Saving Her (Her Protector Book 2) Page 5

  “They act like boys, Beth. Spray painting nasty things on the fences. Scaring the animals. Owen was out riding, and they set off a bunch of fireworks. Spooked the horse so bad he nearly got tossed. Could have hurt Owen really bad, Beth. It could have killed him.”

  “They’re not as bad as you think they are, Jake. Not all of them. You know Lucas was born mean and he bullies the others into doing that stupid shit. But it’s not like they’ve actually hurt anyone.”

  “Yet.” I said with a sigh, “I don’t know why you’re defending them. They’ve tormented both of us since high school, and now they’re taking after their daddy. Trying to steal our land, our family’s land. God knows I don’t know why, they own more land than we do.”

  Beth just shrugged, looking away, her hands in her pocket. She lost herself in her thoughts and I just shook my head. Something was going on there, but I didn’t want to bring it up.

  After a moment, Beth turned back to me with a stern look.

  “Well, just remember to give her two of those doses every day until her lungs clear. Pneumonia can be a bitch.”

  “So can Josie,” I muttered, and Beth hit me in the arm. “What? You know it’s true.” I took the meds, tucking them in the back of my jeans. “You know I’ll take care of her.”

  “Of course you will. Because if you don’t I’m going to come back here and kick your ass.”

  “Hah. As if you could.”

  “I could when we were kids, I certainly could now.” Beth crossed her arms, tilted her head to look at me and nearly laughed. I had been a hell of a lot smaller as a kid then I was now. I’d gone through a major growth spurt during my teenage years and now stood ten inches taller than her.

  Still she was taller than Zoe. Zoe made me feel like a giant, bulky and uncoordinated. My gaze drifted back towards the office. The door was open to let in the fresh summer breeze and I could see her, bent over the desk, her hair sweeping into her face, so she had to keep tucking it back behind one ear. My fingers itched to feel the silky black locks.

  “Good luck with that.” I muttered, distracted. Beth followed the direction of my gaze but I didn’t see the knowing smirk on her face. I was too busy staring at Zoe.

  “You should ask her out.”

  “What?!” I turned to her in shock.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking Zoe, you idiot.” Beth snorted, “Just ask her out on a date already. Stop drooling over her and go talk to her.”

  “I do talk to her. Everyday.”

  “You are such an idiot sometimes, Jake.”

  “Stop calling me an idiot.”

  “Then stop acting like one!” Beth let out a huff of a breath. “She’s not Valerie, Jake.”

  Hearing my ex’s name still hurt like a son of a bitch, even after three years. It wasn’t the pain of betrayal as much anymore, but the pain of being played, of being fooled. Of being made a fool and having no idea what was going on right under my nose.

  “I know she’s not.” I still hated saying her name. The name of the woman I had loved. The name of the woman I was going to marry. The name of the woman who had cheated on me since day one and everyone had known about it but me.

  “It’s been long enough, Jake. Three years is a long time to moon over someone. You have to move on.”

  “I’m not looking for a relationship. I have my hands full enough already with the ranch.” That was a hell of an understatement. As if I had time to date anyone.

  “I’m not talking about a relationship, Jake. Just have fun. Ask her. What could it hurt?” Beth turned and walked towards the office where Zoe still worked, her damned question left ringing in my ear.

  What could it hurt? What could it hurt? It could hurt a lot. Zoe technically worked for me and that was a gray area I didn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole.

  But it had been heaven and hell working so close to her, smelling her perfume, hearing her laugh, and not being able to touch her.

  What would it hurt?

  * * *

  Zoe

  “Hey there. I hope my brother isn’t working you to death in here.”

  I jerked at the unexpected voice and it took me a moment to get my heart rate back down to normal. I still hated people sneaking up on me. It sent every fight or flight instinct I had firing through me along with a jolt of adrenaline that left me shaking like a newborn kitten.

  “Oh, hi Beth.” I said weakly, trying desperately to hide to shock of fear, the jolt of panic that I knew was still tumbling wildly inside me. “Come by to talk to Jake?”

