Her Perfect Match (19 page)

“Then I’ll loosen her cinch, and she’ll be waiting at the snubbing post.”

“Thanks,” she said, her smile bright, happiness shining from her emerald green eyes.

Jackson stabled his mount, an old quarter horse named Dakota, after making Glory comfortable for the short wait for her mistress’s attention. Then, smiling at how wonderfully the afternoon had gone, he headed for his office. It was his day off, but he was pulling extra duty trying to keep most of the burden of running Laurel Glen off Ross’s shoulders while he recuperated and ramped slowly up to full speed.

But when he reached his door Jackson stopped
dead in his tracks. Both Ross and Cole were waiting for him in his office. Ross, who sat on the edge of the desk, looked up from talking to Cole. His cousin sat slouched on the old leather chair across from his desk looking annoyed at best.

“Is there something you want to tell me, Jack?” Ross asked. “Or should I call you Jackson?”

J
ackson’s heart tripped.

They knew?

And from the look on Ross’s and Cole’s faces, he’d have to guess, if they did know, the knowledge hadn’t come from his mother. He’d come to respect both men and couldn’t believe they’d be angry, considering how happy Meg was to have him in her life.

But what if they didn’t know and he said the wrong thing?

“Is it a problem for me to use a shortened version of my name?” he asked, carefully. All of a sudden he felt like a GI gingerly negotiating a minefield.

Ross had a steely glint in his eyes as he shifted on the edge of the desk. “Jackson. I know. Jackson Wade Alton, the full name you left off your application, bears a strong resemblance to the name of my sister’s late fiancé,” Ross added pointedly.

His heart pounded. What should he say? He still
didn’t know what they knew about the adoption or if they knew Meg was his mother.

Cole spoke before Jackson could put his foot in it. “It was too much of a coincidence. The way you look so much like Granddad—like all of us, really. And I just can’t leave a mystery alone. A cop owed me a favor. He went digging for me. It took a while because of the way records are sealed, but he called me. He tells me my aunt Meg gave up a child for adoption in Colorado. You. So what is it you want, Alton? Half of Laurel Glen? Or just half what it’s worth?”

“Cole,” Ross said in what sounded like a plea for restraint.

“No, Dad. As a kid I watched you struggle to keep this place alive. You dragged Laurel Glen out of financial ruin twice now, and it almost killed you this last time. I’m not sitting by and watching some Johnny-come-lately show up to cause you or Aunt Meg any heartache.”

Jack didn’t want this to disintegrate into name calling or erupt into an angry exchange. He took a deep breath and prayed for calm. “Look. Both of you. I didn’t come here for any reason but to meet my mother and her family. I never even knew I was adopted until last March. I was furious with my father for keeping me in the dark all those years, and he wasn’t too pleased that I intended to find my birth family. So I got a couple of buddies to give me references. I’ve always worked full time at the Circle A but I’ve helped them out a time or two when times were tough for them. Everything they said was true,
as far as I know. I just didn’t want my father trying to manipulate me or talking to any of you.”

“You sound pretty steamed at your father. Were you just as angry at the woman who’d given you away?” Ross asked.

Jackson shook his head. “Confused by it but not really angry. She left information about Laurel Glen and her engagement ring for me. I found all that with the adoption papers, and it spoke of deep love of her roots and for my father. I found out on the Internet he had died. My mother—my adopted mother—died when I was four, and my father’s never gotten over her loss. I felt cheated when I found out I might have had a different life. I wanted to meet my biological mother. That’s it. That’s all there is to my being here. When I was looking for more information on her and her family, I saw your ad looking for a foreman. You hired me and so I got to meet her that way.”

“If you expect us to believe that, explain to me why all the secrecy?” Ross demanded.

“Because, brother dear, I asked him to hold off letting anyone know,” Jackson’s mother drawled. She stood in the doorway, arms crossed combatively. “I didn’t want to overshadow baby Laurel’s birth or our new little Faith’s birth, either, with an announcement like this. I thought we’d had enough excitement around here for a while. I didn’t see any harm in savoring and building a relationship with Jackson in my own time. I’m overjoyed to have him in my life. I’m proud of the man he is and I’d hoped you would all be happy for me once I told you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before? Years before?” Ross asked. Jackson could hear the hurt that had seeped into Ross’s voice.

“That I’ll explain in a minute. Right now, however, I think Jack has some explaining to do. To Elizabeth.”

Jackson sucked a breath. “Beth?” Had she come back from the house more quickly than he’d anticipated? Had she overheard their accusations?

Meg nodded. “I was on my way down here when I saw her run out of Stable Two. By her movements, I could see she was upset. I called to her and got here as quickly as I could, but she rode toward home on Glory before I could get to her. I assume she overheard the inquisition that was going on in here. She quite possibly has drawn the wrong conclusion. I’m so sorry, son. I never even considered the position I’d put you in by asking for so much time.”

I trust you, Jack.

Had Beth said that only an hour ago? Pain exploded in his chest at the thought that he might have lost that trust. He’d been so thankful to see her come so far, and now this situation with his past might send her careening into a prison of her own.

“I had Georgie saddle Dakota for you,” Jackson heard his mother say. “Don’t just stand there. She was flying over fences as if the devil himself were chasing her. Go. Go!”

Without another second’s thought, Jackson started for the door. He heard Cole call his name and turned back.

“I’m sorry,” Cole said.

Through his worry for Beth, Jackson heard Cole’s regret. “You were only trying to protect your family. Protect my mother. It’s a little hard to resent that, but you’d better hope I can square things with Beth.”

