Sunday night, Blake stared at Jill’s suitcase where it stood in the hall next to the guest room. It had become his worst enemy because of all it represented. The last two days had shown him a new side of Jill—a laid-back and comfortable side. He’d never tell her that he found her comfortable, but it was the most attractive quality he’d ever found in a woman. She might stay in big cities and work with some of the wealthiest people in the country, but the way she belonged in his home stunned him.
He had to take her back to Dallas, but he wanted her here. Here, joking with his ranch manager and stable hands, spending time with Hayden. Here, helping him cook meals and wash dishes. Here, relaxing with him on the porch, watching the stars come out and the clouds sweep across the landscape. Here, but not in his guest room. And looking at her suitcase, packed and ready to leave made him realize just how much he wanted her here as his wife, for keeps.
She came out with her purse over her shoulder. She tried to smile, but it came off looking forlorn. “I’m ready if you are.”
Blake ground his teeth and picked up her bag. Too bad her statement only referred to leaving and not to moving their relationship to the next level. Like marriage.
He stopped, causing Jill to run straight into his back. He felt her brace herself with her hands splayed across his back. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” He got moving again because if he didn’t, he might make some sort of crazy proposal, and she was nowhere near ready to consider one. He’d take things slow and give her time to decide what she wanted.
When they got out to the truck, Hayden was already waiting with her earbuds in her ears, focused on her phone screen. Blake glanced at her as he opened Jill’s door. “She hates leaving the ranch. That’s her way of coping.”
“I get it. I might need a coping mechanism too.”
Blake stowed her bags next to his and Hayden’s in the back of the truck and got in. As he backed the truck up and headed down the driveway, he watched her staring out the dark windows, trying to catch her last sight of the house. “I’m glad you had fun.”
“This place is heaven on earth. Why don’t you just dump the whole billionaire executive thing and make this your life?”
Her question warmed his heart. He’d never thought she might be after his money. In fact, he would be glad if she’d go after him for any reason. But that statement proved how little she cared about his bank account. “Holding the welfare of so many people in my hands is not something I take lightly. And even though I was impressed when Nate Haverton chose to step away from some of the business world, I doubt I will ever give it up.”
“You’re always so decided about things. I always thought I knew what I wanted, but lately I’m being pulled in different directions.” She held out her hand to him as if seeking comfort. Or an anchor.
He took it and curled his fingers through hers, driving with one hand. “Talk to me about it.
We have a whole hour-long drive ahead of us.”
Jill looked back over her shoulder at Hayden. “Are you sure?”
Blake nodded. “She won’t hear us.” When she didn’t speak right away, he prompted, “Tell me about the right man.”
“What?” she asked with a surprised laugh.
“You know, the one who got away. The one you mentioned the day we met. Remember?”
Her mouth turned down. “Oh, Brian.”
Blake hated him already. “A boyfriend?”
She nodded. “Almost a fiancée. He wanted me to marry him.”
“If he was Mr. Right, what went wrong?”
“I wouldn’t sacrifice enough for him. He wanted me to give up college for him, and I refused. At that point, I had already spent half of my life preparing to go to work for my dad. Accounting, languages, business management, social graces. You name it, I’d been learning it. And so, I turned him down and he was gone.”
“Idiot.”
This time her laughter was full, ringing out through the cab of the truck. “Me or him.”
“Him of course. Whatever he was doing, wherever he was going, his dreams weren’t more important than yours.”
“Thank you. That means a lot. I struggled with regret for years and years. Even after I got over him, I struggled with being alone. Traveling as I do, it’s impossible to have real relationships. Well, you know, we’ve talked about this before, haven’t we?”
Blake nodded. “It’s the same old question for you, isn’t it?”
Her expression grew somber, a deeper shade than sad. “Yes.” It was almost a whisper.
He ran his thumb over the back of her hand. “We could figure it out, Jill.”
“Maybe. A big part of me is desperately hoping for it, but I also don’t want to be hurt. Not by this.”
He heard the unspoken meaning in her words. This, meaning them, meant more than Mr. Right had all those years ago. He just wished he knew where to go from here. “Well, like you said, let’s get this final report taken care of and then we can figure it out without all this business stuff in the way.”
When she didn’t say anything, he squeezed her hand tighter until she looked up. All she gave him was a quick nod.
