“Roberto and Lila said they’d bring it home for me tonight when they close. Come on, Jesse.” She rubbed her gloved hands over her arms. “It’s freezing out here.”

They could argue all night, or he could give in just to get some peace. “I don’t know why I’m letting you do this.” He dropped to the pavement, keeping his balance by gripping the door, since the ground seemed a little unsteady under his feet. “It’s absurd. I’m stone-cold sober.”

“Sure you are.” Janie turned to the small, beat-up truck parked next to his and opened the door. “Put these in the backseat.” A dozen or so shopping bags came at him with the order. Once the goods were stowed, she climbed up behind the steering wheel without looking at him until she’d shut the door between them. “Coming?”

If only to get out of the snow, Jesse rounded the truck bed to the passenger side and swung himself onto the seat, remembering just in time to move his hat. With his safety belt buckled, he sat staring out the window as Janie Hansen, his designated driver, took him home.

Snow powdered the windshield as the streetlights of Cody dimmed behind them on the dark road to Markton. Several inches of the white stuff covered the road pavement, while twice that much had already piled up on the frozen grass.

The storm intensified, and Janie slowed down as visibility decreased. “Are we going to be able to take off tomorrow?” she asked. “If the sky clears, I mean.”

“We can plow the runway.” Jesse rubbed his sleepy eyes with his fingers. “And the plane’s in the hangar, so there won’t be ice on the wings. Don’t worry,” he said, noticing how her teeth bit at her full lower lip. “I’ll keep you and your mom safe.”

She answered with a sigh, which hinted at trouble.

He decided he’d better know what lay ahead. “Is your mom looking forward to the trip?” When Janie didn’t answer, he pushed. “Does she know what’s going on?”

“Sometimes,” Janie said at last. “She wants to watch Mark in the Finals. When she remembers.”

“You’ve told her about the flight?”

She sent him a worried glance. “I tried to.”

“How do you think she’ll react?”

He heard the gulp as she swallowed hard. “I have no idea.”

“Great.” He couldn’t repress the comment and wouldn’t apologize. “If you didn’t think this was going to work, why did you agree to come?”

She stared straight ahead, lips pressed together, for a long time. Her whitened knuckles revealed a tense grip on the steering wheel. “Mark and Nicki wanted Mom to come. Anyway, how many times have you refused to do what your parents wanted?”

Good point. “You’ve got an advantage over the rest of us, though.”

“Oh?”

“You’re not part of the family.”

“No kidding?”

The sarcasm stung. “You don’t have to get mad. I just meant—”

She held up a hand to stop him. “Believe me, I know exactly how far outside the Cody constellation my family’s orbit lies.”

Jesse let the comment slide. “I only meant that my parents don’t have any power over you. You were free to refuse.”

“And miss maybe the only time I’ll ever get to see my brother at the National Finals? Maybe the only time I ever get to go to the Finals, period?” She shook her head. “I couldn’t say no.”

“I guess you couldn’t.” He would just have to hope things turned out better than he expected.

Several miles passed in a silence broken only by the sound of the wipers brushing back and forth. Finally, Jesse came up with a less confrontational topic. “So you’ve never been to the Finals?”

“Nope.”

“It’s the wildest rodeo you can imagine. Picture any show you’ve ever been to times a thousand, held in the craziest place on the planet.”

Janie chuckled. “That’s quite a description. But this is your first time competing, too. Right?”

“Yeah. We go every year since Dad usually has a bull competing, but I was tired of hearing him complain that I wasn’t there riding, so I put in the extra effort and got myself on the list.” He winced when he recognized the bitterness in his own voice. “Of course, I’m looking forward to competing. The best bulls and the best riders—it’s gonna be a blast.”

He felt Janie’s sideways appraisal. “Are you ready for all the attention that comes with the title? I’m pretty sure Mark hasn’t thought about it at all.”

“Endorsements, you mean? And publicity?” She nodded. “I don’t think any of the guys thinks about that ahead of time. We all just want to get out there and win. That’s the real point—being the best.”

“Till next year. Or maybe just the next ride.”

“Whoa. Don’t be so supportive.”

She shrugged, then made a careful turn onto the road leading between stone pillars into the Cottonwood Ranch. “I like winning as much as anybody. If Mark gets the championship, I know he’ll spend some of the money to help take care of Mom, which will be a blessing. But you don’t need the cash, or the fame. I get the feeling that even if you win, you won’t be satisfied.”

Jesse turned in his seat to look across the cab at her. “What else could I want? Besides being world champion?”

As he asked the question, Janie braked gently at the foot of the porch steps leading to his front door. “I think you want respect.” She didn’t look at him as she answered but watched as a layer of snow quickly obscured her view through the windshield.

The woman knew too damn much about what went on inside his head. “Who doesn’t?”

Then her eyes met his. “The man who already respects himself.”

Stunned by the implication, Jesse couldn’t have come up with a quick, casual answer if his life depended on it. At last he simply opened the door and jumped down into the snow, sinking halfway to his knees. “Maybe this worked out okay, after all,” he told Janie, grateful to have something practical to think about. “This way, you can just drive the truck back here tomorrow when you come with your mom.”

