Her thoughts then shifted to something else, or more precisely, someone else. Jason Westmoreland. Good to his word he had stopped by a few days ago to join her for tea. They’d had a pleasant conversation, and he’d told her more about her grandfather. She could tell Jason and Herman’s relationship had been close. Part of her was glad that Jason had probably helped relieve Herman’s loneliness.
Although her father refused to tell her what had happened to drive him away from home, she hoped to find out on her own. Her grandfather had kept a number of journals and she intended to start reading them this week. The only thing she knew from what Kenneth Bostwick had told her was that Herman’s father, William, had remarried when Herman was in his twenties and married with a son of his own. That woman had been Kenneth’s mother, which was why he was a lot younger than her father. In fact, her father and Kenneth had few memories of each other since David Bostwick had left home for college at the age of seventeen.
Jason had also answered questions about ranching and assured her that the man she’d kept on as foreman had worked for her grandfather for a number of years and knew what he was doing. Jason hadn’t stayed long but she’d enjoyed his visit.
She found Jason to be kind and soft-spoken and whenever he talked in that reassuring tone she would feel safe, protected and confident that no matter what decisions she made regarding her life and the ranch, it would be okay. He also gave her the impression that she could and would make mistakes and that would be okay, too, as long as she learned from those mistakes and didn’t repeat them.
She had gotten to meet some of his family members, namely the women, when they’d all shown up a couple of days ago with housewarming goodies to welcome her to the community. Pamela, Chloe and Lucia had married into the family, and Megan and Bailey were Westmorelands by birth. They told her about Gemma, who was Megan and Bailey’s sister and how she had gotten married earlier that year, moved with her husband to Australia and was expecting their first child.
Pamela and Chloe had brought their babies and being in their presence only reinforced a desire Bella always had of being a mother. She loved children and hoped to marry and have a houseful one day. And when she did, she intended for her relationship with them to be different than the one she had with her own parents.
The women had invited her to dinner at Pamela’s home Friday evening so that she could meet the rest of the family. She thought the invitation to dinner was a nice gesture and downright neighborly on their part. They were surprised she had already met Jason because he hadn’t mentioned anything to them about meeting her.
She wasn’t sure why he hadn’t when all the evidence led her to believe the Westmorelands were a close-knit group. But then she figured men tended to keep their activities private and not share them with anyone. He said he would be dropping by for tea again tomorrow and she looked forward to his visit.
It was obvious there was still an intense attraction between them, yet he always acted honorably in her presence. He would sit across from her with his long legs stretched out in front of him and sip tea while she talked. She tried not to dominate the conversation but found he was someone she could talk to and someone who listened to what she had to say. She could see him now sitting there absorbed in whatever she said while displaying a ruggedness she found totally sexy.