Moonlight Beach Bachelors: Her Forbidden Cowboy

“Starving,” she said. “Shopping is tough. I worked up an appetite.”

He laughed. The women he knew loved to shop and spend endlessly. He’d never heard one remark about hard work.

“I’ll put the bags away in my room. Meet you in the kitchen?”

He nodded. He hated that he couldn’t offer to help her. He watched her climb the stairway holding three maxed-out shopping bags in one hand and two in the other. The next time she wanted to shop, he’d be damn ready to take the packages off her hands and carry them upstairs for her.

Zane made his way into the kitchen. Mrs. Lopez had left chicken and dumplings warming in the oven. Zane lifted a periwinkle-striped kitchen towel tucked over a basket and eyed cheesy biscuits, still warm. He dipped into the basket and sank his teeth into a biscuit. Warmth spread throughout his mouth and reminded him he was ready for a hearty meal.

“Wow, smells good in here.” Jessica entered the kitchen.

“Mrs. Lopez made one of my favorites tonight.”

“In that case, I’m surprised you waited for me.”

“I figured a Southern girl like you would appreciate sharing chicken and dumplings. It’s my mother’s recipe.”

“You figured right. Well, then. Have a seat.” She gestured to the table. “I’ll dish it up. Unless you want to eat outside?”

He shook his head. The sun had already set, and winds howled over the shoreline, spraying sand everywhere. “Here is just fine.”

Before he knew it, the table was set, plates were dished up and he had the company of one of his favorite people sitting across from him.

The chicken was tender, the dumplings melted in his mouth and Zane spent the next few minutes quietly diving into his meal. He liked that he could sit in silence with Jess without feeling as though he had to entertain her. She was as comfortable with the quiet as he was.

“Mmm, this was so good.” Jess took a last bite of food, and as she wiped her mouth, his gaze drifted down to where the napkin touched her lips. “I’ll have to steal the recipe from Mrs. Lopez and make it for my mother when I get home.”

“No problem.” He shouldn’t be noticing the things he was noticing about Jess. Like the cute way she pushed her glasses up her nose, or the way she smelled right after a shower, or how her light skin had burnished to a golden tone from days of sunbathing. The sound of her voice dug deep into his gut. Janie and Jess were the only two women he knew that had a low, raspy yet very feminine voice. Janie had been sultry, sexy, alluring, but...Jess?

“Zane?”

He lifted his gaze to her meadow-green eyes.

“You went someplace just now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. Are you okay?”

He nodded and cleared his throat. “So, did you have fun shopping today?”

“Fun?” Her head tilted as a slow, easy smile spread across her face. “I had an attire concierge help me. That was weirdly entertaining. She dogged my every step but was nice as can be. Actually my best friend, Sally, helped me make the right choices. Sally was my maid of honor in the wedding that never was.”

“Is your friend in town?”

She laughed and shook her head. “No, not at all. I texted her pictures of the clothes I tried on, and she helped me decide. I’m so not a shopper.”

“Ah, the power of technology.”

“Yeah, ain’t it great?”

It beat having Dylan McKay help her shop. Zane wasn’t about to allow that to happen.

A heartbreaking ladies’ man was the last thing sweet Jess needed in her life right now.

“Actually, it is pretty great. I’m glad you had a good day.”

“I plan to have a lot of good days from now on.” A glint of something resolute beamed in her eyes, her face an open expression of hope.

Jess was healing, and that was a good thing. He liked seeing her feeling better. That was the whole point of her coming here. But it seemed too soon. And she seemed a little too happy for a woman who’d been betrayed and heartbroken. Right now, Jessica Holcomb looked ready to conquer the world, or at least Moonlight Beach. Instincts that rarely failed him told him something else was going on with Jess.

And he didn’t know if he was going to like it.

* * *

“Hi, Zane.” Jessica stepped into the living room, dressed and ready for Dylan’s party.

Zane turned from the window... His hair was combed back, shiny and straight, the stubble on his face a reflection of not having a shave in two days. He looked gorgeous in a white billowy shirt and light khaki trousers. When his gaze fell on the new her, his lips parted and his eyes popped as he took in her appearance from the top of her head to her sandaled toes. Pain entered his eyes, and he blinked several times as if trying to make it go away. Relying on the two crutches under his arms, he straightened to his full height and sighed heavily.

“Zane?” Her lips began to quiver. What was wrong with him? “Are you all right?”

He stared at her, his expression unreadable. “I’m fine.”

“Are you? Have I done something? Don’t you like the dress?” Her mind rushed back to the clothes she’d laid out on the bed. She’d chosen the cornflower-blue sundress that accented her slender waist in a scoop-neck design that, granted, revealed more cleavage that she was comfortable with, but wasn’t indecent by any means.

His mouth opened partly, but no words tumbled forth, and then he gulped as if swallowing his words.

“What is it?” she pressed.

“You look like Janie,” he rushed out, as though once pressured, he couldn’t stop himself from saying it.

“I...do?”

How could she possibly look like Janie? Janie was stunning. She had natural beauty, a perfectly symmetrical face. She wore stylish clothes, had the prettiest long, silken hair, and oh...now she understood. Of course she and Janie resembled each other—they were sisters—but Jessica had always stood in Janie’s shadow where beauty was concerned. Her blonde-from-a-bottle hair color had turned out a little less dark honey and much more sweet wheat, similar to Janie’s hair color. Jessica didn’t usually wear her contacts, but she imagined her eyes looked more vibrant green than ever before. Like Janie’s brilliant gemstone eyes. Did Zane think he was seeing a ghost of his former wife? She didn’t believe she looked enough like Janie for that and never thought about how it might appear. “I, um, wasn’t trying to, but I take that as a compliment.” She shrugged, compelled to explain. “I guess I needed a change.”

An awkward moment passed between them, which was weird. They didn’t do awkward. Usually they were completely at peace with each other.

“You didn’t need to change a thing,” he said firmly.

Was he trying to make her feel better? Even she had to admit, after looking at herself in the mirror today, that her new look made her appear revitalized and well, better than she had in years. Zane had no idea what she was really going through right now, the pain, rejection, anger. He didn’t know, because she hadn’t told him. He wasn’t her shrink, her sounding board. And call it pride, but she wasn’t ready to talk about Steven’s quick marriage to her once-friend/bridesmaid to anyone, much less him. “I’m sorry if I upset you. Obviously you don’t approve. I don’t have to go tonight.”

The last thing she wanted to do was cause Zane any upheaval in his life. He was still in love with Janie. She got that. No one knew what a special person her sister was better than she did.

She was staying here thanks to Zane’s generosity. He was her employer now, too, and she had to remember that, yet underlying hurt simmered inside her. He had no idea how hard this was for her. She’d come into this room hoping for some sort of approval. She’d made a change in her appearance, but it was more than that. She looked upon this makeover as a fresh start, a way to say “screw you” to all the Stevens in the world. She’d come into this room with newfound confidence, and Zane’s dismal attitude had caused her heart to plummet. Why did it matter so much to her what Zane thought?

She pivoted on her heels, taking a step toward the staircase, and Zane’s voice boomed across the room. “Damn it, Jess. Don’t leave.”

She whirled around and stared at him. A dark storm raged in his eyes.