Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
ELOISE
This dinner was either going to be incredible or an incredible disaster. I was betting on the latter. Regardless, even if this was an epic failure, I wasn’t sorry for pushing Jasper to come.
“Turn off up there,” I told him, pointing to the gravel road that teed into the highway ahead.
Jasper slowed and took the left without so much as a nod. He was as silent now as he had been all day. Hell, other than a few groans, he’d barely made a sound when we’d had sex this morning.
Still, no regrets.
My family was a huge part of my life. He was my husband. At some point, the two had to learn how to play nice. Besides, it was only for a couple months.
The ranch’s open gates greeted us as we rolled down the gravel drive. My stomach, already in knots, twisted tighter as we passed the log archway emblazoned with the Eden ranch brand—an E with a curve in the shape of a rocking chair’s runner beneath.
“That’s our brand,” I told Jasper.
Not even a hum of acknowledgment.
Why was he so against this? I still didn’t understand his resistance. It was just dinner.
Last night during our argument—if that counted as an argument—I should have pressed for more of an explanation. But the moment he’d agreed to come to dinner, I’d dropped the subject entirely.
While he’d made dinner, I’d changed into sweats. Then the two of us had shared a quiet meal before we’d retreated to bed, doing what we did best.
Each other.
“Thank you for coming.”
He nodded. Progress. Though his eyes stayed locked on the road ahead.
I studied his profile, letting my gaze wander down his forehead to the bump on the bridge of his nose. To the soft lips and stubbled jaw that had woken me this morning as he’d kissed my neck and slid inside my body.
Was it such a crime for me to ask for this meal?
I wanted my family to know Jasper. To remember him. I wanted them to see the man who’d shared this wild, reckless adventure with me. The man who’d only be in my life for a short time but whose memory would undoubtedly last for years.
Forcing this issue was probably silly, considering this was all just a charade. But with every passing day, this felt less and less like a mistake. And if they knew him, then maybe they’d realize why I’d married him that night. Maybe they wouldn’t hold it against me.
And I wanted Jasper to know my family. To see the best of them.
Here on the ranch, we were all our best.
This was home.
Spring weather in Montana, especially in May, was always unpredictable. It could snow one day and be sunny and seventy degrees the next. But for Jasper’s first visit to the ranch, the scene through the windshield couldn’t have been more picturesque.
Barbwire fences bordered the road. Beyond them, the meadows were a lush, vibrant green as they stretched beneath tall evergreens toward the foothills. Mountains, capped with snow, towered in the distance. Their jagged peaks kissed the brilliant blue sky.
It was magnificent. I’d lived my whole life in Montana, yet it never failed to steal my breath.
“Griffin and Winn live on the ranch,” I told Jasper, pointing out my window in the general direction of my brother’s house. “You can’t see their place from here but it’s that way.”
Not that Jasper had asked for that information, but this silence was only making the nerves fluttering in my belly worse. If he wouldn’t talk, then I would.
“Griff runs the ranch now. It’s one of the largest in the state.” That wasn’t a brag. It was simply pride in my family. For generations, the Edens had owned this land, expanding it when possible, adding more acreage and more cattle. “It runs along the mountains for miles.”
Normally, I offered to take visitors on a tour, maybe even spend a Sunday riding horses along the path that tied one end of the ranch to the other. That was, if they showed any interest in this place.
But Jasper just kept driving, not even bothering to look my way. And by the time the trails dried out enough so we wouldn’t be riding in the mud, he’d be gone anyway.
I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Griff and Winn have two kids. Hudson and Emma. Knox and his wife, Memphis, have two boys, Drake and Harrison.”
Did Jasper want kids? I couldn’t picture him with a baby in his arms. Though until my brothers had become fathers, I hadn’t been able to imagine them as dads either.
It was hard to remember what these family dinners had been like before the babies had been born.
When I thought of Griffin, I saw him wearing his scuffed cowboy boots and faded Wranglers, Hudson perched on one arm and Emma on the other.
And Knox wasn’t Knox without Drake toddling behind him, an adorable shadow with blond hair and a smile that would thaw even Jasper’s icy indifference.
I was counting on those kids. I was counting on my brothers and sisters, Mom’s cooking and Dad’s bellowing laugh to win Jasper over tonight.
My hands began to tremble so I slid them beneath my legs.
Ahead, in a clearing of the trees, my parents’ log house came into view. “That’s Mom and Dad’s. My room was that first window on the second floor.”
