“Are you kidding? Amanda, you’ve set this place on its ear. You’re the best thing that’s happened to it since Grayghost won his first title. Better. Grayghost never got Jake to wear the sweater... do youreallylike Jake?”
Amanda finally gave up and reined Sweet William to a halt. “Let me put it to you this way,” she said, facing the girl. “If I got a choice in the matter, I won’t be returning to school in the fall.”
Lee’s eyes grew impossibly wide. Her mouth rounded into a perfect O, and she went completely still. That was when it really occurred to Amanda that she wasn’t just taking Jake on. She was taking on his family. His sisters, his brother, his secretary, his foreman and everybody in the whole damn town. It should have overwhelmed her. If she got what she wanted, she’d go from a solitary life to one so crowded she’d be spitting cat hair.
But she saw the light in Lee’s eyes, and she thought of the easy comfort she’d felt in Lost Ridge. She thought of the noise she’d always missed around a dinner table, of the fact that she’d never had a chance to share her success with her family.
She remembered like an ache the first time she’d had a manuscript accepted. She’d worked so very hard on it, pouring into it all the secrets and traditions and memories of her mountain, sweating over words, agonizing over the special flavor she’d wanted to impart. But when the editor had called her, there had been no one to turn to. No one to share the dizzying victory. No one who cared enough about her to be happy for her.
She’d never have to worry about that again.
“Would you mind?” she asked, just to get things started again.
Lee’s abrupt laugh flushed a couple of crows from the brush. “Would I mind? Would Imind?I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get you two together since the first time I met you. What does Jake say?”
It was Amanda’s turn for a laugh, although hers was far more disconcerted. “He might take some convincing.”
Lee’s expression dissolved into disgust. “Doesn’t that just figure? That lug head. Well, we’re just going to have to do something about that—”
Amanda reached over and grabbed the reins to Lee’s horse before she had a chance to make good her threat. “No,” she demurred, images of the collected Kendalls making her very nervous. That would definitely be the last thing Jake needed fight about now. “Leave it to me. Please.”
“But Amanda, what if he’s stubborn? Did I tell you that he can be stubborn sometimes?”
Amanda managed a grin. “I found out on my own, thanks. I think that if all of you gang up on him, he’s going to buck like Sidewinder with a saddle on.”
Lee giggled. “That’s a good one. I bet you’re an author.”
Amanda smiled. “Leave him be.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I really do. Now, let’s go on up to the cabin. I want to show you some diaries that Betty found for me to read. They’re your great-grandmother’s.’’
“You’re kidding. I never knew we had anything like that. Have you shown them to Jake?”
“Uh-huh.” Not much else to say. Amanda turned Sweet William back on his way, and Lee followed.
“Did he ever read your book, Amanda?”
“No.”
Lee sighed. “He’s so frustrating sometimes. I really wanted him to readSimple Gifts.It reminded me so much of the people we grew up around. The minute I read it I knew how well you’d fit in at the Diamond K.”
Amanda wanted him to read it, too. But, she kept reminding herself, one step at a time. One slow, careful step at a time.
“Just think,” Lee said with a giggle, “if you guys did get married, we’d actually have to get Jake a suit. The whole state might turn up for a sight like that.”
Amanda chuckled. “Nah. We’ll just get somebody to marry us right in the corral. That way he could wear his boots.”
“Everybody could sit right up on the fence.”
“Have Stilwell’s cater.”
“Steak and fries and apple pie.”
“Imightget him to wear the sweater again.”
Jake felt as if he were rushing headlong into disaster. In no more than a few weeks his carefully constructed world had been turned upside down. Now there was a real chance it could topple altogether.
