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He was teasing, but that didn’t stop Jenn from flushing from her toes to the tips of her ears. “I really don’t have time for dating.”
“Well, you ought to make some.” His midnight-blue eyes were alight with amusement.
Jenn waved him off with her hand. “Now you’re starting to sound like my family.”
He laughed and stretched like a lazy cat. He was so large he dwarfed the armchair he was seated on.
“I still don’t understand where I come in,” he said after a minute.
“You don’t,” she stated emphatically. “This is all one big misunderstanding.”
“I got that much. So who is—and more to the point where is—this fellow Johnny your family was clearly expecting?”
She groaned and put a palm to her forehead. “That’s the thing,” she muttered. “There is no Johnny.”
There was another long moment’s pause as Johnny considered her words, and then he shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
She chuckled. “No, you wouldn’t. I did something stupid, at least in hindsight it appears that way. My family always teases me mercilessly about getting married and starting a family, so I made up a man.”
“You did what?” He fingered the dusty Stetson in his hand.
“It’s not as complicated as it sounds—at least it wasn’t, until you showed up and announced your name was Johnny.”
“My name is Johnny,” he said with a low chuckle.
“Unfortunately,” she muttered, and then clapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
He laughed. “I didn’t think you did.”
She liked his laugh. He threw back his head and chortled wholeheartedly, his blue eyes glittering.
Okay, so she was harboring a little resentment toward the man, even if she knew perfectly well it wasn’t really his fault she was in this predicament. Fortunately, he couldn’t tell how she was really feeling, this convulsion of emotions coursing through her heart and head.
At least Johnny appeared to be taking her revelations with courtesy and maybe a touch of humor, which, Jenn thought, said a lot about the kind of man he was. He didn’t seem mad at her.
Yet.
He hadn’t heard the whole story. Johnny might appear to be a nice enough man for an unpolished cowboy, but he still had no idea how big a quandary he’d innocently walked into.
There were limits to any man’s patience, and Johnny’s, she had to think, must already be stretched close to its limit.
Jenn was about to continue her convoluted explanation when her mother interrupted. Clearing her throat loudly to announce her presence, Jenn’s mother entered with two steaming mugs of freshly ground and brewed coffee. Jenn inhaled the lovely aroma of hazelnut and crème, her favorite.
Mom didn’t say a word. She set the mugs on the table and, with an encouraging smile to each of them, backtracked into the kitchen, closing the French doors that separated the rooms firmly behind her.
“I sent myself flowers,” Jenn announced as soon as she and Johnny were once more alone.
“That’s it?” Johnny asked, cocking an eyebrow. “That’s all you did? Signed the card Johnny and let everyone think what they may?”
“Not exactly,” she said, chuckling. “I signed the card, Love, Me.”
He laughed heartily, and Jenn was certain her family could hear that from the next room.
“Clever,” he said. “Ingenious. This story gets better and better. So what happened when the flowers arrived?” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, as if anxious to hear the rest.
In that, he would be disappointed. “There isn’t much to tell. The family made a big deal of it, of course, and started nagging me for a name. I’d only just blurted out Johnny when you and Scotty showed up.”
“Hmm,” he said, stroking his strong jaw between his thumb and forefinger. His face was unshaven, as he’d been out on the range for a good week at least, Jenn thought.
She wondered why she didn’t find the scruff unattractive. Stubble had never appealed to her before.
He sat back in the chair. “My showing up puts you in a bit of a pickle, doesn’t it?”
“Let’s just say it was a major jolt to my system, and leave it at that. I was really freaked out there for a while. But now that I’ve had a chance to settle down and think about it—and to talk to you—it’s really not so bad. We—I, that is,—just need to come clean with the facts. I simply have to tell my family there’s been a misunderstanding and you are not my Johnny.”
“And yet, here we’ve been sitting alone all this time like we’re catching up.”
The man did have a point. Jenn felt herself blushing again. She hated that. “I can’t think of how to explain that part—yet.”
Johnny grinned. “I can.”
