Chapter 1 Read online

  “Yes, ma’am.” He smiled. Was she about to say “but next time”? He could sure enough live with that idea.

  He drew her into his arms and kissed the top of her hair.

  She wiggled down deeper into his embrace, listened to his heartbeat, and enjoyed her afterglow which was absolutely fantastic.

  It was the strangest feeling. Afterglow. Friendship.

  Talking about how it felt to have sex with him. Birth control. All rolled up into one conversation that felt right. Was there something weird about that?

  “Good. So I’m going out on a limb here and asking an old cliché question. How was it for you?”

  “Wonderful. Steamy. Hotter’n hell. Felt right. Best ever.” She yawned and fell asleep, still curled up against his side.

  He still had a grin on his face when he finally went to sleep.

  Chapter 12

  Jasmine worried all day with the fallout from the best sex she’d ever had the night before and a couple of days before. She felt like Old Bill with a big ham bone, burying it in the yard and then digging it up to chew on it some more before digging another hole and hiding it in the backyard. Bridget would hang up two or three orders and she’d busy herself filling them, thinking only about whether to put mashed potatoes and gravy on the plate or French fries. Then there would be a lull in business and she’d pour a cup of coffee, sit down at the table, and worry over the sex issue again.

  She picked up an order pad and scribbled.

  Thursday: Ace told about the probability of losing his ranch to the villain, Cole. Slimy bastard. Ace is right about him. One week to find wife. I proposed.

  But, did he play me. He knows me better than anyoneother than Pearl and he had to have known that I woulddo anything to help him.

  Friday: Plans made. He asked a dozen times if I was sure I wanted to go through with it.

  ReassurancesothatlaterhecouldsayIwasgivenmultiplechancestobackout.

  Saturday: To Vegas. Boom!

  OnekissandIwashotforhim. Again, he knows me.

  Was that the beginning of a subtle seduction?

  Sunday: Home. He wins. I move out to the ranch.

  Brothers move in.

  Hellofalotofcoincidences. I don’t even believe infate… well, maybe except for Pearl and Will and maybeRaylen and Liz. But not for me. Hell no! I believe I makemy own decisions and live with the consequences. Butwait, I decided to marry Ace, and now these are the consequences. I’m talking in circles again. It’s time to burythe bone and get back to work.

  Bridget pinned up two late lunches and peeked inside the window separating the kitchen and dining room.

  “You makin’ up next week’s menus? The meatloaf today is real y going good. You might want to make it again.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Jasmine shoved the order pad into her apron pocket and picked the papers off the clips.

  “Orders ready,” she called out as she set the two plates on the window shelf.

  Bridget grabbed them without commenting and Jasmine went back to her notes.

  Last night: Awakened from dream before midnight and had sex. Why?

  Whydidhechoosethattimetomakehismove?

  Was it because he wanted the marriage consummatedfor real, two times, so that it was real? So that if hisgrandfather’s memory ever haunted him he could saythat he’d found a wife in every sense of the word beforethe time was up?

  Today: Proof?

  Ican’t prove that. I’ve been hot for him all week somaybe I gave of vibes. He’s a lady’s man, a good timin’cowboy who is sexy as hell. He could smell a vibe froma mile away.

  “You look like you are fightin’ a legion of devils,” Bridget said from the order window. “Got a late customer who wants the chicken fried dinner. Hot as it is, I swear I don’t know how they eat such heavy food.” Jasmine nodded. A legion of devils was right.

  Business ended at two. Bridget came into the kitchen and drew up a glass of sweet tea, sat down at the table, and folded a laundry basket full of napkins for the next day.

  “You get those dragons slayed?” Bridget asked.

  “Got ’em on the run,” Jasmine answered.

  “Good. Even when things are good in a marriage there comes a time when you wake up and think, ‘Shit!

  What have I done?’ Don’t let it get to you. We all do it.

  Even when the husband ain’t a bastard who hits on you and tells you how worthless you are. We had a counselor tell us that. Lucy got her to come speak to us one Sunday. Was you havin’ one of those times?”

  “I guess I was,” Jasmine answered.

