Years ago, when his brother had eloped with her sister, they’d mostly severed ties with their families so they weren’t around, either, though Jake kept in touch with his brother.
If he stopped to think about it, Jake knew a lot about her family, while he suspected she knew almost nothing about his. And he would never tell her what he knew or how he knew it. There were secrets he had promised to keep, and he definitely needed to keep them from her.
“I’m sorry for the circumstances,” he said, “but other than my brother and your sister, this is the first time in generations that I know about when a Reed and a Blake have been civil to each other.”
“Well, under the circumstances...” She shrugged, and he knew what she meant. Then she looked away. “You saved me and the dogs, and now you’re offering me a place to stay... I don’t know what to say.” He was about to utter Say yes when she turned back to him and told him, “Except I’m grateful. I’ll go to your cabin. Actually, we’ll go to your cabin,” she added, nodding to the dogs in the back of the truck. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, smiling at her, thinking that was another first in his life in dealing with her. He’d spent too many years fighting with her family to want to become friends with her, and that feeling was mutual, he was sure. So he shifted his gaze to the road ahead of him and dragged his thoughts back to the business at hand. “We’re close enough that I can keep tabs on the location of the fire until it’s out. It’s too close for comfort, that’s for sure, and the wind isn’t predictable.”
“I’m glad I got my animals out and everyone who works for me, and their families are safe and accounted for.”
“Amen to that one,” he said. “We had good advance notice on this fire.” A few minutes of driving later, he said, “I keep the cabin stocked with food because I stay there often to fish, so we’ll have plenty to eat.”
“At the moment I don’t feel like eating. All I can do is think about my house. I have houses on the ranch for several of my employees, too, and when those homes burn, my folks will lose their possessions.” He heard her take a deep but shaky breath, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw her brush her fingers over her eyes again.
“I’m sorry, but this hurts. It’s just another loss in what seems like a series of them.”
He shot her a curious glance, and she went on to explain. “My mom died when I was seven. My big sis took her place and was a second mother until four years later, when she eloped with your brother. They cut all ties, and my sister was another big loss in my life. She left me a letter telling me why she felt they had to cut those ties. Regina was eighteen when she eloped. Now I’m thirty and she’s thirty-seven.”
Jake recalled that time. His brother had only been twenty-one.
“After they eloped, my dad and brothers weren’t exactly sympathetic about my losses.” She shook her head and turned to the window, and he figured she was done telling him about her life. But she continued.
“My mother had money of her own from her family. She left that money to Regina as long as she took care of me until I was eighteen. If for any reason she stopped caring for me before I was eighteen, the money went to me, and that’s what happened when she married your brother—a sizable amount of money went to me. Somehow that money was a buffer between my dad and my sister and later between my dad, my brothers and me. I think they hoped I would take care of their bills if they couldn’t. Thank goodness I never did have to.”
As she talked, his gaze kept flitting to her. Her story was sad, but his thoughts were more on her appearance, those big green eyes that he had never noticed before. Also her thick red hair, a dark red. It took an effort to keep his focus on his driving, but he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Idly, he wondered how she would look if she ever let her hair out of that braid. Startled when he realized his train of thought, he tried to get his attention back on what she was saying.
“My dad remarried and moved to south Texas. Then, when I went to college, I got away from my brothers and they moved on, too, getting jobs in Dallas and Houston. None of them like ranching, so they don’t come here often. I’m trying to reconnect with them, but we live far apart, so that makes it difficult.”
He was thankful her family didn’t come back, but he didn’t say so.
“I wonder if any of my family may see my house in flames, because this fire is big news, I’m sure.”
At the mention of the fire, Jake glanced back at the screen, at the information and pictures from his pilot. He was sorry her home was burning, but it wouldn’t change the bitter feud they’d both grown up observing. That wasn’t something that would ever change. Every member of his family had fought or had trouble with or just disliked her family, and vice versa. It was the way they were all raised, and it wouldn’t ever change. It hadn’t changed in the last century and a half, and he saw no earthshaking event, even this fire, that would end the feud. That was impossible. He suspected after today, she would go right back to refusing to speak to him, and he would do the same with her.
Even though he was increasing the distance between them and the fire as he drove, he watched for any new hot spots. So far, so good.
“I’ve made a life for myself,” she continued, “and I love ranching. I love my horses.”
“I’ve seen your horses—you have some fine ones,” he said. Yeah, her horses might be great, but her family was lousy. She probably thought the same about his family.
They rode in silence for a few minutes until she started talking again. “I had the house remodeled and have made a home I love, something stable in my life. It’s going up in smoke right now, or maybe it’s already just ashes,” she said in little more than a whisper.
“Claire, you’ll rebuild. You’ve already been through a bunch of disasters and survived. You’ll survive this one,” he said quietly, amazed he was trying to console a woman who had been an enemy all his life. It still gave him a peculiar feeling to address her by her first name. Up to now, she’d simply been “my enemy neighbor” any time in the past when he had thought about her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that she looked at him intently, and his pulse jumped. Once again, he felt that urge to put his arm around her to console her. And he knew what he wanted was more than consoling her. Glancing at her, he had a sudden urge to reach out and pull the bandanna away so he could let his gaze sweep over her features, and he felt his pulse rev up another notch. When they didn’t get along and she was his enemy, how could a mere thought cause this?
When he went out on weekends, he saw gorgeous women, sexy, fun women who flirted with him, and his reaction wasn’t as intense as right now with a woman who didn’t even like him. They had a truce at the moment, and even if it lasted for a few days or a few weeks, which he seriously doubted, an attraction was impossible. Only it was happening, knotting his insides, making him hot and causing him to want to reach for her to taste those fabulous lips.
It would seem she’d worked some magic spell on him, except she looked as dazed as he felt, and he suspected she definitely didn’t want to feel any attraction to him.
His phone buzzed. “Here’s my foreman,” he said to her and took the call. When he ended the call, he glanced at her.
“All my people are accounted for and out of here. When we first heard about the fire, we started moving livestock and getting families and their pets off the ranch. I left one bunch of cowboys moving my cattle and was headed to join another when I saw you and the dogs.”
At the mention of the animals, she looked over her shoulder at them. Satisfied they were okay, she turned back. “I was the only protection the dogs had. I had to do what I did. But if you hadn’t come—” She shook her head. “Well, thanks again for the rescue. You went against all you’ve been taught, but you saved my life and the dogs. I owe you big-time for that one. In fact, I’ll have to be nice to you now,” she said, but she sounded as if that was a major calamity.
“I wouldn’t leave you or the animals to burn,” he answered.
