Trouble Me: A Rosewood Novel (7 page)

“Swank” was all she could say as she looked about her. Her brows came together in a slight frown. The club room was great, but it bothered her to think of her sisters spending extra money when they’d done so much for her already. After giving them each a fierce hug of thanks, she said, “I’ll reimburse you for the furniture.”

Jordan shot that idea down quickly. “Don’t be silly. Everything you see here is from the third floor of the big house. Remember my telling you that I was redecorating this spring? Margot and Travis wanted to make the third floor over for guests—you know how much Damien Barnes and Charlie Ayer like to come and stay. It needed a whole new look.”

“Those sofas were the ones you had when you were living with the kids up there?” Jade asked.

Jordan nodded. “I simply got new slipcovers for them and the chairs. On sale. The fabric’s washable, by the way. The rug’s price was slashed too.”

“And Doug and Jesse put up the cubbies and the tack-room equipment gratis. Their graduation present to you,” Owen added.

Doug and Jesse were two of the builders who worked for Owen and his architectural firm, Gage & Associates. They’d helped Owen restore Hawk Hill, the house next door, where he and Jordan and the kids now lived. With Owen’s attention to the architectural details, Jordan’s
eye for design, and Jesse and Doug’s exquisite craftsmanship, Hawk Hill was now as stunning as Rosewood. Its renovation had given Owen a ton of business in the area.

“That’s so sweet of them,” she said. “I’ll drop by whatever site they’re working at tomorrow and thank them.”

“Well, that’s easily done, as tomorrow they’ll be about a couple thousand feet away.” Owen smiled.

“Doing repairs on the house, huh? I’ll make a Braverman’s run for them. Pastrami with the works still Doug and Jesse’s favorite?”

“Yes, but, Jade?” Jordan said.

Jade wondered why Owen’s smile seemed to be contagious. Everyone was grinning. “Uh-huh?”

“Owen’s present? There’s more.”

“More?” she repeated blankly.

“Yeah, more! It’s a big surprise, Aunt Jade!” Olivia hollered, with Georgie and Kate chiming in gleefully, grins stretching their little faces. All of a sudden Jade realized that all the kids—the ones who were verbal, that is—had been unusually quiet throughout the tour of the pony barn. Their tongues probably all bore teeth marks from biting back whatever thrilling surprise lay in wait for her.

“Personally, I don’t know how you could top a six-stall pony barn, but I guess I’m gonna find out.”

J
ADE GOT
her answer. They’d built her a house—or rebuilt it, to be precise. She hardly recognized Bramble Cottage. Originally, the cottage had been used to house Rosewood Farm’s workers, but for years it had sat vacant, as Tito and Felix, Rosewood’s grooms, both had families too large for the two-bedroom house. Ned had his own cottage, Thistle Cottage, and before Travis and Margot married, Travis had lived in the apartment over the main barn—where Andy and Miriam now lived.

“This is for me?”

“Yes,” Jordan answered her. “Isn’t it cute?”

Jordan was right. The cottage
was
cute. Just by looking at its exterior, Jade could tell that Owen must have had fun with the project. He’d altered the façade, creating a porch screened by columns, just like at the main house, and enlarged the windows to create an airier look.

“Wait until you step inside. Owen had a blast going through John Butler’s pattern book when he updated the interior,” Jordan said, her voice filled with pride and love.

“And guess what, Aunt Jade?” Kate said. “Mommy and I picked out the colors for the walls.”

“Me too! I helped.” Unable to contain her excitement, Olivia was jumping up and down as though on an invisible pogo stick.

“Then they’ll be the colors I like best, won’t they?
This is amazing, guys. Thank you.” Though Jade was usually able to crack wise with the best of them, right now all she could think of was how incredibly lucky she was to have a family like this. They’d done so much for her, supporting her every minute of the day since Mom and Dad died, and for far too long she’d returned the favor by being hell on wheels.

