A Bride for Jackson Powers (Desire, 1273) (11 page)

“No, I can’t send you any money. Jeannie, be reasonable. Nicky is going to have to stick with a job longer than three days, and you’re both going to have to grow up. You have a son to think about now. Remember what your grandmother used to say about making your bed and sleeping in it?”

She held the phone away from her ear. The sound of an outraged voice came through clearly. After a while she broke in and said, “No, Jeannie, I’m not lecturing you, I’m just trying to help you understand—”

Before she realized what he was up to, Jax removed the phone from her hand. “Jeannie? Jackson Powers here. I’m Hetty’s fiancé—yes, that’s right. Hey, don’t feel sorry for me, I’ve had a rough time trying to talk her into marrying me, but—yes, I know she’s bossy. I can handle it.”

There was a long pause, during which Hetty started
in awe at the man she had just agreed to marry—although he’d never actually got around to asking her. She listened while he talked about Sunny, and about swapping baby pictures. He talked about the value of continuing education, which for Jeannie would mean getting her GED first.

And then he said, “If you’ll promise to do it and make the arrangements, I’ll pay for it. But I have to have some assurance you’ll go through with it. It takes patience and a certain degree of maturity, but Hetty assures me you’ve got what it takes.”

Hetty rolled her eyes. A few moments later Jax hung up the phone, and she lit into him. “Would you mind telling me what that was all about?”

“Mostly about fence mending. About your peace of mind. If I’m going to have to live with you, I deserve—”

“You’re not going to have to do anything, as far as I’m concerned. We can just unsign this so-called verbal contract right now, if—”

He laid a finger over her lips. “Shh, don’t get your bloomers in a wad.”

She removed his finger, glaring up at him. “That’s a disgusting expression!”

“I thought you might like it, you being a country girl and all.” The corners of her mouth quivered before she could clamp her lips together. Dead giveaway. He was on to her now. “May I remind you that once a verbal contract is signed—”

“You can’t sign a verbal contract, and even if you could, I haven’t signed anything yet, remember?”

“Sure you have. You gave me your word, remember?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to take on my whole family.”

“No? Isn’t that just what you did when you married Gus?”

“Well, yes, but that was different.”

“You fell head over heels for the guy, is that it?”

She pulled his shirt more closely around her throat, wishing she weren’t exposed from the hips down. Dignity was hard to achieve when a woman was half-naked, still rumpled from having made mad, passionate love. “I…I learned to love him, yes.”

“You’re taking on my whole family. Do you think you might learn to love me? In time, I mean. I wouldn’t expect it right away.”

That was when the whole game fell apart. She lifted her eyes to meet his, and no power on earth could keep her feelings from shining out like a beacon in the night.

Jax whispered her name on a sigh and sank down beside her. Given the deplorable condition of the springs, she was toppled against him. He took full advantage. “You do love me, don’t you? No, don’t even try to deny it. I might be lousy at a lot of things, but when it comes to reading people, I’m an expert.”

“If you’re such an expert, how come you’re just now figuring that out?” she grumbled, hiding a smile.

It wasn’t until much later that she got her answer. “I was afraid to hope. Afraid to trust. I guess when it comes to love, I’m still a rank beginner.”

“I have a feeling you’ll be a fast learner, though.”

“With the right teacher, there’s no telling what I can do,” he vowed, his voice earnest, his eyes alight with all the things she’d never dared hope to find there.

“Want to know why I fell in love with you?” she whispered.

“Does telling break the spell?”

“No, that’s wishing on a star.”

“No stars, but just to be on the safe side, don’t look out the window.”

If a heart could burst with love, hers came close. “Almost from the first I began to notice things about you I’ve never seen in another man. The way you looked so stiff and arrogant even though you were obviously out of your element.”

“That’s it? You love me because I’m stiff and arrogant?”

“Well, I noticed you first because your baby needed changing, but pretty soon I got interested in more than Sunny. Once I discovered that inside you’re soft as a marshmallow, it was all over for me.”

Flopping over onto his back, Jax covered his eyes with an arm. “Don’t even think such a thing. If word leaks out, I’ll never win another case.”

“That’s another thing. You have a sense of humor. Gus was the dearest man in the world, but he never laughed. I need to laugh, Jax. I want to be able to laugh and cry and not have to hold it all in.”

His arms came around her, and she hurried to finish what she had to say before she lost her train of thought. “I tried not to at first. Love you, that is.
Because I kept telling myself I had a life back in Oklahoma—a family who needed me.”

“You can go back anytime you want to, sweetheart, only not without me. Sooner or later the kids need to get to know each other. They’re sort of cousins or something, aren’t they?”

“That might be stretching it, but…why not?”

“Yeah, why not? Hell, I’ll even take on Jeannie and that jerk she’s married to, if it’ll make you happy.”

Eyes glowing, Hetty rolled over to lie on top of him “
You
make me happy.
Sunny
makes me happy. Everything else is gravy.”