“Sure.” Janie looked past him at the dark windows of the old homestead the Cody siblings used to share. “I guess you’re living all by yourself these days, since Dex is with Josie and Elly’s with Will.”

He nodded. “Most of the time.”

“Do you get lonely?”

She’d already divined more secrets tonight than he was comfortable with. “After growing up with the pack of them following me around? I’m enjoying the peace and quiet.” He patted the roof of the truck. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, about one-thirty. Drive carefully.”

“Right. And you be sure to get lots of sleep, so I won’t be nervous while we fly tomorrow.” Her smile was rueful. “More nervous than I already am, anyway.”

His tired brain picked up the hint. “Is this your first time flying?”

Janie nodded. “I’m an aeronautical virgin, so to speak.”

He laughed. “I’ll be gentle.” Stepping back, he shut the door and then called through the glass, “Thanks for the ride home.”

“You’re welcome.” She waved, shifted the truck into four-wheel drive and drove away, leaving Jesse standing outside in the false twilight of a snowy night.

He stood there for quite some time, watching the snow fall while he wondered what else Janie Hansen might know about him that he wished she didn’t.

THE FLIGHT TURNED OUT to be easier—and yet more difficult—than Janie could have imagined.

Her mother’s doctor had provided a sedative for the trip, and even half a dose kept Abby Hansen too sleepy to get upset about leaving the house in a truck she didn’t recognize for a place she didn’t know. Janie hated the dull, lifeless expression on her mother’s face as they drove the snowy roads toward the Codys’ property, but if the alternative was hysteria, she’d take dull.

Once she reached the Cottonwood Ranch, she saw that Jesse had seen to it that the ranch roads were cleared, as well as the runway. That would be the advantage of having a crew of cowboys ready to take whatever orders came into the boss’s head. She reached the runway without a problem, having ridden the land on horseback for years with Elly, Jesse’s sister. The storm had passed to the east, leaving a cloudless blue sky above the snow-blanketed prairie. Jesse’s plane sat there gleaming in the sunlight—ready, Janie gathered, to take off.

She wished she could say the same. Not knowing what to expect and anticipating looking down from this small craft to the earth thousands of feet below only made her feel sick to her stomach. Maybe she should have taken one of her mom’s pills.

Getting her mother onto the plane took her mind off her own anxiety. Abigail had fallen asleep on the ride from town and was startled to be woken up. She didn’t recognize Jesse, and his attempts at friendliness didn’t reassure her.

“Where is he taking us?” Abby whispered to Janie as they crossed the tarmac toward the plane. “Is he some kind of new doctor?”

“No, Mom. Just a friend. We’re going to see Mark at the rodeo, remember?”

“Mark’s a good boy. And he’s the best bull rider in the world. He’s going to win, isn’t he?”

They reached the bottom of the steps that led up into the plane. “Yes, he is.” Janie glanced back at Jesse and saw his rueful smile. “Let me help you up the steps, okay?”

The passenger cabin reminded Janie of a luxurious motor home she’d seen once at a big rodeo, with reclining armchair seats that swiveled in all directions and an up-to-date TV and music system. The walls were paneled with beautiful wood, thick carpet covered the floor and a small kitchen offered snacks and drinks of all kinds.

The thought that Mark was now part of a family that could afford such luxury made Janie shake her head. What sane person wouldn’t choose this lifestyle, given the option?

Abigail didn’t like the smallness of the plane, but the sedative made her too tired to do more than talk about her feelings.

“There’s not enough room,” she said, her voice fretful. “Only a few seats. Where will everyone else sit, Janie?”

“Don’t worry, they’ll find a place, Mom. Why don’t you lean back and let me fasten your seat belt?” By the time she got Abby settled and interested in a travel magazine with lots of photographs, Jesse had climbed aboard, shutting the door behind him.

“Ready?” Underneath the sheepskin coat, he wore the standard rodeo “uniform”—good jeans with one of his trophy belt buckles, dressy boots and a Western shirt in a soft blue chambray that made his eyes an even brighter blue by comparison. Weak-kneed with nerves and longing, Janie sank into the seat beside her mother. “Um…sure.” Her hands shook as she buckled her own belt.

Jesse grinned. “You don’t sound too sure. I promise, everything will be fine. The weather is great, the plane’s in perfect condition, and I am a terrific pilot.”

She couldn’t resist a little dig. “Modest, too.”

“Always. Just relax, and we’ll be flying high in no time.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Janie muttered.

She could see him in the pilot’s chair from where she sat. He donned a set of earphones, then flipped switches, turned knobs and consulted charts, plus a hundred other complicated motions she guessed were necessary to make the plane function. Finally, with a slight bump, they started rolling along the ground.

Janie looked over at her mother, who was asleep again, her head resting against the butterscotch-colored leather of her seat, the magazine in her lap. Janie realized her own hands now gripped the arm-rests, but just when she thought she might loosen her hold, they hit another bump. Then another. Were they going to die now?

