Then as the brothers married and started their families, her relationship with Jaron had turned into a rivalry of sorts. Whenever one of the sisters-in-law became pregnant, Jaron insisted the baby would be a boy, while she just knew it would be a girl. But even as they argued about it, there had been an undertone of tension that had recently become so thick it was impossible to deny.
Mariah glanced at Jaron. But tonight something had changed between them. She’d known it the moment he punched the cowboy at the Broken Spoke. Although any of his brothers would have taken exception to the man grabbing her by the arm, Jaron had been absolutely furious. And if his reaction hadn’t given her a hint that things were different between them, the kiss he had given her certainly had.
She had been kissed many times before, and although they’d been pleasant, none of them had been like the kiss Jaron had given her. There had been so much passion in the caress that it had been overwhelming. And what she couldn’t get over was the fact that they had both ignored it, as if it hadn’t even happened. They had started talking about her car problems and where she was going to stay for the night instead of addressing the fact that after all these years he had finally acted on their mutual attraction.
“Unbelievable.”
“What’s unbelievable?” he asked as he parked his truck in the four-car garage and pushed the remote on the visor to lower the door.
Unaware that she’d spoken her thoughts aloud, Mariah shrugged. “I was just thinking about my day,” she lied.
“Some days are like that,” he said, getting out of the truck. “Maybe tomorrow will be better.”
“It has to be. I doubt it could get any worse,” she said, opening the passenger door. Before she could figure out how to get out of the truck without breaking one of her high heels, or for that matter one of her ankles, Jaron was there to lift her down from the seat. His large hands wrapped around her waist caused her to feel warm all over. “Th-thank you.”
“Would you like something to eat?” he asked as they walked through the door to the mudroom. “I’ve got a couple of frozen pizzas I can toss in the oven.”
“No, thank you.” She shrugged. “I had dinner after my meeting.” She didn’t add that she hadn’t been able to eat due to the fact that during the meeting she had learned she was out of a job—effective immediately. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to go on to bed.”
“Of course not.” He led the way down the hall to the stairs. “Bria and the other sisters-in-law made up all the rooms when they decorated the place, so you can have your pick.”
“They did a fantastic job,” she said, noticing the original paintings by a popular Western artist hanging on the wall as they climbed the steps. The decor reflected the Wild Maverick’s new owner and his cowboy lifestyle.
“They did a better job than I would have done, that’s for sure,” he commented. When they reached the top floor, he opened the first door they came to and flipped on the light switch to turn on the bedside lamps. “If you don’t like this room, there are four more to choose from.”
“This will be fine,” she said, looking around. Decorated in a cool shade of green and cream, the colors complemented the Native American artwork on the walls and the handwoven area rugs on the hardwood floor. “Bria and the others should consider going into interior decorating.”
“I was going to leave the bedrooms empty, but Bria pointed out that I needed to furnish them in case I had guests.” He shrugged. “I doubt that I’ll ever have that many, since all of my brothers live close by.”
“If you don’t think you’ll need the rooms, why did you buy such a big house?” she asked, unable to see the logic in him paying for something he didn’t intend to use.
“I wanted the land,” he admitted. “It’s close enough to all of my brothers’ ranches that we can help each other out when needed and not have to drive more than an hour or so to get there.” He gave her a half smile. “The house just came with it.”
She wasn’t surprised Jaron wanted to live close to his foster brothers. From what her sister had told her, all six of them had been in trouble with the law when they were teenagers and the foster-care system had given up on them as lost causes. They’d been sent to the Last Chance Ranch, and thanks to a special man named Hank Calvert and his unique way of using ranch work and rodeo to teach them life lessons, all of the boys had worked through their troubles and turned their lives around. They had all become honest, productive adults, and because of their similar problems when they were boys and having no families to return to once they were of age, they had bonded into a very close family of their own.