Killing Casanova (2 page)

“It wasn’t you,” he assured her with a cocky grin. “I’m not hiding, just looking for a quiet corner to take a break in.”

“I’m Cassie,” she said, holding out a hand in his direction but not moving toward him.

“Jake,” he answered, leaning forward and shaking her fingers briskly.

He slumped back into his chair quickly, and she withdrew her offering with a slight wrinkle of her forehead.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jake,” she said sharply, turning her back on him. “Enjoy your break.”

Jake grimaced guiltily; he was being rude and he knew it, but he was not interested in more swooning females tonight, at least not until Natalie had suspended her hunt. It went against everything his mother had ever taught him about respect and honor to hide behind her and insult her casual friendliness at the same time, just because he was in a bad mood.

Standing swiftly and moving his chair so he was hidden from view of the dance floor but close enough so she could hear him, Jake sat back down and spoke softly over her shoulder, “I didn’t mean to be rude,” he said, letting his voice drip with sincerity. “I am hiding, but not from you.”

She gave a quick shake of her long hair, and Jake thought he heard a small laugh from behind her glass of lemonade. Sipping the drink slowly and then carefully setting down the glass, she turned ever so slightly in her chair. She focused her eyes on a dark-haired young man sitting in a chair just beyond the circle of dance floor lights and spoke as if she was speaking to that distant figure.

“This is a good place to hide,” she said bemusedly. “That’s why Steve put me back at this table. He says in a place like this you stay in the shadows, because the lights bring the snakes out at night.”

A crooked smile teased her lips now, and Jake chuckled darkly. “Steve didn’t know I was curled up back here tonight, or he probably would have found you another table.”

“So what snake are you hiding from?” she asked, keeping her face turned slightly away from him. Jake lifted an eyebrow. If anyone were to glance over to their corner, it would look like she was talking to someone at another table, and he would remain cloaked in the shadows.

“She’s not a snake,” Jake said dryly. “She’s more like Medusa.”

“Medusa? Is she trying to seduce you or just turn you to stone?”

Jake scowled, looking around the room for Natalie. “Not sure. I guess it depends on if she’s trying to hook up again, or punish me for not wanting to.”

He looked back at the girl’s face, expecting a smile and more of her easy banter. Instead her face was serious and now she turned her pale blue eyes boring directly into his.

“Well,” she said tartly, “I guess that makes you the snake then.” A flash of white-hot fury danced in the depths of her eyes and she turned her back on him once more.

Jake sat stunned, shocked. Had he said something besides the words he had heard come out of his mouth? Had he accidently told her he’d been making out with Natalie because she was hot, and it was easy? Somehow he felt as if he had confessed the last month and a half of empty, casual relationships, and now she had hung the string of broken girls around his neck like an albatross. Jake opened his mouth to give her a defensive retort but found it already hanging open. What did he need to defend to her? Who was this girl?

“I’m sorry,” Jake drawled, sarcasm heavy on his lips. “Mother Teresa? Is that what you said your name was?” Not even a flounce of her hair met his retort, and Jake frowned dejectedly. “Look, Cassie?” he said standing and shoving his chair back from the table. “This is a bar. This is why people come to bars. If you’re too morally superior to the rest of us, then I guess this is the last time either of us will have to put up with each other.”

Jake picked up his glass and drained the last of his melting ice before slamming it on the table again. His dark, stormy gaze caught the flash of Natalie’s green eyes from across the room and he groaned under his breath as she started to move around the room toward him.

“I don’t think you’re in hiding anymore. It sounds like your tantrum has brought you out of the vipers’ den.”

Jake cursed quietly, then slipped back into the shadows along the wall and out the doors once more.

“Jake or Dylan?” Cassie Taylor muttered, shaking her head emphatically as he slipped out of the club behind her. He was right, this was a bar, a bar in a small, lonely part of the Mojave Desert. None of these people were here for stimulating conversation.

He didn’t know her, and still he had tried to do his best Prince Charming impression. She laughed at her own foolishness. Guys who were doing their best impression of anything had real demons to disguise and she was the last girl in the room any fairy tale writer would have chosen to cast in the role of princess. With a heavy sigh of disappointed reality, Cassie turned back to her lemonade and let the music drift to her ears.

