into the large, plush living room of Lucy Navarro Bradshaw’s suite at the Ace In the Hole ranch. The room was huge and airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows along the front wall, displaying a wide view of the ranch the Sanders family called home. The furniture was feminine without being frilly. Overstuffed couches and chairs covered in cream fabric splashed with blue and yellow flowers. Heavy, pale oak tables held stacks of books and brass lamps with amber shades. Rugs in pale, subtle colors dotted the gleaming wood floors and to make it all seem less like a photo shoot layout, toys, trucks and coloring books were scattered everywhere.
Ordinarily, Jillian would have felt completely out of place in such an elegant, old-money kind of home. But Lucy made the difference here.
At five feet six inches, Lucy was much shorter than Jillian’s five foot ten. She had layered brown hair, big blue eyes and a friendly smile that had welcomed Jillian from the first. Thanks to Lucy, even with everything that had been going on for the last two weeks, Jillian hadn’t felt so alone in Royal.
She didn’t know why Lucy had befriended her, but she was grateful. Jillian had left behind everything she’d ever known when she came to Royal, Texas, hoping for some sort of settlement from the estate of the man she’d thought was her baby girl’s father. Will Sanders. It wasn’t until the service for Will, when the man himself had walked through the door, that Jillian had realized she’d been duped. A damn impostor, posing as the rich, successful Will Sanders, had gotten past Jillian’s defenses and left her pregnant. Now she had no home, no job, very little money and a daughter to provide for.
Thinking of her little girl had Jillian’s gaze sliding to Baby Mac, playing with Lucy’s son, Brody. The tiny girl had soft blond hair, big hazel eyes and a dimple in her right cheek that never failed to tug at Jillian’s heart. Mackenzie Norris, closing in on two years old, and the light of her mommy’s life.
There was nothing Jillian wouldn’t do for her daughter.
“Jillian?” Lucy asked. “Earth to Jillian...”
“What?” She gave herself a shake and smiled a little. “Sorry. Mental wandering.”
“Don’t worry. Happens to me all the time,” Lucy assured her.
“Mommy!” Mac’s face lit up. “I color.”
“I can see that,” Jillian said, taking a spot on the floor beside Lucy and her son, the small, sandy-haired boy with eyes the color of root beer.
Brody, in his four-year-old wisdom, tried to whisper, “She goes outside the lines.”
Lucy laughed and skimmed one hand down her son’s head. “She’s still little.”
Yes, that was the reason, Jillian thought, but a part of her hoped that Mac always went outside the lines. She wanted her little girl to push envelopes, to reach for stars and every other heartwarming cliché on the books.
“Why don’t you take Mac to your room and show her your books,” Lucy suggested.
“Okay.” Brody stood up and held one hand down to the toddler already scrambling to go with him.
When the kids were out of the room, Lucy gathered up the crayons and tucked them into a wide, plastic box. “So,” she asked, slanting Jillian a look. “How’d it go?”
Jillian gathered up the coloring books, stacked them neatly, then laid them down beside the box of colors. “Pretty well, all things considered.”
“That’s called answering without answering,” Lucy chided. “My mom used to do it all the time to us. Now I do it to Brody.”
Jillian laughed a little. “You’re right. Sorry.”
“What did Will have to say?”
“Everything,” she said after a second or two. Jillian thought back over their meeting and couldn’t fault the man at all. He’d been kind, understanding and generous, considering that Jillian and Mac weren’t his problem to deal with at all. Sighing, she leaned back against the closest chair and stretched her legs out in front of her. “He’s a really nice man. Much nicer than the ‘Will’ I knew.”
Lucy reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze of solidarity. “He’s a good guy.”
“Yeah,” Jillian agreed. “He is. He offered to pay our way home to Vegas and set us up in a new apartment.”
“Oh.” One word of disappointment.
She glanced at Lucy and the other woman shrugged.
“I was sort of hoping you’d stay here in Texas,” Lucy said. “I mean, I don’t have that many close friends and, well, we just clicked, you know? So I’d miss you.”
Surprised as much by Lucy as she had been by the woman’s brother, Jillian asked, “Why?”
A short laugh shot from Lucy’s throat. “Well, come on. Do you have so many friends that you wouldn’t miss one if they moved away?”
“No,” Jillian said after a moment or two. “I don’t. I’d miss you, too.”
“Glad to hear it,” Lucy admitted.
“But I won’t have to miss you.”
“What?” Lucy asked. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not leaving Texas,” Jillian said, then shrugged when the other woman gave her a grin. “There’s nothing to go back to in Vegas and I think maybe Royal is a good place to get a fresh start.”
“It’s a terrific place,” Lucy agreed, leaning over to give her a one-armed hug. “I’m so glad you’re staying. But where are you staying?” She paused, then brightened. “Oh. You and Mac could move into the east wing here with me and Brody. This place is huge—there’s more than enough room. Brody would love having his new friend here and frankly,” she added, “so would I.”
Tempting. Jillian hadn’t had a friend like Lucy in well...ever. For some reason, the two of them had clicked almost from the start and Brody and Mac had already formed a strong friendship, too.
But staying here on Will Sanders’s ranch would just be way too awkward.
Besides, Jesse would be here, too.
And she didn’t think it was a good idea to spend too much time around that particular man. He made her want things she had no business wanting.
Jillian took a deep breath and realized that not even Will Sanders had made her feel so jumpy and excited and eager all at once. No, she amended silently, not Will. Impostor Will. Back then, the impostor had swept her off her feet so fast that Jillian had forgotten all about protecting herself.
And now that she had not only herself but Mac to worry about, Jillian had to be more careful than ever. Especially since Jesse made her want to not be.
“Thank you,” she said. “Really, thank you for offering, but we can’t stay here. It would be...weird, with Will here and—”
