Authors: Cheyenne McCray
Zane let out a harsh breath and looked away from Phoebe’s retreating backside.
“True colors, bro.” Wyatt was shaking his head as Zane looked back at him. “Been trying to tell you for ages now that you’re crazy for wanting to marry that woman. Most people think life passes by too quickly. You, on the other hand, are going to have the slowest years of your life if you marry her.”
Ignoring Wyatt, Zane turned his attention to Jessie. “That, as you’ve no doubt guessed, is the woman I’m supposed to marry, Phoebe Anderson. He gestured to Wyatt. “And that’s my brother, Wyatt.”
Wyatt tipped his cowboy hat. “Ma’am.”
Zane continued, “Wyatt, this is Jessie, the wedding photographer.”
Wyatt burst out laughing. “Now doesn’t that just make everything perfect?”
“Nice to meet you,” Jessie said to Wyatt. “I think.”
At that, he grinned. “A pleasure, Jessie.”
“I’ve got to settle Phoebe down.” Zane looked like it was the last thing he wanted to do right now.
Wyatt, who was as tall and muscular as Zane, was already easing out of his shirt. He tossed it to Zane and grinned. “Might go better if you put something on.”
Zane gave his brother a nod and glanced at Jessie. “Make yourself at home.”
“Maybe I should be going,” she said.
“Stay.” He handed the backpack to her. “I’ll be right back.”
Jessie watched Zane walk toward the barn. “Oops,” she murmured.
“Oops is right,” Wyatt said and she turned her attention to him. He was built as fine as Zack that it was hard not to stare at his muscular form. “Probably the best thing that could have happened, believe it or not,” he was saying.
Jessie frowned. “Why do you say that?”
“Phoebe just showed her true colors to Zane for the first time that I know of.” Wyatt shook his head as he started to pick up the brownies and put them in the tin. “She’s done a real good job of making sure he sees her good side. Zane’s not a fool by any means, but I do think the woman has blinded him. Most of the time she seems real sweet and genuine and friendly around him and the rest of the family. People tend to love her.” He pushed up the brim of his cowboy hat. “But she’s shown another side to the help and a few others. I just happened to walk in on her and overhear her a couple times when Zane was nowhere to be seen.”
Jessie helped Wyatt pick up the rest of the brownies. She glanced back at the barn then looked at him again. “She did seem a little…extreme.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” He inclined his head in the direction of the house. “Why don’t you come on in for a glass of sun tea?”
“I’d like that.” She hitched the backpack up on her shoulder and headed toward Wyatt.
• • •
Zane ground his teeth as he entered the barn, the sound of Phoebe yelling at someone greeting his ears.
“Where are my keys?” she shouted at Chad, one of the ranch hands who had obviously been cleaning her car for her. “I’m leaving. Now.”
“They’re in the ignition.” The young cowhand hurried to open the SUV’s door for Phoebe. “But I didn’t get a chance to finish.”
“I noticed.” She tossed her blonde hair away from her face. “Now move it.”
“Phoebe.” Zane said her name in a way that made her stop in her tracks.
She slowly turned around, her eyes flashing with anger. “I see you have a shirt on now.”
Zane looked at Chad. “Wilson likely needs your help. Find him.”
“Yes, sir.” Chad jogged out of the barn, looking grateful to be out of there.
Zane met Phoebe’s still furious gaze. “There was no call for you to act like that. You totally disrespected our guest and were as rude as anyone I’ve seen. There’s also such a thing as trust between two people,” he said quietly. “You just showed me that you don’t have the kind of trust that is needed in a marriage. A Cameron doesn’t act that way.”
She raised her chin. “Well, I’m not a Cameron.”
“No you’re not.” He gave her a hard look. “A display like that makes me wonder why you should be.”
Phoebe looked shocked at the comment. The anger in her gaze turned into an almost panicked look. “Zane, please don’t say that. It hurts me. The comment that you both needed to hurry so that no one would see you made me wonder.”
“Well, your behavior was out of line, Phoebe. She’s the wedding photographer.” As Zane said the words, Phoebe took a step back. “She’s supposed to be photographing the ranch and your place, if you remember.”
“Then why was she wearing your shirt?” Phoebe said, suddenly sounding less angry.
