He wandered back into the bathroom, pocketed all the pills and a large bottle of aspirin. Pulling on the stolen coat, he took one last look around the kitchen, found some stale cookies and left Mobridge behind.
THE NEXT MORNING Josey woke to find Jack standing on the small balcony outside their room. He looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. For so long, she’d been so involved in her own problems that she’d been blind to anyone else’s. That was what had gotten her into this trouble. Had she been paying attention—
She slid out of bed, wrapping her robe around her, and stepped out on the balcony next to him. Without giving it any thought, she put her arm around Jack as she joined him.
He glanced over at her, his smile shy, apologetic. “I’m sorry I snapped at you last night when I should have thanked you. But I was upset. You shouldn’t have followed me.”
She looked over at him, her eyes narrowing. “You mean the way you shouldn’t have untied my scarf?”
He had the good sense to look chastised. “I wanted to help you.”
“And why do you think I followed you last night?”
His gaze locked with hers. “You shouldn’t be worrying about me. You have enough—”
“You can tell me what you’re after,” she said, lowering her voice. “I’ll help you. You helped me by bringing me here.” He started to argue the point. “Don’t even bother to tell me you didn’t know I was in some kind of trouble.”
He smiled at her and touched her face. “Still,” he said, shaking his head, “it’s probably better that we don’t know everything about each other.”
His words cut like a knife, even though she agreed with him. They both had dark secrets, and yet living here pretending to be lovers was another kind of hell.
She pushed off the balcony railing and into the cool darkness of the bedroom, only to stop short at the sight of Enid standing in the middle of the room holding a stack of clean towels.
“I didn’t think anyone was here,” she said. Her expression left no doubt in Josey’s mind that she’d heard everything.
JACK MENTALLY KICKED himself at the hurt expression on Josey’s face as she’d left him on the balcony.
A moment later, he heard Enid’s voice and swore. That damned sneaky woman. She’d probably heard everything. His fault. He should have been more careful.
Enid would take what she’d heard to his grandmother, sure as the devil.
But with a start, he realized he didn’t care. Let her run to Pepper. Maybe it would be better if Pepper sent him packing. Hadn’t he always known he might leave here empty-handed?
The bedroom door closed behind Enid, and he saw Josey standing in the middle of the room looking worried over what the woman had overheard. A wave of desire washed over him so strong, he thought it might drown him.
“She heard everything,” Josey said, as he stepped into the bedroom, closing the French doors behind him.
He nodded, realizing he would have only one regret if he had to leave here—and it had nothing to do with what was or wasn’t behind that rock wall in the closed wing.
“We should get down to breakfast,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
She didn’t move as he stepped deeper into the room. “I think I’ll skip breakfast,” she said.
He started to talk her out of it, hating the thought of eating alone with just his grandmother and his aunt. But he saw the stubborn determination in the set of her jaw and decided to let it go.
They’d reached an impasse.
“I think I’ll go for a horseback ride. Would you like—”
“No, thank you. I’ll just stay in my room and read. I have a headache.” Her words made it clear who’d given it to her.
“Should I have Enid send you up something to eat?”
Josey gave him a look of warning.
“I’ll tell her not to disturb you, then.” He stood for a moment, wanting to say all the things he felt, but unable to find the words. It was one thing to pretend they were husband and wife. It was another to get too close, and yet something like metal to magnet drew him to her. He wanted this woman. And not just for a week.
He had to fight every muscle within him not to reach for her.
As he descended the stairs, he found his grandmother waiting for him and groaned inwardly. Could this morning get any worse?
“Jack, may I speak with you?” Pepper led the way down to the parlor before he could answer.
The moment he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him as his grandmother instructed, she asked, “Why did you come here?”
Enid hadn’t wasted any time. “Because you invited me and I wanted to see the ranch again.”
His honest answer seemed to surprise his grandmother, who raised a brow. “I know you blame me for your unhappy childhood.”
“My childhood wasn’t unhappy.”
“I kept your father from marrying your mother.”
“Only until I was six. My father was an alcoholic and my mother spent her life trying to save him. Worse things happen to kids.” He thought of his grandmother’s children, that awful room on the third floor and what he’d seen scratched into the walls.
“I’m no fool,” she snapped. “I know you want something from me, but I don’t think it’s my money.”
As Josey said, the woman was sharp. “I have my own money, so it seems I came here to enjoy the ranch.” He got to his feet. “Speaking of that, I’m going for a horseback ride.”
“Alone?”
“Josey is resting. Please tell Enid she doesn’t want to be disturbed.”
Another raised brow. “Enid seemed to think that the two of you are going your separate ways when your week here is up.”
“Enid should mind her own business.” He saw that his grandmother had no intention of letting him leave it at that and sighed. “Josey and I, well, we think we might