Owen’s gaze scanned the little white house. “It’s not quite finished yet,” he warned. “Doug and Jesse still have to sand and finish the floors and perform a few final tweaks and touch-ups. But everything should be move-in ready by the end of the week. Do you want to see the inside now, or wait?”

“Most definitely now.”

The lot of them filed in and gave Jade the tour of the cottage. Walking through the rooms, she reveled in the collective chatter as they discussed what she would need to put where: a sofa, some chairs, a TV, a pretty round table where she could eat and do her grading work, some patterned curtains—but not ones that were too girlie—and a really comfortable bed. They knew her so well.…

Damn, she loved these guys. Telling herself to get a grip before she embarrassed them all by blubbering, Jade directed an accusing finger at her sisters and brothers-in-law. “I detect a nefarious plot here. You remodeled Bramble Cottage because you want to get rid of me. At the very least make me learn how to cook.”

Margot gave a dramatic roll of her eyes. “You, Jade, are suffering from paranoid delusions. Travis, please tell her how many tears I wept at the prospect of giving up 24/7 entertainment for Georgie and Will.”

“Oceans. Margot was practically in mourning,” Travis said.

“You’ve got Owen and Travis to thank for your new digs. They thought you might like to have a place where
you could enjoy some privacy when you wanted it, rather than having your bedroom door busted down by the likes of Neddy or Will.”

A graphic image of what she’d been up to last night flashed in Jade’s mind. The last thing she wanted was for a G-rated audience to walk in on that kind of show. Although neither one-night stands nor sexual encounters of any kind were on her agenda, she did intend to line up a private investigator to find out who her mother’s lover had been. That particular activity had to remain just as private, hidden not only from the little nippers scampering in and out of her quarters but from her sisters as well. They wouldn’t understand her need to dig up old painful memories, and she wasn’t sure she could explain it to them convincingly. So, yeah, it would be good to research investigators here at the cottage, where awkward interruptions could be kept to a minimum.

Jordan’s voice brought Jade back to the immediate conversation. “Naturally I’m all for you learning how to boil water, Jade, but I’m hoping you’ll also be coming to Hawk Hill for dinner several times a week. You could come tonight. I baked brownies.” Her smile was accompanied by a mischievous wink as Margot gave a cry of outrage.

“That is so sneaky and underhanded of you, Jordan!”

Unfazed, Jordan merely shrugged. “Jade’s a free agent; she’s going to go where the deal is sweeter.”

“
Sweet
being the operative word,” Margot huffed. “Well, I’ll just have to ask Ellie to make her fried chicken for tomorrow night, won’t I?”

Jordan’s eyes narrowed at Margot’s upping of the ante.

“Wow. Ellie’s fried chicken. I’ve forgotten what that tastes like. I think I dream of it sometimes though,” Travis said, his mouth lifting in a crooked smile.

“So now do you see how hard it was to get your sisters to agree to renovating the cottage?” Owen asked.

Jade grinned. “Yeah. So, to be clear: What are you two expecting in return for this shameless and blatant bribery?”

“Babysitting,” Margot and Jordan pronounced in unison.

“For these monsters?” She summoned her darkest scowl at the kids, who’d decided to hold a one-legged race across the empty living space. Neddy and Will had joined in, tottering and crawling energetically across the drop cloth and, when that grew old, rolling about and laughing like the goofballs they were. As for the others, it was looking as if Georgie might win the race over her older cousins. While Georgie had Travis’s dramatic dark looks, she took after Margot in a big way: She liked to win. “You guys drive a hard bargain.”

“Think of it in terms of doing a good deed for bros-in-law who rock, kid,” Owen suggested.

Jade pretended to consider. “Okay, if you put it that way. I guess I can give up a couple of nights now and again.”

From the four matching grins, one would think she’d just handed her sisters and their husbands the moon.

Ned cleared his throat. “Now that we’ve got that question settled, how about Miss Jade grabbing her breeches from her bag so we can get a spot of work done before the day is over?”

“An excellent idea, especially since I want to do Jordan’s brownies justice. Who do you have lined up for me to ride?” She had a moment of nostalgia for her beloved gelding, Aspen, the first horse she’d trained, the first horse she’d had to sell.

