Texas-Sized Temptation / Star of His Heart: Texas-Sized Temptation / Star of His Heart

Her thoughts were filled with guilt. Why, oh, why had she flirted with him so openly when she had known what the consequences would be?

She couldn’t understand her reaction to him, couldn’t explain it. It didn’t happen with other men, but that definitely did not make Jake “Mr. Right.” He was Mr. Wrong in so many ways.

She thought about her grandmother who would be shaking her head and frowning at the idea of spending an evening in the company of a Benton. She never could have explained a relationship with a Benton to her grandmother. Grandmother had been furious with Will for going out with Brittany Benton.

If Will knew she was with Jake tonight, he would be disgusted because of the lifelong competition between the two in school and sports. Then again, perhaps he would shrug it off that she was spending time with Jake because Will also held a low opinion of her, as well. She thought Will had been dazzled by Brittany at first. She also suspected he liked sneaking around, getting away with something that would annoy both families because it stirred talk and envy among his peers.

Jake returned with a cold bottle of beer for himself and a tall, frosty glass of lemonade for her, placing the drinks on a table in front of the sofa.

Only a few feet away, he sat, facing her, and taking a drink of beer.

“The lemonade is delicious.”

“I can’t take credit. I have a cook.”

“Does your cook live in town?”

“Nope. His wife cooks for the men on the ranch and they live in a house here on the ranch. Our foreman also has a house of his own. We’ve got a big complex with several homes.”

“I noticed when I came in.”

“I meant it when I said you could have been arrested for trespassing if you had been caught.”

“I figured since I obviously wasn’t coming to steal livestock and I’m a woman, they would give me time to explain what I was doing and at worst, run me off your property. I really didn’t expect to get arrested. Besides, the sheriff is a cousin of my foreman.”

Jake smiled. “You’re probably right then. It’s a long ride by horseback.”

“Whatever it takes to talk to the untouchable Benton.”

“Definitely never untouchable to you. I’ll be happy to convince you just how ‘touchable’ I am,” he teased.

“Don’t you dare,” she answered, smiling at him. He caught a lock of her hair, twisting it in his fingers and causing slight tugs on her scalp that were as noticeable as every other physical contact.

“So, Caitlin, what do you want in your future?” Jake asked.

“To continue my photography. To marry and have a family.”

“What happens to the photography when you marry and have a family?”

“I’ll juggle them the way others do. I have leeway to set my own hours for a lot of my work. What’s your future, Jake? No marriage, no family, continue to make money.”

“Right. No change, really.”

“You’ve grown up in basically the same surroundings I have, yet our families have been totally different. You have a controlling father and siblings. My father didn’t want to acknowledge my existence and my grandmother raised me. I have a half brother, but I might as well be an only child, because Will cared nothing for me.”

“That must have hurt.”

She gazed into blue eyes that hid his feelings. He looked as impassive as if talking about the weather. “I was adopted when I was only weeks old, so I have had my grandmother all my life and she showered love on me. I was happy with her and loved her totally. It hurt to be snubbed and rejected, but not deeply. I don’t feel scarred from it. I just don’t want it to happen again to a child of mine,” she said, facing Jake and getting a strange feeling inside. Seduction could lead to an unexpected pregnancy, a baby born out of wedlock, just as she had been. She didn’t want that to happen to a child of hers and the one way to ensure it didn’t, was to stay out of any man’s bed.

“So seduction is out of the question tonight,” Jake remarked lightly as if teasing her, but she was certain the remark was made in earnest.

“Most definitely,” she answered quickly. How easily she answered, yet how difficult it was to stick by her resolution.

They sat and talked with Jake touching locks of her hair or her shoulder or lightly caressing her nape. Casual touches that she didn’t care to draw attention to, yet they were fanning flames. Finally, she stood. “Jake, it’s late. I should turn in.”

“Sure, I’ll show you a guest bedroom.”

When she walked with him down a long hall, he pointed out different rooms. She stopped to look at an enormous dining room with a table that would seat thirty, a cathedral ceiling and a stone fireplace. “Do you ever have this many guests to fill this table?”

“Yes. Parties. There are times I have a lot of company out here. Gabe and I will have things together. There are family parties, too.”

“Do your parents spend much time here?”

“Nope. Dad has a ranch in the Hill Country where the area is green and scenic. This place was our family ranch, but Dad deeded it to me and gave Gabe another one he owned.”