  “Actually, I came by to talk to you.”

  My stomach sank at her words, wondering what questions she was going to ask. Wondering what she had found out about me. Had she recognized me? Seen my picture somewhere and knew I had lied? Had hidden the truth from her and her brother?

  The thought of Jake finding out I had lied to him hit me harder than I would have thought possible. I tried to shake it off. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was survival. I had to keep reminding myself of that over the last three weeks. It was getting harder and harder to remember.

  “What…What did you want to talk about?”

  “The annual May Day picnic is this weekend at the Town center and I’ve been volunteered to help judge the pie contest. Again. I need another judge and I am volunteering you too. I can’t eat another one of Agnus Lockley’s pies on my own. I just can’t. I need someone to share in the torment with me.”

  “What could be so bad about a pie?”

  “Just you wait and see. So you’ll do it? You’ll co-judge with me?”

  Beth looked at me expectantly and I was still trying to switch gears. A pie eating contest. Not my past come back to haunt me after all. I nearly collapsed in relief.

  “Sure. Why not. Consider me your co-judge.” I let out a laugh, releasing a bubble of that panic but it came back a second later when Beth spoke again.

  “You should invite Jake.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. You should invite Jake to the May Day celebrations. You could both use a break, and a little fun, it looks like.” She flicked the edge of a stack of papers that never seemed to stop growing. Serious, had no one ever organized these before?

  I glanced outside to where I could just see Jakes silhouette as he worked over a saddle strewn across a stump. Over the last three weeks, I had learned a lot about the man who had hired me on even he hadn’t wanted to.

  And every thing I learned made me want him more.

  He was still gruff, that same half-wild man I had met on that first day, but it was tempered by a kindness that I hadn’t seen in a long time. He really cared. About the ranch, about Owen, the stable boy that couldn’t stay out of trouble. About Westley, the mysterious ranch manager that I’d never heard speak. About his sister.

  Wild and kind. An odd combination but it worked, somehow.

  “I’m…I’m not looking for a relationship.” I said. Understatement of the year. Hell, understatement of the decade. That was the last thing I needed. My life was complicated enough.

  “That’s perfect then, because Jake isn’t either.” Beth said with a nonchalant shrug. “Just have some fun, that’s all I’m saying. Life is too short not to go after what you want. What could it hurt?”

  There was a soft catch in Beth’s voice, but I didn’t notice. I was too busy mulling over what she had said. Thinking about Jake. About the gentleness of his big hands when he’d helped Owen up after the boy had tripped over a pile of boards. The strength in his shoulders when he lifted a bundle of hay for for the horses. The smile on his face when he looked at me sometimes.

  What could it hurt?

  6

  Zoe

  I smoothed down the borrowed dress, looking at it critically in the mirror. It was a sundress that hung below my knees. Light blue with tiny swallows flying all over it, a color I wouldn’t have chosen for myself. I usually went red. Dark red. Burgundy. Fire en
gine. Scarlett.

  But there was sweetness to the loose cotton fabric that was undeniable. It made me look younger, I thought, looking in the mirror. I stared at my makeup less face and was more than a little surprised to find that some of the shadows beneath my eyes had faded. I had lost the gaunt, starved look that I had arrived in.

  Jake hadn’t been kidding about his lack of cooking skills, but most nights we managed to put together something edible. Mostly.

  I had never learned to cook. Most nights Elliot and I would dine out, either with sponsors or donors of my work or big wigs and corporate managers of Elliot’s.

  God, how I’d hated those dinners. The fake smiles. The fake conversations. Hours of talking but nobody saying anything. Nothing real. Nothing meaningful. Just vapid small talk over oysters and caviar and thousand dollar bottles of champagne.

  I never thought about how much money we spent, and most of the time if I was being honest, I didn’t even glance at the bill. A donor would offer to pay as a gift, or Elliot would reach for it before his boss could.

