The Bride Said, 'Finally!'

“She’s probably just shy,” Jake said as the puppy began to bark. He glanced at his watch. “I think we better get these animals rounded up in their carriers.”

“Why?” Alex asked, clapping her hands over her ears to shut out the high-pitched noise. Smiling, Jenna knelt and scooped up the puppy, cradling him close to her chest. To everyone’s relief, the frantic barking stopped immediately.

Briefly, Jake explained what they had to do next, which was take both kitten and puppy to the vet for their vaccinations and exams, and then go by the grocery store to pick up pet food and other essentials.

“In that case, maybe we should reschedule looking at the warehouse and do that tomorrow morning,” Jenna said as she continued to pet Alex’s new puppy with gentle, loving strokes. She buried her face in the puppy’s fur, looking as ecstatic as Alex to have access to such a cute and cuddly animal. Jenna pressed a kiss to the puppy’s head and was promptly rewarded with a slurpy lick on the chin. “Given everything else we have to do this afternoon and evening,” she continued.

Jake studied Jenna, realizing all over again how much he had missed having her in his life. “You wouldn’t mind?” He didn’t want Jenna to think she was playing second-fiddle to anything that was going on here, because she wasn’t.

“Not at all.” Jenna looked down at Alex, who was now cradling her kitten in much the same way Jenna was holding the puppy. “Meanwhile, these two critters need some names, Alex. Any ideas?”

Alex grinned. “I want to call my puppy Buster.”

“Good choice,” Jake beamed his approval. As did Jenna.

Alex kissed her kitten and cuddled her close. “And I want to call her Miss Kitty.”

“I HAD NO IDEA one puppy and one kitten could be so exhausting,” Jake told Jenna three hours later as they brought the carriers into the house and set them down on the floor. Alex followed, carrying a plastic sack filled to the brim with kitten and puppy toys.

While Alex stayed with her new pets, Jenna and Jake headed back to his Jeep for the rest of the stuff they had purchased. Jenna slanted him a glance, noting that he did look exhausted and out of his element. “You’ve only owned them for a couple of hours,” Jenna said cheerfully as she lifted out the sack of kitty litter and the litter box. It was sort of fun to see the oh-so-confident Jake unsure of himself. “Just wait until tonight.”

Jake got a panicked look in his eyes as he hefted the bags of puppy chow and kitten food into his arms. “What happens tonight?”

Alex came running to get them as they headed back inside. “Daddy,” she said, “we had a disaster.”

Unfortunately, Jenna and Jake soon discovered, Alex wasn’t kidding.

“You can’t leave Alex and me alone with this puppy,” Jake said, after he and Jenna had finished cleaning up the puddle on the kitchen floor.

Hoping to avert a similar disaster, Jenna set up the litter box for the kitten in the laundry room. While Jake watched, she made sure there was nothing either animal could get into, and that all electric cords and so on were out of reach of even the most curious agile kitten or puppy. “Because?” Jenna asked as she washed her hands in the laundry-room sink.

Jake dropped the dirty paper towels into the trash, put away the floor cleaner, then went to wash his hands. “We’ll never survive.”

That, Jenna thought, with equal parts amusement and pity, was no doubt true.

Jake had taken on much more than he knew.

But there was no going back now. He had given Alex the two pets simultaneously. They would just have to muddle through. Jenna smiled at Jake, and because he seemed badly in need of some encouragement, touched his cheek. “Your heart was in the right place.”

Jake chuckled wearily. “Even if my head wasn’t.”

Before Jenna could reply, Alexandra barreled in. She went straight to Jake and plucked on his sleeve. “Daddy, I’m hungry.”

Which in turn, Jenna noted, caused Jake to look all the more desperate.

Jenna relented, figuring it would be cruel to make him ask. “Okay, I’ll stay through dinner.”

Alex cheered and Jake’s sexy grin widened. “How about the whole evening?” he asked as Alex, satisfied food would soon be on the way, raced back out again to check on Buster and Miss Kitty.

“Well?” Jake said, when Jenna didn’t answer right away.

Jenna shook her head and started for the door. “Typical Jake,” she drawled. “Always wanting it all—now.”

Jake caught her arm before she could exit the room and turned her to face him. “You’re telling me you’re not the same?”

That was just it, Jenna realized uncomfortably, as she looked up into his handsome, suntanned face, taking in the rugged line of his jaw, the stubborn set of his chin, his blade-straight nose and those sensually chiseled lips that really knew how to kiss. She was the same as him in that regard. But there was no sense in admitting it to him when she knew he would just use her weaknesses to his own advantage.

