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y won’t let go of you all night.”
“Not fragile.” He knocked his fist lightly to his chest and her eyes drank in the motion.
No, the man didn’t look the least bit fragile. He was as firm and sturdy as the ground beneath them. Of course, the ground itself had proven vulnerable during the earthquake a few months ago. A philosopher might find some correlation there, that the world and everyone in it was subject to life-altering change at any moment. Completely breakable under the right pressure and circumstance.
She was tired of feeling weak and unsettled. Tired of Regina applying pressure that forced this awkward circumstance. Mia would much rather find a way to explore Jarvis’s considerable strength and the tenderness underneath it. Every kindness he showed her, every time he held her son, she felt drawn in, as if he pulled her by an invisible string. Worse, she liked the sensation.
Because it was new, or because it was him? The two were inextricably intertwined. Jarvis was new in her life but what he made her feel was tantalizing, uncharted terrain. She wanted to dig in and find the source of the hot sizzle in her bloodstream when she merely thought about him. Her marriage hadn’t been passionless, but it hadn’t had this. Jarvis wasn’t out here with her because it made him look better. He wasn’t looking for an inside track to her father. He looked at her, at her son, with a fresh sincerity she hadn’t realized her life had been missing.
“More than searching for dirt on Regina, I’d feel better if you can confirm that my dad’s all right.”
“Consider it done,” he promised. As he moved closer, the last rays of sunlight set the sky on fire behind him. “Do you want me to give him the video?”
She couldn’t even imagine how that would be possible. Regina knew how to keep her father isolated, even in a crowded room. Always at his ear, hovering while whispering endearments, hanging on his arm and his every word. “We have time to think about it,” she said, avoiding that ugly minefield for tonight.
“You really miss your dad.”
How did Jarvis, basically a stranger, see right through her? She smiled down at her baby, too raw to look at the man crouched at her side. “I’ve missed him for years. Having a child of my own only makes it harder to understand why he chooses her over me every time. It wasn’t like this with my mom. They were a team, sure, they were the authority, but I was part of it. Included, even when I didn’t get my way. I admit I struggled with the adjustment when he brought Regina home. I was a brat.”
“You were a kid,” Jarvis soothed.
“A bratty kid,” she said, compromising. “Yes, it hurt seeing another woman where my mom used to be. Worse was that he wouldn’t talk to me like a miniature adult anymore. I didn’t want to break them up. Not really. I was fighting against being cut out.” She sniffled, tracing the shape of her son’s tiny fist. “And it happened, anyway. Fighting so hard only brought it on faster. This entire situation is just the latest battle in a war for my father’s attention and affection.”
“Based on what I’ve heard from you and Selina, Regina is warring with you for Norton’s influence and money,” Jarvis said. “And she fights dirty.”
“You’re right,” Mia allowed. “Maybe that’s why I keep losing ground.” She shook her head, embarrassment creeping in. “I didn’t mean to dump all of that on you. Sorry. And I thought pregnancy hormones were bad,” she joked. “I’m learning motherhood is full of pitfalls.” She stroked Silas’s perfect ear. “I look at him and can’t imagine putting him second to anyone.”
“Because you’re a good mother,” Jarvis said, his tone gentle. He brushed a tear from her cheek.
“My dad was a good father,” she countered. His tune had changed when Regina showed up and twisted all of her childish mistakes into character flaws that disappointed him. “He provided and nurtured. He gave me a head for business and urged me to use it.”
“You did that.”
She sniffled again. “Pardon me.” She blinked rapidly, willing this meltdown to stop before she lost all control.
Jarvis walked into the bunkhouse, returning with a packet of tissues from the diaper bag.
“Thanks.” She blotted her eyes and runny nose, wishing she could recapture the cool, self-assured inner strength she’d enjoyed before her pregnancy. “I’m not always such a mess.”
To her relief, he didn’t offer an opinion on that. How could he? They’d known each other for only a few strange days.
“There has to be a way to make Regina pay for this mess she created,” he said. “Between the two of us, we’ll figure it out.”
She believed him and couldn’t decide if that belief was rooted more in fantasy or desperation. “Why did you walk away from your career to come work here?”
Jarvis’s chest rose and fell on a deep sigh. Sitting down, he leaned back against the pillar and stretched out his long legs, crossing them at the ankles.
It wasn’t a particularly sexy pose, but to her he was temptation personified. She could hardly blame Selina for insisting on a date. Mia had found Jarvis’s headshot as well as pictures of him in a suit for a community fund-raiser kickoff in town. Selina had chosen superb eye candy for Regina’s party.
“Several reasons, starting with a need for change,” he was saying. “I was doing well enough, but it was the same old thing day after day. Meetings and conference calls, maintaining an image that didn’t feel right.”
The words sounded rehearsed and she wasn’t buying it. “You could’ve done anything, but you came to this specific ranch. A Colton ranch,” she said, pointedly.
“True. And I leaned on the connection, used my last name to win over Asher. Payne likes to pretend the three of us aren’t actually related to him and his kids. His children aren’t as bad, though.”
“That’s silly. You are related.” His gaze locked with hers. Oops. She hadn’t meant to reveal just how personal her search had become. “Small town,” she said as breezily as possible. “Both your family and his have deep roots. Any other conclusion is impractical.”
“Well, Payne’s an arrogant jerk,” Jarvis said.
