Tempted by the Texan

“I’m sorry you wasted your time, Reverend, but he has nothing to say that I want to hear,” Jaron stated flatly.

“I understand how you must feel, Mr. Lambert,” the chaplain answered calmly. “Simon told me some disturbing things about his relationship with you and that he didn’t treat you as well as he should have.”

“That’s an understatement,” Jaron growled. His irritation rising, he added, “Living with Simon Collier was a living hell and I don’t care to be reminded of the experience.”

“I’m sure you have a lot of anger toward him, but please reconsider, son,” Reverend Perkins pleaded. “This might be your last chance to see your father and make your peace with him. He asked me to stress that what he has to say is very important and something you’ll want to know and need to hear.”

Jaron could tell the man wasn’t going to give up, and he didn’t feel like explaining the many reasons he was going to ignore his old man’s request. “I’m not making any promises, but I give you my word that I’ll think about it,” he finally conceded, hoping that would appease the man.

He would think about it, he decided. But only long enough to reject the notion outright.

“Thank you. I’ll tell your father,” the man said before he ended the call.

Clipping his phone back onto his belt, Jaron reached up to rub the tension tightening the back of his neck. Mariah could very well be pregnant with his baby and he had a new ranch to run. The last thing he needed piled on his already full plate was his father’s dying plea to see him.

“I’m going to call it a day,” he told his men. “If you need me, call the house.”

“See you tomorrow, boss,” one of the men called after him as he turned to leave.

When he walked out of the barn and headed toward the house, Jaron tried to forget the phone call and concentrate on spending the evening with the most exciting woman he’d ever known. As his foster father used to say, sometimes a man had to forget the past, stop thinking about the future and concentrate on the present. And that was just what he intended to do. At least for tonight.

* * *

After sharing a frozen pizza for dinner, Mariah cuddled with Jaron on the couch in the family room. He’d surprised her when he’d come in from the calving shed earlier in the afternoon and asked her to join him in the shower. That had led to them making love, and she was encouraged that he felt free enough with her to be spontaneous. But it had distracted her from something she needed to tell him, and she knew as surely as she knew her own name that the phone call she’d taken was significant and had to do with his past.

She was a little hesitant to tell him about the call. She didn’t want to remind him of something that would upset him. But it might be the motivation he needed to open up and talk to her.

“When you came in this afternoon, you made me forget something I was supposed to tell you,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder.

Smiling, he kissed the top of her head, then reached for the television remote. “You didn’t seem to mind the distraction.”

“Believe me, I’m not complaining,” she said, sliding her hand inside his shirt to caress his warm skin.

“Keep that up and I’ll make you forget all over again that you’re supposed to tell me something,” he said, giving her a promising grin.

“There was a phone call for you not long before you came in from the calving shed,” she said, removing her hand from his shirt.

“Who was it?” he asked, using the remote to search for something to watch on television.

“He said his name was Reverend Perkins. He was calling from the prison hospital in Galveston.” Resting against him, she noticed an immediate tensing of his muscles.

“What did he have to say?” Jaron asked, his voice tight and controlled.

“He wanted to know if he could speak to you.” She sat up to look at him. “He said it was really important and—”

“Is that all he had to say?” Jaron interrupted, staring at the on-screen television guide as if it held the secrets of the universe.

“He told me...your father is dying,” she said, knowing from the look on his face that the reverend telling her the nature of the call angered him.

Tossing the remote onto the coffee table, he suddenly gave up his interest in the television and rose to his feet. “He had no right to tell you that.”

“I...um, asked him what the call was pertaining to,” she admitted, getting up from the couch.