“Although, I wanted to ask you if you’d be my date for the Children’s Charity Ball on Thursday night.” Considering how close they’d been over the weekend, he didn’t doubt that she’d go with him, so he was perplexed by her answer. Actually, perplexed wasn’t strong enough. Gut-foundered more like.
“I’m sorry, Blake, but I already have a date. At least, I hope I do.”
“You hope you do? Why, so you don’t have to go with me?” Blake only realized he’d raised his voice when Jill glanced back at his sister.
“Yes. This is why I was worried about doing this before I’d wrapped up my job here.”
“It has to do with your job?”
She nodded her head, a worried pucker between her eyebrows. “I asked Trevor.”
He let go of her hand and put his back on the wheel. Dismay held him quiet long enough to make the silence awkward, but he didn’t care. “Why?”
Jill sighed. “I would prefer not to tell you.”
Blake clenched his teeth. “Really? That’s all you’re going to say?” How could they be sitting so close, but still have so much distance between them. His head whirled with confusion.
“Just remember, Blake, that I work for Nate. I have his interests in mind by keeping this to myself. But I promise that you’ll know—and approve of—everything on Friday.”
“Friday? But you’re going to the charity ball with Trevor on Thursday?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t gotten an answer from him yet.”
Blake glanced at her lovely face, illuminated by the lights over the highway he was merging onto. “Like he would turn you down.”
“I’m equally dreading his answer either way,” she said, her words soft and elusive.
***
For the rest of the week at work, Blake stewed over their words on the drive home from the ranch. It had created a wall between them. Surely, he thought, a wall that could easily be broken through, but he felt the division every time he saw her. It was an odd sensation of wanting mixed with enough hurt to keep him away. The one thought that kept him from going nuts was that he was sure she didn’t have any romantic feelings for the guy. Still, he daydreamed about humiliating ways to fire Trevor anyway.
And maybe, just maybe, the guy would turn Jill down.
Then she would walk past him, leaving him in a mist of light, floral perfume and yearning. His arms would ache with the desire to reach out and pull her tight against him. His heart would pound with awareness. No, Trevor would not turn her down. Not if he thought he had a chance of being with her.
That certainty of their date didn’t stop Blake from tracking her down at the end of the day on Thursday. He found her at her desk, typing on her laptop and biting her bottom lip in concentration. That tic of hers was beginning to drive him mad. “Jill.” Man, he sounded as nervous as a high schooler.
She looked up, and he saw her eyes soften, though her expression didn’t waver from the steady professionalism she so often exuded at work. “Yes, Blake?”
Mindful of the listening ears around them, he said, “Did you receive an answer from Trevor?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
She looked at him like his head was full of sawdust. “I told you. Yes.”
Frustrated and unable to unleash the argument he really wanted to have, he said, “You need to make your answers clearer.”
She smiled at him, but there was no warmth in it. From her tone, it was more likely a rebuke. “I will make a great many things clearer if you wish.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “That’s precisely what I’ve been hoping you’d do for the last four days.”
Jill looked around and shut her computer before putting it in her bag. “Number one, I’m going home now to get ready for my date.”
“And number two?”
She walked around her desk as she said, “That will have to wait for tomorrow. Then everything will be clear.” She paused next to him. “I’ll see you tonight, Mr. McDaniel.”
He watched her walk away, furious to realize that he was not the only male eye in the room gawking at her.
He spun and walked back to his office, passing Ivey’s along the way. He’d been avoiding her all week, which was an unmanageable situation with your personal assistant, but he needed to talk to her now. He stepped into her office, realizing that he’d never before stepped beyond the door frame. Had he always had an unconscious caution where she was concerned?
“Ivey, I am afraid that my date for this evening has fallen through. I can hardly go alone since I am one of the organizers. Would you be willing to go with me, even though it’s so last minute?”
She looked up, her expression surprised, rather like she’d won the lottery. She quickly controlled her features however, saying, “I could manage it. I was planning to go anyway and have an appropriate dress.”
“Excellent. Let me know what time you’d like me to pick you up. Just send it to my calendar.”
As he walked back to his office, Blake couldn’t help but think that Jill would hate to see Ivey on his arm. He might not want to spend any more time with the woman than he had to, but annoying Jill certainly made it worth the effort.