The Texan’s Bride(25)

His next recollection was waking up in Jessie’s bed. As he tried to recharge his memory, she’d stirred. He’d pretended to be asleep, but he sensed her watching him for a moment before she’d slipped out of bed and dressed quickly.

He let out a long breath.

This morning he tried to appear as normal as possible, even testing the waters to see if she was upset. She wasn’t. Oh, God, she looked like every man’s fantasy, dark hair tousled all around her and her eyes had that just-woken-up sleepy gaze. Sexy as hell.

That picture made him needle her about tonight. Having the last word could become a habit. He could still feel the fire in her eyes.

He flexed his shoulders and wanted to go work out in the room down the hall he’d turned into his own personal gym. But he didn’t have time. He had a meeting and his day was full.

Finishing off the coffee, he knew he and Jessie had to talk—again. They had to discuss what she expected from him without a power play in this business deal of a marriage. She wanted time. Why? And how much time did she need? She was making him nuts and his head had to be clear to run Shilah. That’s what was important—Shilah.

Or was it?





CHAPTER SIX




JESSIE WOKE UP AT NINE and scrambled to her feet. Good grief, she had to get moving. She brushed her hair and clipped it back. Hurrying out of the bathroom, she noticed the clothes Cadde had strewn on the floor last night were gone. A man who picked up after himself—how novel. Her father had never picked up a thing.

Pushing thoughts of Cadde aside, she went down the stairs. Mirry followed, making pitiful little grunting sounds. Jessie knew she needed to go outside. This was always a problem with the Dobermans. She heard the vacuum system going, so Rosa was busy and Felix was at the barn. After filling a bowl with dog food, Jessie carried it to the garage. She then went back inside and put the garage door up. The Dobermans shot in to devour the food. She put the door down. The dogs were trapped for a while.

Mirry did her business in the front yard and Jessie let her play for a bit. But not long. Jessie left Mirry in her bed in the breakfast room and then put up the garage door. The dogs bolted out. Smelling the scent in the front yard, they’d circle the house for about an hour, trying to find their foe. It was a daily routine for Jessie and she was tired of it. She’d call Gavin as soon as she got back to the house.

“Mornin’, Miss Jessie,” Felix called as she entered the barn. He was in the small kitchen she’d had installed. “I was fixin’ the fawn something to eat.” In worn jeans and boots, Felix was just a little taller than her with a weather-worn face and calloused hands. Good was the word to describe Felix. If he wasn’t sleeping, he was working. He was an expert welder. He’d built all the pipe fences on the place. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. He was her number one protector and a rifle was never very far away.

“How is she this morning?”

The scent of alfalfa, dust and manure filled her nostrils. The barn was her place. After getting a business degree, she intended to work at Shilah with her father. She should have consulted him first because he axed it immediately. She would sit on the board, but she wouldn’t work. He’d added that he’d worked enough for both of them.

She’d thought of looking for work elsewhere. That was an absurd idea with a guard hovering around her. No matter how much she’d begged and pleaded, her father wouldn’t relent about her security. When she’d managed to escape a few times, all hell had broken loose. The guard was fired, she got a lecture about her behavior and then she’d threatened to run away and never come back. That had brought tears to her father’s eyes. Soon Jessie was the one relenting. She couldn’t hurt him that way. She’d put up with a guard as long as he was alive, but now she was on her own.

“Still weak.”

Absorbed in her thoughts, Jessie wasn’t sure what Felix was talking about. She placed the powdered milk back in the cabinet, her thoughts drifting. The barn had been built with the house, but no one used it except Felix for welding. While she was trying to figure out the rest of her life, her father had bought her a horse, Lady—her first taste of freedom. She loved flying through the woods by herself.

Lady got an infection in her hoof and that was how she’d met Gavin, who had a friend at the Houston SPCA. He’d tell her awful stories about animal abuse and she found herself getting involved. It kept her busy. That and her volunteer work at a women’s shelter. She’d often thought she had a kindred spirit for abused animals and people. And on that thought followed another—did she feel abused by her confinement? The answer still eluded her.