Josie stared at him. “Whose side are you on?”
“Yours, which is why I’m going to answer your brother’s question as honestly as I can. The truth is, I don’t know how I feel about our relationship.”
Josie’s heart twisted. She hadn’t wanted Alex to force a declaration of love, but she would have liked something a little bit more encouraging than I don’t know how I feel.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Alex said. “And it’s why I’ve been worried about my sister taking up with you again. You dropped her before, so if you’re not particularly invested, why wouldn’t you repeat your past performance?”
Jack tensed. “I’ve already told her I wouldn’t hurt her again.”
“Which means what, exactly? That you’ll let her down easy this time, give her more advance notice that you’re checking out of the relationship?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I’ve asked around, Chance. It’s no secret that whenever you have a girlfriend, you’re the one who does the leaving. From all reports, you’re what the shrinks call commitment-phobic. So what are your plans for Josie?”
“I don’t know.”
Josie decided enough was enough. “Alex, I appreciate your concern, but I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself.” She turned to Jack. “I’ll see you tomorrow at nine for our riding lesson.”
“Maybe it’s not such a good—”
“I’ll be there at nine. That was our agreement.”
Jack sighed. “I’ll be there.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Josie.” Alex trained his full attention on Jack. “I’m going to respect her wishes and butt out, but I swear, if she ends up in tears, you’ll hear from me, and I don’t give a damn how old-fashioned, archaic, and paternalistic that might be.”
“Understood.” Jack tipped his hat in Josie’s direction. “See you in the morning.” Then he walked out of the bar without looking back.
“Josie, I sure as hell wish that you’d—”
“Don’t say it, Alex. I have a very good idea what the risks are after tonight. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed. Feel free to have a nightcap.”
“I just might do that.”
“Then lock up when you’re done.” Josie walked out the front door, the same one Jack had used. It was the closest route to the stairway at the side of the building that led to her apartment. She’d always meant to have another stairway built inside that ran from her office up to the second-floor apartment.
If that stairway had existed, she never would have made love with Jack in the office tonight knowing Alex could come down the stairs at any time. But the office was a self-contained unit, which is why she and Jack had made love there so many times, including tonight.
Obviously Alex had become suspicious when she hadn’t come upstairs right away after the bar closed. He’d appointed himself her protector, and after the way she’d sobbed on the phone to him ten months ago, she couldn’t really blame him. She couldn’t pour out her troubles and then chide him for interfering in her life. That wasn’t fair, and she’d tell him so… tomorrow.
Tonight she needed a hot bath and some time alone to think this through. Alex was right that Jack had shied away from commitment his entire adult life. That went for his romantic relationships and his dedication to the ranch. When his father was killed, he’d been forced to take control of the ranch, but she sensed he wasn’t happy about that.
She wasn’t about to force him into making a commitment to her. Maybe she’d kidded herself that he was moving in that direction, but Alex’s questions, unwelcome though they’d been, had told her a great deal.
As she closed the door to her bathroom and ran water into the tub, she thought about Jack’s reaction when Alex had pressed him for answers. He didn’t know. She believed he was telling the truth, and that meant she had some decisions to make. They wouldn’t be easy.
Jack wasn’t sure what to expect when Josie showed up the next morning, so he packed for every contingency. Her breezy manner when she climbed out of her Bronco and came over to the hitching post gave him no clues, either. Ten months ago he’d been able to read her moods, but she’d changed.
She wasn’t nearly as open as she used to be, and he had himself to blame for that. But she was here, and she wanted to go for a ride. Her brother hadn’t convinced her to dump him. That was something, anyway.
She untied Destiny from the hitching post before mounting up. With only two days of lessons, and interrupted lessons at that, she’d picked up a fair amount of information about how to deal with horses. He wasn’t surprised. She was quick, which was one of the things that had attracted him.
He patted his saddle bag. “Sarah packed us some homemade brownies, so I brought along some bottled water.”
“That was nice of her.”
“Yeah, it was.” He’d dodged Sarah’s questions about how the riding was going. She was well aware that he’d gone into town last night. Not much got past his stepmother. He’d avoided any conversation about his trip to town, too.
But then, he’d never been a blabbermouth, so not talking about himself wasn’t anything new. She was watching him, though, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going through some sort of testing period.
A soft breeze blew across the meadow as they rode through it. Once again they had a glorious day of blue sky and puffy clouds, sweet-smelling sage and a hawk circling overhead. Yet something was off, and Jack suspected last night’s confrontation had something to do with the uneasy feeling between him and Josie.
He thought about suggesting a trot and decided against it. For reasons he’d rather not examine, he wanted to take it easy today. He wanted Josie to be happy with her riding experience and happy with him. He wasn’t convinced that she was, even though she acted cheerful enough.
She turned to look at him. “Tell me again why you insist on calling your stepmother by her first name.”
He met her steady gaze. “Is that a trick question?”
“Maybe.”
“I’m no good at trick questions.” He hated them, actually. “Tell me why you want to know.”
“Partly clarification. I vaguely remember you said that you couldn’t call her Mom because that’s what you called the person who was such a disappointment to you.”
“That’s what I said and it’s still true. But I sense something behind this whole discussion, something that has to do with last night.”
“I suppose it does.” She looked quite comfortable in the saddle as she gazed at him. “You know what? I think we should talk about this later.”
“We can talk about it never, as far as I’m concerned.”
She smiled. “Spoken like the Jack I know. Hey, can we canter? I loved the cantering part and I want to do that again.”
Relieved that they’d left a touchy subject, he pointed to a tall pine to the far right of the meadow. “That’s where we’re aiming. There’s a trail through the trees there and it leads to a really pretty spot I wanted to show you.”