In His Brother's Place (7 page)

The comfortable Vargas home was a few blocks from the restaurant. Ramon, Raquel’s five-year-old son, was having a birthday party with pizza, cake and a piñata. Lucas had been invited two weeks ago.

As she watched her son play with his young relatives, Angie reminded herself that this, too, was Lucas’s heritage—music and laughter, festive colors and warm
abrazos.
She could no more separate him from this world than from the privileged life that was his father’s legacy.

“So will you be staying on the ranch?” Raquel was a few years older than Angie, but the cousins had always been close. She’d gained some weight after four children but was still a pretty woman—and lucky, Angie thought. She and Antonio seemed so happy together.

“It’s hard to say,” Angie replied. “For now it seems the best thing for Lucas. So many advantages, and he loves it there. But for me...I just don’t know.” She resisted the urge to fall weeping into her cousin’s arms.

“What is it,
querida?
” Raquel’s knowing eyes peered into hers. “Is it Jordan? Is it that he looks so much like Justin?”

“No, it’s not that at all.” And it wasn’t, Angie thought. Jordan was a very different man from his brother—and her present state of confusion had nothing to do with his looks. She struggled to put her jumbled feelings into words.

“For years I believed Jordan hated me. Since he discovered Lucas, he’s been generous, even kind. But he’s also been controlling. It’s as if he wants to take over our lives or even take Lucas away from me. I don’t know how to deal with him from one day to the next.” Angie paused to watch Lucas kick the soccer ball into the miniature net. “This morning he had a brand-new SUV delivered to the ranch for me. I made the driver take it back.”

“Why, for heaven’s sake? Your old car’s a wreck. It isn’t even safe to drive.”

“How could I accept it, Raquel? It would be as if—” Angie shook her head, unable to continue.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Last night after a party at the house...he’d just broken up with his girlfriend, and one thing led to another. Before I knew it, we were in his bed.” She gulped back a surge of emotion. “I made such a fool of myself, Raquel.”

“Never mind, what’s done is done. And you’ve lived like a nun for too long.” A smile teased Raquel’s lips. “Was it good?”

Heat crept into Angie’s face. “I’m afraid it was wonderful.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“In love? Heavens, no! Jordan Cooper is the most arrogant, manipulative, maddening man I’ve ever known! And now...” Angie shook her head. “How can I even face him after last night? What can I say to him? If it weren’t for Lucas, I’d pack up and leave!”

“Running away won’t solve anything,
querida.
All you can do is face up to what happened and be honest. Speak from your heart. That’s the only way.”

Excusing herself, Raquel hurried off to fetch the cake. Her cousin meant well, Angie told herself. But confronting Jordan and speaking her mind would only make things worse. She’d be better off taking the coward’s way out and avoiding the man. Jordan would get the message.

By the time the party ended it was getting dark. Murky clouds roiled out of the west, smelling of snow. Angie shivered as she buckled Lucas into his car seat. Why hadn’t she thought to bring warm coats for both of them? But this morning she hadn’t been thinking about the weather. Her mind had been on Jordan.

By the time she turned onto the highway out of town, Lucas was fast asleep. Snowflakes as fine as sand peppered the windshield. Angie turned on the wipers. The defroster had died last winter but at least the heater worked. Cranking it up all the way, she pulled into the outside lane and slowed down. With her balding tires, she couldn’t risk speeding on the slick asphalt.

Cars flew past her, splattering the windows with sleet.

The drive to the ranch took about forty minutes in good weather. Tonight it would take much longer. She could only hope Lucas would sleep till they got home.

Home...
Was that what the Cooper ranch had become?

Angie peered through the flying snow. Maybe she should have accepted the new vehicle. If she had, she and Lucas would be safe. Anything that went wrong now would be her own stubborn fault.

As if thoughts could be prophetic, something in the engine began to clang like an old-fashioned fire alarm. Angie barely had time to pull off the road before the car shuddered into sickening silence.

Angie punched the hazard button, praying the blinking lights would be visible in the storm. Maybe a patrol car would stop to help. If not, she was on her own.

“Mommy, what happened?” Lucas was awake, stirring in his car seat. “What was that noise?”

“That was our car breaking down. Stay where you are while I figure out what to do.”

She tried starting the car again. Nothing happened. Reaching for her purse, she fished out her cell phone. The low power indicator was on. She’d be lucky to make one call before the cursed thing died. Why hadn’t she charged it last night?

