Heart's Desire (4 page)

The boy opened his mouth to protest, but Ellie held up her hand. “Don't say a word! You're lucky you're not in the back of that patrol car with those two boys after the stunt you pulled today. You're getting off easy with just three days suspension. So, show some gratitude.”

Jessie could see his jaw clenching. He was at that age where everything set him off. He wanted to fight the system and declare his independence, but he hadn't realized yet how far was too far. Today he'd crossed the line when he'd vandalized the locker room. At least he hadn't pushed as far as his older brother had, landing him in prison for armed robbery.

Ellie had taken Michael in—an impressionable boy who looked up to his troubled older brother—and offered him the world, but she could only do so much as a foster parent. The choices were still his to make, and thanks to his brother's influence, he was making bad ones.

“Come on,” Jessie threw her arm around his slim shoulders and gave him a quick squeeze. “We're getting in three new horses tomorrow. You can help me get ready for them.” She saw the light return to his eyes. “Besides, Grady's been missing you.” At the mention of the old gelding, she saw Michael try to hide a smile.

“Fine,” he sighed. He heaved his shoulders dramatically, but Jessie didn't miss the relief in his eyes.

Jessie pulled out her phone to let Justin know they would have two more people tonight for dinner.

How did she manage to go from being alone last night to having a packed house before lunch? Nathan's arrogant grin filled her mind. How was she going to explain having two juvenile delinquents at the ranch when Nathan started asking questions?

N
ATHAN SAT AT
the kitchen table of the cabin Jessie had relegated to him, staring down at the countless documents her accountant had compiled. Besides an external hard drive filled with account information, more payable than receivable, there were loans, both personal and business, as well as the will from her parents. Since Justin hadn't really talked about his parents' death, Nathan knew he would have to press one of them for details eventually. Reading the will now, he could see none of the Harts fully understood the value and desirability of their property.

With two thousand acres split equally between them, each of the siblings had been given a portion of the property to use for separate business ventures, yet the entirety remained in joint ownership. Wading his way through the legal jargon, grateful for his years in law school, he finally found what made them think they had more than a familial interest in one another's businesses. Each business was run as a separate entity, meaning that Jessie was in full control of the dude ranch portion of the property and could operate it however she chose. But, because of the way their parents had structured it, if one business went under, the others were forced to compensate or help fund it. According to the documents, their father insisted they keep the property whole, or it was to be sold in its entirety. In other words, if one failed, they all failed.

“Colton, what were you thinking?” he muttered to himself. The knock at the front door interrupted his thoughts. “Come in.” He looked up in time to see Justin peer around the entrance.

“Aren't you coming for dinner?”

Nathan glanced at his watch and looked out the window to see the sun setting behind the tall pines. He hadn't realized how much time had passed since he'd started looking into their finances. He slid the will into a folder and rose from the small table. “Would you mind if I borrow your truck to head into town and grab a burger?”

Justin laughed. “Afraid of the pip-squeak? When did that happen?”

“I'm not afraid. I'd just rather avoid getting my head served to me on a platter.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. She's not happy you're here.”

“That's a bit of an understatement.”

Nathan moved to the sink, wishing he'd thought to buy groceries when they'd been in town earlier. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard stocked with dishes for guests and filled it with water from the tap.

“Didn't you talk to her before you invited me? Maybe if you would've explained why I was coming . . . ”

“I tried.” Justin brushed past him and opened the refrigerator. “I even gave her a list of things to get you. See? But Jess has a temper and thinks this should be a family matter.”

Nathan bent down and stared at the fully stocked refrigerator, complete with a six-pack of his favorite beer, sandwich fixings, fresh produce, and dairy. There was enough food to feed him for at least a week. Guilt hovered over Nathan's head like a rain cloud, and he wondered if Justin still would have apologized if he knew what had transpired between Jessie and Nathan. He would have to confess the truth to Justin eventually. But not quite yet.

They'd barely spoken in the last eight years. He wanted to renew their friendship on a good note before he jumped off that ledge. Once he'd helped Jessie, it would be easier to confess the truth to Justin. He reached for two beer bottles, holding one out to Justin, wondering if he really trusted Jessie not to poison him.

“So, she's taking her frustration out on me instead of you?” Nathan had no doubt Jessie's ire had more to do with his silence after leaving and his reappearance now than it did with Justin.

