Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger (6 page)

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Authors: Lori Copeland

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Westerns, #test

BOOK: Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger
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Page 45
with you. You'll scare this little thing to death. Now, you behave yourself. I've got a cake in the oven and haven't got time to stand around listening to your foolishness.'' She turned and gave him a saucy grin, along with some sound, parting advice: "Just remember your age, Daddy, and your heart!"
He roared with laughter as she shut the door with a resounding bang.
He sat in the large leather chair behind his desk and looked benignly at Jessica.
"Jessie, dear"his voice was so kind"we're so sorry about your loss of Fred and Rainey so close together. There wasn't a finer pair of people as far as Mama and I were concerned." He stood and walked over to the window, looking out at the street. "You know, when you live to be Mama's and my age, it seems you spend half your time burying the people you love and have spent most of your life with."
He stood for a moment with a faraway look in his eyeseyes that didn't quite have the brightness they used to have. With a slight shrug of his stooped shoulders he turned back to the business of living. He cleared his throat, shuffled through some papers lying before him, and began.
"My dear, this should basically be very simple. As you know, all that Fred and Rainey had will naturally be yours." He sat back down at his desk. For the first time Jessica could ever recall, he had a rather sheepish look on his face.
"Uhthere is only one small stipulation to the will that Fred and Rainey added about a year ago." He glanced up at Jessica and continued. "I don't imagine you're going to like it."
Not like it. Jessica couldn't imagine what the judge meant but mentally braced herself for what was to come.
Judge Baker began to explain the details of the will. "Land, house, material possessions, etc., etc., all to go to
 
Page 46
you with the stipulation that you return to run the farm for six months. If you insist on remaining in Austin, then the entire estate will be left to Manor Methodist Church, where, as you know, Fred and Rainey had been members for over fifty years.''
Jessica sat with a stunned expression on her face, rage simmering within her. How
dare
they play God with her life again! She was an adultperfectly capable of controlling her own destiny. She jumped to her feet and stormed over to the large window which looked out on the main street. "How could they do it?" she exclaimed. "
Why
did they do it?"
"Why?" the judge said gently. "Because they loved you, Jessie. They simply could not stand the thought of you never coming back to the home and land they had loved. They have waited patiently all these years, hoping you'd return"the judge cleared his throat before continuing"and that you had forgiven them. It weighed heavily on their minds, Jessicawhat they had done to you and Jason."
"It should have," Jessica replied in a rare show of hurt feelings, "but they knew I had forgiven them. How in the world am I going to run that farm? I know very little about it now. I've been gone all these years!"
The judge began to shuffle through a stack of papers on his desk, seeming to search for the right words. Finally, tossing the papers aside in agitation, he blurted out, "Fred suggested you hire Jason to do it."
"
What?
" Jessica's mouth gaped in shock.
"Now think about it for a minute, Jessica. It could make a whole lot of sense. He's one of the biggest ranchers around right now. His property adjoins yours, plus he's got the manpower to run both ranches. Andto tell you the truth, I don't know of another man around I would trust or even recommend to do the job for you."
Jessica stood in front of his wooden desk, speechless. Finally, able to find her tongue, she said in a determined
 
Page 47
voice, ''Even if
I
would think about anything that preposterous, Judge Baker, I'm sure Jason would
never
have anything to do with such an asinine suggestion. My gosh, you
do
realize we didn't exactly part the best of friends. I seriously doubt that he would cross the road to pull my fanny out of a fire."
"Oh, now, Jessica," the judge admonished laughingly, "that was a long time ago. You are two reasonable adults now, more than able to conduct a simple business agreementwhich is all this would be."
Jessica snorted in a very unladylike way.
"I suggest you take a few days to think this over, dear. As soon as you calm down, I'm sure you'll view things differently."
As Jessica let herself out into the hot afternoon air her mind was spinning in a thousand directions. What in the world was she going to do now? Even though she had wanted to come back home, it was the principle of the thing! She had to have that inheritance to start her business, but she sure in the devil hated to think she was being forced to claim it.
Well, her hands seemed to be tied. No money, no business. She couldn't see much of a choice. It was either crawling to Mr. High and Mighty Rawlings or going back to eking out a living for the rest of her life in a schoolroom. Jessica literally stomped her foot in a fit of anger.
Storming back out to the old truck, she remembered the words of Judge Baker as she had angrily complained about the unfairness of the will. "Ah, Jessica, my child," he had answered wearily as he took off his glasses and began to massage his tired old eyes with his wrinkled hands, "few things in life
are
fair, my dear. That's a sad lesson I'm afraid we all have to learn."
So where did that leave her? she asked herself as she climbed back behind the wheel of the truck, tears welling up in her violet eyes like pools of shimmering water. Why did everything have to be so complicated?
 
Page 48
Wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands, she reached down to turn the key in the ignition, issuing a stern warning to the old truck. ''Don't
you
give me any trouble. I'm definitely not in the mood for it!" It groaned into life reluctantly. She threw it into reverse and shot out of the driveway like a missile.
That damn gas pedal again,
she thought as she struggled wildly to get the truck under control. To her mounting horror it gave one long backfire, and with a surge of speed that left her breathless, it careened out onto the street backward, heading straight toward one of the late-model pickups sitting idling in front of the feedstore.
Jessica closed her eyes tight and jammed her foot on the brake, but to no avail. She felt the bone-jarring jolt as the truck finally came to a sudden halt, sitting halfway through the side of the dark-blue pickup. She opened her eyes slowly and let out a shaky breath. Not a sound could be heard for a few moments as she sat there trying to gather her wits about her. Suddenly, as if just coming out of a paralyzed state, people around her started moving.
"My lordy, are you hurt, little lady?" cried Luther, one of the men who worked at the feed store, adding in an excited voice, "Boy, we can sure thank our lucky stars there was no one around this here truck just now. Why, when I looked up and saw you a flyin' out of that driveway like a bat out of helloh, pardon me, ma'am, but as I was saying, I looked up, and then I sez to ol' Jason, 'Man, someone's just bought you a new truck!'"
"Jason?" Oh, good heavens, that was
all
she needed now!
Please, God,
she pleaded,
don't let this be his truck!
But the thought had barely left her mind when her eyes caught the figure of a tall, dark, ridiculously good-looking man striding toward her. He stopped directly in front of her old truck, placing the small cheroot he was holding, between his strong, white teeth and putting his hands on his slim hips. Taking one despairing look at his truck, he
 