Jenna extricated herself graciously from his grip. “I’ll show Alex how to feed Buster and Miss Kitty.”

Jake’s eyes twinkled knowingly. Looking delighted to have her there with them, for whatever reason, he murmured happily, “And I’ll see what I can do about rustling us up some grub ASAP.”

While Jenna and Alex tended to the pets, Jake made the thirty-minute round-trip drive back into town. Jenna had her excuses all ready—she was going to use the opportunity to bow out—but when he returned with a mouthwatering bucket of crispy fried chicken, containers of mashed potatoes, gravy, creamy coleslaw and half a dozen fluffy, golden-brown biscuits, she found herself weakening. She was hungry, after all. He had enough food to feed an army. It would be a shame to see it go to waste. And even more cruel to disappoint Alexandra, who by now was as desperate as Jake to have her stay and eat with them. So she did.

And the three of them had a very good time, talking and laughing about Buster and Miss Kitty’s antics as they ate. Not surprisingly, by the time they had finished the delicious meal, Alex was visibly drooping. It was all Jake could do to get her upstairs, into her pajamas and into bed.

“She was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow,” Jake reported minutes later as he joined Jenna in the kitchen.

Jake frowned, seeing she had just about finished cleaning up after dinner. “I was going to do that.”

Jenna refused to let him win her confidence this easily. He might think he was a changed man. But she still knew the way he had deserted her once because of family and social pressure and she knew he could probably do it again. All too readily, if and when his own interests were at stake or he felt the situation called for it.

Jenna gave him a deadpan look meant to provoke. “You know how?” Jenna scoffed in a disbelieving tone as she put a twist tie around the garbage sack and set it by the back door.

The hot-tempered denial she expected never came. Jake merely picked up a dishrag and began mopping the tabletop. While his palm moved across the table with long powerful strokes, he said. “I’ve learned a lot since we last saw each other.”

Jenna’s eyebrows rose in cool disbelief as he went back to the sink and submerged the cloth into the soapy water. She watched him wring it out again and tackle the counters. “So it seems,” she said, refusing to be impressed. After all, any moron could competently clean a tabletop. Or run into town for her all-time favorite take-out meal. All it meant was that he was trying to get into her good graces so she would make a designer-quality wardrobe for Alex, quick as could be, and help get Melinda off his back.

The phone rang. Clearly resenting the interruption as much as she welcomed it—she didn’t want to be alone with Jake, and certainly not like this, in such an intimate setting!—Jake strode across the kitchen and plucked the receiver off the wall after the first ring. He barked a hello, then frowned intently, his mood softening visibly as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line. “Stay as long as you need to,” he said. “No. Don’t worry about a thing here. Jenna and I’ve got everything under control. Just give Lisa and Randall my best.”

Jenna quirked her brow as he hung up. “How is Clara’s daughter doing?” she asked curiously.

Jake frowned. “She’s still in labor. It looks like it’s going to be a long night, for all of them.”

And for Jake, too, Jenna thought, given the new pets in the household.

Jake looked around. “Where are Buster and Miss Kitty?”

“Sleeping in their crates on the back porch. They’re as exhausted as Alex.”

“Speaking of Alex…” Jake took Jenna’s hand and led her into the living room, further delaying her departure. “It looked like you had a really good time together today.”

Realizing she did want to sit a moment, after the way they had been running around all afternoon, Jenna let Jake settle her on the sofa and drop down beside her. Jenna kicked off her sandals and curled her legs up beneath her. “We did.”

Jake watched as Jenna smoothed her long cotton skirt over her legs and feet. “You do realize, however,” he pointed out, “that a whole day has gone by and you still haven’t gotten her into a dress.”

Jenna grinned as she thought about their tea party, and how much fun she’d had. “But I did get her into hat, scarf, pearls, gloves and heels,” she bragged. Given Alex’s attitude toward all things feminine, that had been no small accomplishment.

Unfortunately, it did little to appease Jake, who frowned worriedly and raked a hand through his hair. “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to satisfy Melinda. And we can’t just go out and buy a dress at the store. Melinda’ll throw a fit if she sees her daughter in off-the-rack anything.”

Melinda sounded like a real piece of work. If she was really as snotty as Jake described her, he had reason to want to steer clear of her. And shield Alex from any snobbish maternal explosions, too. Jenna just hoped she did not have to meet or deal with Jake’s ex. “Never fear, cowboy. I also got this.” Tranquilly, Jenna reached into the pocket of her skirt and handed him a folded piece of paper.

Jake stared at the letters and numbers scribbled on the page. “What is it?” he demanded, completely clueless.

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