For the most part, she had Stone to herself. “What are you drawing?”
He tipped his head for her to join him. “Come see.”
She walked out onto the porch and stopped behind his chair. Looping her arms around his neck, she peered over his shoulder, surprised to find he wasn’t sketching the landscape after all. He had almost finished a sketch of Pearl on the porch swing. Even only halfway done, the likeness was impressive and heart tugging. He’d captured a sadness in the dog’s eyes that mirrored the sadness she’d seen in Stone’s since his grandmother’s announcement. He patted her hand quietly but kept the pencil in motion.
She stepped around him and settled onto the porch swing beside the terrier. She tapped the swing into motion, staying silent while Stone lost himself in the drawing. She wanted to soak up the moment and ignore the fear that this was merely the calm before the storm.
Finally, he sighed and closed the pad, looking across at her. “Sorry if I woke you.”
“I wake up earlier than this for work.” She reached to touch the edge of the sketch pad on the table beside him. “I forget sometimes what a good artist you are.”
“The jewelry design gene in my family takes many forms,” he said offhandedly.
She smoothed her hand along Pearl’s back, flattening her bristly fur. “Have you ever thought about offering more input on the designs?”
“That’s Amie’s realm. We try not to encroach on each other’s territory. The last thing we need is more competition in this family.” He scratched his collar bone, drawing her eyes to his bare chest. “Besides, this is my hobby, my way of relaxing.”
Her mouth watered at the flex of his tattoo along his arm and the muscled expanse of his chest. “Did you destroy the drawings of me the way you promised when we broke up?”
“You mean the nude drawings.” He grinned wickedly. “What do you think?”
She wasn’t sure what she thought. In the past couple of days she’d come to realize he was very good at keeping secrets and she had been very good at dodging tough subjects in the interest of keeping her fantasy alive. “Should I trust you?”
“Absolutely,” he said without question. “I’m trying to make things right. And as for the drawings, I don’t need any help remembering every amazing inch of you.”
He angled out of the chair to kiss her with a firm, sure confidence that swirled her senses. In a fast sweep, he lifted her and settled her onto his lap. “We have about an hour before we need to head over to the house. Any ideas how we can spend that time wisely?”
She teased the swoop of bed head in his hair. “I think you may need a shower. Are you sure you don’t want to hurry and help Alex drive your grandmother home?”
“I’ll just leave Alex and Amie to duke that out between them.”
She leaned back against his chest. She’d missed moments like this, enjoying the steady thud of his heart. “They’re both so competitive. It should be interesting to watch them once their test comes. I always felt sorry for them as a kid.”
“How so?” he asked. “They had everything—money, parents, a family.”
Really? He was that clueless? “They had a mom who trotted them out like prize horses and a father so tied to golf and hiding from their mom they barely saw him.”
“The pageant thing was a little over-the-top,” he conceded.
She couldn’t hold back a laugh. “You think?”
“Amie never protested—” He held up a hand. “Wait. I take that back. She complained once. She wanted to go to some high school dance and it fell on the weekend of a pageant competition.”
“Did she get to the dance?”
“Nope. She won her crown.” A one-sided smile kicked a dimple into his cheek. “We found the tiara in the middle of a silver tureen of grits the next morning.”
“Miss Texas Grits,” she quipped. “I like it. Amie is full of grit, after all.” Johanna had spent so much of her life idealizing the McNairs, minimizing their struggles, feeling sorry for them on some issues, but overall envying them.
The sound of an approaching taxi pulled her attention out of their bubble of intimacy. Johanna kissed Stone quickly then eased off his lap.
She extended a hand to him. “We should go back inside before the rest of the guests saddle up for the day. I don’t want to have to fight off the tourists. They’ll be drooling over a half-dressed cowboy.”
Her half-dressed cowboy. The possessive thought blindsided her.
The cab drove past the Hidden Gem Lodge and drew closer, as if coming to her home. Johanna hesitated half in, half out of her door. Sure enough, the taxi stopped right at her fenced front lawn. Ruby and Pearl leaped to their feet and flew off the porch, barking.
The back door of the vehicle opened and a woman stepped out, one high heel at a time. Stone’s quick gasp gave her an instant’s warning before recognition hit.
The reed-thin woman bore a striking resemblance to Mariah and Amie for a reason. After four years away, Stone’s mother—Jade McNair—had come home.
* * *
Stone carried his mother’s designer luggage into the guest suite in the family’s portion of the Hidden Gem Lodge. He’d been on autopilot since the second he’d seen his mother step out of the taxi. He vaguely recalled Johanna filling the awkward silence with small talk while he grabbed his shirt and boots. His mother had said something about seeing him on Johanna’s porch so Jade had instructed the taxi driver to go to the cabin rather than straight to the lodge.
His only thought had been to divert any crisis that might upset Mariah.
He put the hang-up bag in the closet and dropped the two suitcases by the leather sofa, onto the thick wool of the Aztec patterned rug. She’d certainly brought enough to stay for more than a weekend trip.
Pivoting, he found his mother standing in the middle of the floor, shifting from foot to foot under the elk horn chandelier. From nerves? Or in need of a fix? She was as thin as a bird, her skin sallow and eyes haunted but clear—her standard postdetox look. He’d seen it enough times to recognize it, and he’d seen it fall apart enough times not to bother hoping the new start would stick.
He cut straight to the chase. “Mariah needs peace, not drama. Cause her any heartache and I will throw you out myself.”
Jade nodded nervously, her hand shaking as she pushed back a hank of dark hair with new threads of silver. “I’m not here to cause trouble. I heard the news about my mother’s cancer from a friend.”