But before he could say more, the family emerged from the kitchen, flooding back into the living room with expectant gazes on their faces. Apparently, they’d collectively decided they’d waited long enough to get the scoop on Jenn and her new beau.
Even Scotty looked curious. How could he think for one second that…
Her thoughts were cut off when Johnny stood, and with the athletic agility of a rugged cowboy, slid into the spot next to her on the sofa and slipped his arm around her shoulders, effectively sealing the deal.
She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. The temperature in the room seemed to suddenly have spiked to well over two hundred degrees.
What was the crazy cowboy up to now? Didn’t he realize he was making things worse by the second?
And how was she going to explain herself to her family, when Johnny was acting so cozy with her?
There was only one answer to that question.
She couldn’t.
Chapter Two
“Relax,” he whispered close to her ear, his soft drawl sending a shiver down her spine for any number of reasons. “I’m doing you a favor.”
What? Her mind scrambled for an answer to his riddle, but she couldn’t put two thoughts together rationally to save her life.
Steady, she coaxed herself mentally. Relax. Think. Try to locate your brain.
“Thanks, folks,” Johnny said, addressing her hovering family. “It was nice to have a few minutes alone with Jenn to get—er—reacquainted with this lovely lady.”
His arm tightened around her shoulder for just a moment. She didn’t know if the gesture was meant for the family’s benefit or if he was sending her some kind of unspoken message.
Maybe both.
Because she was sure, now, what he was doing.
He was playing her game.
The game she had initiated and no longer wanted any part of.
She tried to speak, to lay it all on the line for her family, but Johnny’s statement sent the whole clan abuzz, and Jenn couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
“A cowboy,” Granny said, looking from Johnny to Jenn, and then back at Johnny again, assessing them before giving Jenn a nod of approval. “Who would have thought?”
Who would have thought, indeed? Jenn wouldn’t hog-tie herself to a ranch hand in a million years. Rough-and-tumble cowboys just weren’t her type, and her family, of all people, should have known that.
“The flowers are lovely,” her mother offered.
Especially picked for me, by me, Jenn thought.
“And how romantic for you two to meet up this way,” Auntie Myra added. “Johnny must have done some real fast talking to surprise you like this, Jenn. All in all, I think this whole reunion is going to be one surprise after another.”
More than Auntie Myra could possibly know.
Granddad settled into the chocolate-colored armchair Johnny had vacated. “So, son, tell us more about you. Jenn was going to fill us in when you arrived. Where do you hail from?”
Jenn noticed Johnny’s hesitation, and the way his grip on his cowboy hat tightened. He rolled the rim as he spoke. “I’m originally from Nebraska, sir, but I’ve lived all over the country at one time or another.”
That explained the slight but unidentifiable drawl, at any rate—the accent that made her heart do that tiny, annoying flutter she was trying to ignore. Johnny spoke firmly and quietly, but the tension was definitely still present.
Jenn wondered if anyone else had noticed the way he’d suddenly stiffened. But no, of course not—they were all flying off in this wild fantasy she had created for their benefit. She wanted to crawl underneath the nearest chair and hide, but Johnny’s arm was still firmly about her shoulders.
“Your family is in Nebraska?” Jenn’s father asked, standing directly behind the armchair her grandfather occupied and leaning into it, resting his elbow on the cushion.
“No family,” Johnny said briskly. He wanted to fold his arms across his chest in a protective move, but he didn’t want to let go of Jenn to do it, so he remained where he was. He didn’t want to talk about this subject—not to this nice, close, happy family. But he knew he had to say something. “I’m an orphan, sir.”
Best to stay as close to the truth as possible, he decided. As a Christian, it went against every moral grain in his body to submit even the smallest white lie to anyone, but he’d suddenly discovered a chivalrous streak he hadn’t even known he possessed until this moment.
At first, this charade had been about himself, about protecting his own identity and getting to spend a couple weeks finding out how a real family functioned.
Now it was about Jenn.
When the family had abruptly broken off his conversation with Jenn, he’d moved to her side without a moment’s thought or hesitation, going straight on gut instinct. An instinct to protect the beautiful woman now lodged firmly, if not comfortably, in his arms.
