“Aaron, do you really think you should?” Bonnie asked and shook her head when Mr. Lear glared at her. She held out her hand to Cole. “Come here, young man—I want to show you something.”
With a furtive look to Jake, Cole got up, head down, and allowed Bonnie to lead him to the gaming table. She went to a hidden cabinet in the paneling and extracted a box. “I hope you like games!” she said cheerfully. “Robin? Rebecca? Think you can beat your mom at a game of Yahtzee?”
Yahtzee? This was beginning to look a little like Beaver Cleaver land. But then Mr. Lear finished pouring drinks and plopped down across from Jake holding two glasses. And here was Ward Cleaver on acid, Jake thought wryly.
Mr. Lear leaned forward with some effort and handed him a glass of amber liquid. “You’re man enough to drink scotch, aren’t you?”
Now! In this corner, the contest of the biggest balls! Jake smiled wryly, took the drink, tossed it down his throat, and handed the empty glass to Mr. Lear.
Mr. Lear smiled. “Good for you—now you’ve shown me you can be a jerk. That’s one-hundred-fifty-year-old scotch; it should be savored.”
Prick. “Is that what you were trying to accomplish?” Jake asked calmly. “To make me out to be a jerk?”
Lear shrugged, sipped at his scotch. “I’ll pour you another—”
“Don’t bother. Wouldn’t want to waste any of that fancy scotch on me, now, would you?”
Lear’s clear blue eyes—Robin’s eyes—sparkled with twisted glee. “At least you’re man enough to admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“That you aren’t good enough for her.”
“I’d be the first to say it,” Jake agreed and leaned back, casually slinging one arm across the back of the couch. “No one is good enough for her. But at least I’m willing to do whatever it takes to try.”
“Ah, poetic,” Lear said, nodding appreciatively. “Nice touch.”
No, this wasn’t going to work, old man. Jake had lived far too long on the streets of Houston to be a man who was easily intimidated, not even by the lofty likes of Aaron Lear. He glanced across the room, to where Robin was sitting. She was looking at them, a worried frown on her pretty face.
He smiled reassuringly.
“You’re good at this, I’ll give you that,” Lear continued. “But you damn sure aren’t the first one to come sniffing around my daughter looking for a free ride. Sadly enough, you probably won’t be the last.”
“I’m not looking for a free ride,” Jake said evenly. “Robin and I have a relationship—”
“Right,” Lear interrupted him. “A relationship that goes something like this: You spend every dime of your pathetic little paycheck on her, make her feel like a princess with your presents and compliments, maybe even manage to move into her house for all intents and purposes. And all the while you are dreaming about the day she and all of her money agrees to be your wife, and you figure your bonus is going to be a good one, seeing as how her old man is dying of cancer. That sound familiar?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, it does,” Jake said, smiling at the look of surprise on Lear’s face. “Sounds exactly like what your boy Evan is up to.”
That caught Lear off guard; his eyes narrowed and he slowly took another sip of scotch. “You better watch yourself, hotshot. You’re not nearly as slick as you think.”
Robin stood up, started in their direction. “I never thought I was slick, Mr. Lear. I’m an honest man who happens to love your daughter—”
“Spare me your crap.”
Jake shrugged. “You don’t want to listen to what I have to say? Fine,” he said and turned a blindingly false smile to Robin.
Whatever her father had said to Jake, she was not going to have it from Jake, that much was obvious. They had stopped talking when she’d joined them, and in fact, Dad had complained of nausea and had retired early. But she had seen the look on her father’s face, knew that look all too well.
Jake would only smile when she asked. “Your father loves you,” was all he would say.
The next day, after a cowboy breakfast Mom insisted on serving on the veranda (all to impress Jake, hello), they piled into the Jeep with Rebecca and drove to the far side of the ranch to see if any new calves had been birthed. There were two, still wobbly on their legs, bleating at their mothers.
Cole was mightily impressed. “Can we ride the horses now?” he breathlessly asked Rebecca when they piled back into the Jeep.
“Yes! Want to come along, Jake?” Rebecca asked, looking at him in the rearview mirror.
Jake laughed. “No, thanks. I’ve never ridden a horse, so I’m not sure it’s a good idea to start at my age.”
“You’ve never been horseback riding?” Robin exclaimed, punching him playfully in the arm. “Then you must go!”
“No, no, no.” He shook his head. “Maybe some other time.”
“Now’s as good at time as any,” Robin disagreed. “To the stables, Bec.”