Destined for Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens, Book 2) Contemporary Romance (7 page)

EARLY SUNDAY MORNING, after another cold shower and another fitful night’s sleep, Rex mounted Hope for her predawn exercise. Even with his thick flannel shirt and his leather Stetson trapping in the heat on his pate, he still felt a chill as Hope walked out of the barn and into the yard. He let her lead the way today and assumed she’d head toward the back trail, but instead Hope rounded the barn toward the trail that headed east. His father’s gruff voice caught him by surprise. He knew his father wasn’t on the phone—he didn’t carry a cell phone, and Rex couldn’t remember the last time he’d been up that early.

He found his father, also clad in a flannel shirt, hat, and jeans, sitting on the dewy grass by a water barrel behind the barn. His head was bowed, his arms stretched over his knees, and his left hand was grasping his right fist, releasing, then grabbing it again. Rex drew his brows together.

“Dad?”

Hal turned his head, and Rex dismounted at the sight of strain on his father’s face. Deep lines crossed his leathery skin.

“Dad, what is it? Is it your heart?”

While Savannah and some of his other siblings had written off his father’s supposed conversations with his mother, Rex lived night and day at his father’s ranch, and he wasn’t so sure. Having heard his father talking to seemingly no one too many times to count, some of those times ending with him teary eyed, Rex wasn’t as quick to disbelieve. The look on his father’s face had Rex reliving the painful few days he’d spent in the hospital and the troubled look he’d had in the hours before.

“No, it isn’t my heart,” Hal snapped.

Rex looked around the empty acreage. “Who are you talking to?”

“Who do you think I’m talking to?”

“Mom.” He didn’t mean to sound like he was simply relenting to a stupid question, but he wasn’t quite sure what to make of the situation.

“Of course it’s Adriana. Who else would it be? She’s giving me fits, all pissed off about something.” He pushed to his feet and grumbled, “Damn woman.”

Rex smiled. Even when his father was complaining about her, the love in his eyes still blazed. It occurred to him then that he had much the same feelings about Jade. Her mouthiness drove him batty, but in a way that also drove a stake right through his heart.

“Want me to skip Hope’s ride? Remember what happened last time you got all worked up.” Rex had more respect for his father than any other man alive. He’d taught Rex to be a man, to stand up for his family, and the value of loyalty and honor, the principles Rex held in the highest regard. There was no denying, though, that his father had a softer side. He saw it every time he interacted with Savannah, every time one of his children had trouble and needed help. As he stood beside the man who meant the world to him, he wished he could confide in him about Jade. If she had been any other woman, from any other family, his father would have wrapped her in his arms and welcomed her without even knowing a thing about her. If one of his children fell in love, he loved right alongside them. He’d proven that with Max the first day she pulled into their driveway. His father had taken her under his wing and swept her into the family fold—and Treat hadn’t even been home.

He contemplated telling him now.
Dad, I gotta talk to you about someone. It’s Jade, Dad, Jade Johnson.
He imagined his father’s likely response.
Son, you know better than to bring that no-good family’s name onto our property
. On the heels of Jade’s desire to just be friends, there was no point in getting him even more riled up.

“I’m fine, Rex. Hope needs you. Take the old girl out. I’m not staying out here anyway. I’m going back to bed.” He turned to look into Hope’s empty stall and shook his head. “That mother of yours is something else.”

Rex watched his father saunter away. At times like these, he wanted to believe his father was still in contact with his mother. In fact, he felt a stab of jealousy at the idea.

THE WIDE TRAIL to the east of the ranch wound deep into the woods, parallel to the road. The woods provided a buffer from the pavement, but during the afternoon and evening, the bustle of trucks and horse trailers carried in the wind. In the predawn hours of Rex’s Sunday ride, the air carried only the sounds of scurrying on the forest floor and the rustling of leaves in the gentle wind. He was glad for the silence, though the farther Hope drew him away from the ranch, the nearer they were to the Johnson ranch, which caused his heart to beat a little faster. Rex worked hard not to translate that racing pulse into a spurring of gait. He wanted to prolong his Sunday-morning ride, not shorten it. He controlled the adrenaline rush by gripping the leather reins a little tighter and clenching his jaw against the thoughts that were causing his stomach to tighten.

Hope plodded along. She was comfortable on all of the trails around the ranch. Hell, she’d been riding them for more than twenty years; she should be comfortable on them. But today it was Rex who was uncomfortable as they neared the breach of the trail where it feathered out into a wide-open field bordering the Johnson property. He pulled on the right rein to guide Hope toward the road. She remained steadfast in her pace and direction, heading straight for the Johnson driveway.