In the next moment, though, the front end of the plane lifted. The noise of wheels on pavement stopped, and she knew they’d taken off. The plane was flying.

She was flying.

A glance out the window showed her the ground falling away, the sky growing larger, enfolding them, sup porting them…and then the wonders of a bird’s-eye view as they flew southwest, across Yellowstone, the Tetons and Utah. Abby stayed asleep, so before too long, Jesse had lured Janie to the cockpit so they could talk about the wonders she saw beneath the wings.

“I don’t want to land,” she confessed at last, as they neared Las Vegas and the desert floor came closer. “The magic’s in the sky.”

Jesse grinned. “Well, we’ve got to fly back next weekend. Something to look forward to.”

Before she could respond, a cry came from the cabin behind them. “Janie? Janie, help me!”

When she reached her mother, Abby grabbed her arm with both hands. “Janie, what’s happening? Where am I? What is this place?”

“Shh, Mom. Shh. It’s okay.” Janie knelt next to her mother’s chair, trying to be calm despite the pain of fingernails digging into her arm. “We’re going to Las Vegas, remember? Mark’s riding in the National Finals and we get to watch. We took an airplane, so we didn’t have to drive so far. Remember?”

But Abby didn’t remember and Janie spent the rest of the flight trying to reassure her and calm her down, thankful for the seat belt which kept her mother in the chair. Her moans and cries would be easily heard by Jesse up in the cockpit. The last twenty minutes of the trip approached Janie’s worst fears.

Just as her mother had subsided for a moment, Jesse’s voice came over the intercom. “Janie, sorry to bother you, but you’ll need to be in a seat with a safety belt for the next few minutes while we land.”

At the sound of the disembodied voice, Abby became agitated again. With her arm still in her mother’s grip, Janie sat in the seat facing Abby’s and leaned forward to ease the strain on her shoulder. She couldn’t begin to imagine how they would get the hysterical woman off the plane and into a car, much less through a crowded hotel lobby, onto an elevator and settled in a hotel room.

What a terrible idea this had been. Or, rather, how stupid she had been to accept the Codys’ invitation. She should have refused and watched Mark ride on TV.

But instead, she’d let Mark and Nicki persuade her to “join the fun.” She’d grabbed at the chance to experience the Finals for herself, maybe the only time she’d ever attend the biggest event in professional rodeo.

And maybe the last opportunity she would ever have to make an impression on Jesse Cody. Deep in her heart, unconfessed to anybody else, was the hope that she could maneuver some private time with Jesse. Maybe, if she was really lucky, he might see her as something other than Elly’s friend or Mark’s sister. She’d certainly shopped for that chance, running up the balance on her credit card way beyond her ability to pay it off any time soon.

Not only had she spent too much money, but she’d dragged her mother away from the home where she felt safe and subjected her to all the terrors of travel. Sure, Mark’s chance at the championship provided an excuse, and he’d wanted Abby to be there.

But Janie knew the truth. If it weren’t for her feelings for Jesse, she would have had the strength and good sense to keep her mother at home. How selfish could she be?

With just a couple of slight hops, the plane touched down and claimed the runway surface. Janie barely felt the braking action as Jesse slowed their speed and approached the hangar. Only the smallest jolt signaled that they’d come to a stop.

Jesse appeared in the doorway to the front of the plane, and Abby shrank back into her seat. “Who is that man? What does he want?”

At least she’d finally let go of Janie’s arm. “This is Jesse, Mom. He’s a f-friend of mine.”

Her “friend” came and squatted down by Abby’s chair. “I’m going to take you somewhere you’ll be safe.” He spoke slowly, in the soothing tone Janie had heard him use with frightened horses and puppies. “Would you like that, Abby?” He fixed his wide, steady gaze on hers.

To Janie’s surprise, her mother nodded without looking away.

“That’s good.” His smile was warm and reassuring. Janie could see her mother relax. “We’ve got a car waiting outside, and then we’ll go to a place where you’ll feel comfortable.”

“I get to go home?”

“Not right away. But Mark is waiting for you. And Janie will be there.” Jesse placed a hand over Abby’s clenched fingers. “You know Mark and Janie would never let anything happen to you. They will always keep you safe.”

Janie smiled through her tears as her mother looked at her.

“I know.” Abby nodded. “They take care of me.”

Jesse nodded. “I know they do. Now, I’m going to make sure the car is ready and then we’ll get in and drive for a little while. Wait for me—I’ll be gone just a minute.”

When he returned, events proceeded exactly as he’d promised. He coaxed Abby down the steps from the plane and then into a waiting limousine, where he offered her some water and a Snickers bar, her favorite candy. After a short trip, the limousine stopped in the drive of a towering resort building, but the crowds and noise Janie expected were nowhere to be seen.

“The hotel allowed us to use their security entrance,” Jesse explained as he helped Janie out of the car. “We’ll take the private elevator straight to our floor.”

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.

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