The Price (15 page)

Kate stood from the chair and carried Jesse upstairs to lay him down for his nap. Once he was sound asleep, she would go find Jack. She knew he would be sulking in his study. She needed to talk to him about what they needed to do next. It wasn’t going to be easy convincing him to do something he didn’t want to do, but Kate was a McBride now too, and she had it in her mind to stay with her mother between the time of the funeral and the reading of the will. She just had to convince Jack it was the right thing to do.

TEN

NOT LIKE HOME

Jack pulled his truck up alongside the mansion’s double gate and came to a stop by the security guard station.

“Now, be nice,” said Kate.

“I don’t know how I ever let you talk me into this,” grumbled Jack, rolling down the window to address the security guard.

“Hi, Brewster!” Kate leaned over Jack before he had a chance to open his mouth, and waved a friendly hello to the older guard.

“Miss Kathryn,” the older man at once held a smile, accentuating the lines of age across his white brow.

“This is my husband, Jack,” Kate beamed with pride. “And this is our son, Jesse and our friend, Maria.”

“You have a lovely family,” he answered back, seeing a blonde haired babe with big blue eyes, chewing something fierce on a teething ring while an elderly woman wiped the lad’s mouth.

“Thank you,” said Kate. “Is Mother home?”

“Yes, she’s expecting you,” he replied and nodded toward the estate.

“Good seeing you again Brewster,” said Kate, situating herself back in her seat.

The gate opened and Jack drove through. He followed the driveway lined with Palm trees and a well-manicured lawn until he reached a Spanish hacienda-like estate.

“This is where you grew up?” he asked, and forgot to swallow, gaping at the not-so humble home before him. Christ, the shack he grew up in was probably the size of their broom closet. He looked at Kate with eyes as wide as a bug’s.

“No, Mother bought this place after I went to college.”

“Where did you live before? Caesar’s Palace?”

“No, silly,” she laughed. “It was a modest house along the beach.”

“A modest house along the beach?” Jack’s eyes squinted. “Why is it that I don’t quite believe you?”

“I don’t know.” Kate shrugged.

“You’re filthy rich, and you never told me,” he said, grating his hands over the steering wheel.

“No, my mother is filthy rich,” corrected Kate. “I’m just a hard-working school teacher who barely makes a decent wage.”

“You got that right, baby,” he grumbled. “It’s a crime what they pay you, and that’s not even for all your free time spent, grading papers after school and preparing for the next day.”

“I don’t do it for the money,” she smiled. “I do it because I love to teach.”

“That’s because you’re filthy rich and don’t need the money.” He nudged her. But then he heard his own words. Jack looked at Kate and his countenance fell. “Come to think of it, you don’t need mine either,” he stated with a look of irritation and injured pride.

“For the last time, it’s not my money,” said Kate, getting annoyed. “It’s my mother’s and if you think for one minute she is willing to part with it, guess again? She would sooner give it to charity than give it to me. Besides, I don’t want it.”

“I wouldn’t let you take it,” said Jack, puffing out his chest like an overbearing peacock. “I provide for you and our son. I don’t want a dime of Marnie’s money.”

“Well neither do I.” Kate arched her back in irritation.

“Are you two done quarreling?” came a voice in the back seat of the cab. “We are not in the house yet and you both are already
loco
.”

“Sorry Maria,” said Kate, forgetting about her dear friend in the back seat.

“We’re done as far as I’m concerned,” said Jack, pulling up to a four-car garage and turning off the ignition to the truck.

He stepped from the cab and walked around, opening the doors for his wife and housekeeper. No sooner did they exit the truck, did the front door open and a man dressed in a crisp-black suit emerge from the estate.

Jack thought he looked ridiculous with his starched, white shirt and dark suit. His salt-and-pepper hair was slicked back in a groomed manner.

“Miss Kathryn, can I take your bags?” he asked, seeing his employer’s daughter retrieve her son from his car seat and situate him on her hip.

“Hello Collin,” Kate greeted her mother’s long time butler. “This is my husband Jack and our friend Maria.”

“Greetings sir, madam,” he said in a formal tone as he walked to the back of the truck and pulled the luggage from the open bed.