The fact that he was protecting her from herselfcrossed his mind, but it didn’t matter now. He’d made his decision and he was going to stick with it.
“Well, you’ve got family here, son,” Jenn’s grandfather said firmly. “Any friend of Jenn and Scotty’s is always welcome here.”
To his surprise, Johnny found himself fighting a burning sensation in the back of his eyes. He’d thought he’d put aside all his hurt and anguish at having grown up without a family, but Jenn’s grandfather’s words pierced his heart.
Johnny wasn’t a crying man. He hadn’t shed a single tear since he was five years old and his bully of a foster brother had beaten him up for being such a sissy.
He grit his teeth against the onslaught of emotion, determined to overcome it by sheer strength of will but entirely unable to speak.
“That’s right, honey,” Auntie Myra said, ruffling Johnny’s hair as she would a young boy. “Now that you’re dating our precious Jenn, you’ve got to consider us all your family. And I expect you to call me Auntie Myra. I know the rest of my family feels the same—Granny, Granddad.”
Johnny opened his mouth to speak but only a choking sound emerged.
Auntie Myra held up her hands, thinking he was trying to beg off. If only she knew.
“No, no, we won’t hear of anything else, will we, folks?”
Her family clamored over each other to be the first to agree.
Jenn’s mother placed a hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “I know you must be feeling a little overwhelmed right now, Johnny. Don’t let them frighten you away. I know you and Jenn are just dating. You probably haven’t made any long-term plans.”
That was an understatement. He and Jenn hadn’t gotten so far as to what they were going to do in the next minute, much less the next two weeks. Johnny swallowed hard and nodded.
“Still and all, things being the way they are, Jenn’s father and I would be honored if you would treat us like family, even if it’s just for these two weeks.”
Johnny looked at Jenn. Her bright blue eyes were shimmering with unshed tears, from joy or chagrin he couldn’t say.
For himself, Johnny thought this might be the happiest moment of his life, and it was certainly going to be the best two weeks he’d ever spent.
He was still feeling guilty about deceiving these kind people, but it was really only a sin of omission, wasn’t it?
Anyway, he was already committed. In for a penny, and all that. For the next two weeks, he decided, he was going to toss away guilt and savor every moment.
Because for the first time in his entire life, he had a family.
“We need to make some ground rules,” Jenn said firmly, as she showed Johnny to his room. “Since you’ve decided to play this little game.” Her tone was both defensive and accusatory.
“You started it,” he reminded her, then clamped his jaw shut as he realized he sounded like a five-year-old bantering with a sibling.
Jenn Washington was most definitely not his sibling. His grip on his saddle pack increased with every step. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“It’s true. I did,” she admitted quietly after a moment’s pause.
At least she had the maturity to own up to her part in this charade. Johnny respected her for that.
“What I don’t understand is why you decided not to call my bluff,” she said, gesturing him into a small corner bedroom.
Johnny quickly scanned the room. There was a neatly made twin bed with a colorful quilt folded at the bottom, a writing table which faced one of two windows, and a clothes rack in lieu of a closet.
There wasn’t space for a closet, or anything else, for that matter. Johnny had to duck his head to get through the doorway.
He set his saddle pack against the foot of the bed and then sat down, feeling less awkward sitting than standing. He looked at Jenn expectantly, wondering if she was going to keep on about the subject of why he hadn’t called her bluff, or if she would move on to something else.
Thankfully, it was something else. “I apologize for the cramped quarters. This is the only spare guest room we have left.”
“Not a problem,” Johnny assured her.
“You’re positive you won’t be claustrophobic? You’re used to sleeping under the stars, I’m sure.”
He didn’t think now was the time to mention he’d shared a dorm room smaller than this in college. “Like I said, I’ll be fine. If I get the hankering, I have my bedroll. I can always go out by the barn and sleep under the stars.” He winked at her.
“Yes, I suppose you can,” she agreed with a smile. “And then come back inside for a hot shower in the morning. What a novel idea for a cowboy.”