But she knew why, didn’t she?

She could dial 911. But this was a broken down car, not a life and death emergency. What if someone failed to get desperately needed help because the police were answering her call?

She could phone Raquel. But Antonio would be at work. Raquel would have to leave her children to drive this dangerous road in the storm—something Angie would never ask her to do.

She could wait for help to happen by. But the night was cold. Soon the car’s battery would run out. With no lights, how would other drivers even know they were there, much less that they needed help?

That left her with just one option. Cringing at the thought, she found Jordan’s card in her purse and punched in his cell phone number. She held her breath as the phone rang once, then again.

Please,
she prayed silently. He had to pick up. He just
had
to.

Seven

J
ordan had come in from the range at dusk and put away his horse. By then the snow was flying. He was tired and chilled but at least he wouldn’t have to drive on slick roads tonight. He was ready for a good meal, a hot shower and an early bedtime.

The thought of driving turned his mind to Angie again and to the gift he’d purchased. Would Angie be grateful for the new SUV? Or had he overstepped? Lord knows, with winter coming she’d need something safe. But Angie was capable of taking his gift in the wrong spirit. However she might have taken it, he was about to find out.

As he neared the back door, Rudy came bounding across the yard. What was the pup doing here? It wasn’t like Lucas to leave his beloved pet out in the cold. Letting the dog into the enclosed back porch, Jordan poured some kibble into a bowl before he entered the house.

Marta was in the kitchen. One look at her worried face told him something was wrong.

“Where’s Angie?” he asked.

“She took Lucas into town this morning, but it’s getting late. They should’ve been back by now.”

“Did the dealer deliver her new vehicle?”

“Yes. But she made the man take it back. She left in her old car.”

Jordan swore under his breath. He should’ve known Angie would be too proud to accept his gift. If anything had happened to them in this storm...

The jangle of his cell phone broke into his thoughts.

“Jordan?” Angie’s voice was so faint through the static that he could barely hear what she was saying. Something about breaking down on the road.

“Hang on, I’m on my way,” he said. “Where are you?”

He waited for her reply. Only silence remained on the line. Calling her back didn’t work, either. Damned phone was probably in the same condition as her car. Miss Angelina Montoya was going to get an earful when he found her.

If he found her before anything else went wrong.

* * *

Jordan lowered his high-beam headlights to reduce the glare against the falling snow. He was driving the ranch’s heavy-duty club cab pickup. In the backseat was a box filled with warm blankets and snacks, which Marta had pressed on him at the last minute.

As he drove, black scenarios flashed through his mind—Angie’s car off the road, maybe stuck in a ditch or even wrecked. Angie and Lucas cold and scared, maybe hurt, with no help—or worse, at the mercy of any criminals who happened by.

She hadn’t told him where she was. But he had to assume she’d been headed home, which meant she’d be on the opposite side of the four-lane road. If he didn’t slow down, he could miss seeing her. Would her lights be on? The shoulder of the road was narrow, with a steep drop-off. With no lights, someone could easily hit her, knocking the car down the slope, maybe rolling it...

Damn!

Reaching for his cell, he dialed the highway patrol. The dispatcher had no report of a blue sedan off the road. She promised to put out an alert, but the first big snow of the season was always bad for accidents. The officers would be busy tonight.

He’d gone halfway to town and was wondering if he’d missed her when he spotted the low shape off the far side of the pavement. Dark windows caught the reflected gleam of passing headlights. Jordan broke into a cold sweat as he found a wide spot, swung the truck around and pulled up behind the old blue sedan. Would they be there? Would they be all right?

Leaving his headlights on, he climbed out of the truck. Dread clutched his throat as he walked toward the car. There was no movement inside, no sign of life.

Only when he brushed the snow off the driver’s window and peered inside did he see them. They were huddled on the floor in front of the passenger seat—both of them alive and safe.
Thank God.

* * *

Angie watched from the warm truck as Jordan released the brake on her old car and pushed it down the embankment where no one would hit it in the dark.

He’d barely spoken to her as he bundled Lucas in a blanket, mounted his car seat in the back and buckled him in. But the words would come—she had no doubt of that. And she would take her punishment like bitter medicine. Everything that had gone wrong tonight had been her fault.

