The woman’s lips thinned. “That’s not what my sources tell me.”
Dax was stricken with an overpowering need to get these strangers off his land. “Well, your sources are wrong. So if you’ll excuse me, I have a ranch to run.”
“Just a moment, Mr. Coleman. I’ve spent thousands of dollars tracking my daughter. I know she’s been here. I know she gave birth to a daughter—my grandchild—in the local hospital. I also know she took a position with your ranch—” her nostrils flared in distaste “—as a domestic.”
Oh no. No.
Dax wanted to put a hand over her mouth and stop the flow of words but instead he sat frozen like a plastic snowman.
Mrs. Carrington opened her black leather bag and withdrew a paper which she handed to Dax. “This photo was taken shortly before her husband died.”
Before he even looked down, Dax knew who would be smiling out at him, but his heart dropped anyway.
“Jenna,” he said. “My housekeeper’s name is Jenna Garwood, not Carrington.”
“So she is here. Thank God.” A world of tension left the woman’s body. “Garwood was her married name. Where is she? Where is my granddaughter? We need to get them back to Pennsylvania under medical care right away.”
Dax’s pulse jumped. “Is Jenna sick?”
“Of course she is. What person in her right mind would run away from her family estate in the ninth month of pregnancy and leave behind a multimillion dollar trust fund?”
His ears buzzed. He could have sworn she said Jenna was rich. “If that’s true, why did she come to work here?”
“My point exactly. Jenna is the sole heiress to a vast fortune. Since her husband’s death, she has not been well. I blame myself for not getting her the help she needed sooner. Haven’t you ever heard of postpartum depression? Hormonal psychosis? Our physician believes this is likely the culprit, and now that she has delivered the baby, the danger increases. So please, Mr. Coleman, tell me where my daughter is so we can take her home where she belongs.”
Dax ran a shaky hand over his face. He couldn’t believe this. He was living in a nightmare. Jenna, his love, the woman he wanted to keep forever, obviously didn’t feel the same. She’d had plenty of chances to tell him who she was, and she hadn’t.
He felt as if his heart would burst right out of his chest. What an idiot he was to think a woman like Jenna could care for him. He’d known from the beginning she didn’t fit in his world. She was too young, too classy. The warning signs were all around him, and yet he’d shut them out.
The rumble of a car engine sounded, growing closer. His gut knotted to the point of nausea. He had to get out of here before he did something he’d regret forever. Call him a coward, but he couldn’t look into Jenna’s eyes without losing his cool. It wasn’t so much that she hadn’t told him, it was that she hadn’t trusted him. And more than that, her mother was right. Jenna was a blue blood. She shouldn’t be scrubbing floors for a Texas rancher.
“That’s Jenna’s car,” he said, somehow managing to force the words past the knot in his throat. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you to your reunion .”
With a curt nod, he took his hat and coat and exited out the back way.
They had found her.
The moment she turned down the graveled drive into the Southpaw, Jenna went weak all over. Though she didn’t recognize the black luxury sedan parked next to the house, she recognized the Carrington style.
She tapped the brake, blood roaring in her head as she contemplated the best mode of action. If the visitor was, indeed, Mother, she’d already spoken to Dax. By now, he’d be wondering what kind of crazy person would run away from a fortune. Worse yet, he’d be wondering why Jenna had kept such a secret from him even after their relationship had begun to flower.
Now she wondered the same thing. She should have told him. She should have explained about the years of living an overprotected life with a neurotic mother whose fears controlled her every movement.
The memory of her miserable childhood stiffened her spine. She was an adult. Her mother could not force her to return home.
She pulled into the garage, gathered Sophie into her arms and let herself in through the back door. She could hear the clip of her mother’s voice speaking to someone.
Holding her baby close, knees trembling, she moved quietly down the hall and through the house until she stood in the entry between the dining and living rooms.
“Hello, Mother.” Jenna’s voice sounded cool, but her insides wobbled.
“Jenna, darling.” Elaine rose and reached toward her. Jenna remained aloof and on guard, but an unexpected surge of emotion struck her. Tears pressed at the back of her eyelids. As damaged as their relationship was, she’d missed her family.