She was entertaining, filled with warmth, and loved her grandson above all things, Sallie had heard.
“It’s about time Jacob got off his butt and brought a lady friend to visit me,” Mary Ann told her as Jacob stepped outside to talk to his foreman after a light lunch. “I was beginning to despair that he’d do something other than watching his cows.”
The affection in her voice touched Sallie. Yes, rumors were correct, Mary Ann Donovan treasured her grandson. What would that feel like? she wondered. Grandparents or parents that so loved a child that their voices filled with it when talking about them?
“I think that’s a qualification for ranchers,” Sallie stated, hiding her grin as Mary Ann sat a cup of tea in front of her. “Watching their cows is high on their list of priorities I’ve heard.”
Mary Ann gave a roll of her almost sapphire blue eyes. “His priority should be a wife and babies.” She sighed longingly as she watched Sallie with just an edge of calculation. “I’m not getting any younger, you know.”
Sallie sipped at her tea and watched Mary Ann patiently. It was obvious she’d already decided Sallie was going to provide those grandbabies.
At another time, in another life, Sallie thought sadly. How she would have loved to have that future with him.
“Have you mentioned this to Jacob?” Lowering her cup, Sallie tried to keep the conversation from focusing too heavily in her direction.
“Oh, just every day.” A flash of her youth filled her face as she laughed back at Sallie. “Perhaps you should mention it, dear. The two of you seem rather close.” Those bright eyes flicked to Sallie’s neck.
Heat swept up her face. Sallie felt it with an edge of resignation. The marks didn’t embarrass her, but the fact that this spry little woman knew how they got there wasn’t comfortable.
“That wouldn’t be a good idea, Mrs. Donovan,” Sallie told her softly. “Jacob needs a wife that will make him happy. One that can stay, have those babies, and build a life with him. I’m not that woman.”
Because monsters followed her. Because if she was found, she would have to run.
If she wasn’t caught.
And God help her if she was caught.
Mary Ann sat back in her chair, her cup cradled between both hands as she lifted it to her lips, and Sallie could have sworn she saw the barest edge of a satisfied little smile just before she sipped at the tea.
Now she knew where Jacob had inherited that look. It could be downright dangerous to her and to Jacob, if she weren’t careful.
* * *
Jacob reentered the house through the back door, just in time to hear his grandmother’s suggestion and Sallie’s answer. He’d spent some time while he was in the CIA in interrogation, so he knew nuances to tone and expression, and what his grandmother likely didn’t catch, he did.
Sallie was scared, and it wasn’t the fear of a woman facing an emotion or a man she was uncertain of. Sallie was frightened of something far more tangible.
“Well, Jacob can be a rather determined man,” his grandmother said, not really a warning or statement. “Once he sets his mind to something, he doesn’t fail. And I like you, Sallie,” she said, surprising him and obviously Sallie as well. “You seem like a good girl. But you have a spirit. Standing up to Jacob when he’s surly won’t always be comfortable but I don’t think you’d have trouble with it.”
Only once had he failed, Jacob thought, stepping outside the house just as silently as he entered it. Identifying the young woman that drifted through his dreams for so many years, her face blurred until the day he met Sallie.
Hell. He hated the thought of nosing into her past without her knowledge of it. He’d put that behind him when he left the agency and swore he wouldn’t let his suspicious nature mar any relationship he had. Over the years, he’d accepted that somehow, somewhere, he lost something or someone important to him. He’d been in too many blast areas and wounded far too often as he navigated the covert world he’d worked within.
Suspicion and coincidence were two different things, though. There were too many coincidences where Sallie was concerned, and far too many signs that there was more to her than a transplanted Oklahoma girl determined to live her life without the heartbreak most women suffered.
And now, the fear that flashed for the briefest second in her expression and shadowed her voice assured him there was more to her.
There were times he cursed the abilities he brought with him out of that damned agency. He’d been recruited straight out of boot camp at eighteen and worked exclusively with the CIA until twenty-five. That last mission had nearly killed him. While lying in that hospital, he’d known it was time to go home.
Walking quickly around the house to the front door, he stepped inside, ensuring his grandmother, as well as Sallie, were aware of his entrance. Both women looked toward him as he entered the house, his grandmother’s expression was quieter than he expected, and Sallie’s was that cool mask that showed nothing but polite interest. He hated it.
“Sorry it took so long.” Striding the open living room to the dining room, he kissed his grandmother’s cheek before giving Sallie a slow, easy grin. “Come for a walk with me. I’ll even introduce you to my favorite horse.”
There was a marginal warming in her gaze and that shadow of fear dissipated.
Taking her hand Jacob led her from the house for a walk to the stables. The soft breeze drifting through the valley softened the summer’s heat. There was still a stiffness in her body, a wariness that hadn’t eased away.
Pointing out the two barns he explained the different uses for them as he led her to the stables. He didn’t have a favorite horse, really, but he was damned if he hadn’t been desperate to get the fear out of her eyes. He did have his best horse. The chestnut stallion was temperamental as a two-year-old when carrying a rider, but gentle as a lapdog with the saddle off.
“He’s beautiful,” Sallie said softly as the horse leaned his head over the stall door for attention.
“Ornery as hell.” He chuckled as he leaned against the wall next to her as the horse nickered softly. “Put a saddle on his back and he becomes Satan’s child.”
Damn he wanted to kiss her. Wanted to taste her kiss while that gentle curve of enjoyment was in place on her lips.
Sallie glanced back at him with a smile. “He’s here to look pretty, not carry your heavy butt around.”
His brow arched. “You look pretty, he looks like a horse.”
A soft blush stole up her cheeks as another smile tugged at her lips.
“He’s pretty too,” she assured him, easing her hand from where she’d been gently stroking the stallion’s face. “And he knows it.”
Turning to him, she lifted her head and her pretty, pale blue eyes still soft with pleasure. She was irresistible. And Jacob was a hungry man. Cupping her cheek, he lowered his head, watching the need that filled her expression.
Slowly, keeping his gaze on hers and watching her eyes darken, her lashes lower, he let his lips brush against hers in a kiss filled with promise.
Sallie knew she was in over her head, had known it since the night she’d allowed him to take her home from that bar. As Jacob eased her closer, his arms going around her, his lips parting hers to make way for the slow glide of his tongue, she felt another part of her heart melt and open for him. Her lips parted, took his kiss, met his tongue with her own, and a part of her began weeping with the loss she could feel coming closer.