Long Way Home. Gena Dalton

aren’t even out the gas money to haul her home.”

      “Remember when we helped Dexter vaccinate his goats for gas money?”

      He got his reward. She smiled then, just like she used to.

      For one, two, then three long beats of his heart, they looked at each other and Jo Lena smiled at him.

      The smile made him feel like king of the world, just the way it always used to do. But she was different now. He didn’t know her anymore. Deep down, she probably hated him.

      If he had one grain of good sense left in his body, he’d let her have this mare and be rid of Jo Lena. Never see her again.

      But the smile gave him a flash of power he hadn’t felt for a while. Since before he got hurt and became a “victim” the first time.

      He wanted, more than anything, to reach out and brush back the strand of straight, silky hair that had come loose from the braid. Like in the old days.

      “So, Jo Lena,” he drawled, teasing her, “exactly what is it you like about this horse?”

      She lost her smile but she didn’t break the look. The serious, no-nonsense expression came back into her eyes.

      “I have some good memories and some bad ones,” she said.

      “Like what?”

      “Oh, like when we had so much fun playing bareback tag in the pecan orchard in the twilight.”

      The memory hit him like a blow. It nearly stopped his heart.

      “And the bad ones?” he said through the tightness in his chest.

      “I hate it when somebody runs off from me,” she said calmly. “Horse or man.”

      He wouldn’t let himself look away. He made himself hold her gaze. He deserved that and more.

      She was a woman now, Jo Lena was, with all her girlishness gone. A strong, beautiful woman he didn’t know.

      Give her the mare. He should give her the mare so she’d go.

      “Jo Lena,” he said. “This mare is not for sale. For any price.”

      “Bobbie Ann! Bobbie Ann!”

      Lily Rae jumped off the fence and ran toward the house.

      Monte and Jo Lena turned to see his mother on the back porch. And a vehicle coming down the road from the highway.

      “Big family breakfast!” Bobbie Ann called. “Jo Lena, will you stay?”

      Well. Forget the poor prodigal needing to face one thing at a time. First Jo Lena and now his brothers.

      Lily Rae turned, yelling, “Please, Mommy, can we stay? Please?”

      Jo Lena nodded yes.

      Then she looked at Monte.

      “Annie’s my mare and you know it. Until we make a deal, I’m staying.”

      Monte looked at her straight.

      “Well, I hope you brought your suitcase,” he said. “I own her now and I’m not selling.”

      Chapter Two

      The look she gave him then was enough to make him flash back through the last six years in a heartbeat. It was Jo Lena’s famous, mule-stubborn, I-will-not-give-up-or-give-in look.

      “I already have clothes here,” she said. “In fact, I have my own room.”

      She turned her back on him and started for the house. He stared after her for a moment, then he caught up with her as fast as he could with his leg stiff and his back hurting like crazy.

      His head was hurting worse, though. And he was losing his mind. Was this jealousy he felt, jealousy that she evidently was in his family and he was out?

      No, it was irritation. Was he never going to be rid of her, even if he sold her the mare?

      “You live here? Why? What about your husband?”

      Jo Lena flicked him a glance and walked faster.

      “I don’t have a husband.”

      He was losing his mind. He knew that because suddenly, he knew what he was feeling—and it was fury. Some no-good rounder had left Jo Lena, who was a fine person in every respect, alone with a child to raise.

      “Who is he, Jo Lena?”

      She threw him another, more irritated, look and lengthened her stride. Jo Lena wasn’t as tall as he was, but she had long legs and had always been able to match him, stride for stride.

      “Who is who, Monte?”

      “The bum who left you…”

      Without slowing a bit, she turned and gave him another, sharper, more significant look. It stopped his tongue.

      It nearly stopped his feet.

      Well, yes, he himself had left her. But he hadn’t married her and given her a child and then left her.

      “Monte,” Bobbie Ann called. “It is so good to see you, son.”

      He was close enough now to see the joy in his mom’s face. His mother loved him. Even if Jo Lena had thrown him out of her heart before he got to the county line six years ago, and even if his brothers and sisters were still mad at him, his mother loved him.

      “It’s good to see you, too, Ma,” he said.

      Suddenly, it was true. So true he didn’t know how he’d lived all those long days without seeing the love in her sparkling blue eyes. He went to her and hugged her, kissed her on the cheek. She held on to him for a minute.

      The car drove into the yard behind him and the engine shut down.

      “Here’s your brother,” she said. “Everybody’s so glad you’re home.”

      Warily, he turned to look. It really didn’t matter which brother. Neither of them had any use for him.

      Clint and Cait were getting out of a big, white SUV. He’d never met her, because he hadn’t come home for John’s funeral, but this must be Cait, who was his sister-in-law twice over.

      Monte couldn’t help but watch. Cait, clearly, was pregnant and Clint was positively tender as he helped her step from the running board to the ground.

      He lost his tenderness, though, when he looked at Monte.

      “Hey,” he said. “Here’s the prodigal son.”

      Cait gave Clint a quick look, almost like a warning, then she smiled at Monte.

      “Are we ever glad to see you,” she said. “I’ve been craving Bobbie Ann’s biscuits and I hate to show up on her doorstep every single morning without an invitation.”

      They all laughed, Clint introduced Cait and she gave him her hand, then Clint shook with him, muttering, “It’s about time you came home.”

      Monte thought about that as they all moved across the back porch and into the kitchen, milling around, trying to make small talk. It made him bristle. No doubt Clint and Jackson both would soon let him know, in no uncertain terms, where he stood with them, but he didn’t care. He had a legitimate gripe about each of them, too, and if they didn’t know what it was, he’d tell them.

      Fortunately, Bobbie Ann took charge. She shooed Monte upstairs to his old room to shower and change, saying that breakfast would be ready in thirty minutes, and then she gave everybody else, including Lily Rae, a job to do.

      Monte escaped gratefully. A shower would help clear his head and he would love the feel of clean clothes. Not to mention a chance to calm his heart about Jo Lena.

      How could she have let go of him so soon? Let go enough to marry someone else and have that someone’s baby within a year?