She glanced back at Lucas. He’d eaten a cookie and was already falling asleep. But earlier, in the car, he’d been so cold and scared. It was her job to keep her son safe. How could she have put him through this?

Jordan lingered on the edge of the road, gazing down at the car. Silhouetted in the headlights and surrounded with swirling snow, he made a solitary figure. That was how she’d always seen him, Angie recalled. Justin had been the sociable twin, surrounded by friends. But aside from the women who moved in and out of his life, Jordan had been a loner.

Angie had assumed he wanted things that way. Now, for the first time, she was struck by his isolation.

Slowly he turned and walked back toward the truck. In the headlights, his face was etched with weary shadows. Angie braced herself for the tirade that was sure to come once they were on the road. She waited as he climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the door. She waited as he shifted and pulled back onto the asphalt. He drove in silence, his mouth a grim line.

“I’m sorry, Jordan,” Angie said at last.

“You should be.” He kept his eyes on the road. “Taking a chance on that old car—you’re damned lucky nothing worse happened. Why didn’t you keep the vehicle I had delivered?”

A tear stole down Angie’s cheek. “’You know why I didn’t keep it.”

“I wanted you and Lucas to be safe. And I believe in buying the best. What’s wrong with that?”

Her resolve to take her scolding quietly vanished as her temper rose. “What’s wrong is that you didn’t ask me! I don’t make a practice of accepting $50,000 gifts—especially from a man I just...” She choked on the final words.

“Is that why you sent it back? Because you’d slept with me? Did you think it was some sort of payment? Good Lord, Angie—”

“What was I supposed to think? I’m trying to make this arrangement work for Lucas’s sake, but I won’t be bought, Jordan. I won’t be your mistress!”

“I can’t believe this.” He slowed down as if to pull off the road, then seemed to change his mind. “I’d never try to buy you, Angie, or any other woman. Your safety and Lucas’s—that was my only motive.”

Angie studied his stern profile, her mind working. “If that’s true, I have a suggestion. Hear me out.”

“I’m listening.” His eyes narrowed but he kept his gaze straight ahead.

“One thing we both agree on—I need a safe vehicle for Lucas. In the next few days, you can take me to a dealer you trust. I’ll pick out a solid, reliable
used
car with four-wheel drive, one that costs, maybe, one-fourth as much as that behemoth you picked out for me.”

“Angie, I can afford to pay for a new car.”

“But
I
can’t, and I want it to be
my
car. If you don’t mind loaning me the cash, I’ll buy it myself and work off the debt. There must be something I can do around the place—sweep the stable, oil the tack—”

“Don’t be silly.” She was relieved to note, though, that her attempt at humor had worked. He looked less forbidding than he had before. He was silent for a moment. “How are you at filing and bookkeeping?”

“Fair enough. I keep records for my own business.”

“Then you’ve got a job if you want it. The accounts for the ranch need more attention than I have time to give them. I could honestly use your help.”

“You’re not just making up work for me?”

“Hardly. I’ll be glad to hand it off to you. We can figure out your hours and wages tomorrow, after we’ve had a good night’s sleep.”

The very mention of the word
sleep
made her pulse lurch. Did he think she was going to spend another night in his bed?

“Let’s clear the air about something.” He spoke as if he’d read her mind. “I enjoyed last night, and I hope you did, too. But it was just a good time, with no strings attached. You’re welcome back anytime. But only on those same terms and only if it’s what you want. As for that Victorian blather about becoming my mistress...”

He let the words hang in the silence. Angie felt the flames creep higher in her face. Jordan deserved a sound slap for what he’d just said. But he was driving on a winter slicked road, with Lucas asleep in the back. She willed her voice to sound cold and flat.

“As far as I’m concerned, last night never happened. And as long as we’re clearing the air, there’s one thing you need to understand. Lucas is my son, not yours. If this so-called arrangement doesn’t work out and I end up leaving, he goes with me. I won’t let you have him.”

She heard the sharp intake of his breath. She’d wanted to wound him, and she had. So why did she find herself wishing she hadn’t opened her mouth?

A beat of silence passed between them before he spoke. “We both have Lucas’s best interests at heart. For now, we’ll just have to trust each other to make the right choices.”

“Fine.”
Whatever that meant.
Jordan had given her an answer that could be read in any number of ways. Was he scheming to edge her out of the picture and keep Lucas to raise as his heir? A month ago, she’d have believed that easily...but now she just wasn’t sure. Either way, if he thought she’d give up her son for any reason, the man had a great deal to learn about a mother’s love.