  “Ace loves you. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at you. Don’t worry none. It’ll all be fine by tomorrow and you’ll be al glad that you married him,” Bridget told her.

  Jasmine nodded. Bridget had gotten part of it right because she was thinking that very line: Shit! Whathave I done? Not over marrying Ace, but for having sex with him.

  “Well, that job is done and ready for tomorrow. I’m going home now unless you want me to stay for something else,” Bridget said.

  Jasmine shook her head. “I’m going to whip up a couple of banana puddings for tomorrow and then I’m going home.”

  Home! She’d called the ranch home! Did Bridget have any words of wisdom about that word?

  “See you in the morning then.” Bridget untied her apron and tossed it into the empty laundry basket. “Kind of like it is at home. Laundry and dishes never get completely caught up.”’

  Jasmine’s cell rang the minute Bridget was out the door. “Redneck Woman” meant it was Pearl. She needed to hear gushing about how beautiful the twins were and how much they ate and how Tess was driving Pearl crazy. The notes tucked away in her pocket didn’t seem so much like a big black cloud.

  “Hello. I’m so glad you called. Tell me about mother-hood,” Jasmine answered.

  “It’s… I… God… help… me… Jasmine!” Each word came out in a heartrending sob that stopped Jasmine’s heart and put her imagination into overdrive.

  Something was wrong with the babies.

  Will had been killed.

  Pearl had killed her mother.

  Nothing but sobs came through the phone line.

  Jasmine fought to keep from yelling when she said,

  “Talk to me. What is it?”

  “Come… quick.” The weeping continued and the hiccups began.

  Jasmine picked up her purse. “Hospital or home?”

  “Home, but I need you. God, it’s horrible.”

  “Did you kill your mother?” Jasmine asked on the way to her truck.

  “No, she’s wonderful and she’s helping. I couldn’t make it without her and…”

  “Is it Will?”

  “No, he’s there, but they can’t save it.”

  “Stop it right now before I have a heart attack. Shut up your caterwaulin’ and tell me what has happened!” Jasmine said sternly.

  “You. Sound. Like. Graduation. Night. I’m. Not.

  Drunk. And. I. Didn’t. Have. Sex. With. Roman,” Pearl declared.

  “I know you didn’t and it’s not graduation night, but you are acting like it is and you were drunk. Are you drunk now? Good Lord, Pearl, you aren’t supposed to be drinking yet. Now where is Will and what is so horrible?” Jasmine talked as she started the truck and backed out of the lot.

  “The Longhorn Inn is burning to the ground,” Pearl whispered.

  “Is Lucy all right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did she get the cat out?”

  “Will says Delilah is in the truck.”

  “Do you have insurance on the motel?”

  Silence.

  “Do you?”

  “I’m sorry. I was nodding,” Pearl said.

  “Then shut up. It can be rebuilt or the mesquite can take over the land again. It’s not worth getting so upset,” Jasmine said.

  “I knew you’d understand, but I can’t stop crying.” Pearl hiccupped. “Lucy will be deva
stated and she’ll need a job and Will proposed to me in the kitchen of my

  apartment and I met him in the lobby and my old doofus bowlegged cowboy on the sign just fell down and it’s even gone.”

  “That crazy- lookin’ cowboy is old enough to go off to the neon heaven in the sky. And if you’ll hush, I’ll put Lucy to work. Now shut up and go look at your two precious sons. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Jasmine turned north. When she reached Highway 82

  she made a left- hand turn and hit the gas pedal. Traffic slowed to a crawl in front of the inn, on the east side of Henrietta. The inn was more than fifty years old, built of wood that had weathered to the color of ashes, and must’ve gone up like dry tinder. Because there was nothing left but rubble, and the firemen were spraying the remains of the old neon sign of a bowlegged fifties-style cowboy pointing down at the Longhorn Inn sign.

  Pearl inherited it when her great aunt died. She quit her job at the bank in Durant and told Jasmine that she was an entrepreneur. When Jasmine saw the place her first reaction had been that Pearl had inherited the motel from Psycho.

