RESCUED BY THE RANCHER (9 page)

He shrugged, but Jake didn’t miss the flash in
his eyes, the way they darted to the side,
nor
the way
he tapped his fingers against his leg.

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

Jake chuckled, making fists with his hands and
then releasing them. “You make such a habit of getting teenage girls pregnant
that you can’t even remember their names?”

He
didn’t have an issue with getting a girl pregnant. It could have happened to
him enough times when he was young and stupid. But what he did have a problem
with was how the guy had treated Faith.

“Look, I don’t know who the hell you think you
are, coming here and…”

“Stop talking,” Jake commanded, walking closer
to him, swallowing the red bite of anger that was threatening to make him snap.
“You got her
pregnant,
your family made sure she got the
hell out of dodge, and when she finally came back, you fire bombed her house so
she wouldn’t get a chance to tell anyone the truth.”

Now the other guy was starting to sweat, but
Jake didn’t back down. He was pleased he had a height advantage, so he wasn’t
secretly shitting himself that the guy could knock him out if it came to that.

“I don’t give a fuck right now about what you
did back then, but I do give a damn about her. So listen up.”

Phillip walked backward and knocked into an old
chair.

“You look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t
do it. Tell me you didn’t try to burn your own son alive just to make sure
Faith didn’t show up and ruin your happy little life. Maybe you didn’t mean to
do anything other than scare her, but if there hadn’t been any smoke detectors
in the house? You’d be facing a murder charge, my friend.”

Silence was his only response.

“Just what I thought.”
Jake shook his head, disgusted. “So listen up.
You stay the hell away from her, or I tell your pretty wife exactly what you
did to your pregnant girlfriend, and what you almost did to your son. I don’t
want to hear your name or see your face ever again, and I sure as hell don’t
want you to run to daddy for help. I already know he’s covering for you, and if
you don’t piss off? I’ll make sure you don’t ever have the chance to hurt
anyone
again. Am I making myself clear?”

Jake wasn’t an aggressive person. Hell, he
didn’t even raise his voice to his horses.
But Faith?
Well, Faith was making him turn into the kind of man she needed him to be, and
he wasn’t going to let this shithead do anything to hurt her.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

Jake laughed in response.
Now
he was going to try talking back? He closed the distance
between them, until he was so close he was guessing the guy could feel his
breath on his face.

“Who am I?” He stared him down. “I’m the guy
who’d smash your fucking face in and burn
your
goddamned house down to protect her.”

He
hadn’t been able to protect Rachel, but he sure as hell was going to protect
Faith. Because he wasn’t going to lose a woman he loved ever again.

Jake winked and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
“We have an understanding?”

He received a nod in response. It was all he
needed.
Because this guy might have been cowardly enough to
torch a house in the dark, but he was scared as shit right now.

Jake walked a few steps backwards before
turning and heading to his car. He even whistled a tune.

He’d
just been a prize asshole, but he’d done what needed to be done. And protecting
his girl felt better than good. It felt right.

“LET’S go camping.”

Faith looked at him like he had rocks in his
head. She stopped what she was doing and put her hands on her hips.

“What’s put you in such a good mood?”

She was teasing, he knew it, but he pretended
like he was offended. “Aren’t I always in a good mood?” Jake raised an eyebrow
and grabbed her hand, tugging her closer.

Faith sighed and tilted her head back.

“It’ll be fun,” he said, bending to drop a slow
kiss to the hollow just below her jaw.

“When?”

“Tonight,” he said.

“And what exactly are we going to do on this camp-out?”

Jake walked past her and headed for the fridge,
pulling out a carton of milk. After a second’s hesitation, he reached for a
glass instead of drinking it direct from the source. He knew she was watching
him, but he was biding time to figure out how exactly he was going to sell the
idea to her.

“I’m thinking we ride horseback, find a nice
spot, light a campfire, you know, cowboy style.”

She laughed. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Of course I’m serious.” He gave her a wink.
“Go tell the kid.”

Faith gave him a look that said she knew
something was up, but she called out to Tom without questioning him again. It
gave him a kick, teasing her, laughing with her. He might have resisted how she
made him feel when she’d first arrived, but he’d tired pretty fast of being
that guy.

If Faith was prepared to hang around, to give
him a chance, then he’d be damned if he was going to let his fears stop him
from enjoying the best thing that had happened to him in a long time.

Faith couldn’t take her eyes off of Jake. The
way the man moved, the way he looked at her… she almost turned to liquid just
when his gaze was on her. And when he touched her… Faith forced herself to look
away. If Tom hadn’t been with them,
maybe
,
but he was so she needed to forget all about doing certain things with Jake. Right
now, anyway.

After years of being alone, of not letting
anyone close – let alone a man – here she was thinking about a man
and
his bed. A man she already trusted
so much, even though it made no sense at all given how long they’d known one
another.

“You ready to ride?”

Faith looked back up when she heard Jake speak.
He was walking along with Tom, only her son was
having
to move fast to keep up with Jake’s long stride.

“Will you be leading her?” Tom asked.

Faith picked up her own pace to make sure she
could hear the entire conversation. Hearing Tom chat with Jake like it was the
most natural thing in the world made her smile – the kid had grown up without
ever having a male role model, yet he’d taken to Jake like a fish to water.

“I’ll saddle up my horse, ride right beside
you, but you’re brave enough to not have the lead attached, right?”

Tom nodded and broke into a run, bouncing along
like he’d never been so excited in his life.

“Yeah, I’m brave.”

