Jesse: Merry Christmas, Cowboy. Lynnette Kent

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      Once he had persuaded her mother out of the limo, Jesse smoothly escorted them both through an empty hallway to an elevator as spacious as most rooms in their home. On the fortieth floor, the doors slid apart and Jesse led them along another wide, silent hallway, this one carpeted in forest-green and decorated with quiet elegance. When he knocked on the door at the very end, they were welcomed by a middle-aged woman with bright silver hair and a deep tan.

      “It’s good to meet you, Janie. I’m Serena Gable.” Her smile and soothing demeanor lived up to her name. Putting an arm around Abby’s shoulders, she drew the anxious woman into a large, airy suite of rooms. “Miss Abby, let’s get you comfortable.”

      In minutes, she’d convinced Janie’s mother to change into lounge pajamas and crawl between smooth, cool sheets. Her calm voice, with its hint of a Southern accent, and her quiet, efficient movements made Janie feel calmer, too. She was able to kiss her mother on the cheek and leave the bedroom without a single protest being voiced.

      “I’ll have her awake for dinner,” Serena promised as she closed the door.

      “Wow.” Janie stood in the living room of the suite, bewildered by the sudden absence of responsibility in her life. “That was amazing.”

      Jesse had waited outside the bedroom while Abby got settled. “I think your mom will be okay while she’s here. Don’t you?”

      “Sure.” But the enormity of everything that had happened in the past four hours had finally caught up with Janie. She stared at the man beside her as questions began to pop up in her brain. “How in the world did you arrange all of this?”

      “My parents talked to Mark and Nicki, trying to be sure the trip wouldn’t be too difficult for your mom.”

      “Why?”

      “What do you mean?”

      “Why are they making such an effort?” Janie brushed her bangs off her forehead, then down again. “I mean, your dad hasn’t deigned to recognize my mother’s existence for more than thirty years. Why start now?”

      Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “That’s kind of a strange question to ask, given that all we’re trying to do is be nice to your family.”

      “Maybe so.” With her arms crossed over her chest, Janie lifted her chin. “But smart businessmen like your dad never give away something for nothing. So I want to know what your family expects from the Hansen family in return for all this generosity you’re offering.” She gave the matter a second’s thought. “Just what is it you’re trying to bribe Mark to do?”

      Jesse propped his hands on his hips. “I don’t—”

      “Or are you spending all this money simply to make him leave you alone?”

      Chapter Three

      Jesse stared at the woman who’d just accused his family of cheating and lying. “You don’t mince words, do you?”

      “I want to know the truth,” she said. “That’s all.”

      At that moment, the bedroom door beside Jesse opened. “Janie?” Mark Hansen looked at his sister, then at Jesse. “I thought that was your voice I heard. What are you two arguing about?” He crossed the living room to Janie and gave her a quick hug. “Tell me how the trip went for Mom.”

      Jesse took a step back, preparing to turn around and go to his own room.

      But Mark motioned him to stay. “Have a seat. Nicki will be here in a minute and she’ll be glad to see you.”

      Jesse hated to admit it, but Nicki’s marriage had changed how he felt abut his best friend. He didn’t feel comfortable with her these days, not since Mark Hansen had become her husband. “Thanks, but I need to return a few phone calls.”

      “Okay.” Mark assessed him with a keen stare all too similar to J.W.’s. “What did Janie say that’s got you worked up?”

      “You’ll have to ask her. I’ll catch up with you all later, okay?” Without waiting for an answer, Jesse left and headed down the hallway to the suite his parents always reserved for the Finals. In past years, J.W. and Anne had occupied the master bedroom, Elly had taken the room with only one queen-size bed and the four brothers had slept wherever they found space in the remaining bedroom and on various couches.

      This year, the other Cody kids were staying in their own rooms with their new partners, leaving Jesse his choice of both secondary bedrooms. Standing in the silent living room he realized that, like everything else about the Cody family, the time they spent together at the Finals this year was going to be very different.

      And he didn’t like the changes. He wanted his normal family back—his dad as the honest, upfront husband Jesse had always believed he was, his mother as a contented and cherished wife, his brothers and sister as the playmates and allies he’d grown up with.

      What he did not appreciate was having a new brother who’d already appropriated his best friend and might very well beat him in the championship and take over his job at the ranch. And he did not appreciate being insulted by a woman he was just trying to be nice to…especially when he couldn’t swear that his dad wouldn’t pull exactly the kind of trick she accused him of.

      J. W. Cody had always been a canny negotiator, capable of wheeling and dealing to get the best advantage for the Cottonwood Ranch. Jesse couldn’t think of a single reason to doubt the possibility that J.W. would manipulate his bastard son with gifts and attention to further some purpose of his own. If Jesse asked for the truth, his dad would say whatever suited him at the moment.

      So he’d have to ferret out proof of what J.W. planned, if anything, on his own. Just like he’d had to hire William Jackson, Elly’s fiancé, to prove Mark’s paternity—all in the name of looking out for the Codys and the Cottonwood Ranch.

      Walking into the bedroom Elly used to occupy, Jesse dropped facedown on the bed. Sometimes, protecting the ranch and the family felt like a burden he just couldn’t carry another step.

      And sometimes, these days, he was tempted to believe that Mark Hansen, always strapped for cash and unaware of his heritage as a Cody, had been the luckier man.

      WHEN JANIE TOLD MARK what she’d accused J. W. Cody of, Mark stared at her in much the same way Jesse had. “Why would you think something like that, let alone say it out loud? To Jesse, of all people?”

      Nicki’s expression conveyed the same disapproval. “The Codys aren’t like that, Janie. Especially Jesse. You of all people should know how honest he is.”

      “Maybe Jesse’s being duped, just like the two of you.” She felt all the more aggravated because she knew she’d been wrong to bring it up. Sometimes her mouth galloped off before her brain settled fully into the saddle. “J. W. Cody isn’t above using Jesse to get what he wants.”

      “And just what do you think that is?” Mark stood with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, as if the position helped him keep his temper.

      “Well…” Janie gathered her thoughts together. “If he’s seen by everybody at the National Finals being nice to you—taking care of your mother, paying for me to be here, who knows СКАЧАТЬ