Her Secret Texas Valentine. Helen Lacey
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could you be any more evasive?”
Jake made an impatient sound at the whiny voice rattling in his ear. The same voice that had been demanding answers to a barrage of personal questions for the last five minutes.
“Cass,” he said quietly, “I told you, it’s none of your business.”
“But it was my idea,” she wailed and came around his left side, ignoring the fact he was hitching up the cinch on his horse and she was very much in the way. “I suggested the dating app to begin with.”
The big gelding sidestepped and stomped its foot. Jake loved his baby sister, but sometimes she was as annoying as a buzzing mosquito. And about as relentless. She’d been at him the moment she got home from college for the weekend, demanding to know how his coffee dates went. Well, date, in the singular, because he’d canceled the two other dates he’d made once he’d met the vivacious and beautiful Valene Fortunado. He’d never been a player, and dating more than one woman didn’t sit right.
“Cassidy,” he said, calling his sister by her full name, “button up, will you. I’ve got work to do.”
She huffed and swished her flaming-red ponytail. “Sometimes you are such a killjoy, Jake. If you hadn’t taken my advice, you never would have met this goddess.”
He turned his head and frowned. “And not once did I use that word,” he reminded her. “Remember that when you start telling Mom how you’re playing cupid.”
His sister laughed. “You said she was pretty.”
“She was. She is. But I don’t want to make more of it than it was. Coffee and conversation,” he said, his voice sterner. “That’s it.”
“But you’re seeing her tonight, right?”
He nodded slowly. “Right.”
“You should take flowers,” Cassidy suggested. “Women love flowers. And wear a suit. And don’t take that crappy old truck of yours. Make sure you drive the Sierra. I don’t know why you bought the thing—you never take it out of the garage. You’d rather drive around in that old Ranger that you’ve had since you were sixteen.”
Jake wasn’t about to argue, since Cassidy had a point. He did prefer the Ranger. But he often had business dealings that required more class than the beat-up Ford that his father had taught him to drive in so many years ago. Sentiment made him hang on to the old truck. And memory. And the acknowledgment of where he had come from, where his roots were, and how far he’d come since his dad had been the foreman of the Double Rock Ranch.
Jake had been raised on the ranch since he was twelve and Cassidy a newborn. Along with their mother, they’d lived in the cottage behind the main house, and their life had been happy and fulfilling. Jake loved the land and the work, but he’d also gotten good grades in high school, so college was the obvious next step. But when his father had died suddenly from a heart attack when he was eighteen, he’d quickly hightailed it back home from school and stepped into his father’s boots. If he hadn’t, his mom and sister would have been forced to leave the ranch, and that was unthinkable.
But he understood why Cassidy made the comment about the suit and the truck. Jake had no illusions. Valene was city while he was country. But he wasn’t an uneducated hick, even though she might think he was. True, she hadn’t made any condescending remarks when he’d admitted to dropping out of college, but he sensed some level of disappointment. He did admire the way she’d kept that feeling to herself, though. And he liked how she had asked him about his work and hadn’t made any negative remarks about his occupation. He knew from experience that some women measured a man’s worth by the weight of his wallet.
Like Patrice...
He’d pined for her through high school, but she was with the it crowd, and Jake was definitely not on her radar. Years later, that changed. Patrice did notice him. And because he was still stuck on her, Jake didn’t hesitate in falling head over heels in love with her, not realizing she was cold and calculating and not to be trusted. He learned his life lessons the hard way. Through Patrice’s betrayal and humiliation, his heart hardened, and he was determined he’d never be made a fool of again.
Jake gently grabbed Cassidy’s shoulders and ushered her out of the way. He checked the cinch, grabbed the reins and effortlessly sprang into the saddle. “Try to stay out of trouble, will you. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
“We haven’t finished this conversation,” she reminded him, hands on hips.
Jake shook his head. “See ya, kid. Don’t forget to study while you’re here this weekend.”
Cassidy was in her third year at college, but she was easily distracted. He loved her, though, and would walk through fire for her and his mom. He reined the gelding and headed from the corral, meeting up with two of the ranch hands who’d been waiting patiently by the stables.
“Sorry, boys,” he said, though no apology was necessary. They all knew how irritating and adorable Cassidy could be.
“No worries, boss,” the older of the duo replied. Kris had been on the Double Rock Ranch longer than he had. Jake still winced every time one of the ranch hands called him boss, but he’d worked hard to get where he was, and everyone on the Double Rock knew it and respected him for it. “I got a younger sister myself. Nothin’ but trouble.”
They all laughed as they headed off. When they passed the main house, Jake slowed down a fraction. The renovations were finally being finished, something that was a long time coming. For years the previous owners had let the home fall into disrepair, but things on the Double Rock were slowly changing. The ranch, situated in Fort Bend County, was a forty-minute drive to Houston and just under four hundred acres. Prime land, dotted with oak and pecan trees, it was predominantly cattle and horses and operated a highly lucrative Wagyu beef business. Jake loved the Double Rock and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
He spent the following hour checking the perimeter fences on the west side of the property, ending up down by the creek. From there he had a great view of the rear of the house and the back deck that was currently being redone. Several contractors were working on the place, and he waved to a couple when they spotted him.
By the time he was finished with the fences, it was past four o’clock. He headed for the office in the stables and did paperwork for an hour and then made his way to the bunkhouse to shower and change. Since Cassidy was staying for the weekend, he’d planned on bunking with the ranch hands for a couple of days, giving up his room in the cottage to his sister. He’d been staying with his mom for the last few weeks while the upstairs rooms in the main house were painted and the new flooring went down. Their mother had turned the third bedroom in the cottage into a craft room a couple of years earlier, and he wasn’t about to let his baby sister sleep on the couch.
He showered and dressed, dismissing the idea of a suit and settling on dark jeans, a white shirt and a jacket. Suits and ties were not his thing. Sure, Valene was a sophisticated and educated woman, but Jake wasn’t about to become someone he wasn’t to impress her. He was a rancher, a cowboy, more at home in his Stetson and denim than hand-tailored suits. He kept the suits for business and the denim for pleasure.
And a date with Valene Fortunado was definitely about pleasure.
For two long days he’d been thinking about her, remembering her lovely brown eyes and the perfectly shaped mouth he was hopeful he’d get to kiss at some point.
He drove the Sierra, despite some misgivings, and had to park down the street from the restaurant because the vehicle was so big. Toscano’s was a nice place, well regarded and hard to get a reservation at. But he’d been there a lot, with Patrice when they were married and many times for business lunches and for dinner. The owner, Serge, knew him, since the Double Rock supplied their beef, and he’d been happy to make a reservation for Jake.
Jake lingered by the door a few minutes to seven and felt relief pitch in his chest when he saw Valene’s familiar-looking Lexus pull into a newly vacant parking space down the block. He