Jasper shifted his grip on the wheel, but otherwise, he gave nothing away. He was as unreadable as a piece of blank paper.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I asked.
He blinked.
“Apparently I’ll have to pay more,” I muttered. “Are you going to be like this all night? Brooding and, well . . . grumpy?”
Jasper glanced over, his jaw ticking, as he arched an eyebrow. Finally, a reaction. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Are you?”
This wasn’t the Jasper I’d been living with for the past month. Or maybe it was. Maybe I’d gotten used to filling the silence. Maybe I’d forgotten how rare it was to earn a smile because I’d been winning them more often.
“Never mind.” I shook my head, dismissing the subject before it caused a fight. Then I sat a little taller, once more talking to battle my nerves. “My grandfather built the barn behind the house. Dad was the one who put in the shop and stables.”
The enormous buildings, together with Mom and Dad’s house, formed ranch headquarters. There were three Eden Ranch trucks parked in the open lot, employee vehicles left for the weekend. Four more vehicles were lined up in front of Mom and Dad’s place.
Which meant we were the last to arrive.
Jasper eased into the space beside Foster’s truck. It had been quiet on the drive, but the moment he shut off the engine, I could hear my heart pounding against my sternum.
My hand trembled as I reached for the door, but before I could touch the handle, Jasper’s hand settled on my thigh.
“Here.” He popped open the console, taking out a square, velvet box.
A ring box.
“What’s that?” Dumb question, Eloise.
“We’re married,” he said.
“So you got me a ring?”
Was that where he’d gone this morning? I’d assumed he’d left after breakfast for a workout. But he must have stopped downtown and bought me this ring.
The jewelry store owners and their clerks were horrible gossips. But if they thought it was strange for Jasper to buy me a ring now, after we’d been married for a month, I didn’t care.
I flipped open the box’s lid and my jaw dropped.
A round diamond, at least two carats and utterly flawless, sat atop a platinum, jewel-studded band. Beneath it was a wedding ring made entirely of diamonds. It was dainty. Elegant. Exactly what I would have picked out for myself.
“Jas. This is . . .” Too beautiful. Too expensive.
Too real for a fake wife.
I couldn’t find the right words, so I just stared at the diamonds through blurry eyes, wishing I could parse the emotions swelling inside my chest.
Jasper plucked the box from my hand, taking out the set. Then he took my hand, pulling it across the console to slide the jewelry onto my finger. A perfect fit.
“I didn’t buy you a ring.” My gaze whipped to his as panic rushed through my veins. “I should have bought you a ring.”
“I don’t wear rings.”
“Oh.” Why not? Was it because he trained with Foster? I guess if it came down to wearing a ring or losing a finger, I’d rather he not wear a ring either.
“Okay. Well, thank you.” My gaze dropped to the ring again, mesmerized by the gleaming jewel. I soaked in the glitter and sparkle, then leaned across the console.
The moment I pressed my mouth to Jasper’s, his hand cupped the back of my head, pulling me closer. His tongue licked at the seam of my lips, sliding inside when I opened.
I sank into the kiss, the languid strokes of his tongue and the soft press of his lips. It was slow and unhurried. Different than the way he kissed me in bed.
What was this? Affection? Intimacy? An apology? Or just another form of foreplay?
Before I could figure it out, the sound of a door slamming filled the air.
Jasper and I broke apart as Griffin came striding across Mom and Dad’s wraparound porch with Emma on his hip.
“Thank you for the ring,” I told Jasper.
He nodded, then opened his door.
I did the same, climbing out and walking to Griffin.
“Hey.” Griffin gave me a hug, then held out Emma so I could kiss her cheek. But she didn’t want me to carry her. She was content with her daddy. When he let me go, he extended a hand to Jasper. “How’s it going?”
“Good.” Jasper nodded, shaking Griff’s hand.
That was a good thing, right? No angry glares or scowls.
“Everyone is in the stables,” Griff said, jerking his chin that direction. “One of the horses had her foal this morning.”
“Aww. Cute.” I fell in step beside my brother, reaching back for Jasper’s hand.
He took it but he didn’t hold it. Not the way Dad would hold Mom’s hand. Not even the way Jasper would hold my hand at night while we were having sex, with our palms pressed together like he wanted to fuse them together.
Jasper’s grip was too loose as we walked. His fingers barely clasped mine. All it would take was a quick flick, and he’d be free.
Fine. If he wouldn’t hold tight, then I’d do it. I laced my fingers through his. If he wanted to escape, he’d have to work for it.