Home > Claimed by the Cowboy (Sons of Chance #3)(5)

Claimed by the Cowboy (Sons of Chance #3)(5)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

“Josie.”

“That’s my name. Don’t wear it out.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry for… everything.” He doubted a global apology would do much good, but he wasn’t experienced at apologizing.

She cleared her throat. “No reason to apologize, Jack. You’re just being you. I guess you got tired of the celibate life, huh?”

“What?”

“I know you haven’t been seeing anybody since we broke up. Everybody says you’ve become a workaholic. Stands to reason that given a free night in town with no truck available, you’d look up the woman you used to have sex with. Perfectly logical.”

“Damn it to hell! That’s not why I came to see you tonight!” But it was, in a way. He’d had some vague idea that she might be glad to see him after all this time. She hadn’t hooked up with anyone, either, or at least that’s what he’d thought until he’d seen a guy standing in her doorway.

“It’s okay, Jack.”

No, it wasn’t. Everything was a gold-plated mess. He’d followed Gabe’s suggestion in hopes that he’d be able to make up with Josie and return to an uncomplicated relationship built on laughter and sex. At least he’d always considered the relationship uncomplicated.

Clearly he’d been wrong.

He didn’t know what to say that would help the situation, and Josie seemed all talked out, so they drove in silence the rest of the way to the ranch. The long road from the highway to the ranch was unpaved because that’s how his father had wanted it. Jonathan Chance thought an unpaved road would discourage gawkers, while the true horsemen and women determined to see the registered Paints bred by the Last Chance wouldn’t be deterred by a little dirt and dust.

Jack wasn’t about to pave the road and go against tradition, but as Josie’s Bronco jolted over the ruts, he vowed to have it graded soon. Maybe he’d rent a grader and do it himself.

At last Josie eased to a stop in the circular gravel drive in front of the two-story ranch house. Constructed of logs by Jack’s grandfather Archie, the house had grown as the family had expanded. The right wing had been added when Jack’s father was born, and Jack’s father had built the left wing as his three boys grew older and needed more space.

Each wing was angled so that the house seemed to offer an embrace. Or a trap.

“This is a big place,” Josie said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah.” Jack didn’t need to be reminded. Big place. Big responsibility.

“I know I’ve been out here before, but everything was… different.”

“My dad was still alive.”

“Right. But tonight, driving out here through Chance land, and then seeing the house and the outbuildings again… it’s made me realize what a job you inherited last October.” She gazed straight ahead, as if fixated on the house.

“I can handle it.” What else was he supposed to say? He wasn’t going to lay his troubles at her feet like some jerk looking for sympathy.

“I’m sure you can.” She glanced at him. “Take care of yourself, Jack.”

He recognized a kiss-off remark when he heard it. She was done with him. He shouldn’t be surprised. After ten months of silence he’d shown up slightly drunk, with no advance warning, and he’d laid into her brother.

Good thing he hadn’t counted on her welcoming him back. This had been an experiment, and it had failed spectacularly. With practiced ease, he closed off his heart.

“See you around.” It was a phrase he used a lot, but in this case it was especially inappropriate. He wouldn’t be seeing her around, not if he could help it. Not if she could help it, either, probably. He got out of the truck and walked toward the darkened house.

Behind him gravel crunched as she drove away. Well, that was over with. Completely over with.

 

 

As she drove back to Shoshone, Josie refused to let herself cry again. She’d already shed way too many tears over Jack Chance. But she couldn’t seem to do anything about the ache in her chest. She’d reopened a wound that had finally started to heal, and now she remembered what that pain had felt like.

When she’d imagined him coming back, and she’d imagined it far too often for her own good, she’d expected him to make some grand gesture, something worthy of a Chance man. Instead their reunion had been an afterthought, the by-product of whatever had happened with Morgan and Gabe. Man, that hurt.

She made the return trip to Shoshone in record time. Fortunately no cops were around to see her put the pedal to the metal and hurtle back down that two-lane road away from the Last Chance Ranch, away from Jack Chance and his half-assed apologies. It would be a cold day in hell before she ever gave that guy room in her heart.

This time she’d tamp down any remaining sparks of hope that they could rekindle the flame between them. Jack was a lost cause. She should have realized that a long time ago, but she realized it, now. Whether his issues arose from his mother leaving him when he was a toddler or his father dying in a rollover that Jack felt he could have prevented, the guy obviously wasn’t ready to deal with his demons.

She parked next to the Spirits and Spurs and climbed the stairs to her apartment. Although she loved her brother to distraction, she wanted to be alone right now. But she had to let him know she was home or he’d worry about her.

When she walked in, Alex was sitting on the couch reading the same news magazine he’d had earlier. He glanced up immediately. “Well?”

“It’s over for good this time.” She ignored the way her chest tightened when she said that.

“You don’t look happy, but it’s probably for the best. In the long run, I mean.”

“It is.” She took a shaky breath. “I thought he’d put some thought into coming over here. I even told myself he’d been drinking to bolster his courage to face me. But he only dropped by because his brother stranded him in town. He had nowhere else to go.”

“Aw, sis.” Alex stood and came toward her, as if he wanted to give her a hug.

She held up a hand. “Don’t be too sympathetic, or I might lose it, and I’m determined not to do that. The bastard doesn’t deserve my tears.”

“No, he doesn’t. But he deserves some grief from me. If you’ll point me in the direction of this ranch of his, I’d like to—”

“Thanks, but no thanks, Alex. I appreciate the sentiment. I really do. But you ending up in a physical confrontation with Jack isn’t going to help anything. Besides, he’s… he’s in really good shape.”

She’d tried to avoid thinking about that hard body of his the entire time they’d been cooped inside the Bronco together. She’d failed. The minute she’d breathed in his scent, a combination of leather, spice, and virile male, she’d experienced total recall of what that body could accomplish with a willing woman.

Had he touched her, she might have forgiven him everything. She was lucky he hadn’t tried.

“I’m in good shape, too,” Alex said quietly. “And it would give me great satisfaction to cause him some pain after what he’s put you through.”

She shook her head. “That would only stir the pot. The best way to handle Jack Chance is to ignore him completely. I intend to, and I’d like you to do the same.”

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)