Rex tugged harder, gave her a tap with his booted heel, and still she worked against him. The harder he urged, the more she pulled her head in the other direction.
Stubborn old girl
. Given that Hope had never been a temperamental horse and that behavioral changes in horses often reflected distress, Rex paid extra attention to her. He leaned forward and ran his hands down her neck.

“It’s okay, Hope. You’re doing fine. I’ll follow your lead just as long as you don’t move down their property and get Mr. Johnson all riled up.”

Hope
neigh
ed, moving her head up and down in an exaggerated fashion.

“Alrighty. You lead. I’ll ride,” Rex said with a smile. Hope had a hold on his heart like Savannah and his brothers did. Everything about Hope reminded him of his mother, from her sweet demeanor to her graceful beauty. And now, he realized, her stubbornness, too.

The grass gave way to gravel as they reached the edge of the Johnson driveway, and Rex held his breath as they crossed. Their modest brick rambler was built in the center of their property. It was much smaller than the Braden’s sprawling home and built closer to the road. The house was dark, and Rex wondered if Jade was still asleep and if she dreamed of him as often as he did of her.

When they reached the end of the driveway and Hope’s foot met the grass once again, she stopped. The sun was beginning its ascent, and Rex knew that any rancher worth his weight would soon be switching on their lights and preparing for the day.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he urged, giving her a little tap with his heel while stroking her mane. Hope didn’t budge. “Let’s go. Come on, baby.” He snapped the reins lightly, but Hope didn’t even flinch.

Rex stole a glance at the house just as someone walked across the stretch of grass between the house and the barn.

“Damn it, Hope. Now we have to move. Come on, sweet girl,” he urged again. His patience frayed a little more with each passing second as he watched the figure. He squinted into the rising sunlight, noticing the smooth, lithesome movements that he would recognize anywhere. Jade turned toward the pasture and stretched her arms toward the sun and then out to the sides before lowering them. He caught his breath at her radiance; alone in the early-morning hours, against the backdrop of blossoming trees and sprawling pastures, she was a harmonious vision of beauty. Rex watched her with a passionate heart, aching to sit beside her. He rubbed his right palm with the fingers of his left hand; the feel of her silken hair lingered. His mind didn’t run with the thought in the direction of fistfuls of her hair or that glorious body against his. Instead it moved in an equally fervent, though more pervasive, fantasy of sharing coffee, talking, getting to know each other on a more personal—more intimate—level than solely sexual. As that unfamiliar yearning took hold in his gut and she continued into the barn, Rex realized that Hope had begun a slow walk across the grass and into the adjacent woods. She veered down a meager trail, taking each step with care, stopping when she needed to adjust her angle but remaining true to her path, wherever it was that she was heading.

Rex didn’t move to correct the guiding horse. She’d led him to discover something about himself that he had never experienced before—and it occurred to him then, as Hope positioned her body parallel to the barn doors, under the cover of the trees, that perhaps he’d been looking for Jade all his life. Maybe each woman he bedded, he’d been unknowingly comparing to the Jade he’d known as a girl and then as a young woman. Silently, secretly pushing away thoughts about the woman he continually drove away in an effort to remain loyal to his father. Perhaps, he thought, as he watched her beautiful silhouette in the shadowy glow of the barn, her hands splayed on the enormous stallion’s side, her head bowed, just maybe, pushing those thoughts away had been a mistake.

STALLIONS WERE TEMPERAMENTAL, moody, and far too strong for most people to ride. Jade was not most people. She’d loved Flame from the moment her father had brought him home a handful of years before. He’d had such a sweet disposition and a stellar pedigree that it seemed wrong to keep the boy isolated, and she’d insisted on his socialization. She was glad she had. Flame was a happy, well-adjusted stallion who had a remarkable ability to stay on the calm side of his raging hormones.

The other horses whinnied as Jade knelt on the stiff hay and checked Flame’s leg. She stroked his ribs and ran her hand slowly down his strong muscles and along his sleek bones. The strength of horses had always captivated Jade. They’d towered over her as a child, all muscle and vigor, and when they ran through the fields with their manes flying out behind them, they took her breath away. From mucking the stalls to grooming their matted, sometimes muddy, manes, the gentle giants had always beguiled her.