  I would take my cobble together meals with Jake any day rather than be back there, forcing a smile to my lips when all I really wanted to do was get back to the music.

  The thought tore through me and for the millionth time I found myself thinking again of the piano downstairs. I hadn’t played it. I hadn’t dared. What if Jake heard me? What if he found out the truth about me? About my past? About my lies?

  Coward. The whisper was soft and insidious, but it cut sharper than any knife. I knew the real reason. Because every time I thought of sitting down in front of it, of resting my fingers on the keys, my mind went back to that night. That awful night. The night that was supposed to be the next big step in my career, when I finally got to share my own composition with the world. Instead, my dreams had turned into a nightmare with a sweetly wrapped box and a photograph.

  Even now I could feel the panic, threatening to rise. After the incident, one of the cops had suggested I might be suffering from PTSD from that night. He’d been nice, in a bland, distant sort of way. Kenilworth. That had been his name. I could remember reading it on his nametag when he wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. It hadn’t done anything to chase away the shaking. Shock, he’d called it.

  I’d gone numb that night, all my bright fire stolen from me and I was still fighting to get it back. Even now. He’d stolen so much more from me than just my safety, or even my relationship. He’d stolen my music.

  I threw back my shoulders, and deliberately reached down and grabbed the scarlet red tube of lipstick. My favorite color. I had packed it and taken it with me the day I left Elliot. I don’t know why I did. I haven’t bothered to wear makeup in nearly a year, but now, looking in the mirror I swiped the vibrant color across my lips, looked at myself, and smiled. A real smile. Maybe it was a little sharp around the edges, a little bitter, but there was also hope there, and something else. Embers still glowing. My fire wasn’t out completely.

  I adjusted the dress one final time, fighting off the sudden nerves. Beth had leant it to me after I’d told her that I didn’t have anything to wear. Most of my clothes were worn jeans and t-shirts. A few blouses. I would have to fix that soon. Someday.

  Beth had promised a shopping trip up to Galena soon and I’d agreed but now, thinking about, I shook my head. I didn’t have money to spend on clothes. Every cent that I had earned in the past month was stashed away in a lock box under my bed. And it would stay there. In case. In case I had to move again, run again.

  There were more important things than clothes, anyways. I used to love shopping. Trying on beautiful gowns for my performances. The sensual feel of the fabric sliding against my skin. The brilliant rainbow of colors. But that was in the past. This was the present.

  I looked down at my nails. I used to get a manicure every week. Taking care of my hands was a pianist’s prerogative. Now, they were chipped and uneven. Hangnails and rough calluses forming from working in the dry Utah dirt. Hands I didn’t recognize, but they were stronger somehow, with a beauty of their own.

  With one last breath I stepped away from the mirror and turned to face the door. The nerves grew. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Beth had said. That life was too short. And the truth was, she was right. I knew exactly how fragile it could be, how easily a life could end. How fast I could lose everything. Why not have a little fun while I could? Like Beth had said, what could it hurt?

  I walked down the stairs, intent on finding Jake in the stable since that’s where he normally was this time of day but a loud sound followed by a muffled curse drew me towards the kitchen.

  Jake had plaster in his hair and a coating of the stuff across his shirt, standing at the top of a rickety old ladder. The hole in the ceiling was gone, patched over with a fresh layer of plaster. He was so busy concentrating on his work that he didn’t see.

  I looked around, at the small changes I’d made to the farmhouse and the bigger ones I had planned. It felt more like a home every day. And then I snuck a peak at Jake. Even with plaster turning his normally dark hair gray-ish white, he was still handsome. That wolfish quality never really went away but I was coming to grow accustomed to it.

  His gray eyes narrowed in concentration as he worked on the ceiling, wholly physical in a way that had shivers running up and down my spine as I imagined his hands working other things.

  I was glad he wasn’t looking in my direction as a blush of embarrassment flashed across my cheeks. I knew I shouldn’t think about him like that. But damn it, I couldn’t help it. He was handsome, and hot, and I had been alone for so long.