“You don’t need to do that.” Jack raced to the back of his pick-up and intercepted the three large bags. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Sir, allow me,” Collin insisted. “It is what I do.”

“It may be what you do for Marnie St. Claire, but for Jack and Kate McBride, we take care of ourselves.”

Jack pulled the bags from the butler’s hand and placed them on the ground. He’d be damned if he let the overdressed two-bit help do his mother-in-law’s bidding while he was around to take care of it himself. It was a pride thing and one that Jack McBride was not going to back down from.

“Very well, sir.” Collin stepped back and motioned toward the front door. “After you.”

“No, after Kate,” corrected Jack.

Kate heaved a sigh, and then walked past the two men with Maria on her heels. She entered the large estate and stopped in the extravagant foyer.

As if to make a grand entrance, Kate watched Marnie St. Claire sashay her way down the long, winding staircase with crystal chandelier hanging overhead and come to a stop beside her daughter.

“Kathryn, darling,” said Marnie, placing a formal kiss to her daughter’s cheek.

“Hello, Mother.” She returned the gesture.

“Hello,
Jack
,” Marnie frowned, seeing her daughter’s husband carrying the luggage into the foyer. “We have servants who do that.”

She intoned her disapproval from the start, making a curt face.

“I’m not one who likes to impose,” stated Jack.

“I can see you feel more comfortable acting like the help.” She placed a mock smile on her mouth. “Perhaps you would like to eat with them as well, since it is apparent you feel more at ease amongst your own kind.”

“Oh Mother, don’t start already,” Kate sighed.

“It’s good to see you too, Marnie,” said Jack snidely.

“Collin, would you be so kind as to show my daughter and her
husband
to their room as well as their nanny?”

“As you wish madam,” Collin nodded. “Follow me.”

“Kathryn, we’ll talk after you get settled,” said Marnie. “Dinner will be at eight.”

“Dinner will be at eight
,” Jack mocked into Kate’s ear. She ignored him and proceeded up the stairs, following Collin as he showed them to their room. Jack lugged their bags up the long flight of stairs. He made a second trip out to the truck to retrieve the portable playpen. Once they were situated in their rooms, Kate settled herself in a plush high-backed chair and nursed their son. Jack flopped on to the king-sized bed and rested his hands under his head.

“Maybe we should skip dinner so you and me can have some alone-time together,” said Jack with a sly grin. “Wouldn’t that chap Marnie’s ass, knowing I’m doing her daughter while she’s eating.”

“You want to have spite sex with me?” Kate looked aghast.

“Sure why not,” he laughed. “It would serve the old battle axe right demanding an audience. We could make the show really good baby. I could make you come so loudly that they would hear you downstairs.”

“You’re not right, Jack.” Kate shook her head.

“It was just a thought,” he continued to grin until he saw a smile appear on her face, then gave her a wink.

Jack looked around the room and took in the lavishness of the décor.

“So what is this room? The west wing for dignitaries or something?”

“I couldn’t say,” said Kate, slipping off her shoes with the one foot and then the other, while simultaneously continuing to nurse Jesse. “I’ve only been here a handful of times and normally she has me stay in one of the smaller rooms.”

“You don’t have your own bedroom here?” Jack seemed surprised.

“I told you before, Mother bought this place after I went to college. I rarely came home.”

“Not even for the holidays?”

“No. Marnie does not typically do holidays,” she answered. “I use to stay at school or I went home with Clara.”

“To Virginia City?” Jack sat up.

“Yes, why?”

“You would think we would have met before you moved to the ranch.”

“It was only a few times,” she said, “and by then Clara and Adam were an item, so I spent most of the time watching them make out. Besides, you were probably working with the rodeo during that time.”

“You’re right, I was.” He leaned back. “But if I would have known a sweet, little Barbie doll like you was alone in Virginia City, I would have high-tailed it back home.”

“That’s sweet, Jack.” Kate’s heart melted a little. He always knew the right things to say to make her feel good.

“I mean it, baby.” He patted the bed and motioned for her to join him.

Kate went from the chair to the bed. Jack fluffed a couple of pillows behind her and she leaned back to finish nursing her son.

“You sure I couldn’t change your mind about skipping dinner?” He gave her a wink and pinched her free nipple still damp from suckling.