Jade gave Flame a kiss on his jaw and put him back in his stall. It had been a week since she first encountered Rex down at the ravine, and when she’d woken up before dawn this morning, she’d lain in bed thinking about him and wondering if he was out riding Hope. She’d stared at her ceiling until she remembered every detail of his face, from the sliver of a line that ran from the left side of his mouth to a dimple beside his chin that appeared only when he smiled in a certain way, to the way he narrowed his eyes right before he kissed her. For a flash of a breath just before their lips met, they’d open wider, then close upon the warmth of their coming together. She’d slid her hand beneath her underwear as she remembered the stroke of his tongue on her breasts, the strength of his hands across her ribs, and the touch of his fingers on her most sensitive skin. Aroused, she’d allowed her fingers to travel lower, to that place he’d been, imagining her touch as his. She’d closed her eyes, retrieving the sound of his hungry voice.
I’ve wanted to taste you for years
. Pulling forth his scent until it was all she could smell. Her arousal peaked, and she moved her hips beneath her touch until she struck the same chord he had, and her insides pulsated around her finger, Rex’s name on her lips.  

Flame nudged her with his nose, pulling her from her fantasy.
I have to stop doing that
. She couldn’t keep thinking about him. He had done nothing to dissuade her from the just-friends suggestion. She’d thought, for a second, that she’d seen hurt or disappointment in his eyes, but in the next moment it was gone, and then he’d made that stupid remark about horses and depression. She’d just have to force herself to stop thinking about him altogether. Whatever sparks had flown between them had to be extinguished.

 As she headed toward the tack room, she tucked her hands into the pockets of her jeans and shivered with the brisk morning chill. She pulled one of the barn doors closed, and when she reached for the others, she heard a rustling in the woods. She followed the sound with her eyes and saw a silhouette. She started, her hand flying to her chest. The figure behind the leaves of the trees came into focus.
Rex
.

“Jesus, you scared the shit out of me,” she said as she moved toward him. “What are you doing? Spying on me?”

Hope came through the woods to the edge of the grass, then stopped. Rex held her reins loosely in his right hand. With his left, he removed his Stetson and pressed it to his chest.

“It wasn’t my intention to spy on you, but I think that’s what ended up happening,” he admitted.

She smiled and bit her lower lip, trying to quell the excited girl in her who was jumping up and down and squealing,
He likes me! He likes me!

“Well, at least you’re not trying to blame Hope.”

Rex leaned forward and patted Hope’s neck. “How could I blame her for knowing just where I needed to be?”

“Rex Braden, you confuse the hell out of me.” She took a few steps closer to him and petted Hope’s cheek.

“I confuse the hell out of me, too,” he said with a shake of his head and a smile.

Her heart swelled when that adorable dimple made a momentary appearance.

“So, is this a
friendly
visit?”
Or can I jump up there and make out with you?

He narrowed his eyes as they took a slow stroll down her body. She quivered under his evocative gaze.

He put his hat back on that sexy head of his. Now that Jade knew what it felt like to have his mouth on hers, her hands tangled in his hair, it was just about all she could think of as he nodded.
Please tell me you want more, too.

“Friends, just as you said,” he answered.

Friends? Friends!
Her blood simmered. “Friends don’t ogle friends like that.” She spun on her heel and went into the barn, slamming the enormous door behind her.

JADE STOMPED AND cursed through the day. She didn’t know if she was angrier at herself for saying they should just be friends in the first place, or at Rex, that ignorant, conceited, beefcake of a man, for agreeing with her. She’d allowed herself to instantly forget her offer and acceptance of their friend status in the space of one five-second leer. What was wrong with her? She was swept up in the hope of something more with a man who didn’t know how to give it. She was done hoping, and trying, and wanting anything more from Rex Braden.

She slammed the plates on the dining room table and was setting the glasses out when her father came into the room.

“What’s got your sugar in a state, darlin’?” he asked as he kissed her cheek.

“Nothing. I’m just having a rotten day.”
Month, year…life
.

“One of your customer’s animals doing poorly?” He took a bite out of the corn bread her mother had made earlier that morning for Steve’s visit. Corn bread was his favorite, and Jade guessed that with the news they were about to unload on him, her mother was doing all she could to try to butter him up. He worked as a park ranger in Preston, Colorado, just outside of Allure. Steve was two years older than Jade, and although they got along well and she really enjoyed his company, with his schedule, they didn’t get together as often as she would have liked.

She touched her father’s arm. “Dad, that’s for Steve. You know Mom will give you the evil eye for digging in before he gets here.”

He grinned, licking the crumbs from his lips. “Your mother can give me anything she wants. I lived here well before Steven came along.” He laughed at his joke, sitting down at the head of the table.  “Tell me about your rotten day, darlin’.”

She flopped into a chair and blew out a breath.
I love to be touched by a Braden boy. I love to hear his voice, and I even love to argue with him.
“Oh, you know, same stuff, different day. I’ve gotta make some decisions, and I just can’t seem to get my head in the game enough to focus.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking. Maybe I can help.”