  Pearl had only been there a few months when a former employee dropped Lucy on her doorstep. Lucy was on the run from an abusive husband and in bad need of a healthy dose of confidence as well as a job. Pearl gave her both. When Pearl and Will married the previous year, she’d turned managing the Longhorn Inn over to Lucy.

  Lucy used the motel as an underground for abused women. Bridget was one of her strays and still went faithfully to the Sunday afternoon meetings Lucy had organized. Now it was gone and Lucy would be far more worried about all the women she was instrumental in keeping out of another abusive relationship than the job she’d lost.

  Jasmine made a right- hand turn on the west end of Henrietta, drove a couple of miles, and made another right onto Will's property. By the time she parked the truck, Tess was on the porch and motioning her inside.

  “Thank God you are here. She can’t stop crying.

  It’s more than that damned motel, but that’s what she’s blaming it on and I don’t know what to do with her. She just keeps saying that Jasmine can fix it,” Tess said.

  “Where is she?” Jasmine asked.

  Tess pointed. “Living room.”

  Jasmine went straight to the sofa and gathered Pearl into her arms. “I told you to shut up.”

  “You can’t tell me what to do. I just had two babies last night and I’m tougher than you are.” Pearl scooted out of the embrace.

  “You were tougher than me last night but today I get to be the strong one because having babies and your motel burning down all in twenty- four hours is too much to happen to you,” Jasmine said.

  Pearl swiped at the tears with the back of her hand.

  “It’s all right now. You are here. And you’ll fix it for Lucy. Will just called and they just left. The firemen said that there wasn’t no need in trying to get back in to save anything. They think a gas line broke and blew the whole thing up. Lucy heard a blast and thought it was a car wreck out on the highway. She ran outside to see about it and left the door open. That’s how Delilah escaped. When Lucy turned around she said the whole lobby was blazing. She’s got the clothes on her back and Delilah. You can fix it for her, can’t you?”

  “Of course I can fix it. I can fix anything,” Jasmine said. “Now hush. I’ll take Lucy home with me and every thing will be fine.”

  Pearl grabbed Jasmine by the shoulders. “You won’t fire Bridget. Lucy would just die if you fired Bridget.”

  “I won’t fire Bridget. I need to make a couple of phone calls before she gets here, though. So if you will stop this carryin’ on, I’ll fix it,” Jasmine said.

  Pearl inhaled deeply. “If you can fix it, I’ll be all right.” GodAlmighty! Jasmine suddenly understood why her mother said that when things were tough. It was like pushing a but on in the brain and letting a lit le bit of the pressure off before the brain exploded in the skull.

  Jasmine stood up and punched in Ace’s speed dial number on her way to the front porch.

  “Hello, darlin’. Sorry I wasn’t awake this morning when you left,” he said.

  “Oh, Ace, I have terrible news,” she said breathlessly.

  “What?” His heart stopped and then kicked back in with a thud. “Are you all right? Did you have an accident? What happened?”

  “I’m fine. It’s the Longhorn Inn. It burned to the ground and Lucy is hysterical and Will is bringing her here and I want this settled before she gets here. And I want us to hire her to work for the ranch, so Pearl will stop worrying about her and she can cook for the crew or clean the house.”

  “Okay,” Ace said.

  “Really? You mean it?”

  “Yes, hire Lucy. She can start today and do whatever you want to hire her to do. You want me to call Dexter and tell him?” Ace said.

  “I’ll do it if you’ll give me his number. Will he be upset?”

  Ace rattled it off. “I imagine he’ll be relieved, not upset.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be home when this is settled and I’ll be bringing Lucy with me.”

  Ace’s heart did a double somersault. Jasmine had said she’d be home. Not that she was coming to the ranch but that she would be home.

  Jasmine punched in the numbers for Dexter’s phone and he picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

  “Dexter, it’s Jasmine. I need to know something quickly. Do you cook because you really like it or do you cook because you have to?”

  Dexter chuckled. “Miz Jasmine, I cook the meals because Buddy and Tyson would burn water tryin’ to boil it and the devil couldn’t eat Sam’s cooking. It’s been self- preservation ever since Ace’s granny died. I’d rather be out in the fields or taking care of the animals.

