Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 by Maisey Yates (inspirational books .TXT) 📗

a lot to think about. And she wasn’t sure that she liked any of it. It sounded to her like her mother’s relationship with Cash had been more than a little dysfunctional. And she couldn’t deny that her mom had a decent sized stake in the way things had gone. But she also didn’t see the point in the two of them continuing to be sad forever. They both clearly had feelings for each other that they hadn’t resolved. But one thing Cricket couldn’t imagine was…

She could never marry another man.

The conversation with her mom had solidified that thought. Not after Jackson. She couldn’t have another man’s children. Chances were, she would grow old with her ranch. But at least she would have her own dreams.

When she pulled up to the house, he was on the porch, hammering boards in place. Each swing of his hammer was hard and decisive, every muscle and tendon in his body working harmoniously toward its goal. He was a thing of beauty. And the porch was… It was practically brand-new. In the few hours since she’d left, he had transformed the place. It was no longer sinking, no longer looking dilapidated. It was incredible. And it was all him.

He was incredible.

Her heart lifted in her chest, and she felt… She didn’t really know. Renewed in some ways. Her mother’s story was tragic, but it was also a reminder that there was no circumstance Cricket could simply sit back and accept.

She was James Maxfield’s daughter. That hadn’t been her choice. But everything she did with her life…that was her choice. James didn’t own her. Didn’t have a claim on her. She was Cricket. Named after the simple summer nights her mother loved and remembered. After a time in her life that had been special to her. After memories that had mattered. And Cricket was made of those things as much as she was her father’s DNA.

It made her feel rooted, grounded to this place, and certain of her decisions. Much more so than she had ever been before.

“Horses,” she said as soon as she got out of the truck.

“Excuse me?” Jackson looked up, his gaze meeting hers, sending her stomach into a freefall.

“Horses,” she reiterated. “I want to breed horses. That’s what this ranch is going to be. I’ve decided. I want to start right away.”

“We’re going to have to build stables.”

“Then let’s work out a budget. And I can find a contractor. I know it might take some time, but I’m willing. Because my life is going to be what I want it to be. It doesn’t matter what my DNA is. I talked to my mother today. James is my father. For sure and for certain. But that’s not even really the biggest thing. My mom lived a life that she didn’t love for years because she felt trapped in it. Because she felt like she didn’t have a choice. I never want to feel like I don’t have a choice. I’m not one determined thing because I’m James’s daughter, and not Cash’s. I’m not anything but what I decide to be.”

“Good for you.”

She pointed her index finger at him. “But you can’t have my ranch.”

“That’s okay.”

“And you still have to finish out the terms of the bet. I’m not going to have you back out early, just because you can’t do your whole secret…thing. I have nothing but your own honor as a man to hold you to it.”

“You got me.”

“And I want to keep sleeping with you,” she said, suddenly resolute in that decision too. “Until this is over.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. I’m building my life. And this is who I am. I don’t sit back having crushes on men and not saying anything. I don’t just dream about having a ranch. I’m going to have all those things.”

“And then at the end of the thirty days?”

That made her chest feel sore. But she was resolute either way.

“You go your way. I’ll go mine.”

And she wasn’t going to worry about all the things he could and couldn’t give her. She was going to focus on what she could do. Who she could be. What she could give to herself.

Because she would never be her mother. A passive participant in her own life.

No.

She was the one who decided.

Nobody else. She would have a ranch, and a man. And sure, it would be temporary. But it would be hers. The start of something.

And she was so very ready for her life to begin.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The crew had started work on Cricket’s stables. It was weird, now that his focus had shifted. He actually wanted her enterprise to be a success. And that meant looking at things from an entirely different point of view. That meant teaching her about ranching, rather than just making overarching statements and watching her stumble around. It meant bringing her alongside him for repairs, not just to show her how hard it was, but to show her that she could. And with each improvement on the property, he saw her become more firmly rooted in her sense of who she was, and there was a great sense of accomplishment inside of him that he couldn’t quite explain. Except that… Except that he’d felt useless to fix the sadness that he saw inside of his mother, and being able to do something to give Cricket a better life did something to help heal that sense of failure.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he always thought that if his mother had gotten better, maybe he would have helped her leave his father. Given her a place to stay, proved to her that it didn’t matter whether they were together like a traditional family. What really mattered was her happiness. She didn’t need to stay. Not for him. But he’d never said it to her. She’d died before he ever could. Before he’d gotten his own place up and running. And maybe part of him had still been working toward that with