Black Hills Rancher by Debra Salonen

Author:Debra Salonen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1944300163
Publisher: Debra Salonen

Chapter 17

Jessie closed her eyes and sank under the water. She held her breath as long as she could while reviewing what had happened between her and Cade today.

She’d told him her big secret. Her most painful regret. Her failure as a daughter, and some might say a human being.

True, in the end, she couldn’t have saved her mother, but the fact she didn’t try harder, didn’t willingly abort the whole Kamikaze thing and rush home, made it pretty clear to everyone that she was a terrible human being.

And no amount of excuses. No rationalization. No quid-pro-quo in the world made what she did okay.

The fact that Cade hadn’t booted her out of the truck and made her walk home said a lot about him as a man. A kind, nurturing, forgiving man.

No wonder she liked him.

If she were more like him--more normal, she might even consider letting herself get involved with him. For the summer, of course. Not for...um...ever. That was so not her style.

With a huge exhale, she surfaced, swam to the side closest to her little house and levered herself out of the pool to sit with her feet in the water. The late evening breeze had turned chilly, and when it blew across her wet hair and skin she started to shiver. She was about to reach for her towel when a small shadow separated itself from a bigger shadow and rushed toward her.

Her heart stopped for a fraction of a second until she realized the shadow was actually a small, furry body. Sugar. The infant raccoon had for some unknown reason formed an attachment to Jessie. And her delicate little black-gloved fingers somehow had managed to reach inside Jessie’s heart and latch on.

“Hey, sweetie pie,” Jessie said, anticipating a cold, pokey nose in her ear.

True to form, Sugar rose up on her hind legs and quickly checked out Jessie’s head, face, hair and ears. Jessie’s wet hair obviously confused the little beast, but after a few seconds of sniffing, Sugar must have decided Jessie was still Jessie. She burrowed under Jessie’s chin, rolling to her back.

“Oh, you silly thing,” Jessie said, blowing softly on the raccoon’s fine fur. “How could anyone not fall in love with you?”

Her voice sounded louder than she’d intended. The words seemed to hold significant import that made her want to take them back. From everything she’d ever observed, falling in love made stunt work look like child’s play. She truly didn’t think she was that brave.

She turned her chin to look at the second floor of the big house where a yellow light glowed bright against the dark silhouette of the night sky. Cade. Working late, she guessed.

If she were brave, she knew exactly whose name would be at the top of her list of potential lovers: Cade.

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