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Taylor looked so different from how she had the summer before. Her expression was wary and uncertain, not at all like the composed, self-possessed woman he’d married. She was too thin, and her skin had a pallor to it, instead of the healthy glow of before.
For a moment he felt almost sorry for her. If the past five months had been hard on him, they’d obviously been harder on her. He’d only lost his heart. She’d lost her whole life-style—the clothes, the fast cars, the parties.
As soon as his mind formed the thought, his pity vanished.
Taylor glared at him from across the table. “How did you find me?”
“I called your father a couple of days ago.” He paused, then added, “I didn’t know, Taylor.” He wondered whether that would make any difference to her. He’d spent the past five months assuming she was living her carefree life in Boston, never imagining the truth.
Hell, he was still her husband. He still had responsibilities toward her that wouldn’t end until the divorce papers were signed.
Divorce papers. Despite his dislike of Taylor’s behavior on the ranch last summer, despite their differences, the thought of signing divorce papers still left him with a hollow feeling in his gut. Since the day she’d stormed off the ranch, he’d been waiting for the papers to show up in the mail, dreading the moment. But they never had.
After talking to her father, though, he thought he knew the reason. Taylor probably hadn’t had the time or the money to find an attorney to file the papers. A nasty job in a dirty restaurant wouldn’t leave her a lot of extra money. Certainly not as much spare cash as she’d used to have.
He planned to use that to his advantage.
“Tell me why you’re here, Jake.”
He took a deep breath. “I need your help.” God, but he hated having to ask her for a favor. He’d much rather have her in his debt than the other way around.
“My help?” Was that a note of surprise he detected? Surprise that he would throw away his pride enough to ask her for a favor?
“Yes,” he answered. There was nothing for it. He made himself say the words. “I need your help to buy a piece of land.”
She blinked. “Jake, I don’t exactly have a lot of spare cash right now.”
“I don’t need your money, Taylor.” This was the crux of it. Even if she still had access to her trust fund and her allowance, it wouldn’t help him at all. Jake had more than enough cash to buy the land he wanted. He just didn’t have...his wife. “I don’t need your money,” he repeated. “I need you.”
I need you. Such a simple phrase, but so devastating to say. All his life he’d done his best to avoid it. And after she’d left he’d sworn he wouldn’t ever say those three words to anyone, wouldn’t ever let himself feel those emotions. But here he was, saying them to none other than Taylor Cassidy.
She leaned back in her chair, a look of disbelief on her face. She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. A rich chocolate brown, it had grown out from the short, stylish cut she’d worn before, now curving just below her jaw.
He liked it. It wasn’t so polished and perfect. And he wanted to sink his hands into that extra hair, to feel it sliding through his fingers.
Even now he fought the urge to reach across the table to feel it, to see if it was still as soft as he remembered. They’d used to be husband and wife, free to touch or caress each other when the mood struck. Now there was a wall between them.
In five months of living alone he’d finally gotten used to not having her around. But being so close to her again threw that all to the wind. He was right back to where he’d been last summer, wanting her so much he couldn’t think straight.
Jake took a moment to calm his senses. He had to be rational today. Totally unlike the man who’d fallen for Taylor like a ton of bricks last summer. His future was on the line; he couldn’t let his past mess it up.
“You need me to do what?” Taylor asked.
“I need you to be my wife again.”
She stared at him long and hard. “Forget it.” She started to slide out of the booth.
“Taylor, sit down. It wouldn’t be real. I just need you to pretend to be my wife. For a week.”
Taylor stayed in her seat. Jake suspected it was because the blond waitress showed up just then with a glass of milk and a plate of eggs and toast, rather than because he’d asked her to.
She picked up her fork. “Let me know when you regain your sanity, okay?”
Jake opened his mouth to explain his predicament, but Taylor held up her hand for silence. He kept his mouth shut while she ate. Jake took a bite of his pancakes. They were surprisingly good, so he ate while he waited for Taylor.
Finally she finished and took a sip of her milk. “I can’t tell you how tired I am of breakfast food.”
Was she just going to ignore his request? “Taylor...”
She straightened. “Right. Back to business.” Shaking her head, she said, “Let me get this straight. You want me—your wife—to pretend to be your wife?”
“Yes. Pretend to be my loving, affectionate, definitely-not-estranged wife.”
“I’m a waitress, Jake. Not an actress.”
“I know it’ll be a challenge, but I’ll make it worth your while. I’ll pay you.”
He’d expected her to jump at the offer, but she didn’t. Instead she waved a hand around the Pancake Hut. “I already have a job.”
He’d noticed. But even though it was just the kind of work she needed to give her a dose of reality, he didn’t like the way her customers leered at her. And he didn’t guess she earned much money for her efforts. “What do you make here?”
Taylor hesitated, then named a ridiculously low figure.
“That’s all?” He didn’t know how she even paid for a place to stay on that kind of money, much less any health insurance. Taylor had some hard lessons to learn, but even Jake didn’t think she should be risking her welfare to learn them. “Including tips?”
“Yes, Jake. This place doesn’t attract big tippers.”
“I’ll pay you four times that for a week in Montana.”
She ignored him and took another sip of milk.
He wasn’t reaching her. She might not make much, but four times that amount was getting to be some serious cash. Obviously she wanted to play hardball.
Well, so be it. “Your father told me you’ve got some debts. I’ll pay them off, help you make a fresh start. And of course you’ll have a free place to stay and all the food you can eat for a week.”
“Free room and board, Jake? For your wife? How generous.”
Another sip of milk. Jake watched her small pink tongue dart out to dab her lip and felt an unwanted resurgence of desire.
He grimaced unhappily. “Taylor...”