Her father could be an excellent listener when he wanted to, and the way he rested his forearms on the table and set his wide jaw, causing his jowls to jiggle, made her want to curl up in his lap like she had as a little girl, just to hear him say,
Everything will be just fine, darlin’. You just let Daddy take care of this one
. Only now she knew, not only could her father not take care of this one, but he was the reason she couldn’t take care of it herself.

“Daddy, I’m a grown woman living in her parents’ house. I haven’t reopened a practice, and I really don’t know if I want to do that, officially—I mean, with an office and all—or if I want to continue doing what I’m doing. I don’t know where I want to live—”

Her father held up his hand. “Hold up there, Jade. What do you mean where you want to live? You’re not considering going back to Oklahoma, are you? Because as your father, I will stand between you and that decision no matter how old you are. That man is behind you. Leave it that way.”

She smiled at his protective nature. “I know. I’m not considering Oklahoma, but there are a million cities out there, a million states. I just don’t know if Weston is the right place to put down roots. It’s so…small.”
I’m lonely, and if I stay here I’ll only ever want to be with Rex. And I can’t.  And I hate it. And I want to go back to bed and not come out until I’m old and gray and so senile I can’t remember him.

Her father leaned back and crossed his hands over his protruding belly, nodding his head. “That all makes sense. But, Jade, you’re an intelligent, well-educated woman. You know that in bigger cities it will be harder to carve a niche out for yourself without contacts and referrals. Why, the community here might be small, but they welcomed you back with open arms. You could have a bigger practice than you ever hoped for.”

Thinking of open arms, her mind danced around Rex again.
And luscious lips
. “You’re right, and I’m very thankful. But, Dad.” She shook her head. How could she tell her father what she was really feeling?

“There’s the most beautiful girl in Weston.”

Jade sprang to her feet. “Steve!” She wrapped her arms around her handsome brother. “God, I’ve missed you.” She tousled his dark hair. “Are you going for the shaggy look? Look how long your hair is.”

“Yeah, well, when you live in the woods, you tend to forgo the barbershop.” He cracked a wide smile, revealing his slightly crooked, pearly whites.

She hadn’t realized how much she missed his positive energy.

“I like it. It suits you, gives you a…” She spread her fingers wide and washed circles in the air with them. “An artsy, or rather, a hot mountain-man, look. Meet any sweet woodsy chicks lately?”

“Pfft. Women and their nails and hair.” He laughed. “As soon as they hear what I do for a living, they’re usually off to find the next rancher or business owner.” Steve would never earn much as a park ranger, but he enjoyed wildlife too much to ever do anything else. The idea of being cooped up in an office, or even on his father’s ranch, would have been too stifling for him. He was most at home in the wilderness.

“Someone will come around.” Jade began to wonder why so many Weston men remained single into their thirties.
Then again
, she thought,
I’m no spring chicken either
.

“Did I hear Steven?” Her mother’s smile lit up the room as she embraced him. “Let me look at you.” She put her hands on his shoulders with an appreciative nod. “As handsome as ever. Are you eating enough? Do you need anything for your cabin? I made a big lunch, so you can take home leftovers.”

“Ma, I’m fine, really,” he said. Steve kissed her cheek and joined Jade and their father at the table. “So, Pop, tell me why it was so urgent that I come down this weekend?”

Jade’s mother cast a glance at her. “Shall we eat first?” she asked.

Jade helped her mother bring the food to the table. She’d prepared a full meal to accompany the corn bread: roast beef, mashed potatoes, salad, and a bowl of cut-up fruit. All of Steve’s favorites.

They filled their plates, but Jade was suddenly too nervous to eat. She’d been thinking about the financial issues that her mother had mentioned, but somehow, sitting down and talking to her father about them would make them real. She scooped a bit of fruit onto her plate and reached for the corn bread.

Steve smacked her hand. “Release the deliciousness.”

She stuck out her tongue at him and took the biggest piece.

“Pop, you sounded pretty stressed on the phone. You wanna share the news, whatever it is, so we can deal with it and enjoy our time together?”

Steve got his directness from his father and, Jade suspected, his ability to handle the ups and downs of life without being thrown into heart-stopping furies, while she and her mother tended to deal with matters of the heart by borrowing trouble and worrying themselves silly before they even knew what they were dealing with.

Her father sat up straight in his chair. “Yes, Steven, I think that’s a good idea.”

Jade tried not to turn her attention to her mother’s fidgeting beside her. When Earl Johnson spoke as the patriarch of the family, it was best to give him her full attention, or deal with him quizzing her on exactly what he’d said later.