Actually, he was looking forward to sleeping inside again, on a real bed, and most especially taking a hot shower every morning, but he didn’t tell her that. He just grinned.
“Now, back to my original statement. Ground rules,” she reminded him. “And I still want to know why you decided to masquerade as my Johnny.”
“That’s a simple answer,” he replied, opening the frilly blue gingham curtains to let in what was left of the sunshine. Since the window above the authentic pinewood writing desk faced east, he knew he’d see a lot more of the sun come morning.
He grinned. “I’ve never had a family. You’ve just given me two weeks with one. It’ll be a new experience for me.”
He was surprised when she didn’t smile back, but rather frowned at him. “Are you serious? You want to be a part of my family? You’ve spent more than five minutes in their combined company. Are you nuts?”
“You don’t know what you have.”
Jenn went silent. He was serious. And she felt sorry for him. She might not see them often, but she had family, and as curious as they were, she knew she could count on them, no matter what.
Johnny, on the other hand, had no one.
He returned to his saddle bag and flipped open the top, taking out a well-used leather-bound bible and placing it on the writing desk, his hand lingering over the cover.
“You’re a Christian?” she asked, more alarmed than surprised.
He looked her straight in the eye. “Yes, ma’am. Does that bother you?”
Jenn looked away from his soul-piercing gaze. “No, not at all,” she said with forced enthusiasm.
“You’re in good company here. My family is all outspoken believers.”
She expected he would naturally include her in the statement, but he continued to watch her, assessing her with eyes that gleamed almost black in the twilight of the bedroom.
To her relief, he didn’t press the point. Instead, he shifted back to their original quandary.
“You said something about ground rules.” That low, soft-spoken voice went straight to her heart. “What did you have in mind?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” she began, and realized to her own surprise that she meant it. “But I think we’d both be more comfortable—and believable—if we simply devise and agree to abide by a game plan. That way there won’t be as many opportunities for mistakes, faux pas, if you will.”
“Okay,” he said straightaway, sitting on the corner of the bed and gesturing her to the pinewood chair. “Should I shut the door, do you think, so others can’t hear our conversation?”
“No!” Jenn felt a blush rising to her cheeks—again. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. My family is old-fashioned. I’m old-fashioned, at least in that respect. This is exactly the sort of behavior I don’t want—”
She stopped speaking dead in the middle of her statement when she looked at Johnny, who’d crossed his arms and was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
She suddenly realized he was teasing her, which only made her blush all the more.
“Seriously, now,” he said. “What is it you think we should—or should not—do to make our grand charade a success?”
Jenn had no idea where to start. Her mind was jumbled with thoughts, and not all were about the pretense they were initiating. He was looking at her with an intensity and amusement that sent her mind and heart completely off-kilter.
Johnny merely cocked an eyebrow, waiting.
“Well, I don’t think we should spend too much time together alone,” she started, and then realized that was exactly what they were doing now. “Of course, my family will expect us to hang out with each other, but let’s try to do that when everyone’s around.”
He nodded, his lips quirking in that adorable smile of his.
“My family doesn’t really believe in private time—individual or otherwise—especially during these reunions. They usually have every spare second filled with some amusement or another.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“It’ll drive you crazy by the end of your first week here.”
He laughed. “You like your private time, huh?”
“Oh, yes,” she agreed instantly. “I have to have some downtime just to recover from all the noise my family makes. Trust me, you will, too.”
“Naw.” He shook his head. “Other than devotional time, which I usually take early in the morning before anyone else rises, I think I’m good.”
“We’ll see.” This man was far too agreeable, which would normally set her nerves on edge, but for some reason, she liked him all the more for his positive attitude.
“What else?” he asked, leaning back on his hands.
She wondered if his curly black hair was always as ruffled as it was now, or whether it was the result of wearing his cowboy hat all day.
“I would prefer that you not try to delve into my personal business—my private life. I’ll respect yours, as well. Naturally, I’ll fill you in on the basics, the things you need to know to be my Johnny. But at the end of the day, I’m a very private person, and I’d like it to stay that way.”