“Behave,” she thwarted a laugh. “I think for the first night with my mother we should at least give her the courtesy of our company for dinner.”

“Suit yourself.” He rubbed his hand up and down her leg, then rested it by her inner thigh. “But you don’t know what you’re missing. I was going to go down on you til’ you begged me to stop.”

“You don’t play fair, Jack.” She felt a heated surge form in her belly and she stopped his hand from going any further.

“Oh Kate, the things I want to do to you in your mother’s home,” he whispered in her ear.

Kate laughed and pushed him away. She sat Jesse up on her lap and patted his back. Like a champ, a low rumble bellowed from his belly and made its way up his throat until he released a loud burp.

“That’s my boy!” Jack laughed and looked at Kate.

He reached for his son and placed him between them. The child began to chatter, making incoherent sounds like he was conversing in an unknown language.

“That’s right, Jesse,” said Jack, gushing over his son with fatherly pride. “Tell Mommy you don’t want to go to that stuffy dinner with Grandma Snooty.”

Jesse squealed again, before a large grin and giggle escaped his lips. Jack ruffled the boy’s light blond curls and kissed his chubby cheeks, which made the child laugh further.

“See, he doesn’t want to go either.” He laid his son on his back and blew on his belly.

Dainty hands circled around Jack’s hair and gripped the strands of sand colored locks, pulling hard.

“You better be careful what you say around him,” warned Kate. “We don’t want the first words coming out his mouth to be ‘Grandma Snooty’.”

Jack looked over at Kate and laughed.

“It would serve her right,” he said, bringing his attention back to their son.

Kate stood from the bed and retrieved the diaper bag.

“You want to change him or should I?” she asked, tossing the bag on the bed.

“I’ll do it,” said Jack, removing the infant’s pants and unbuttoning his onesie. “I don’t smell any bombs today.”

Kate handed him a diaper and the baby wipes. She watched Jack perform his fatherly duties and a smile donned her face, thinking about the hard-core man melting into a gooey marshmallow by the hands of a tiny child. God, she loved him.

“I’m going to take a quick shower and change for dinner,” said Kate. “You may want to do the same.”

“I think I’ll go just the way I am,” stated Jack.

“Mother does not approve of jeans being worn at the dinner table.”

“Well than that settles it.” He finished changing Jesse and sat him up, handing him his favorite teddy bear toy. “I’m not changing,” he said smugly.

“You take way too much pleasure in goading her,” said Kate, before disappearing into the bathroom.

She was right. He did take pleasure in ruffling Marnie’s feathers. It would serve her right, after her last visit of disrupting Kate the way she did. Jack was not about to give in and play the high-society game that Marnie so enjoyed to play. He wasn’t fond of her high-falutin ways, and he was not about to change who he was, to accommodate the old cow’s whims.

He didn’t work that way. After all, he was a man’s man—rugged as the brown Nevada earth. His hands showed the kind of man he was, hard-working and not afraid to tame the elements.

He’d be damned if he changed for some up-tight broad who pretended to be anything but the superficial pretentious snob she was. She didn’t give a damn about the real working class and Jack wasn’t going to back down. He would dine with her in his way or no way at all—and it gave him great pleasure to rub her nose in it.

Jack escorted his wife dressed in a modest blouse and skirt to dinner along with their son. They met Maria in the foyer adjacent to the dining room and they all entered together. Marnie as usual, was situated at the head of the table.

“Kathryn, you’re late.” She didn’t look pleased.

“Sorry, I needed a shower,” she said, taking a seat next to her mother.

Kate motioned for Jack to sit on the other side while Maria sat beside her to help with the baby.

“Didn’t Kathryn tell you the dressing attire for dinner is always semi-formal unless otherwise noted?” Marnie addressed Jack.

“She did.” Jack took his seat across from Kate and beside his mother-in-law. “But I figured there’s no shame in a man wearing what he is used to.”

“Well at least you didn’t wear your cowboy hat to the table,” she frowned then looked at her last guest. “Maria, wouldn’t you feel more comfortable eating in the kitchen with Collin and the other staff?”

Maria blinked at the debutant and shifted in her chair. She went to stand but Jack reached over the table and placed his hand over hers.