Cole’s nod was a clear acceptance of Jackson’s anger. Jackson nodded then swung away. Instantly he saw Georgie silhouetted by the sun and waiting at the stable entrance with Dakota saddled and ready. He ran, galvanized, grabbed the reins, then swung into the saddle in one motion.

How could it all go so wrong? So fast?

But he knew how. Beth wasn’t sure of him. And how could she be? She’d known nothing but betrayal in her life and she had to feel he was just like the rest. She was probably off somewhere, crushed and crying.

Elizabeth was so angry she could do nothing but ride hard and fast trying to vent her fury.

He’d lied.

He was no better than her father.

He was out for himself. He’d come to Laurel Glen to hurt the only people besides Maggie and her missing brother she ever loved. Except him.

She’d fallen in love with a sham.

A man whose real name she had not even known. Whose heart she had misread. Whom she never wanted to see again.

She’d just about reached the creek separating her family’s land from Laurel Glen when the thunder of
hooves close by registered through the cacophony of her angry thoughts.

Jack!

She slapped her heels into Glory’s sides, but Jack was the essence of speed in the saddle. Elizabeth found herself plucked from Glory and into Jack’s powerful arms in the blink of an eye. Instinctively, she kicked out of the stirrups, hardly believing he’d really try so foolish a trick.

Once she was safely in his lap, she felt Jack’s powerful thighs signal the quarter horse to stop. Too angry to care about the danger of the rushing ground, she tried to struggle free. Just as the animal’s speed dropped sharply off, Jack slid to the ground and put her away from him.

He put his hands up as if in surrender, but Elizabeth shoved him back a few feet before he could move away. “Are you out of your mind? How dare you even touch me after what you’ve been up to? You lowlife! Liar! Cheat! Slug!” she went on, feeling powerful in her anger. “You came riding out of the west with your sweet, aw-shucks-ma’am manners and your I-care-about-you-Beth talk and turned my life upside down. And all the time you were a fraud. How dare you! You made me want to live again. You made me believe in dreams again. You showed me a glimpse of a beautiful future then you snatched it away again with your deceit.”

“Beth,” he said in an odd tone.

The red haze in her mind cleared enough to inter
pret his hip-shot posture and what looked like laughter in his eyes.

“You slimy worm!” she shouted. “How dare you call me that! How dare you stand there looking so…so…so handsome,” she said for want of a better indictment.

She’d thought she’d been angry before, but then Jack went off into peals of laughter. Elizabeth knew with a certainty that if her head had been the top of an anger barometer it would have exploded. Meanwhile Jack wiped his infuriating tears and took several deep, calming breaths. He might be reaching for composure but she felt her blood pounding in her head with even greater force.

Elizabeth didn’t even think. It was as if her head had indeed exploded when he reached for her. She stepped toward him, grabbed his wrist as he’d shown her earlier and pointed down toward the muddy stream. In Jack went, twisting at the last moment so he wound up sitting in the shallow murky stream. His ever-present cowboy hat floated in the water next to him.

But did he shout or yell? Oh, no! He grinned.

Grinned!

Speaking slowly to emphasize her anger at having to even ask such a question she demanded, “What is so funny?”

Jack tilted his head, and his grin turned achingly gentle. “You just look so blasted cute, honey. And you’ve come so far from the prissy, frosty princess I
met when I came here. And I have to tell you I love you more than life.”

Elizabeth’s anger evaporated in an instant. His declaration muddled her mind and melted her heart. Then she remembered how he’d lied to her. But before the heartbreak could grow worse or her anger could rush to the fore, he went on as if he’d heard her thoughts.

“I didn’t want to hold back from telling you why I came here but I didn’t want to pressure my mother, either. I figured I was a pretty big shock to her even though she seemed thrilled to meet me. She really seemed to need the time. You seem to have a special place in your heart for Meg. I can’t believe you would have wanted me to hurt her in any way.”

“No. Of course I wouldn’t. But why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wasn’t only my secret to tell, Beth. And then there was the problem of her asking questions if I’d told her I was worried about your reaction to being kept in the dark. I was so worried about you and I knew if she got too close to the problem I’d have been tempted to ask her advice. I didn’t want to chance betraying your trust, either. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me for handling all this like such a clod?”

How was she to resist such a heartfelt plea? Better yet, seeing the sincerity in his Taggert-blue eyes, why would she want to? Tears fought for release, but she fought just as hard to hold them back. He deserved her strength, not her tears. But when she tried to answer him, her voice failed her. She nodded.

“Thanks,” he said. “You know, I’ve been thinking. You said you’d always wished the Taggerts were your family.” He held out his hand. “And if you feel even a quarter of the love for me that I feel for you, I thought maybe you’d consent to be my wife. I come complete with a great mother-in-law for you,” he added as if she needed more incentive than a lifetime with the man she loved.

She took his hand, thinking he wanted a hand up to go along with the answer. “I’d be honored,” she said, then found herself pulled off balance and into his lap, the muddy stream swirling and splashing around them.

He kissed her—her with her hair dripping muddy water and her clothes a sodden mess.

When he broke the kiss Jack smiled at her and caressed her grimy cheek. “You, Mrs. Jackson Wade Alton to be, are the most beautiful, perfect woman in the world.”

And she knew that in his eyes she was. Because he saw past her surface appearance to the person beyond the earthly shell. And more important, she believed it to the core of the soul she’d given to her Lord for cleansing. She was new through Christ Jesus and He had strengthened her. She was Jack’s perfect match.