What had Jordan’s own mother been like growing up? Angie remembered Meredith Cooper as a woman who carried herself like a queen, exquisitely dressed and coiffed, with her historic house, her prestigious marriage and her perfect sons.

She had treated Angie with a coldness that bordered on contempt. How much of that coldness had come from a perceived need to protect her beloved Justin? Now that Angie had a child of her own, she felt a measure of understanding. But she knew better than to think that a shift in her own attitude would make any difference to the woman who had been so determined to hate her even before Justin’s death. Sooner or later, Meredith Cooper would learn that the woman who’d brought Justin down was living in her house. However it came about, things were bound to get ugly.

Could she depend on Jordan to stand up to his formidable mother? She gazed at his chiseled profile, silhouetted against the snowy glass. Jordan knew how to get what he wanted, and he had his share of Meredith’s steel. But would it be enough?

She’d be wise to prepare herself for the worst.

Ahead, through the snow-speckled darkness, Angie could see the lights of the house. Weariness swept over her as Jordan pulled into the garage and switched off the engine. Right now, all she wanted was to put Lucas to bed and go to sleep.

Jordan unbuckled Lucas from his car seat and lifted him gently in his arms. Lucas’s eyes blinked open. “Where’s Rudy?” he muttered.

“Rudy’s on the back porch. I’ll bring him up after you’re in bed.” Jordan carried the drowsy little boy across the patio and up the stairs to his room. Angie followed, stopping him at the door.

“I can handle things from here,” she said.

“All right. I’ll go get the dog.” He passed Lucas to her waiting arms, then turned and walked away without another word. Angie took her son to the bathroom and maneuvered him into his pajamas. She was so tired she could barely think, but it filtered through her mind that she hadn’t thanked Jordan for coming to their rescue and possibly saving their lives. She would remedy that when he came back—
if
he came back. He’d probably had enough of her for the night.

She’d just finished tucking Lucas into bed when she heard the doorknob turn. The door opened just far enough to admit Rudy, who trotted over to the rug and curled up in his usual spot.

Angie heard the door click shut and the fading sound of Jordan’s boot heels on the tiles. Impulsively she opened the door and darted out into the dark hallway.

“Jordan!” The name was whispered, not shouted, but he turned around. In silhouette, his shoulders sagged with weariness.

Closing the door behind her, Angie walked toward him.

* * *

What now? Was she coming to take another piece out of his hide? Jordan braced himself for a storm. “Make it fast,” he growled. “I’m dead on my feet.”

She halted a step away. Melted snowflakes glimmered in her dark hair. Heaven help him, even after a night of driving him crazy, she was beautiful. “This won’t take long,” she said. “I just wanted to thank you. Anything could’ve happened to us out there on the road. But you answered and came when I called.” A smile teased her ripe lips. “That makes you a hero in my book.”

Jordan fought the urge to crush her in his arms and kiss her till she begged for mercy. Did the woman have any idea how she’d scared him or what a relief it had been to find her and Lucas safe? Only tonight had he realized how important the two of them had become—more important than he’d ever let on.

He willed himself not to touch her—if he did, he’d be lost. “Get some sleep,” he said. “In the morning we’ll put this night behind us and start fresh. All right?”

“All right.” She seemed hesitant. But he had to leave now, while he could.

“Good night, Angie.” He turned and walked away. As he reached the top of the stairs he heard her door close. He forced himself to keep walking and to focus on the tasks at hand instead of memories of her lush body in his arms. Tomorrow he would set up the books for her in his home office. Then he’d take her to town to buy a car.
Her
car—one she could afford to keep if she left him.

Every day with Angie seemed to be a new battleground. But he had to do right by her and Lucas—and by his mother, too. He could never make up for the terrible loss they’d suffered. But trying could be his only hope of redemption.

* * *

In her room, Angie stripped off her sweater and jeans. She was weary to the bone but her pulse was still racing.

Had it been a mistake, calling Jordan back to thank him? They’d snarled at each other most of the way home. And he’d been none too friendly when she’d faced him in the hallway. But even as he scowled at her, something had been there—and she’d responded like a hormone-crazed teenager. It was as if every part of her body remembered last night in his bed and was craving more of the same.