“I told you.” Zane tried to hold onto his patience. “She stood up on a barbed wire fence to take a photograph and ripped her shirt real good when she stepped back down. I gave her my shirt so that she could cover herself up.”
The fight seemed to go out of her. “I’m sorry, Zane.” She took a step toward him. “When I saw you with her, like that, I just—I just snapped.”
“Yes, you did.” He couldn’t find it in himself to go toward her. “Like I said, you should have trusted me.”
She nodded, now looking as if she had really screwed up. “You’re right. I saw red and the way I acted was stupid.” She gave him a pleading expression. “Can you forgive me?”
Zane slipped his hands into his back pockets. “We need to reach an understanding.”
“Yes, Zane.” She moved closer and lowered her head, not looking at him. “Trust at all times is important. I see that clearly now.”
He didn’t respond and she moved closer and rose up on her tiptoes as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I can think of a good way to make up.” She brought her mouth close to his and murmured. “Take me. Right here, right now.”
“This is not the time or the place,” he said as she pressed her body close to his.
She pulled him down so that her lips could meet his. “I want to make things good between us again.”
When she kissed him, Zane felt nothing. Nothing at all. She hadn’t changed her attitude until he made a comment about her not being a Cameron. Maybe the boys were right about the Jekyll and Hyde behavior. He moved his hands to her shoulders and returned her kiss, trying to find that spark that was usually between them.
Nothing.
“What’s wrong?” She drew away. “You’re still mad.”
He moved his hands up to her wrists then pulled her arms down from around his neck. “I think you need to go on home for now. We’ll talk later.”
Phoebe frowned. “I’m trusting you, Zane, that she’s not the reason why you seem kind of cold right now.”
“You’re right.” He took a step back. “It has nothing to do with the photographer.”
And everything to do with you.
Phoebe put on her smile that usually made people fall in love her. “Give the girl my phone number and tell her to call me tomorrow. She can come photograph my place.”
He gave a nod. “I’ll do that.”
Her smile seemed forced as she started toward the driver’s side of the car. “Can you get the barn doors for me?”
He opened the doors as she slid into her SUV. She rolled down her window and said, “Thanks,” then gave a little wave as she drove the vehicle out of the barn.
He kept his gaze on her car as she headed out, through the gateway and on down the road.
The behavior that others had been telling him about, and that he had seen more of lately, left him cold. He felt nothing, nothing at all as he watched her drive away.
Chapter 3
“Whoa.” Jessie shook her head as she and Wyatt sat at the table in the kitchen nook and drank tall glasses of iced tea. “Pass on being in the middle of something like that again.”
He was wearing one of Zane’s shirts. “Now that was entertainment,” Wyatt said with a grin.
“No comment.” She reached for a sugar cookie that was on the plate between them. “I’ll just enjoy one of these.” When she took a bite she gave a sound of satisfaction. “Now these cookies are worth talking about.”
“Dani made them before she headed off to town.” He took a bite of his the cookie he’d taken off the plate. “Can that girl ever cook.”
“I have a sister who’s an amazing cook, too.” Jessie pushed her hair out of her face. “Tanya came to visit for a week but she headed back to Houston. She’s a flight attendant.”
“Is she single?” Wyatt winked. “Not enough women in these parts to choose from.”
Jessie laughed. “Yes, and she’s cute, too.”
Speaking of cute, Wyatt was just as hot as his brother. His hair was light brown, a chestnut color, where Zane’s was black. But they had the same gorgeous blue eyes. The resemblance between the two was clear but she could see and sense their differences, too, which started with the glint of laughter in Wyatt’s eyes where Zane seemed more serious.
“What about you?” He studied her. “Got a boyfriend somewhere?”
She shook her head. “Single as single goes.”
“Zane is about to tie the knot,” Wyatt said, “You and I—”
“Don’t you have a ranch to run?” Zane’s broke in, his drawl seeming a little more pronounced.
“I hear the steers a-callin’.” Wyatt winked at Jessie as he rose from his chair. He patted Zane on the shoulder and leaned in close. “Good luck with that marriage thing.”
Zane narrowed his gaze at Wyatt who laughed and put on his hat before leaving the kitchen and began whistling a dirge.
Jessie had to struggle not to laugh and took the last bite of her cookie.