She watched as Jake slung an arm around her
son’s shoulder, slowing him down.

“I’ll put your mom up on one of the quiet
geldings. What do you reckon?”

Tom laughed, shaking his head.
“My mom?
On a horse?
I don’t think
that sounds like a good idea.”

Faith burst out laughing herself – she couldn’t
help it. “I’ll have you know that I’ll be just fine on a horse.”

Jake stopped and raised his eyebrows. “Oh,
we’re a horsewoman now, are we?”

She wasn’t exactly an expert, but she wasn’t
going to fall off. “I rode a few times as a kid, thank you very much.”

As Tom ran ahead to the corrals, Jake slowed
his walk so she could catch up. Faith slung her arm around his waist, looking
up as he looked down at her.

“He likes you. A lot,” she told him, sighing.

Jake dropped a kiss to the top of her head.
“I’m not going to hurt him.”

She
hoped not. After protecting him for so long, not letting anyone close, here she
was letting Jake close in a way she’d sworn she’d never do.
“I know. It’s just…”

“Hard to open up.
I get it.”

Jake stopped walking again and wrapped her in
his arms, legs spread wide so his feet were outside of hers, hips pushed
forward. He dropped his head, waited for her to raise her mouth, before
brushing his lips over hers and stealing a kiss. Faith opened her mouth and let
his lips explore hers, before he pulled away.

“We need to keep this PG, mommy,” he whispered
in her ear.

Faith groaned and punched his arm. “What have
you done with the real me and where are you keeping her?”

Jake’s response was to slap her on the bottom
and push her forward.

“Tonight,” he teased, winking. “You’ll have to
wait until tonight.”

The night air was cool against Faith’s
bare
arms. She smiled when Tom ran around to sit between
her legs, staring into the campfire like it was a magical beast. Jake sat
beside her, close enough that their thighs were touching and it sent a shiver
through her body.

“I managed to find this,” he said, holding a
long stick out to Tom with a marshmallow skewered on the end.

“Awesome!”

Faith laughed at Tom’s response. “When you said
a real campfire, I didn’t know that meant marshmallows.”

“Just so happens I have chocolate and graham
crackers, too,” he said, winking as he flashed
her a
wicked smile, “so we’ll be making
s’mores
.”

“What
are
s’mores
?”

She was glad Tom had asked—she needed the
distraction because the heat in Jake’s gaze had made
her
turn to marshmallow.

“
S’mores
,” he said,
slinging an arm around Faith’s shoulders, “are when you have a hot marshmallow
smashed between two graham crackers and a square of chocolate to make a gooey,
delicious dessert.”

Faith couldn’t help laughing again at the
rapturous look on Tom’s face. She didn’t remember the last time her son had
been so excited.

“After
s’mores
it’s
bedtime,” she announced, knowing they’d all be up until sunrise if she wasn’t
the sensible one.
And she wanted some
alone time with Jake, too.

Their tents were erected, one on each side of
the campfire, but she had a feeling that Jake was going to tempt her to sneak
to his in the middle of the night.

“Tell me, do you know some good camp fire
songs?” Jake asked Tom.

Her son shook his head, setting his marshmallow
on fire at the same time by dipping it into the flames.

Jake leaned forward and took the stick, blowing
to stop the little flames from licking the sweet treat before passing it back
to Tom.

“How about a campfire
story,
then?
I could tell a good one, something scary.”

Jake waggled his eyebrows and made them both
laugh.

“Nothing too scary, mister,” Faith scolded.

Jake’s response was to lean in closer, the
firelight making shadows on his face.

“It was a dark and stormy night, and a cowboy
was sitting alone around a campfire, when he heard a tap, tap, tap…”

“Jake!”

Faith admonished him as Tom shuffled tight back
against her.

“Songs, thank you very much, or you can have
Tom in
your
bed, terrified, all
night.”

The look Jake gave her made her skin flush
burning hot.
Because she knew exactly
what he was thinking, and it was the only reason he’d stopped telling the
story. The only person Jake wanted in his bed tonight was her, of that she was
deadly certain.

They lay side by side next to the fire, a
blanket almost covering both of them. Jake had been wondering if she was ever
going to come, but Tom had finally fallen asleep and she’d unzipped his tent
like an intruder in the dark. Now they were lying, in silence, staring up at
the stars beside the last embers of the fire.

“Faith, I’m not going to ask you to marry me,”
Jake whispered, holding her in his arms, tight against his chest.

She snuggled in even tighter, laughing.
“Why not?
And more importantly, why are we even talking
about marriage?”

He chuckled. “We’re talking about it because
I’m thinking about it. But I’m not going to ask you because I know you’d say
no, and besides,
it’s
way too soon, right?”

That made her laugh
again. “How can you know me so well after such
a short time? And yes, for the record, it’s way too soon.”

Jake kissed her – a long, lingering kiss that
took every ounce of his willpower to keep soft and gentle. He touched his lips
over hers, brushing them back and forth, exploring her mouth with his tongue
before forcing himself to pull back. “You know what I do know?”

She shook her head, eyes locked on his.

“I know that you need a man you can trust,
someone who will protect you no matter what and never let you down.” He paused,
cupping her chin and forcing her to meet his gaze, to look into his eyes in the
almost-darkness, to see how much he meant what he was saying. “I know we
haven’t known each other for long, but if you let me love you, Faith, I’ll be
that person. I can be a stubborn son of a bitch, but I’m more in danger of you
hurting me than the other way around.”