Linda Warren - The Texan's Bride

She glanced at herself in the mirror and wondered like she had so many times in her life—who did she favor? Her father had blue eyes and blond hair. Without a doubt she took after her mother. When she’d asked about her, he’d say, “Jessie, baby, your mother left us a long time ago. You’ve got me, so put a smile on that pretty face.” Then she’d feel guilty for asking about a woman who would leave her child. It didn’t keep her from wondering, though.

She’d even asked Rosa, but Rosa had come to work for them after the tragedy. She’d never met Jessie’s mother.

As a child she’d dream about the mysterious woman coming back, but she didn’t. In her teens Jessie had finally accepted that. Her mother had made her choices for whatever reasons and Jessie seldom thought about her these days.

Glancing at the crystal clock on her vanity she saw it was after eight. Damn! Where was Cadde? If he bailed on her, she’d make his life a living hell. She laughed out loud. She really was her father’s daughter. But she wasn’t making anyone’s life a living hell. If he didn’t come, they’d go back to the status quo of ignoring each other. That would be her living hell.

“Get a grip, Jessie,” she said to herself as she reached for a long strand of pearls her father had bought her in New York. Slipping into high heels, she hurried downstairs to wait.

CADDE WAS RUNNING LATE, but he couldn’t help it. He’d had a call from one of his engineers and they talked about the Louisiana leases.

He rushed through the back door and found Jessie pacing in the living room, her dog trailing her every step.

“I’m sorry I’m late.” The rest of his excuse evaporated as he stared at his wife. He knew the poised Jessie in business suits and the casual Jessie in jeans, but the sexy siren in front of him was someone else entirely. He could feel his blood pressure taking a hit.

She looked at the gold watch on her arm. “Fifteen minutes, to be precise.”

“I told you I had a lot of work to do and I got away as quickly as I could.”

“And so gallant about it, too.”

“Let’s go then.” He struggled to look anywhere but at her cleavage. He felt like a teenager seeing breasts for the first time.

Jessie bent to pat the dog. “Go upstairs to your bed, Mirry. I’ll be back later.” The little thing trotted away as if she understood every word.

“Where did you get her?” he asked to focus his attention on something beside her. If it was up to him, they’d just go upstairs but he knew that wasn’t what she wanted—just yet. Damn! Why did women have to be so picky?

“I found her on the side of the road,” Jessie was saying. “Someone abused her severely and left her for dead.”

He experienced a moment of guilt for not liking the little dog. The cruelty of people floored him, but Mirry seemed to have found a savior in Jessie.

“You’re staring,” she said.

He blinked. “I’ve never seen you with your hair down.”

She called his bluff immediately. “My hair is here.” She touched her head.

“Okay, I was staring at your breasts,” he admitted like the honest Christian boy that he was. “I never realized you had…”

“Breasts,” she finished for him.

He nodded, wishing they’d never started this conversion.

“They’re pretty much standard equipment, Cadde.”

He sighed. “Could we go?”

“Sure.” She picked up a small purse from the coffee table.

“Do you want to go in my truck or your Suburban?”

“Your truck,” she replied. “My vehicle has feed in it and it’s smelly.”

“What do you feed?”

“Animals that would starve if I didn’t.”

They talked as they walked through the dining room to the kitchen. Rosa had said something about animals and now he was curious.

“What kind of animals?”

“I have five horses from the Houston SPCA. Their owner left them to starve to death in a pasture. I know someone there and she calls me when they have an animal that’s been mistreated or abused and needs a home. I also have a donkey that had an infected eye and a ram with one horn. Gavin cut off the other one and operated on the donkey’s eye. They’re doing very well. The horses were skittish at first, but between Gavin, Felix and me we’ve managed to gain their trust. Gavin doctors their sores every week or so.”

“Who’s Gavin?”

“The vet.” He opened the back door and she asked, “Do you want to know who Felix is?”

“No. I sign his damn paycheck. Why isn’t he picking up the feed?”

“Felix was busy and I was in town at a board meeting, as you may recall, so I picked it up. No big deal.”

As soon as they stepped into the garage, the Dobermans sniffed at their feet.

“Oh, I hate these dogs.” Jessie made a face.

“Why?” Again he was curious. She seemed to have an affinity for animals.

“They’re trained to kill. I told Daddy I didn’t want an animal like that, but he insisted when he went on that trip to Alaska. He was afraid someone would breach the security system while he was gone. And he wanted a surprise for the perpetrator.”

Cadde remembered that trip with Roscoe. They were checking out the oil situation, but Roscoe decided it was too damn cold for his Texas blood. Roscoe called Jessie two to three times a day and sometimes more if he was feeling restless and worried. Fear was his constant companion. He never lost the paranoia that someone was going to take Jessie from him.

“Why don’t you just get rid of them?” he suggested.

“I tried. No one wants a dog like that. I might see if Gavin can gently put them to sleep. I hate doing that but they kill every animal that comes into their perimeter—squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, possums, birds, anything. There’s always something dead in the yard in the mornings.”

She took a breath. “And they attacked the man who delivers hay for the horses. He stopped at the house and made the mistake of getting out of his truck. They were on him in a second. Felix was barely able to grab their collars and restrain them so the man could get inside his vehicle. It was very scary. I’m even afraid to go out after dark, and if they attack one of my mistreated animals I would just die.”

“Then call your friend Gavin first thing in the morning.” He didn’t want her living in fear. He wasn’t all that fond of the dogs, either.

They walked to the passenger side of his King Ranch truck. Suddenly she turned and he bumped into her. He caught her arms to steady her. Smooth, silky skin tempted his fingers and a delicate fragrance wafted to his nostrils. His heart rate rose like mercury in a thermometer. Oh, God. He released her. This was going to be a long, long evening.

“A couple of days ago Will brought me a baby fawn,” Jessie was saying. “Someone had killed her mother.”

“Who’s Will?” How many men came out here to see Jessie? He knew she was the big selling point. The animals were just an excuse. For the first time jealousy flickered in his gut. It was ridiculous. He’d never had these symptoms with the other women he’d dated. So why was Jessie different?

“The game warden,” she replied, and he jerked his attention back to the conversation. “The little thing needed nourishment badly. I have her in a cage in the barn. Since she’s a new scent I’m afraid the Dobermans will attack her. I keep a rifle at the barn and one in the house if anything goes awry.”

“Jessie, I don’t like the sound of this. Call the vet.”

She flipped back her long hair. “Are you telling me what to do?”

“Yes,” he replied.

In the light from the garage he could see her black eyes flashing. “Just so you know I don’t respond well to people telling me what to do.”