It had taken saying goodbye to Aspen to understand why Margot broke down whenever it came time to load a horse they’d sold into the van.

But Ellen, the girl in Chicago who’d bought Aspen, was really nice, with soft hands, a good seat, and a heart as big as the dark-bay Thoroughbred gelding. Watching Ellen fall in love with Aspen the second he nuzzled her outstretched palm made parting with him somewhat easier. Knowing the two would be good equestrian partners helped too. Aspen was a horse with enough talent and scope to carry Ellen for years to come.

This wasn’t an easy business—raising, training, and selling horses. It demanded time, care, and love, and really good judgment, the last especially important when the day came to sell the horse you’d raised from a wobbly-legged foal. Luckily, no one at Rosewood would ever part with a horse simply to make money. Rosewood Farm’s horses went to the very best owners they could find, which made laying that last goodbye kiss against the velvety muzzle of a horse you loved a tiny bit easier to bear.

“Ned and I were thinking you might like to work with Cosmo and Valentine,” Travis told her. “We’d also like you to take over Carmen’s training.”

“You’ve begun entering her in some three-day events, haven’t you?” Like Valentine and Cosmo, Carmen was a five-year-old.

Ned nodded. “That’s right. We think she’s got the talent and scope to be a top competitor. She’s a real firecracker. Just your speed.”

“Sounds good.” She turned to Owen. “You sure you’re willing to trust me with Cosmo’s training?” When Owen and Jordan got engaged, Ned had somehow convinced Owen that, in addition to three young stepchildren, he needed the beautiful young colt in his life. To everyone’s delight, Owen had agreed.

Owen grinned and lifted his shoulder in an easy shrug. “Jade, I can use all the help with Cosmo I can get.”

“Don’t believe a word he says, Jade,” Margot said.
“Owen’s doing great with him. Travis has him riding Cosmo at least twice a week so they get to know each other. And yesterday Owen jumped a pretty tricky course on Mystique.”

“Yeah, he did super-well,” Kate added. She always paid attention when it came to how the horses were ridden.

Owen mouthed a “Thanks, Kate,” to his eldest stepchild. “Mystique is very forgiving.”

Margot nodded. “She is, isn’t she? And in a year or two it’ll be Cosmo taking you over the same jump course.”

“Both Cosmo and I need a lot of work before that happens. I’ve seen you train the youngsters, Jade. I’d be really grateful if you could help bring Cosmo along.”

“Nothing would make me happier. And, Owen, I love the cottage.”

They’d managed to herd the kids back outside and direct them up the drive toward the barns and the house. The day had turned hot, but the humidity was still relatively low, so it wasn’t too unpleasant. The birds were singing and the kids were chattering excitedly, debating who would ride Archer and who’d get Doc.

The combined effects of driving a good eighteen hours in the last twenty-four and passing a near-sleepless night should have left Jade feeling ragged around the edges. Instead, there was a spring in her step and, if they hadn’t been marching up the graveled drive, she might have been tempted to do a cartwheel simply because she could.

Life was very good.

Extending her arms wide, she smiled up at a sky as dazzling a blue as the stranger’s eyes had been. She sent a silent thanks to him, whoever he was and wherever he was, for providing a most excellent night of restorative sex.

“That’s some happy face,” Miriam observed. “Care to share?”

Jade lowered her face but didn’t bother to erase her goofy smile. Nothing wrong with feeling good. “Thinking about a guy.”

“A Florida guy? They can be hot.”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “Not a Florida guy. I met him last night. We danced and stuff …” Her smile stretched like taffy. She had a feeling the memories he’d given her would be making her smile for a long time to come.

“And stuff? As in good hot stuff?” She elbowed Jade in the ribs playfully.

“Shh! Pipe down!” Jade stole a glance at her sisters. Luckily, they were fielding questions from Max and Georgie about whether an ice cream trip to the Shake Shack was in the foreseeable future. “This wasn’t just good. It was superlative hot stuff.”