“Cassie!” Jana Pembrooke said with a huff as she sank into the chair Jake had vacated. “What did you say to Casanova that made him so mad?”

“What makes you think I said anything at all?” Cassie asked innocently.

“Because he left, and he’s the reason I dragged you out here tonight. He just started ignoring Natalie Harper, which means I, mere mortal that I am, actually have a shot with him. Now he won’t be back, and I never even got a chance to introduce myself to him.”

Cassie turned to face Jana now, feeling chagrined for ruining her friend’s night. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same guy? That guy’s name was Jake, and he doesn’t really seem like someone who has much going for him. A little grumpy, a little testy, and a whole lot arrogant. I’m sure there is a lot of decent guys here, Jana. What’s so great about him?”

“Jake Caswell is the hottest thing in all of Lindley.” Jana sighed. “Not that it says much, but he’s hot enough to be an actor and a model in LA. He’s only here between jobs, helping his dad with the cattle until he has another project out there.”

Jana’s voice was straining in pitch, and Cassie heard the edge of frustration plucking at the girl’s patience. “He’s gorgeous. That’s why the girls around here call him Casanova. He smiles and asks you to dance and there’s no resisting him.”

Cassie rolled her eyes and grinned at Jana. “I managed it,” she teased smartly. “Besides, I’m sure he’ll be back next weekend. He’s got to keep up that reputation with the girls.”

“The next two weekends, we’re taking groups to the campground and the river. It will be at least three weeks before I get back here, and I don’t think Jake needs to come here to keep his social life full. Tonight could have been my last chance before he goes back to LA.”

Cassie shook her head again. “I’m sorry, Jana. I just couldn’t listen to him blame this girl for wanting to go out with him because he had hooked up with her and then changed his mind. He probably made out with her until he got tired of her, or got a better offer and then decided she was crazy or smitten because she misunderstood his intentions for her.”

“He told you that?” Jana asked, clasping Cassie’s arm in her hand.

“No,” she sighed. “I guess I kind of assumed that was what he meant when he said some girl was either trying to seduce him or punish him.”

Jana laughed again and pulled Cassie to her feet. “It sounds like you have known a few Casanovas of your own.”

Leading Cassie through the crowded bar to the swinging doors and into the parking lot, Jana wrapped one arm around Cassie’s shoulders and headed them toward the sound of departing vehicles.

“Yeah, a few,” Cassie muttered as Jana pulled the keys from her pocket.

“I don’t know Jake very well,” Jana said, unlocking Cassie’s door. “But from what I’ve heard, he’ll either make you have feelings you can’t fight, or he’s the one your mama always warned you about.”

Cassie frowned again and waited for Jana to start the old truck. As Jana backed out of Mcgoo’s parking lot, Cassie sighed again. “Either way, Jana,” she said sadly, “if I were you, I’d run for my life.”

“Yake!” The screech of Heidi’s voice topped the highest volume setting on his car stereo. Jake kept his eyes on his phone, fingers flashing in quick movements between the Facebook and Twitter apps as he filled his dance card. His mother had frowned when she had called it that, but she had also promised to keep Heidi off his back long enough for him to take care of it.

“Yake, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

Heidi was talking to him, even though her tongue struggled to say his name.

“I’m fine, Heidi.”

With a firm smile, he watched carefully to make sure the panic in her eyes faded from the other side of the car window. Heidi was mildly autistic; both her questions and the answers she expected to hear were literal. She did not ask Jake if he was all right because she was irritated that he was ignoring her; she asked because she was genuinely worried that he didn’t answer because something was wrong.

Heidi scowled disapprovingly, and then put her hands on her thin hips. She was seventeen and had the dark eyes and long, lean figure that his mother still had even though she was in her late forties. Even with that frustrated look on her face, Heidi was beautiful, and the reality of it frightened him every time he looked into her deep blue eyes. His mother had always told him that God protected special spirits like Heidi’s from the destructive powers of the devil; that’s why Heidi’s mind was so sweet and clear. She was an angel with human wings.

Jake frowned even as he thought of his mother’s starry-eyed description. Human angels should not have been given the type of body that attracted the scum he knew were waiting out there for sweet innocent girls like his sister. The dark swirling lights of the dance club he had just been making arrangements to visit flashed across his mind.

