Cowboy Undercover. Alice Sharpe

controlled man? The Jameson of the past had been more passionate. Especially with her sister. Brooke remembered overhearing an argument they’d had when her sister was preparing to go to college. She had been passing by the family room when she had heard them.

      “I don’t want to be without you,” Meredith had said near tears.

      “You know my place is here.”

      “It doesn’t have to be. You’re good at so many things. Why can’t you attend college in the East with me?”

      “I told you what I plan to do.”

      “You need to stretch your horizons. Get away from farming—”

      “You know I’m not just a farmer. You say that just to annoy me.”

      “I’m trying to find your sense of humor.”

      “I don’t joke about the ranch.”

      “That’s the problem. You already sound like an old man and you haven’t even reached twenty yet. Why do you take things so seriously? You don’t need to work so hard. You have enough money and the ranch basically runs itself.”

      “By itself?” he said in surprise. “You talk about the ranch like it’s some toy that runs on batteries. Do you know how much it costs to get a cow bred? Or fed? How about vet expenses? And then there are the chickens and—”

      “Your family has more than enough money to take care of all of that, and you know it.”

      “It’s not about money. It’s about business and I’m going to run it well. For the sake of my family and the sake of our children. Meredith, you know I love you and I will provide the best for us. But my place is here. I like being my own boss and living my life by my rules.”

      “You mean your family’s rules,” she snapped.

      “They’ve served me well. This is home.”

      But, back then, Brooke knew her sister hadn’t felt the same about ranching and the land when she was dating him, although she’d pretended she did. Early on, Meredith had always wanted to get away from Granger and thought she could persuade Jameson to do the same. Meredith didn’t understand Jameson the way Brooke did. Her sister didn’t know how much her teasing words hurt him. As she listened to the argument, Brooke had wanted to run into the room and tell Jameson how much she knew he loved his ranch and his family, and that, if he’d have her, she’d never leave him. But at that time, just like now, he didn’t see her in that way. And now she hoped she could change that.

      “So what can I do for you?” Jameson asked, his deep voice pulling Brooke out of her memory.

      Everything, she wanted to say. For a moment she didn’t know herself anymore. She didn’t know how to behave with him. She was no longer the awkward girl of fifteen, and he certainly wasn’t twenty-two. He was older, a little harder, almost a stranger to her, despite his welcome and patience. But, in spite of her apprehension she knew he was a man she could trust.

      “Brooke?”

      “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, shifting in her seat. “I was just wondering how to say this.”

      “Don’t think about it—just say it.”

      She gripped her hands in her lap and met his eyes. “I want you to marry me.”

      Chapter 3

      Jameson didn’t move. He didn’t smile or frown or give any indication of how her request had affected him. He just looked at her with an inscrutable expression.

      Brooke gripped her hands tighter. She couldn’t have thought he’d get on his knees and propose, although she’d dreamed of a moment like that many times. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it hadn’t been this. She could take him being outraged, shocked or even appalled, but his dark steady gaze held her paralyzed. She didn’t know if that was a good sign or not. She’d said what she’d wanted and she knew she needed to explain but she didn’t know how.

      “I know this seems crazy,” she said in a rush, desperate to fill the silence. “But I don’t know who else to ask. After my father’s death things just went—well, I don’t know the right word for it really. Then the will was read and he has this requirement in it. And the creditors are knocking down the door and I don’t know where else to turn and—”

      Jameson crossed the room, sat down beside her and rested his big, firm hands on her shoulders. “Breathe.”

      Instead she stopped breathing, the feel of his hands seeming to burn through the cloth of her thin cotton jacket, his nearness leaving her weak and unable to move. “I’ve forgotten how.”

      A tiny smile softened his mouth. “Brooke, it’ll be okay.”

      She wanted to believe him; she had to. The alternative was too painful. Brooke took a deep breath, knowing that fainting at his feet would only annoy him. “All right.”

      He searched her eyes. “Good. Now tell me what’s going on. Start from the beginning.”

      “Meredith and I had expected to inherit the ranch.”

      “But you won’t?” he asked when she lowered her gaze.

      Brooke licked her lips, wondering if he was even aware that his hands were still on her shoulders. They anchored her, making her feel less alone. With her father gone and her sister away she had no family to turn to. “Dad put a strange codicil in the will. He stipulated that we must both be married before the ranch can be passed on to us. Because Meredith is married, she’s eligible to get her half.”

      Jameson sat back and released her. It was as if the sound of her sister’s name built an instant barrier between them. “But Meredith has no interest in ranch life.”

      Brooke met his gaze. “I know, and she’s been approached by a private broker who is offering her a fortune to sell her half.” Ironic as it sounded, Brooke knew she couldn’t do that because her father stipulated that in order to inherit the ranch they both had to be married. The only solution Brooke had been able to come up with was that once she was married she would buy out her sister’s half.

      “What happens if you don’t marry?” Jameson asked.

      Brooke sighed. “The ranch will remain with Mitch, our ranch foreman.” Mitch Stokel had been at her father’s side for years. He was trustworthy and a hard worker. “Daddy feared that I wouldn’t be able to run the ranch on my own, and he’s right.”

      “Then what’s the rush? You’re a beautiful woman. You’ll have no trouble finding a husband when you’re ready.”

      He thinks I’m beautiful! Brooke had to bite back a smile of satisfaction. She knew she was attractive, and she had grown used to male attention. But Jameson’s was the only one that mattered to her. If he liked her looks, did that also mean he was attracted to her? “I don’t have time to wait. In the will he also stipulated that if I’m not married within thirty days of the reading of the will, ownership of the ranch will legally pass over to Mitch. I’ll be allowed to stay on the ranch as long as I live, and I’ll receive a handsome share of the profit if Mitch ever decides to sell, but the ranch won’t be mine. And, as I said, Meredith is anxious to get her hands on her half so that she can make money from it. I don’t know why he wrote the will the way he did. It seems as if it was his strange way of making sure both his daughters would be married. I don’t understand.”

      Jameson rubbed his chin and frowned. “This has to be illegal. It’s blackmail. Have you gotten an attorney to—”

      “I’ve had my attorneys look the will over and it’s ironclad. I think, odd though it may seem, my father did this to help me.” As a child, Brooke had always been more expressive than Meredith about how much she didn’t want to stay on the ranch when she grew up. Although she knew her way around, she’d always been more interested in pursuing her art. She made Western-style pottery.