Page 49
turned back around slowly and fixed his brilliant jade-green gaze on her.
Jessica smiled beguilingly at him as her words of long ago came back home to her. She had always vowed that someday she would make Jason Rawlings notice her again. Well, this was the day.
She tumbled out of the truck, her face feeling as red as a beet. How in the world could she have hit
his
truck when there were so many others sitting around to choose from? By this time Jason was squatting on the ground, trying to see the damage beneath his truck. Jessica could see clearly underneath his truck from where she stood, and she was sure he would not like What he saw. There seemed to be all kinds of odds and ends hanging down.
Jason straightened up and looked over at Jessica, who stood there silently. The humidity of the hot afternoon had plastered her thin blouse to her voluptuous breasts, and his eyes seemed to lock boldly on that part of her anatomy as he said in a dry tone, ''I sure as hell hope you don't teach driver's ed up there in Austin!"
"Of course not," she snapped indignantly, looking around sheepishly to see who was listening to this obnoxious conversation.
"Well," Jason said in a bored tone as he turned his attention back to the truck, "I hope your insurance is good." He looked at her again. "You do have insurance, don't you?"
"Certainly I have insurance, uhI mean, I think I do."
He gave her an exasperated look and said, "Well, when do you think you might knowfor sure, Jessica?"
Jessica took a deep breath and started over. "What I mean is, I'm sure I do on my other car. I'll call my agent as soon as I get home and check to be sure. I assure you your truck will be taken care of, Jason," she said in her school-teacher-chastising-a-naughty-child voice.
Heavens! He must think I'm an idiot!
"Look, I'm really sorry about this. It's that darn gas pedal on my truck. It keeps
 
Page 50
sticking on me. I certainly didn't single your truck out personally, you know! I made every effort to avoid hitting itwell, for heaven's sake,
I
could have been hurt, you know,'' she added, her face flushed from the heat, her lavender eyes snapping.
Jason turned his direct, clear gaze back to roam suggestively over her slightly agitated form, looking rather forlorn beside the wrecked truck. "Well, were you?" he asked.
"Was I what?" she shot back, slightly unnerved by his bold appraisal.
"Were you hurt, Jessica?" He was getting a little perturbed now.
She gave an exasperated sigh. "Do I look like I'm hurt?"
A tiny, infuriating grin appeared unwillingly as he observed, "No, little Jessie, you certainly don't look like you've been hurt."
There it was again, that "little Jessie" bit.
"Look," he said brusquely, pulling his eyes away from her, his mind returning to business, "I haven't got all day to stand here. I'm late for an appointment right now."
Jessica's knees felt rubbery and weak now that his gaze had left her. She eyed his truck warily and turned back to him.
"What will you do? You can't drive it like that, can you?"
He looked at her as if he were having to deal with someone who was slightly crazy. "Right," he affirmed.
"You don't have to be sarcastic," she blazed indignantly.
"I didn't mean to be, Jessica," he assured her. "Why don't
you
drive it home for me?"
She felt the color flooding to her cheeks again.
"I was due at the bank ten minutes ago. When I'm through, I'll have one of my men pick me up." He reached up to take his large Stetson hat off, wiping the sweat from
 
Page 51
his dusty brow. Jessica's heart caught in her throat as her eyes fell involuntarily on the mass of thick, golden-brown hair, which by now was nearly blond from endless hours in the hot Texas sun. Her eyes traveled slowly down the cut of the blue western shirt that was moistly molded to his broad, thick chest and the tight-fitting jeans, which made Jessica only too aware of an older, leaner, harder man than the one she had loved so fiercely eight years ago. The familiar weak longing crept silently over her as she forced her attention back to what he was saying. She blushed hotly as she encountered a pair of lazy green eyes mockingly aware of her less than ladylike assessment of him.
''I'll have one of my men check with you tomorrow about the insurance," he stated briskly, then turned and started to walk hurriedly toward the bank.
"Uh . . . Jason." Jessica swallowed hard.
Jason turned momentarily, a scowl of irritation lining his brow. "What now?" he snapped.
"Do you think you might have a few minutes to stop by the house tonight?" Jessica asked meekly, biting her tongue to overcome the feeling of humiliation that flooded her.
Surprise flickered briefly across Jason's face as he came to a dead halt. Turning to face her, he asked cautiously, "Come by your house tonight? Why?"
Jessica felt like the temperature had risen ten degrees, and perspiration began to trickle down her back in rivulets. "I, ahhave something I need to discuss with you, if you could spare a few minutes," she added lamely. This was
awful!
He was looking at her as if she had just escaped from the looney bin.
Jason continued to study her flustered, hot face for a moment before asking discreetly, "Isn't this something we could settle right now?"
Jessica's spunk returned swiftly. "No, I would need more than fifteen seconds to say what I have to say!"

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