“Of course,” he agreed immediately with a firm nod of his head. “Likewise, darlin’.”
The endearment left a mark on her heart. She wanted to deny him the right to use a pet name with her, but realized it could work to her advantage, so she said nothing.
She considered what a simple cowboy like Johnny could possibly consider a private life. He spent all his time out on the range with cows, after all.
Then again, as a social worker, she’d learned the hard way that everyone had secrets. She knew she personally carried more than the usual load. But still…
“Anything else I should know?” he asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“No P.D.A.,” she blurted without thinking, and then groaned inwardly. This was going to be much, much more complicated than she’d ever imagined.
That quirk of his lips again. She was positive that trait was going to drive her crazy within the space of a week, for better or worse.
“Public Displays of Affection,” she clarified.
Johnny chuckled softly, a deep, low rumble in his throat. “I know what P.D.A. stands for. I was just wondering what your family will think if there aren’t any. We’re supposed to be in love, remember?”
She choked and sputtered for air.
He just grinned. He was baiting her—again, as if he enjoyed making her blush.
Maybe he did.
“You have a point,” she conceded slowly. “I suppose there must be something. Er—uh—holding hands once in a while would be appropriate, and I g-guess you can put your arm around me from time to time.” She hated how she stammered through that sentence, but she couldn’t help herself.
“I feel honored,” Johnny said, using his fingers to tip the rim of the hat he wasn’t wearing. She couldn’t tell whether or not he was teasing her again. His voice was serious, but his midnight-blue eyes were dancing with merriment.
She frowned. “I’m serious. And one more thing. Absolutely, positively no kissing. Not even so much as a peck on the cheek. Are we clear on that point?”
His gaze widened, and for the longest moment she thought he might object, but in the end he just nodded. “Done,” he said firmly.
She let out a sigh. He had no idea of the relief flooding through her. Because, even though she didn’t know this man at all, she believed he meant what he said.
She shouldn’t. She knew better.
She’d keep her guard up, no matter what. At least he’d agreed to the ground rules in theory, and her gut instinct was to take him at his word. Time would tell.
At least he hadn’t asked for details, or questioned her rules. Most women, she supposed, probably threw themselves at the handsome cowboy. He probably wasn’t used to a woman being as reserved as she was.
She wasn’t being mysterious, only cautious.
Johnny couldn’t possibly understand the truth. No one could.
“Now for the backstory,” Jenn said, happy to change the subject. “You know I’m a social worker in Denver, and I know you’re a wrangler in Wyoming. I have absolutely no idea how we could possibly—and plausibly—have met.”
“That should be an interesting concoction,” he said, reaching his arms up and lacing his long, leather-callused fingers behind his neck. “I’ve been wrangling cows with your brother for a month.”
Jenn blew out a breath. “This is impossible,” she stated, as she twisted her index finger through her golden curls. “How on earth would I have ever even met a cowboy, much less have started dating one?”
Johnny winced inwardly. The way she said cowboy said it all. She wasn’t the type of woman, Johnny realized, who would be remotely interested in a down-home, backward cowboy.
Only, he wasn’t a wrangler.
Far from it.
If she knew who he really was…
No. That would ruin everything.
“Well, I’m doubting you took a trip to Wyoming to hang out with us cowboys,” he said in a soft drawl, stressing the word with the same emphasis Jenn had given it.
She chuckled. “Hardly.”
“Which means I must have come to Denver for some reason.” Johnny was starting to enjoy this, concocting this crazy story with her. A small wave of guilt passed through him—not the larger, more convicting stabs he’d had earlier, but more like the ones he’d had as a teenager, afraid he’d be caught sneaking out of his foster parents’ house late at night.
He welcomed the adrenaline rush that accompanied the thought. “I don’t have any family, so…”
“You were visiting friends,” she prompted. “Mutual friends, between you and me, as it turned out. I have a dozen married friends my family knows are always trying to set me up. That wouldn’t be so far-fetched.”
“We met, were instantly attracted to one another, and have been calling and e-mailing and seeing each other whenever possible.”