She speared a pancake off his plate and put it on hers. “Getting back together is not a smart idea.”
“It’s only for a week. We can tolerate each other that long, can’t we?”
Unfortunately it wasn’t just an issue of tolerating each other. They also had to keep their hands to themselves, too. With the chemistry between them still as strong as ever, it might be a big challenge.
“When exactly do you need me?” Taylor asked.
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, tomorrow.”
“Kind of short notice, don’t you think?”
“The situation came up quickly.”
Jake explained about Henry Hankins. Back in Montana, Hankins owned the land adjoining Jake’s ranch. He’d leased it to Jake for the last six years, providing some much-needed grazing space. The Cassidy Ranch was doing well—expanding, in fact—and land was hard to come by.
Now Hankins, who normally resided in Dallas, had decided to liquidate his assets. He wanted to sell, and Jake was the obvious buyer.
Especially since he was married.
Hankins said two other men had made high offers, but one of them was divorced and the other was a freewheeling bachelor. It hurt Hankins’s upstanding heart to think of his land going to a man who couldn’t live with decent values.
And, he said, he adored that “perty little gal” Jake had married. That was the deciding factor.
Hankins had met Taylor last summer when he’d gone for a visit. He’d been so taken with her that he hadn’t noticed she was a pampered debutante, totally unsuited to ranch life. He couldn’t wait to see that “perty little gal” again when he came to close the deal.
Just a few days ago he’d called Jake to say he’d set aside some vacation time and planned to bring his grandchildren to show them Montana. Even though it was the dead of winter, they’d all have a big old blast.
To Jake it had sounded like a big old nightmare.
“Look,” he said to Taylor, “I hate dishonesty as much as the next guy, but if I lose this land to someone else, I’ll have to restructure my whole operation. I’ll probably have to lay off some of my ranch hands. You remember Reid, right? He and his wife just had a baby. And then there’s Dusty, who sends two-thirds of her paycheck to her grandmother.” He paused, watching her expression. “But I don’t expect you to do this out of altruism,” he continued. “Let’s make it a straightforward business deal. You play the role, and I’ll pay you well, plus take care of your debts.”
Still no response. He was getting frustrated, so he played his final card. “And when the week is over, I’ll arrange our divorce. Trouble-free, plenty of alimony.”
Taylor tucked her paper napkin under the edge of her empty plate and repositioned her glass of milk. Her movements were precise, almost uncomfortable. She didn’t meet his eyes. “So Hankins arrives tomorrow?”
He nodded. He wasn’t sure how to read her, but it sounded as if she was actually considering coming to Montana. “With his three grandchildren. Irma’s tidying up his cabin as we speak.”
At the mention of his housekeeper’s name, Taylor’s expression grew warm and a little wistful. “How is Irma?”
“She’s fine.” He shouldn’t be surprised that Taylor remembered Irma fondly, when the woman had spoiled her rotten.
He’d never understood why Irma had doted on Taylor so much, fixing all her favorite meals and picking up after her without the slightest complaint. She’d happily acted as the handmaid Taylor expected.
Maybe it was because it had been so long since a woman had lived in the Cassidy ranch house. Thirty-six years, to be exact. Since Jake’s mother had left, abandoning her husband and newborn son.
Jake cut off that line of thought. Wallowing in the distant past wouldn’t change anything. He focused on the problem at hand. “Well, Taylor, what about it?”
Her wistful expression faded. “Can’t you just tell Hankins I went to the city for a week of shopping? He won’t miss me.”
Jake shook his head. “I know Hankins, and he’s not going to sign off on the land until he sees you again.”
“So you’re stuck.”
“Yes, I’m stuck.”
She glanced up at a clock on the wall. “And I need to get back to work.” She took a long drink, finishing off her milk. She stood.
“Dammit, Taylor.” He reached out to capture her wrist. “Will you do it?”
She stared down at his hand on her warm skin.
Jake followed her gaze, wishing he hadn’t touched her. Currents of electricity rocketed up his arm and spread through his body. He wouldn’t have been surprised to see sparks flying from the point of contact.
Five months, he thought, and the effects were still the same.
He released his grasp slowly, trying to make it look casual. As if he’d felt nothing at all.
“Sorry,” he said under his breath.
Taylor drew herself up. “As I said, I have to get back to work.”
“And the plan?”
“Jake, I swore I’d never set foot on your ranch again.”
“I remember.”
“But I’ll think about it. Meet me outside at three o’clock.”
Chapter Two
She didn’t really have a choice. Only spite and false pride would have kept her in Boston. Jake’s employees needed her help. Jake needed her help. She wasn’t someone who turned her back on people. Not anymore.
It would be a business deal. A simple, straightforward business deal. An acting assignment. She would leave her heart and her confused emotions out of it. When the week was over she would come back to Boston and make her life better.
Jake’s money would buy her enough time to find a better job when she came back. Maybe in a restaurant where the boss didn’t verbally assault his workers whenever the mood struck. Maybe in a place where the customers actually knew how to tip.
At three o’clock Jake came back to the restaurant. He led her to a rented sport utility vehicle at the curb. She gave him directions to her apartment and he pulled into traffic.
“When’s our flight?” she asked.
Jake glanced over at her. “You’ll help me?”
She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Sure.”
“Thank you.” The words were simple but sincere.
“No problem. I know how much you care about the ranch.” More than he had about her, but she didn’t want to go there. “It would be petty not to help you just because we don’t like each other anymore.” She paused, staring out the window at inner city Boston. “Anyway, this arrangement will be good for both of us, so it’s not like I’m really doing you a favor.”
Jake shook his head. “You’re definitely doing me a favor. Especially on such short notice.”
“When’s our flight?”