“Trust me,” Justin assured him with a laugh. “You're getting the PG version. I've been chewed out several times for even suggesting she call you. Be glad you're staying out here instead of one of the guest rooms in the house.”

“Yeah, that makes me want to join you for dinner.”

Nathan tipped his head back, enjoying the yeasty brew as it slid down his throat, warming his belly. At least, he wanted to believe it was the beer and not the memory of the last time he'd been alone in the house with Jessie. He hadn't prepared himself for this onslaught of memories. It wasn't like him not to be ready for every possible scenario, but he'd been too busy equipping himself for her hatred to think that feelings of his own might resurface.

Not that he didn't deserve her anger. He'd had eight years to set the record straight and should have done so as soon as he'd worked his way from under his father's thumb, but there was more to her anger than simply a failed summer romance.

“She's overreacting a bit, wouldn't you say? I mean, most people don't enjoy having their finances scrutinized, but wouldn't the possibility of saving this place be enough to make her at least somewhat civil?”

“Jessie's always had a chip on her shoulder about you. I think she had a crush on you that summer and when you never came back . . . ” Justin took a long draw from his beer and shrugged. “But who knows. Ever since our parents were killed in that car accident, she's been working herself to the bone trying to keep this ranch in the black, but she won't admit that she can't do it alone. Everyone sees that except for her.” He tipped back the bottle again, finishing off the last swallow. “It's turned into this vicious cycle. She isn't taking reservations, so we're losing money hand over fist trying to afford all these horses no one is coming to ride. We even had to cut our crew loose because we couldn't afford to keep paying them. When I try to talk to her, she shuts me out. We're going horse-poor.”

“Horse-poor?”

Justin twisted his lips, pulling his mouth to the side humorlessly. “Yeah, it's what we call it when you have too many horses to feed. They're nothing more than a money pit at this point. Jess is a great trainer, and we could recoup a lot if she would just sell a few, but she refuses and keeps taking in more projects.”

“Projects?” He was sure he sounded like an idiot, but as far as he was concerned, Justin might as well be speaking a foreign tongue. “What sort of projects?”

“She's been rescuing a lot of abused horses since our parents died. I don't know if it's her way to cope or what.”

“Have you asked her about it?”

Justin shook his head. “Every time I try to talk to her about the horses, she gets defensive. It doesn't really matter why she's taking them in though, we still have more mouths to feed than we can afford. Speaking of which, we have guests for dinner tonight, so let's keep all the money discussions for later, in private, okay?”

“Paying guests?” Nathan had seen enough of Heart Fire's finances to know a few paying guests each month could go a long way to salvaging the ranch. It would be enough to keep it afloat until he could come up with a concrete plan of action for Jessie.

Justin chuckled and gave Nathan a wry look. “I wish. A friend of Jessie's and a couple of foster kids.”

Foster kids? Abused horses? Nathan glanced out the window and saw the shadow of a woman stepping onto the back patio, staring toward the barn. He watched Jessie wander down the steps of the patio and make her way toward the pool. Jessie had always had a tender heart for the broken and those in need of rescue. In the weeks he'd spent here, she rescued a litter of kittens, hand-nursed a calf, and saved an orphaned raccoon cub.

He turned away from the dark-haired beauty as she walked through the gate and headed toward the barn. “When was the last time anyone paid to stay here?”

“We had a full house when we found out about Mom and Dad's accident,” he said quietly. “We canceled all of our reservations and since the funeral Jess hasn't booked anything. I know she's having a hard time, but she just keeps saying she's not ready. Honestly, I'm not sure she's ever going to be ready, and we can't have anyone stay without a bare-bones crew at least.”

Nathan pulled aside one of the curtains to peer out the front window. Jessie had turned her face toward the cabin, as if she was looking directly at him. There was a slight frown marring her forehead, pinching her brows together, and he wondered if his presence had caused it. When she wasn't biting his head off, fuming with anger, she was beautiful. She gathered her hair to one side, tucking stray locks behind her ear and brushing several strands from her eyes as the wind tossed them around her face. Even from this distance, he could see the sadness that haunted her blue eyes. It hadn't been there before.

“You think she's telling the truth?”

“Why wouldn't I? We're not the kind of family that keeps secrets.”

Nathan felt his heart lurch. Justin had no idea the secret she'd kept from him. Justin rose and walked behind him. Nathan clenched his hand around the beer bottle, every instinct pressing him to confess the truth to his friend.

