Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

Jacey surprised Cade when she jumped right in and helped him cook breakfast. He'd assumed a wealthy East Coast beauty who looked as fit as she was would order him around the kitchen, requesting egg whites with spinach. Jacey impressed him at every turn. She helped him cut up onions, mushrooms, peppers, and ham and put everything on her three-egg omelet, including the cheese. Working side by side with an intriguing woman in his kitchen felt like a long-fulfilled dream that he'd never acknowledged.

They sat down with their omelets, milk, and juice. She picked up her fork. He shifted in his seat and finally said, "Do you mind if I pray?"

She stared at him, and then her eyes and mouth went soft. "I would savor hearing your melodious voice speak to heaven."

He smiled and extended his hand. She placed her soft palm against his calloused one and he was filled with warmth and purpose. Jacey being here was right. Exactly right. This extraordinary and intriguing woman had chosen him. Him. His chest almost burst with happiness and pride as he pushed their differences and the pain he'd feel when she did walk away to the side.

He wanted to thread their fingers together, but that was a bit too reminiscent of dating. He was supposed to protect her, not fall for her. Clasping his fingers around her smooth hand, she returned the favor. It was perfect.

Sheryl had dumped him and chosen Clint? He wasn't enough and would never suit a smart, classy, and wealthy beauty like Jacey? Nah. That wasn't right. He was all Jacey would ever need. Her touch and the warmth in her blue eyes told him that. She was more than he'd ever bargained for.

Before he could overthink it any further, like a cow chewing on its cud, he bowed his head. He prayed with gratitude for the food, the ranch, his family, and Jacey coming into his life. Then he asked for strength, light, and protection for Jacey, her brother, and all those helping Quaid.

After she uttered amen, he forced himself to release her hand and dig in. The calves were bleating loudly. He needed to go feed them, but feeding the lady sitting next to him was priority number one.

"The men who visited …" she said after she'd taken a bite, chewed and swallowed.

"Clint and Walker Coleville," he supplied.

"They want to help me, and they know who the witch is?"

He nodded. How would she take the news that ‘the witch' was her mother?

"Can you tell me who the witch is?"

He nodded. Doc had explained to Walker that Cade could answer her questions as she asked them. Just to be cautious not to give her any extra info to process that could overwhelm her and slow her recovery.

Setting his fork down, he took a drink of juice and studied her carefully as he admitted, "Jacey. The witch is your mother."

Her eyes widened, and she banged her back against the hard chair. "My own mother … injured my brother?"

"Yes."

Dang, this was hard. How shocking to find out your family didn't just have normal family struggles. Her mother was a horrific person and a criminal. He could see in Jacey's blue eyes that stung.

"Did those men reveal to you why my mother would behave in such a depraved manner?"

"From what I gather, she … controls a lot of people, and I believe she hurt your brother to control you."

Okay, that was probably more information than she needed.

She only stared at him, seeming to stew about it, then she asked, "And I was racing away from her?" Her eyes grew panicked. "She is near?"

"No," he reassured her. "You were out on a trail run, for exercise, and your brother Quaid called you and told you that your mother had escaped from prison. I believe she was incarcerated in Pennsylvania."

"Despicable," she pronounced.

His eyes widened.

"My mother injured her children and escaped from prison and … she is deplorable. I don't want to utilize brain space on such a woman. It makes my head ache."

"Do you want some Tylenol? Doc said you could take some of that."

"No thank you, but that is very gracious. "

Her language was proper and educated. He loved the lilt and flow of her sentences and the large words she used naturally. Words nobody he knew would say. Deplorable, despicable, depraved. Did he sound like a hick to her? Of course he did.

She straightened and looked as regal as a queen. "Do you boast a kind, normal family, very dissimilar from my own?"

"Yes," he admitted.

"Lovely. Share with me details about them, please." She smiled as if all was well, but her blue eyes were stormy and confused. Had he given her too much information? "First, we should eat promptly, and feed your animals. They are complaining loudly, are they not?"

"They sure are. Bellyaching."