  Why are you asking? You going to sell the café and take over the cooking for us?”

  “I’m about to hire a cook because she needs a job.

  The Longhorn Inn burned in Henrietta and Lucy is without a job,” Jasmine said.

  “She that little lady who helps out women who get knocked around?” Dexter asked.

  “Yes, she is. You boys got a problem with a woman in the bunkhouse to do the cooking?”

  “No, ma’am. Not this cowboy. And if the others do they can take it up with me. When can she go to work?”

  “Tomorrow morning. And thank you, Dexter,” Jasmine said.

  “No, ma’am. I’m thankin’ you,” Dexter said.

  Will drove up in the yard and Lucy got out of the front seat slowly with the big yellow cat held closely to her chest. Delilah started to wiggle the minute that Digger, Will’s dog, left the porch with his tail wagging.

  Jasmine rushed across the yard. “Put her in my truck.

  I’ll turn on the air conditioner for her.”

  “Please don’t take her away from me,” Lucy said.

  “She can stay in the house with Lucy,” Will offered.

  “I need to talk to Lucy for a few minutes before we go inside. I think Pearl could use your shoulder right about now, though,” Jasmine explained.

  Will nodded seriously.

  “I can’t be in your wedding now because everything I had burned up.” Lucy’s voice was hollow. “I’ll have to move away because I don’t have a job.”

  “To begin with, the wedding is three weeks away and you’ll have plenty by then. And I want you to come work for the ranch so you have a job. Creed moved out of his bedroom yesterday. He’d planned to stay all week and maybe part of next week but Rye needs him over in Terral. The new stock came in faster than he planned, and anyway, that’s another story. What I’m getting at is there’s a spare bedroom at the ranch house.” Jasmine swallowed hard. That was supposed to be her bedroom as soon as Creed moved out.

  “It’s just one room and not an apartment like you had, but we might work out something bigger later on.

  Remember I asked you one time if you’d leave Pearl and cook for me? Well, I promise I didn’t set fire to the motel to get you, but
I really do need your help. We’ve got a full crew running this summer. Four men out in the bunkhouse. Three in the house now that Creed has left.

  We need someone to cook breakfast. They take their lunch with them but then we need supper on the table at seven thirty in the summer and maybe six in the wintertime when it gets dark quicker. I was going to ask you next week if you had a stray in need of a job.” Jasmine was lying big- time about that, but Lucy wouldn’t ever know.

  “You can bring Delilah with you and she can have run of the whole house. In between breakfast and supper if you could do some cleaning and laundry in the ranch house that would be good.”

  “Kind of like Wilma does for Liz and Raylen,” Lucy asked.

  “Except that it’s seven old cranky cowboys instead of just two people. It’s a bigger job than what Wilma does, and for a while you’ll only have one room and not a whole big house of your own like Wilma has. But if you like the job, we could maybe talk about putting a trailer out near the bunkhouse next spring for you so you could have more privacy.” Jasmine made plans as she talked.

  “I can have Sunday afternoons off for my meetings?” Lucy asked.

  “After Saturday breakfast, the rest of the weekend is totally yours. The guys take care of themselves on Saturday night and Sunday. They usually only work until noon on Saturday if things are going well, but after breakfast is done you don’t have any responsibilities other than maybe shopping for food for the next week.”

  “Yes,” Lucy said. “My truck blew up with the garage.

  You got something out there I can drive to my meetings?”

  “You use the ranch work truck to go wherever you want to go, or you can use mine when I’m not using it,” Jasmine said.

  Lucy brushed away a tear. “Thank you.”

  Jasmine reached across the seat and hugged her.

  “Don’t thank me. You’re going to have to work around seven old grouchy men.”

  Lucy managed a weak smile. “I can do it. Pearl taught me that I can do anything. I reckon we’d best make a stop at the Dollar Store on the way, though. I’ll need to buy a few things. I didn’t even get out with a toothbrush or a pair of clean underbritches. And poor little Delilah will need her fancy canned food.”