She’d already ripped the most valuable thing he possessed to pieces. His heart.
“I’m going to make this place a success.” She brought her head up and gave him a once over. “It’s what Daddy would have wanted.”
“You’re all talk today, but what about tomorrow? You can’t make this another one of your crazy ideas. You give up on things when they become too difficult. I won’t let you ruin this place, or the few defenseless animals left, or the people here who need to work. You can’t pack their bags and kick them out of your life one day on awhim.”
She turned her back on him, inspecting the wall art, hands on her waist. Handling the truth was still not her forte. The distant bleating of a goat floated from the barn, calling out to break the silence.
“Okay. This is what we’ll do.” She spun on her heels and lifted her chin. “If you agree to give me some time to turn my idea in reality, I’ll sign the divorce papers at the end. I won’t ask for any alimony or spousal support. You have myword.”
He cocked his head to one side, entertaining the idea. Signed divorce papers would give him the closure his conscience needed to move on in every way. And this way, he wouldn’t have to force her to divorce him, especially after just having lost her father.
As for Jack, he hadn’t been able to consider bedding Mel or any other woman because of his marital status. Damn fool he’d been. If he got divorced, his body would respond to a woman besides Lola again. It hadto.
“And if you don’t turn it into a reality?” The most probable scenario.
She cleared her throat. “I’ll sell you my share.”
And I’ll have exclusive rights to the land—and the river.“That’sall?”
“No. If I make it work, you’ll have to legally agree to sell your share of Red Oak to me in the future when I can afford to buy it. It’s all I have left of my father.”
He suppressed the laughter floating up from his throat and pressed his lips together.
She raised her chin. “And you’ll have to move out ofhere.”
“Noway.”
She tossed her brown hair to one side. “Well, that’s just a technicality. Now I’m back, we can’t live in the same house.”
“Why not? We’re married.” The word brought a familiar stirring inside him. Married. Had they really been caring spouses who made plans together? When he’d agreed to live in California with her, he’d never imagined they’d spend most of their time in parties and dinners with her vapid friends. She never lived up to the commitment of being hiswife.
“You can move into the cottage.”
“The cottage next door is nothing but a storage roomnow.”
Her eyes widened. “Howcome?”
“Your pa needed room to put some stuff.” The junk from the business ideas that didn’t work. Milton’s career had had more ups and downs than a carnival’s Ferris wheel. Though most of his life had been successful and wealthy, in the past several years Milton had begun to invest in odd products that never tookoff.
She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “Jack…”
“You can live out there, but not me. There’s no AC. If you wanna fry like an egg on an oiled pan, be my guest.”
“We can’t live here…together. You must own another house on the surrounding properties?” She clenched her fists.
“One of them is going through major remodeling.” He cleared his throat. The last thing he’d do was let Lola have the upper hand and give her what she wanted. No. Enough of her having what she wanted.
“Where do the ranch handslive?”
Annoyance zapped down his spine. She had some nerve. If he didn’t buck up, pretty soon she would be splashing hot pink paint on the walls. “I’m not going to bunk with my employees.”
“This place has a helipad, for crying out loud. Can’t you just fly away to one of your other properties and come back to check on things as needed?” She offered him a compromising smile, along with the note of hopelessness in her voice. “How about the penthouse apartment in Houston?”
Nice try.“And leave you running the show and ruining everything?”
Silence descended for lengthening seconds. She paced in circles a few times, her heels clunking on the timber floor. The body he had once known inch-by-inch now looked more filled out. He had always wondered why she insisted on going on those senseless diets. Now, not an ounce was out of place inside her tantalizing purple dress. Each time she took a breath, her full breasts strained against the fabric. His gaze slid downward, to the indent of her waist and her curvy hips. He swallowed the lump lodged in his throat.
“Jack,” she spoke softly, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, mustering the courage to look her in the eye once more. He remembered then the voluptuous, desirable woman hadn’t changed from the Lola St. James he’d known. The selfish, conniving bitch who left him four days after her miscarriage because she couldn’t be bothered to experience a real relationship.
“I suppose we can be…roomies for the time being,” shesaid.
Roommates?Oh, shit.
