Jesse: Merry Christmas, Cowboy. Lynnette Kent

the suite his parents always reserved for the Finals. In past years, J.W. and Anne had occupied the master bedroom, Elly had taken the room with only one queen-size bed and the four brothers had slept wherever they found space in the remaining bedroom and on various couches.

      This year, the other Cody kids were staying in their own rooms with their new partners, leaving Jesse his choice of both secondary bedrooms. Standing in the silent living room he realized that, like everything else about the Cody family, the time they spent together at the Finals this year was going to be very different.

      And he didn’t like the changes. He wanted his normal family back—his dad as the honest, upfront husband Jesse had always believed he was, his mother as a contented and cherished wife, his brothers and sister as the playmates and allies he’d grown up with.

      What he did not appreciate was having a new brother who’d already appropriated his best friend and might very well beat him in the championship and take over his job at the ranch. And he did not appreciate being insulted by a woman he was just trying to be nice to…especially when he couldn’t swear that his dad wouldn’t pull exactly the kind of trick she accused him of.

      J. W. Cody had always been a canny negotiator, capable of wheeling and dealing to get the best advantage for the Cottonwood Ranch. Jesse couldn’t think of a single reason to doubt the possibility that J.W. would manipulate his bastard son with gifts and attention to further some purpose of his own. If Jesse asked for the truth, his dad would say whatever suited him at the moment.

      So he’d have to ferret out proof of what J.W. planned, if anything, on his own. Just like he’d had to hire William Jackson, Elly’s fiancé, to prove Mark’s paternity—all in the name of looking out for the Codys and the Cottonwood Ranch.

      Walking into the bedroom Elly used to occupy, Jesse dropped facedown on the bed. Sometimes, protecting the ranch and the family felt like a burden he just couldn’t carry another step.

      And sometimes, these days, he was tempted to believe that Mark Hansen, always strapped for cash and unaware of his heritage as a Cody, had been the luckier man.

      WHEN JANIE TOLD MARK what she’d accused J. W. Cody of, Mark stared at her in much the same way Jesse had. “Why would you think something like that, let alone say it out loud? To Jesse, of all people?”

      Nicki’s expression conveyed the same disapproval. “The Codys aren’t like that, Janie. Especially Jesse. You of all people should know how honest he is.”

      “Maybe Jesse’s being duped, just like the two of you.” She felt all the more aggravated because she knew she’d been wrong to bring it up. Sometimes her mouth galloped off before her brain settled fully into the saddle. “J. W. Cody isn’t above using Jesse to get what he wants.”

      “And just what do you think that is?” Mark stood with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, as if the position helped him keep his temper.

      “Well…” Janie gathered her thoughts together. “If he’s seen by everybody at the National Finals being nice to you—taking care of your mother, paying for me to be here, who knows what else he’s got planned—that’ll be the story people accept about you and the Codys. Then, back at home, he can cut you off and nobody will believe it wasn’t your idea. Or—”

      Mark made a chopping motion with one stiff hand. “Cut me off? What does that even mean?”

      “He could refuse to see you again. Refuse to give you a job, or anything else you’re entitled to as his son.”

      “What makes you think I want a job from J. W. Cody? Or anything else, except acknowledgment that he’s my father?”

      “Why would you have accepted this invitation, otherwise?”

      Mark’s cheeks reddened, and after a quick glance at Nicki, he looked at the carpet between the toes of his boots.

      “If you intended to remain independent, then I would think you would have been here on your own, not letting the Codys buy you a fancy room and meals and…whatever.”

      “We thought it would be polite to accept,” Nicki said after a pause. “A gesture of good faith.”

      “But then you involved Mom. And me. That leaves us indebted to a man we’re not at all related to.”

      Mark lifted his head. “The Codys don’t expect to be paid back.”

      “I’m not talking about money. As Nicki just pointed out, there are other mediums of exchange.”

      Her brother looked confused.

      “Hospitality is a gift,” Janie explained. “And it’s one I can’t possibly give back. So now I’m in the Codys’ debt. As are you and Nicki. But at least you could work for him, if you wanted to and he asked. I’ll just be at a permanent disadvantage.”

      After another pause, Mark made a gesture of surrender and sat down on the sofa, bringing Nicki with him. “I still don’t completely understand your point. I think, and Nicki does, too—” his wife nodded when he looked at her “—we think the Codys just want to have the family all together, as they do for every National Finals. If there’s more to it, I’ll deal with that when it comes. But I haven’t by any means decided that I want to be part of the Cody operation. Nicki and I haven’t really had time to talk about it. We were waiting until after the championship.” He curved his arm around Nicki’s waist, and from the gentle motion of his hand along his wife’s hip, Janie could tell that his thoughts had taken a different direction.

      “Fine. Once I’ve unpacked, I’ll apologize to Jesse, and I’ll try to keep my suspicions to myself. See you guys later.” No one, she noticed, was asking her to stay and keep them company. She didn’t turn around to discover why no one answered.

      In the bedroom on the other side of her mother’s, she spent some time hanging up the clothes that would wrinkle, lining up the three pairs of boots she’d brought and laying out her makeup in an orderly arrangement. She didn’t usually wear makeup, and today she could see why. Nobody appeared to have noticed that she looked any different at all.

      Of course, she’d destroyed any favorable impression Jesse might possibly have by attacking his motives and those of his family. “Think before you speak,” her mother used to say when Janie’s big mouth got her in trouble at school. A lesson she clearly had yet to learn.

      She touched up her mascara, shadow and powder anyway, then wandered across the room to stand at the window, gazing out over a psychedelic landscape of hotels, casinos, marriage chapels and traffic. She could just see the ridge of black mountains at the edge of the desert where a pink-and-gold sky anticipated the sunset. Her first night in Las Vegas, and she had no idea where to go or what to do.

      Well, except find Jesse and apologize.

      She knocked loudly on the door of the Cody suite, then waited, rubbing her thumbs over her fingertips in the nervous habit she’d never managed to conquer.

      Jesse didn’t answer the door. He might have gone out again. Maybe he’d planned dinner with friends, people who didn’t accuse him of being the bad guy. He might have set up a date with a woman who knew how to keep her mouth shut.

      Janie debated knocking again, but instead turned to go back to her room. She would check in on her mom, maybe get something to eat downstairs, then—

      “Janie?”

      She swung around with a gasp. Jesse stood in the open door, shirttail half in, half out, rubbing the top of his head.

      “You were asleep.” She stated the obvious. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

      “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He glanced at his watch. “Almost five o’clock. What’s going on?”

      She swallowed. “I, um, wanted to talk to you.”

      He tilted his head to the side and just looked at her for a few seconds. Then he took a deep breath and stepped back.