  And now that I was standing there in front of him, Beth’s words kept repeating in my head. Have fun. Have fun. Go after what you want. Life is too short.

  Fun. I don’t even think I remembered what that word meant anymore. Fear had killed my joy. Not anymore. Not today.

  “I, uh, so the May Day picnic is today. I’m judging a pie eating contest with your sister.” The words fell out of my mouth in a rush and Jake startled on the ladder but caught himself, his gaze still glued to the last layer of plaster he was spreading over the spot the hole used to be.

  “Better you than me, that’s all I got to say.” He gave a mock shudder, “I really am sorry,” He said the last with a laugh and I shook my head. Maybe the Gallagher’s just didn’t like pie.

  “Right, anyway,” what could be so bad about some pies, anyway? “I was wondering, well, I was sort of…What I mean to say is, do you want to go?” The words were so jumbled together that I was afraid he hadn’t heard me, or hadn’t understand me, because he went silent for so long.

  Finally, after a too long moment, he slowly turned and looked down at me. I swore I saw a flash of fire ignite in his gray gaze, but then he blinked, and the friendly smile was back.

  “Oh, right. I forgot you don’t have a car. You probably need a ride.” He scraped off the extra plaster and climbed down from the ladder. “Give me five minutes to get cleaned up and then I’ll be ready.”

  “No, I meant…on a date.” But he was already gone. I bit my lip. What the hell. Had it really been that long? Had I forgotten how to ask a guy out on a date? With a shake of my head, I turned and walked towards Jake’s truck to wait.

  “I’ve never judged a pie eating contest before,” I said in a sideways whisper toward Beth who was looking like a ray of sunshine in a golden yellow dress. I imagined her closet was a rainbow of colors. “What are the rules?”

  Beth threw back her head and let out a belly laugh, wiping away tears as she looked back at me. “There are no rules. This is anarchy.”

  I glanced at her askance, but she was already walking into the large covered tent. There were chairs set up in rows on the straw covered dirt floor. There were several long folding tables set up and covered with red checked table cloths.

  Beth picked up a clipboard from the corner of the nearest table.

  “Okay, so today there are…seven contestants.” Beth said,
still staring at the clipboard. I looked at the table. There weren’t any names, just numbers that corresponded to the placards on the gingham topped table and the pie in front of each.

  “We each take a bite, score it from one to ten. The highest score is the winner. Easy, see?”

  “Sure, easy.” I answered after a long moment. Beth noticed the pause and looked over at me, and then traced my gaze to the back corner of the tent where Jake had just walked in. He was so much taller than everyone else that he was easy to spot immediately.

  “So I saw you get here with my brother. Does that mean what I think it does? Did you ask him out? Good for you!”

  “Well, sort of.”

  “Sort of? What’s sort of?”

  “I asked him if he wanted to come here with me and he, uh, well he thought I was just asking for a ride since I don’t have one and then it was too late for me to say anything else.” I shrugged it off but Beth groaned, shooting a glare towards her brother before giving me a look full of sympathy.

  “I’m sorry, I should have warned you. Jake is a sweetheart but he can be so dense. You really just have to bash him over the head with it, you know?”

  “Oh. Okay. Good to know.” I just shrugged again. What else could I say? It still stung a little. I knew it wasn’t really a rejection, but it still felt like one.

  Beth nudge me with her elbow, “Just ask him again, for real this time.”

  “What? It was for real the last time.” I huffed but Beth was not to be deterred.

  “After the contest. Ask him out on a date, a real date. Tonight. He could take you out to dinner. Just remember to be very direct.” Beth laughed and I shot her a sideways glare, but I couldn’t stop my own lips from trying to grin.

  “It’s not funny.”

  “It’s kind of funny.”

  My own laughter bubbled out from between my lips and I was surprised how good it felt. God, how long had it been since I’d laughed? Since I’d just relaxed and had fun. I couldn’t even remember.