She laughed at that, and he smiled at her. She'd been at the Coleville Ranch for a year apparently. Did she feed calves? It didn't fit her dignified persona, but he was learning quickly Jacey was no stereotype. She was as real, warm, and intriguing as any woman he'd ever met.

Talking about his mom, dad, and two younger sisters as they ate wasn't a hardship. Jacey asked questions and seemed drawn to his family and their situations.

They finished eating, cleaned up, and headed outside. She tagged along and helped him finish feeding the sick herd, the calves, and the horses.

"Finally, these sweet little ones can calm their worried bleating," she'd pronounced after they fed the calves.

The morning sped by and was the most interesting morning he'd had in … maybe his entire life, for sure since he'd moved up to his remote and previously too quiet valley.

Jacey was funny, hard-working, unexpected, and delightful. He wasn't sure what to pin on her. Even with her elevated language, she didn't make him feel like he was a hick cowboy, and she could tease and laugh with the best of them.

As she worked by his side, a marvel of classy lady and farmhand combined, he realized the significance of what he'd just committed to, keeping her here until her brain healed, her mother was arrested again, and she chose to go back to the Coleville Ranch.

He hardly knew Jacey, and red flags should be waving. He hadn't risked getting close to any beautiful lady since Sheryl chose Clint over him. It had only been a year, but he'd learned his lessons and taken his licks.

In a matter of hours, he couldn't imagine letting Jacey go. He didn't want to relinquish her to Clint or any of the Coleville brothers. The handsome and successful Coleville cowboys would be appealing to her or any woman.

But maybe not. Jacqueline Oliver had been raised ultra-wealthy and East Coast. Maybe when she regained her memory, she'd realize she didn't like cowboys or the smell of horses and cows. She'd realize she didn't like him.

Right now, she seemed to like him. She had no trouble brushing against him, teasing with him, smiling at him. Each action made his heart race out of control. He liked her and was far too protective of her already.

She oddly didn't ask anything more about her past. Maybe the little he'd told her was too much for her injured brain. She pried him with questions about what he did with his days, where he sold his beef cattle, which horse was his favorite, could they swim in the lake, etc.

By lunchtime, he was starting to wonder if he should gently broach some topics of her life, but no, Doc had said to let her ask the questions and not give too much detail. Let her mind work out the memories. If she had any.

They were eating sandwiches and carrots side by side at the table. It boggled his mind that this classy, wealthy lady was sitting next to him, eating. Her manners would make his mama proud, and Jacey drew him in without even trying. She was nothing like he would've imagined she would be. Maybe when her memory returned, she'd look down her nose at him and be aghast she'd fed calves and hugged a smelly cowboy.

The rumble of truck tires on gravel made her head pop up and her shoulders tense. "Is it the sheriff guy? Should I hide again?"

"Let me check." He stood and rushed to the window. It was the ‘sheriff guy.' Clint was in his sheriff truck and had Easton with him this time. "Yes, it's them. I think you should meet them." He hated that concession. What if Clint was after her romantically? The ‘wealthy and hot sheriff' was much more appealing than the ‘injured military cowboy.' He knew. Sheryl had told him.

She stood and looked incredibly appealing in her fitted running clothes, the rips in the material revealing smooth skin he longed to brush his fingers over. Her dark hair trailed around her face, which was fresh, clean, and beautiful. He wanted to tell her to hide, keep her from Clint, keep her all to himself.

Boots crossed the porch and a rap came on the door.

"It'll be okay," he found himself reassuring her. "They only want to help and protect you." It was a hard concession for him to make. He wanted to selfishly protect her all alone.

"Okay." She still looked uncomfortable. He almost hurried to her and wrapped his arm around her, but that wasn't his place. He wasn't her boyfriend.

"Okay." He opened the door. "Hey. "

"Hey." Easton rushed past him and right up to Jacey. He reached for her hand.

Cade instinctively wanted to push him away.

"Pardon me, sir." Jacey held up her hands and backed into the kitchen table. "I apologize for any misperceptions you may have, but I possess no concept of who you are. I am not in a position to be holding your hand."