“Your mother and I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the ranch and about us, where we’re headed, that sort of thing,” he began.

“Heading?” Steve looked at his mother, then his father again. “Are you going somewhere?”

“That’s what we’re deciding. You have your own place and your own life, as you should, and Jade here, well, she’s about to embark on the next chapter of her life. When she does, it’ll be just your mother and me here again.” He looked at her mother, and Jade could feel a thick wave of support stretching between them. “Running a ranch is a lot of work, and we’re thinking about downsizing.”

After being taken into her mother’s confidence, Jade put two and two together and realized that her father was just cushioning the fall. Of course he wouldn’t admit to his children that the ranch was going to be taken away because of a financial hardship. Downsizing was a far more acceptable way for a prideful man to leave the home he’d lived in for more than three quarters of his life.

“Downsizing? Pop, are you moving out of Weston, or downsizing and remaining in town? You’re not exactly retirement home age, so I’m not sure how this makes any sense.”

“Neither your mother or I will ever go in a retirement home. We’d sooner live in your cabin. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” Steve said with a smile.

“We’re thinking about subdividing the property. We have far too much for me to really take care of anymore, even with the staff we carry. I think it’s about time we slowed down, spent a little more time together.”

Her mother blushed.

“I think it would be good for you and Mom to have some time together when you’re not also taking care of the ranch. It really does eat up your time, Dad, but is there anything else feeding into this decision?” Jade hoped he’d tell them the truth so they could talk about the subdividing of the other property, but she’d already decided that even if he didn’t come clean, this was the perfect time to bring it up.

“No, darlin’, there isn’t. I’m getting older, and I worry about your mother being alone, taking care of all this land if something were to happen to me.”

Something in his voice rang true to Jade, and instead of questioning her father’s explanation, she began to question what her mother had told her. Perhaps her mother had it wrong. The honesty in his voice told her that her father was downsizing to protect her mother later in life, just as he’d said.

She stuffed a piece of cornbread in her mouth to try to stop herself from asking about the other property, but she couldn’t deny that she had her father’s directness in her blood. “What about the other property?” she asked.

He drew his brows together and set his eyes on Jade. “The
other
property?”

She focused on a slice of peach on her plate, poking it with her fork. “Yeah, that property between us and the Braden ranch?”

His eyes bore a lightning-hot streak to her heart. His breathing picked up its pace, and she heard every anxious exhalation.

“What about that property, Jade?” he asked with a stone-cold tone.

How about you sell it and keep the ranch, if this is really a financial decision?
“Well, I don’t know, but it would seem like if you were going to subdivide property, that might be a good piece to hack off and sell, since no one is using it.”

His stare didn’t falter. Jade continued in a shakier voice. “I just thought…why let it sit unused? I mean, it’s been forty years, right?” She smiled, hoping to soften his resolve. “That’s gotta be worth a pretty penny, so…”

Jade understood his unwavering brooding. He was a prideful man who wasn’t used to being questioned by his children. She lowered her eyes, wishing she had the guts to say what she really wanted to say.
If you sell that property, maybe Rex and I could date like normal people and figure out if this relationship is worth fighting for.

“As I was saying,” her father began again.

“Wait, Dad. Jade’s got a point.” Steve’s eyes lit up. “You’re sitting on a valuable piece of property over there. It could set up you and Mom for retirement. Maybe it’s time to reopen that stream of communication.” If Steve felt any hesitation about the topic, he didn’t give an ounce of indication.

Then again, he wasn’t falling for a Braden.

“That might be so, Steven, but we’re not touching that property. We’re talking to the bank about subdividing the lower two hundred acres, and once we have that done, we’ll see where we stand.” Her father picked up his fork as if he was done with the conversation.

“So what happens to that land after you and Mom die?” Steve asked.

“Steven!” Jade snapped. She couldn’t believe he brought up their parents dying—and in the same breath as the land.

His father didn’t even make an effort to mask his anger. “Steven Joseph Johnson, if you are just waiting for us to die so that you can have that property—”

“Chill, Pop. I don’t want that land. I was thinking more about conservation property. It’s a way to protect the natural habitat for animals, and it’s a tax write-off. If you and Mr. Braden don’t want to argue about it or do anything with it, it’s the perfect solution to let bygones be bygones.”

Yes! Please! Please jump at this!

“No matter what happens with that property, bygones will never be bygones,” he said with a final chomp on a piece of meat. “Jane, this is the best roast beef I had in ages. Thank you for making such a nice lunch.”

There was her answer—clear as day—black and white. Along with the realization came another splinter to her already broken heart.