“I’m sorry you had to get in the middle of that.” Zane poured himself a glass of sun tea from the pitcher on the counter. “I don’t know what got into Phoebe. I want to apologize for her.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”
He took a long draught of his sun tea then set his empty glass on the countertop. “How long do you plan to be here?”
“I packed a bag and I’m heading over to Sierra Vista. I thought about Patagonia but there is a little more in the big town.” With an inward sigh she tried to push back the reasons she wanted to be out of town. “Tucson is only a ninety-minute drive but I really needed a break from the city. I like this part of the state so it’ll be a nice getaway for a few days.”
He studied her. “You can stay here on the ranch for the weekend. Plenty of room and you won’t have to do as much traveling.”
She got up from her chair and took her empty plate and glass to the counter. “Will that be awkward with your fiancée?”
“Phoebe will be fine.” He took the dishes from her and put them in the dishwasher. “I’ll get your bag for you.”
Jessie thought about it for a moment. No, Phoebe likely wouldn’t be fine but then Phoebe
had
called her a bitch.
“Okay.” Jessie smiled. “I would love to stay. Thank you.”
• • •
It was twilight when Zane headed back to the main house. It’d been a long day and he was ready for a good dinner. His stomach growled. Unfortunately Dani was out of town and the housekeeper was off, so dinner would probably consist of sandwiches and lemonade.
Throughout the afternoon, he’d seen Jessie taking photographs around the ranch and had found it hard to keep from watching her as she crouched to take one shot then bend over to take another so that her ass was in the air. She’d changed into another T-shirt and she still didn’t have a bra on. It was enough to make a man crazy.
Several times he’d caught the ranch hands staring at her and making comments to one another, and he’d had to order them to get back to work.
As soon as he entered the house, warm, delicious smells hit him dead on. His stomach growled again. Was Dani home? He hadn’t seen her truck in the driveway.
He followed his nose to the kitchen and came to a stop in the doorway. At the stove was Jessie. She had her back to him and was stirring something in a pot on a burner. She’d changed her clothes and was wearing a pair of jeans and a green blouse. Her dark red hair fell past her shoulders in a shining wave.
A feeling like déjà vu came over him. She looked like she belonged there and that she’d always been there.
His jaw tensed. Maybe it had been a mistake inviting her to spend the weekend. He was engaged and he found himself attracted to another woman. A woman who was within arms’ reach. He mentally shook his head. That wasn’t him. He didn’t cheat and he wasn’t about to start.
Then he realized Jessie was singing as she cooked. His mother used to sing in the kitchen while he’d grown up, before she’d been killed.
He walked into the kitchen. “Smells good.”
She stopped singing and turned toward him. “It’s not much.” She smiled and gestured toward a cast iron skillet on a hot pad and a big pot on the stovetop. “Found leftover pinto beans in the fridge and made some homemade cornbread, one of my few specialties. I’ve been waiting for you to come in to steam up some veggies.”
“You’re a prize.” He cocked his head toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms. “I’ll get cleaned up.”
“That’ll likely give me enough time to take care of the squash.” She glanced at a pot on the stove. “Water is already boiling.”
“Ten minutes, tops.” He gave a nod and headed out of the kitchen and down the hallway to his bedroom.
The moment he went into his room, his gaze went to his bed and he had an instant fantasy of Jessie lying there, naked, waiting just for him.
He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger then looked at the bed again. He tried to imagine Phoebe there and despite the fact that she’d been in his bed plenty of times, he couldn’t picture her there now.
Yep. Having Jessie stay at the Bar C had been a bad idea. A real bad idea.
• • •
Jessie sang an Eagles tune as she sliced the cornbread. Singing was something she tended to do when she was cooking or cleaning. Considering she hadn’t inherited the same gift for cooking that her sister had, she didn’t do a whole lot of singing in the kitchen.
She thought about Zane and when he’d come up behind her. He’d looked so good. Dusty and tired, like he’d had a long hard day at work, but he’d looked great to her. It had felt natural having him coming in for dinner and telling him it would be ready soon. Like they’d done it a thousand times before.
It really wasn’t good for her heart to be here alone with him. She had no doubt that he wasn’t the kind of man to cheat on his fiancée, but it was going to make it all the harder for her. She could already see how easy it would be to fall for the sexy cowboy.