Justin followed his gaze and laughed, slapping his shoulder before heading toward the door. “You'd better not fall for my sister, man. She'll chew you up and spit you out.” Waves of guilt washed over him again. “And when she got finished with you, I'd have to kick your ass. Besides, I thought you liked your women tall, leggy, and skinny as a stick—or is that just for the tabloids? Now come on. If we're late, Julia is going to have my hide.”

“If I didn't know better, I'd think
you're
the one afraid of your sisters.” Nathan shot his friend a smirk.

“I'm not stupid.” Justin rolled his eyes. “Of course I'm afraid of them. You should be too, for that matter. Between those two and Bailey, I swore off women a long time ago. Females are too hard to please.”

Nathan laughed as he followed his friend to the main house. No matter how much time passed or how different their circumstances seemed on the surface, they still got along like college roommates, bonded over their mutual desire to change the world. For Justin that meant healing animals. For Nathan it meant reviving struggling businesses.

At least one of them had remained optimistic about life, because Nathan sure wasn't that same idealistic, pie-eyed kid he'd been when he left Heart Fire Ranch. His father had made sure of that.

J
ESSIE SET THE
rake against the wall and turned off the barn lights. She swiped her arm over her forehead, grimacing when it came away sweaty. Great, now there was probably dirt smeared across her face.

It was hot and muggy, even at this late hour with the moon high in the sky. The weather had her feeling irritable. Or maybe it was the pig-headed chauvinist in the cabin a few feet away. A house full of company didn't help either. She was on edge, and getting out of the house to clean stalls provided her with an excuse to escape the chaos. She wanted to shut her mind down a while, to put life back into its proper perspective.

Normally, she loved having the kids stay and work with the horses, but with every move she made under the green-eyed scrutiny of that suit-wearing number cruncher, everything grated on her nerves tonight. She couldn't help but wonder how Nathan might overanalyze and interpret her every word and deed.

She'd told Michael to live for himself; she needed to take her own advice. Her father knew she wanted to rescue horses, even encouraged her to do it. He told her they would take care of the details when he returned from vacation. Jessie shook her head slightly as she opened the back gate, refusing to allow herself to get lost in the sadness that always followed memories of her parents. The only thing she could focus on right now was doing her best to make sure this ranch started making a profit, so she could afford to continue taking in horses to rehabilitate.

She didn't want to think about her financial woes anymore tonight. She wanted nothing more than to bask in the comfort of her parents' home,
her
home. She stepped into the oasis that made up her backyard. One of the best features of the ranch, it was the one area her parents had splurged on for the pleasure of guests.

The quiet gurgle of the waterfall releasing into the pool mingled with the soothing chirp of the crickets and the low, throaty hum of the bullfrogs. There were no lights on in the house, so only the stars reflected in the dark water. The symphony of the night enveloped Jessie like a down blanket, making her feel warm and secure.

A trickle of sweat slid between her breasts as she slumped into one of the lounge chairs circling the pool. Jessie watched the moon's reflection ripple slightly on the water as a bug landed on the surface. The water called her name, inviting her to take a plunge, to wash away the day's stresses and doubts. She glanced back at the house, wondering if anyone would notice if she just jumped in, fully clothed. She doubted anyone inside would even care but didn't want the dust from her clothes in the newly cleaned pool, and skinny-dipping wasn't an option with so many people around. A few late-night laps were just what she needed to still the hamsters racing on the nonstop treadmill of her worries. Her mind made up, she hurried back to her room and changed into her suit.

She returned to the pool and dropped a towel on the chaise before diving into the water, letting the cool liquid flow over her skin like satin as she moved to the other end, barely making a sound. She somersaulted underwater, pressing off the wall and gliding back as effortlessly as a dolphin; then she heard a splash and felt someone move past her through the water.

Jessie bolted upright and swam away from the intruder, reacting without understanding the fear that tightened in her belly. She pressed her back against the tile of the pool wall. “What the—”

“Sorry. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.”

She swiped the water from her face, pushing the soaked tendrils of her dark hair from her eyes and saw Nathan's laughing eyes gleaming at her in the moonlight as he held his hands up toward her.

“What in the hell are you doing out here?” She felt the urge to cross her arms over her chest as she swam backward toward the shallow end of the pool until her feet could touch the bottom. How dare he come into her backyard uninvited? To violate her sanctuary?