Jake cast that thought aside as he turned off his stereo and rolled down the window separating him from Heidi, reassuring her with the removal of the barrier. The spark of light dancing in her eyes poked at him again as he silently justified his night games. He was just going to let a few lucky women feel … special … for a little while; he would never take advantage of someone like Heidi.

He pulled the keys from the ignition and then motioned for Heidi to step back from the car door as he opened it and unfolded his long legs from the bucket seat. Stepping from the car and slamming the door, Jake stood his six-foot two-inch figure up against the silver Mitsubishi.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Jake drawled in the husky cowboy voice Heidi always softened for.

Last year Jake had starred in a magazine spread for Mustang men’s cologne, and the local TV stations picked up the web commercial the company made at the same time. Heidi had seen him on television and thought he’d left home to go run wild mustangs across Wyoming, instead of in Las Vegas shooting the commercial. Now whenever he pulled the cowboy from his repertoire, Heidi would always forgive him. Most of the women around their small rural area recognized him from that commercial, too, and it had the same effect on them. Well, not exactly the same. Heidi was terrified that he would go back to Wyoming because he liked horses more than her. That was her complaint every time Jake even hinted about running the mustangs. The others just couldn’t resist his brilliant blue eyes or his rugged features. The rough bad boy look and tall, muscular frame always did the trick. He could almost see knees buckle and hearts melt if he just gave them one of his signature smiles.

Drawing his fingers through his dark tangle of hair, he waited for Heidi to stop quivering her lower lip.

“I’ll keep my promise, Heidi, but it’s not time to go yet.” Jake soothed, flicking his palm toward the sky. “It’s still light out, and they can’t do Cinco de Mayo fireworks while the sun is up.”

Jake straightened from the car and put his arm around Heidi, pulling her back toward the house.

“I know, Yake,” she said. “But Miriam said I could help with the barbecue if you would take me before eight, and it’s seven already.”

Jake did not falter or let her escape as he moved swiftly toward the kitchen door to deposit her back in the ranch house.

“Why are they having dinner so late?” Jake asked, trying to distract her.

Heidi was not giving in, and she spun out from under his arm to stand glowering at him, arms crossed and feet planted in the gravel.

“Miriam hired a new counselor at the ranch, and she needed all day today to settle her. We all need to help put the party together, that’s why I have to be there as soon as possible, Yake. You know how much work it is without Yason.”

Jake grimaced guiltily with her final statement, casting an abashed glare into the graveled road. Jason Sorenson had owned The Rocking J ranch since Jake could remember. Last year, Jason had been killed when his horse had broken its leg and fallen into the rushing flood waters of the San Madera River. Miriam Sorensen was saddled with a mortgage and an autistic boy of nine. She could not run the training and breeding facility by herself, and she had needed an alternative, quickly. Using grant money, Miriam had turned the former horse ranch into an equestrian therapeutic service center.

Heidi had become the beneficiary of not only the soothing constancy of the specially trained horses, but the friendship of the Sorensen family.

Now Jake crossed his arms and met his sister’s pleading look.

“Come on, Heidi, I’d have to take you all the way out there, and then come back to help with the heifers. I’ve got plans tonight, too.”

Heidi made an unhappy sound at the back of her throat but said nothing, letting the tears of disappointment brim her dark blue eyes. Jake closed his and sighed, dropping his hands helplessly at his sides.

“Okay, Heidi,” he mumbled as she wiped her lashes clear. “Go get in the car.”

• • •

Jake glanced at his phone again as he dropped Heidi by the bleached white rails that ran the length of The Rocking J’s long drive. Cody Sorensen was counting the spiny rails along the western fence line to calm himself in the chaos, and Heidi went to walk the length of the fence with him.

The early May night was lit by a fraction of moonlight, along with the Chinese lanterns Miriam had pulled out of storage from the New Year’s party. Parties were now a monthly occurrence at The Rocking J from the time Cody was diagnosed, making it a part of his regular routine and exposing him to the situations that encouraged coping. The consistency helped Cody adjust to the constant influx of owners and trainers that Jason staffed and supported on the ranch.