“A dog?” Cassie said. “You got a dog?”
The Lab pushed to his feet and came across the room to welcome Cassie with a snuffle and a few dozen licks. While Cassie heaped praise on the dog, scrubbing his ears, Jake could only think how much he wanted her hands on him.
“When did you get a dog?” she was asking.
Before he could answer, Anna did. “He got him right after you left the last time. Hardly a week before we had a puppy running around the house.”
Jake glared at his housekeeper, but she paid him no mind at all.
He’d once told Cassie he didn’t have a dog because he had enough animals to care for. But the truth was, after she left a year and a half ago, the damn house had been too quiet. Too...empty.
So he bought a dog for company. What was the big deal?
The baby shouted a babbled greeting and lifted his arms for his mother. Jake scowled, tugged his hat on and buttoned his jacket as he headed for the back door. “Come on, Boston. Work.”
“Boston?” Cassie echoed the dog’s name and Jake flinched as embarrassment swept through him.
Grinding his teeth, he managed, “I’m from Boston, too.” When she didn’t say anything to that, he added, “We’ll talk later.” He waited for the dog to join him, then opened the door to the blowing wind and snow.
There were heavy ropes strung between the back door of the house all the way across the yard to the barn. Ropes also hung between cabins and between the main house and his grandfather’s place. When the predicted blizzard hit, the wind-driven snow would be so thick, flying so fast, a person could get lost between the house and the outbuildings. Without that rope to cling to, you could wander off track and freeze to death before anyone had a chance to find you.
But for now, the wind was light and the only snow blowing was lifting off the drifts and mounds already on the frozen ground. Jake hunched into his jacket and headed for the barn and stables. Beside him, Boston’s tags jingled like music as the big dog jumped from snow pile to snow pile.
Inside the barn, warmth engulfed him and the scents of hay and horses welcomed him. Here was the peace he’d built for himself. Here was where his world made sense. Boston ran the length of the center aisle and dropped to the ground beside Jake’s grandfather, standing at one of the stalls.
A jolt of anger shook Jake. He stalked across the distance separating them and finally stopped alongside the older man.
Ben didn’t even look at him. “Charlie tells me the boy looks just like you. Can’t wait to see him.”
“You knew.” Betrayal was a living, breathing pain in his chest. This old man had been one of the centers of Jake’s life. When he’d come home from war, he’d come to this ranch—as much for the steadiness of this man as for the peace of the mountains. “You knew and didn’t say a damn word.”
Ben scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck and squinted up at Jake. “I knew when your mother found out. Couple days is all.”
“It’s more warning than I’ve had.” Jake gritted his teeth. “You should have told me.”
“Thought about it.”
“Doesn’t count.”
“Your mother thought this way was best.”
“My mother wants to take that baby away from his mother.”
Ben snorted. “Your mother wants you to step up for that baby.”
Stunned and insulted, Jake stared at him. Did his family really think so little of him? Did they actually believe that he wouldn’t do the right thing by his own blood?
“I didn’t know about him. Hard to step up for something when you have no idea it exists.”
“Well, now you know.” Ben’s still sharp eyes narrowed on him. “What’re you gonna do about it?”
“Wish to hell people would stop asking me that,” Jake muttered.
* * *
Cass was still feeling jumpy hours later.
Sure, thanks to Jake she didn’t have to worry about any plans his mother might have to try to take Luke from her. But now she had to deal with Jake.
“How’d he take it?” Claudia asked.
“Stunned. Shocked.” Angry, she added silently. Clutching the phone a little tighter to her ear, Cass kept her voice low, since Luke was sleeping in a crib beside her. “He wasn’t happy, let’s put it that way.”
“But after you explained...”
“I didn’t get the chance,” Cass admitted with a sigh as she dropped onto the window seat and stared out at the view she’d been dreaming about for months. “After he called his mother, he walked out. He hasn’t been back to the house since.”