane like crazy and he was eager to be here on the ranch. Of course he didn’t know anything about horses, but he wanted to learn.”

Lucy stared into the corral but Jillian knew she was looking at images much further away. Her gaze was fixed on the past and the memories brought a smile to her lips and a film of tears to her eyes.

“What happened?” Jillian’s voice was a whisper.

“Just a freak twist of events that Dane was caught up in,” Lucy said wistfully. “Jesse loves training horses. I mean, the ranch is his now and he loves that too, the cattle, the feed crops, all of it. But horses,” Lucy said on a sigh, “hold his heart. Like they do mine. Dad left me in charge of the stud program, breeding exceptional saddle horses. And I’m also taking in rescue horses. Horses that have been abused or neglected—” Her features tightened and anger shone in her eyes. “I can’t stand seeing animals hurt.

“But Jesse, his specialty is training the untrainable horse. He’s got a good reputation, too. People from all over Texas bring their problem horses here and he finds a way.”

Jillian wanted to say something, but damned if she could think of anything that would either stop Lucy now or make it easier to go on. Instead, all she could do was stay silent, stay close.

“A man from Waco brought Jesse a stallion to break and train.” Smiling, Lucy added, “That was the meanest horse I’d ever seen. Hated everybody. But Jesse knew he could tame it. Jesse asked Dane if he wanted to help and he jumped at the chance.”

Jillian’s eyes closed briefly as she braced herself for what must be coming.

Lucy took a deep breath and blew it out. “The horse broke free and went a little crazy. Dane rushed in to help Jesse contain the stallion—and he was trampled.”

Instantly, Jillian’s gaze flicked to Mac astride that horse and she wanted to run out there and grab her girl, keep her safe. Yes, irrational, but the need was there.

“Nobody’s fault, really,” Lucy said quietly. “The horse wasn’t to blame, either. He was just mad and scared and reacted the only way he could. Dane had a lot of broken bones, spinal injuries, but it was the head injury that killed him.” She rested her chin on her joined hands on the rail fence. “He was in a coma a week before I finally accepted that he was gone. They pulled the plug that afternoon and the very next day I found out I was pregnant with Brody.”

“Oh, my God.” Jillian slumped against the fence, heart hurting. For all the troubles she’d had in her life, nothing could compare to what Lucy had already endured. Admiration filled her, because this woman was strong enough to get past her own grief and build a life for her son. She didn’t hold on to bitterness or sit in a corner and scream Why me? She just went on with her life, taking care of Brody and focusing on the future. Jillian understood that.

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