Cade smiled. She put the charming bull rider in his place with the most beautiful language. He basked in the way she talked and that she hadn't minded holding Cade's hand.

"Jacey?" Easton's forehead wrinkled and he looked crestfallen. "You don't know me? But … I'm your favorite Coleville brother."

Clint grunted at that and muttered, "Ease off, bro. She lost her memory and you insisting she knows you isn't going to help. Give her some space and time."

So Easton was after Jacey, not Clint? Luckily she didn't seem interested. But that must be because she'd lost her memory. Every female in town who followed the Montana Pro Rodeo circuit was chasing suave Easton. He seemed to think Jacey should be holding his hand.

"Okay." Easton stepped back, took off his hat, and gripped it between his hands. "Do you want to come back to the ranch with us? Mama is fit to be tied worryin' bout ya."

Cade had to restrain himself from stepping forward. Jacey had beautifully exclaimed earlier that she chose him. Now, seeing the Coleville men, maybe she'd change her mind. Maybe she'd be drawn to them or feel more comfortable around them. She'd lived on the ranch for a year, after all. Even if she didn't have her memories, she sensed things, like the fear of her mother, worry over her brother, and Jacey fitting but not Jacqueline.

"Mama?" she asked.

"Mama Millie," Easton supplied. "You two adore each other." His blue eyes twinkled. "Almost as much as you adore me."

"Easton." Clint sounded more tired than reproachful.

Had it been an issue? Easton's obvious infatuation with Jacey? Cade could help Clint out there.

That was a first. For the past year, all he'd wanted was to give Clint trouble.

"Jacey," Clint said evenly. "Quaid has been insistent that it is your choice where you stay. I have also been guilted into asking, for Mama's sake, do you want to stay up here with Cade or come back to the ranch with your ‘family that loves you'?"

Her eyes widened. "I thought my family consisted of an evil mother and an abused brother. They love me? Is my mother at the ranch?" She hurried around Easton and right to Cade. "Cade, you told me she wasn't close. Pennsylvania, correct?"

He reached for her without thinking of the implications. Putting a hand on the beautiful curve of her waist, he tilted her chin up with his other hand, focusing his gaze on her. Instantly everything was right in his world.

He heard a grunt of annoyance from Easton but ignored it.

"Jacey. Your mother is not here. She's running from the law. Your brother is safe, and so are you." He studied her, willing her to believe him, to trust him, to choose him. He selfishly wanted and needed her to stay, but he would do what was right for her above his desires.

"Thank you." Her chin quivered. Was she emotional or did his touch affect her like hers did him? "Are you comfortable with me staying here? I … need you."

Cade's chest expanded, and dreams he hadn't let himself dream surfaced. This beautiful, educated, intriguing woman needed him. Him. Cade Miller. Reclusive cowboy.

"You are welcome to stay. I want you to stay," he said, not telling her how much he needed her too. "I will keep you safe, fed, and sheltered until you want to run away."

Her lips twitched, and he liked that she could tell when he was teasing. "Nothing could yank me from your side, cowboy."

A muttered curse came from Easton. Clint silenced his brother with a warning look.

"I like that," Cade admitted, wishing they didn't have an audience. Especially a Coleville one. Would Clint pursue her just to slight Cade because of their history? Once she had her memory back, would she realize she was interested in the handsome, charming Easton or one of the other impressive Coleville brothers? Thankfully, Houston had one more year of residency until he could relocate to Coleville, Rhett was busy building fancy vacation homes down in Kalispell for the foreseeable future, and Miles was with the Navy SEALs.

"All right." Clint interrupted their moment. "If you're staying, we've got a whole slew of stuff Mama sent for you. We'll set up cameras and perimeter sensors outside, and sensors at the entrance to the canyon."

Cade almost protested on principle. Clint couldn't boss him around, and the likelihood of her mother finding her here was next to none. But he wanted Jacey to feel safe, to be safe, so he only nodded.

Jacey was staying with him. That was what mattered. The rest of the details would work out.