She exhaled. “Not as much as I would like. She’s a free spirit, my mom. My folks split up when I was about ten. My mom cheated on my dad, and I was appalled, but it turned out that she wasn’t the only one cheating. My mom had been involved with a German expat, visiting the States on contract. As soon as the divorce came though, and the guy’s job was over, the two of them moved to Germany.” They had given her the choice to live with either of them, and she chose her dad. She didn’t want him to be alone. By the time Teresa came into the picture, her dad refused to sign the documents that would allow her to move to Germany. Her mom didn’t want to fight for custody, and so their relationship suffered. Jacyn had even saved up enough for a plane ticket, willing to prove to her mother that she wouldn’t be a burden to her family. “My mom had another daughter with her new husband, who’s almost twelve years younger than me. I’ve never met my mother’s daughter.”
She looked so miserable as she trailed off that he reached out and laid his hand upon hers, lightly, so as not to scare her away. “I’m so sorry,cher.”
“Humph.” She shrugged it away.
It seemed that Jacyn’s family situation was complicated, but then so was his. Might as well press on. “And your father?”
“Oh, he got married to his lady love too. Her name is Teresa, and she has a daughter my age. Delia.”
“Yet another sister,” he remarked. “Do you get along with this one?”
She flinched, immediately making him regret having asked.
“I always thought that having a sister would be like having a readymade ally. A confidante, you know? But from the moment we met, she saw me as competition. Her mother did nothing to soothe over the situation. Delia competed for everything, especially our parents’ affections. And Delia measures affection in material terms.”
“And you do not,” Alex asserted.
Recalling the couple of days they’d spent in Paris shopping for appropriate clothes to bring with them, Alex was sure that Jacyn was unique. He’d shopped with other women before and never had he met one whose eyes didn’t light up at the prospect of squeezing every euro out of him that they could. Jacyn was appreciative of the quality merchandise his money could buy, but never once had she attempted to parlay their agreement into more possessions. It had been a pleasant surprise.
Jacyn went on ruefully, “My stepsister always wanted everything I had. If I took modern dance lessons, she signed up to do ballet. If I got a puppy, she begged for a kitten. And my father gave her everything she wanted, whether it affected me or not. His wife, Teresa, has him completely under her spell. He does everything she tells him, no matter how it affects me.”
She threw him a solemn glance. “So, you see, on both sides of my family, I am—and have always been—the least, and the last.” She struggled to contain the pain on her face, but to his eyes it was clear. And he understood; he knew what it was like to always come last.
At that point, he wanted so much to take her into his arms and hold her until the hurt went away. He got to his feet in an effort to assert some control over his impulses, but did not attempt to resist the urge to say, “You are far from the last, Jacyn. At anything. And I promise you, one day, they will all see your greatness, and recognize how talented and amazing you are.”
The passion and sincerity with which he had uttered those words shocked him.Time to leave,he thought.Better to get to my suite before things get complicated.He adopted a more formal tone. “It was good seeing you ride this morning. Would you like to do it again?”
“Yes!” she said eagerly.
He bowed slightly, and began moving towards the door. “Then tomorrow, when I arrive with the sunrise, you will be dressed and waiting, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Bien.I will make a rider out of you.”
CHAPTER 10
JACYN GLANCED OVER AT Alex riding next to her and turned quickly to hide a smile. Today was a graduation of sorts: For several lessons, he had walked slowly next to her while she rode, leading Orage by the bridle and making sure the giant creature kept a steady, reassuring pace. Last week, he had begun to ride with her on his own magnificent horse, Brute.
The pace at which Alex had ridden with her was surely not a test of the animal’s speed or skills. She could only imagine what horse and rider could do when they were out in the fields alone.
Today, Alex had decided that Jacyn had progressed enough to take the horses off the family property. And now, they were riding along the kind of country lanes she had only seen before in those kitschy wall calendars that Whole-Foods Markets gave away for free in December.
The summer glow warmed her face, kissed her lips, and made her sigh in sheer bliss. Even though she was guiding the large animal, she felt confident enough in its common sense, and the commanding presence of Alex just an arm’s span away from her, to close her eyes for a moment.
“Eyes open, missy,” came his amused voice.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. This is just so perfect. I didn’t know that something so simple as riding a horse on a summer’s morning could make you feel so alive!”
He nodded in agreement. “It’s been a long time for me as well. I’ve been so busy the last few years. Flying from city to city, brokering deals, overseeing construction of new properties. I think I forgot I’m a country boy at heart.”
She tried to imagine Alex as a boy, running along these very same lanes, with his dark shock of hair falling into his eyes. Perhaps chasing his big brother or being chased by him. Surely there was a time in the past when the brothers were close? Maybe he walked hand in hand with Madeline as she plucked flowers from roadside bushes to carry home and put into vases. She’d learned that Alex’s mom loved flowers.
Was happiness really so simple? Picking flowers on a quiet road with the people you love?
She realized that Alex was staring at her, and she hastily looked away. “What?”
“Nothing.”