She nodded. “How nice. A father who passes things on to more than the oldest child. Of course, mine wouldn’t have passed anything on to me if I had been the oldest child. I told you, I never dreamed Will would sell the place. Neither did our father who would have put binding stipulations on Will had he known. I’m sure he assumed Will would always live there. He left money to me, but nothing else. No part of the ranch.”

“I’ll have to admit, I’m glad Will sold out. Our family has wanted that ranch for generations. The sale has brought you into my life, which is a bonus.”

They strolled down the wide hall again until he turned into a suite. “These are my rooms. You’ll be nearby, but I wanted you to see where I am.” She looked at the living area that held a desk, an entertainment center, comfortable sofas and chairs, a wall of bookshelves. On a nearby table she noticed a picture of a beautiful brown-haired woman standing beside a horse.

“That’s my sister,” he said quietly. “We were close.”

Caitlin moved closer to study the picture. “She’s beautiful.” She understood why Will had gotten involved with her. “She’s really gorgeous,” she said, thinking she was the feminine version of Jake with blue eyes and brown hair. Caitlin had known about Brittany Benton and Will because sometimes Will had made her cover for him when he had slipped away from family gatherings, and she could remember Brittany as one of the most beautiful girls she had known. Caitlin was aware that Will had been happy and seemingly in love with

Brittany at first. She never thought Will concerned himself

with the old feud or did anything with Brittany out of revenge. Caitlin was certain that Will did exactly what he wanted to do and family history never mattered to him. Since she had to occasionally be ready to cover for him with the family, she knew when he had been out with Brittany.

Brittany had always been nice to her, and Caitlin had wondered how Will could hold the interest of someone so beautiful and so friendly. Except Will could be charming when he wanted to be. He was with his friends. At first, Will had been wildly happy about dating Brittany. The little Caitlin had seen him, it still was obvious how happy he was. Probably, he had been happy until Brittany had made demands on him. Caitlin could imagine Will carelessly getting Brittany pregnant and then wanting no part of taking any responsibility. Being with Jake had brought back memories of that time as well as the questions about what had really happened.

Had Will really been driving the car that killed Brittany Benton? If Brittany had been pregnant, Caitlin could see Will becoming desperate to avoid an obligation and the wrath of their father. Deep down, perhaps Grandmother had suspected Will had been responsible, but she always tried to hold the family together. They would never have an answer because the only living person who knew was Will, but Caitlin could imagine him going to any length to live life the way he wanted.

Caitlin’s grandmother had always wondered even though she only said it aloud once. They had been talking about the trial late at night and Grandmother had gazed out the window into the dark night. “Will is focused on himself,” she had said. “He might be capable of wrecking Brittany Benton’s car to get her out of his life.” Caitlin had listened in shocked silence. After a few minutes, Grandmother had turned back to look at Caitlin. “This family will stand by Will. He has to be proven innocent.”

“I remember at Will’s trial, Grandmother had gathered the family. We all had to go to support Will.”

“Yeah, our family did the same to show support for Brittany even though she wasn’t present,” Jake said and his tone was cold.

“My dad always insisted that Will was innocent. We celebrated Will’s being found innocent of all charges. That was the one time I recall when Will was nice to me the entire evening. It was one of the few times I can remember seeing him at his best.”

“Sorry. I can’t agree.”

Was Jake trying to get revenge by buying the place and tearing down all the structures, destroying everything owned by the Santerres that he could?

Her grandmother would be shocked, certainly annoyed that Caitlin was here, planning to spend the night with a Benton. Not as annoyed as the men in the family. Will hated Jake and Jake indicated the dislike was mutual. She had heard all about Brittany Benton and Will, whispers from Ginny McCorkin, her best friend, as well as her grandmother’s side of the story. Rumors were that Will had gotten Brittany pregnant and refused to marry her. Grandmother had been furious with Will, but she seldom saw Will once he was a teen. Caitlin always figured Brittany was pregnant because of carelessness on Will’s part. Will was too selfish to worry about someone else, even when he thought he was in love. Will wanted to stop seeing Brittany, difficult when she lived on the neighboring ranch and didn’t want to stop seeing him. Then the fatal night when Will and Brittany had fought when she had died in the car wreck.

Both sides had a battery of lawyers, the Santerres’ from Chicago, the Bentons’ attorneys from Los Angeles. Will was found innocent and released, all charges dropped, but the hatred between the two families had grown stronger and the animosity between Will and Jake had become worse than ever.