The Next Mrs. Blackthorne (Bitter Creek Book 6) Read online

  His eyes searched the courtroom for Joss. He worried that he’d made a mistake when he didn’t see her. And then he did. She was sitting in the second row next to his sister and his niece. He was wondering how long it would be before the court took a break and he could talk to her, when Clay called a break for lunch, and everybody stood to allow him to leave the courtroom.

  North searched the milling crowd for Joss. He watched as Libby, Kate, and Joss disappeared out a door near the bench and suspected they were headed for Clay’s chambers. The question was whether he should join them, or wait for Joss to come back out. As he headed toward the front of the courtroom, he saw there were two deputies standing on either side of the door the women had passed through. But North had spent his life confronting trouble head-on. He wasn’t about to stop now.

  All Jocelyn had wanted when she’d left North’s ranch was a chance to talk with Clay alone. It hadn’t turned out to be as easy as she’d hoped. He’d been unavailable before court started for the day, so she’d found herself a seat in the second row. To her amazement, she’d been joined by an exuberant Kate Grayhawk, who was with her mother, giving Jocelyn and Libby no choice except to greet each other. Fortunately, the court session began before Jocelyn needed to say much more than hello.

  Jocelyn had been surprised when Libby returned to Wyoming a month ago—alone. To North’s disgust, and her parents’ dismay, Kate had signed up for summer classes, instead of returning to Wyoming with her mother after the spring semester ended.

  According to North, Kate had coaxed Libby back to Texas this weekend, in the middle of her mother’s short, busy season of guide trips, with a request to help her shop for a wedding dress.

  When court recessed, Jocelyn had been swept along with Kate and Libby toward Clay’s chambers.

  “We’re only going to be with Daddy for a few minutes,” Kate said. “Mom is here to help me buy a dress and plan my wedding.”

  “‘I didn’t know you’d set a wedding date.”

  “We haven’t yet,” Kate said airily. “We don’t have to worry about reserving a church at the last minute because we can be married at Bitter Creek any time we want. But the wedding is definitely on. Because really, when you find the love of your life, what’s the point of waiting?”

  Jocelyn realized the girl was lying. She’d been to enough embassy parties to recognize the signs. The staccato speech, the nervous flicker of her eyes, and the fidgeting hands all revealed Kate was uncomfortable with her story.

  Jocelyn glanced at Libby to see if she knew her daughter was prevaricating. She found a frown of concern on Libby’s brow. She didn’t think Kate—or Libby—would welcome her help but she offered it anyway. “I’d be happy to help, if there’s anything I can do.”

  “There is something,” Kate piped up. “You can help me convince Mom and Daddy to come to Bitter Creek this weekend with Jack and me. Mom thinks the Blackthornes won’t want her at Bitter Creek—because of Uncle North’s buying up their stock and then just sitting on it, making them all wait and wonder when the ax is going to fall.”

  Kate turned to Jocelyn and said, “Has North said anything to you about what he plans to do? I mean, about when—or whether—he’s going to force the Blackthornes off the ranch?”

  Jocelyn was surprised to be so suddenly confronted with such a loaded question. “I can’t speak for North,” she said. “Maybe you should ask him.”

  Kate grinned and shrugged. “I have. He won’t tell me. But the very fact he’s hesitated, and is holding his cards so close to the vest, must mean he’s reconsidering his options, don’t you think?”

  Jocelyn laughed uncomfortably. “With North, anything is possible.”

  Kate turned to her mother and said, “No one at Bitter Creek is going to be mad at you for something North hasn’t done yet.”

  “I wouldn’t be comfortable just showing up without an invitation, Kate.”

  “But I’m inviting you. And Daddy will be there.” Kate put her arm through her mother’s and said, “Aw, Mom. Come spend some time with me and Jack. It’ll be fun.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Libby said.

  By then they’d reached Clay’s chambers. Kate walked right into her father’s open arms and got a hug.

  “You were great again, Daddy,” Kate said as she stepped back. “Overruled, overruled, overruled. I thought the defendant’s attorney was going to choke when you wouldn’t allow any of his objections to that expert witness’s testimony.”

  Jocelyn watched Clay closely as he turned to greet Libby. “It’s good to have you back in Texas,” he said.

  Libby smiled slightly and said “Kate didn’t give me much choice.”

  Then their eyes met, and as though someone had flipped a switch, Jocelyn suddenly became uncomfortably aware of the sexual tension arcing between them.

  “I know you’re not free for lunch, Daddy,” Kate said. “I just came by to see if you can get away this weekend to come down to Bitter Creek with me and Jack. And Mom.”

  “Kate, I haven’t agreed to go,” Libby said.

  “I’d love to come,” Clay said at the same time. Then Clay turned to Libby and said, “I hope you’ll join us, Libby.”

  “Please come, Mom. Pretty please? With sugar on it?”

  Libby laughed and shook her head at Kate’s juvenile antics, then met Clay’s gaze and said, “I’ve always wanted to see the Castle. Do you really think I’d be welcome?”

  “You’ll be with me. I’ll run interference, if necessary.”

  “All right,” Libby said. “I’ll go.”

  “Great!” Kate said. “Then it’s all settled. Jack and I are driving down together. Can you give Mom a ride?” she asked her father.

  “We can fly down,” Clay said, never taking his eyes off Libby.

  Kate put an arm through her mother’s and tugged her toward the door. “See you tomorrow night, Daddy,” she said as the door closed behind them.

  An awkward silence descended once the two Grayhawk women were gone. Jocelyn finally broke it by saying, “I’m glad to see you and Libby are on good terms.”

  Clay picked up the gavel from his desk and turned it back and forth in his hands. “Yes. Well. We’ve spent a lot of nights over the past month talking about how to stop this wedding.”

  Jocelyn thought they must have discussed their relationship as well, they seemed so attuned to each other. She felt a surge of relief, knowing her defection would be less painful to Clay.

  She opened her mouth to confess her change of feelings toward Clay and chickened out. Instead she said, “You still don’t approve of Kate getting married?”

  He pitched the gavel back onto his desk with a clatter. “No. I don’t approve. Neither does Libby.”

  “Maybe you can use the time with Kate and Jack this weekend to convince them to wait.”

  “Maybe,” Clay said with a rueful smile. “Kate seems pretty sure of what she wants.”

  Jocelyn remembered her perception that Kate hadn’t been telling the truth when she’d rattled on about her wonderful relationship with Jack. Maybe Libby and Clay would be more successful in talking her out of this marriage than Clay thought.

  “It’s nice to see you,” Clay said, interrupting her thoughts. “I have to admit I’m surprised. Where’s North?”

  “You get right to the point, don’t you?” Jocelyn said.

  Clay shrugged. “He made it pretty plain you were his property.”

  “It isn’t like that,” Jocelyn protested. “In fact,” she said, plucking up her courage, “that’s why I came to see you.”

  Clay leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms. “I’m listening.”

  “I don’t want you to wait for me, Clay.”

  He stood again and unfolded his arms. “I owe you—”

  “That’s exactly it,” Jocelyn hurried to say. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to marry me.”

  Clay took a step toward her and said, “Don’t give up on us now, Jocelyn. J
ust wait until September when—”

  “Don’t!” Jocelyn said, cutting him off. “The truth is, my feelings have changed.” She took a breath and added, “I no longer want to marry you.”

  Clay crossed to the window and looked out. “You’re in love with him,” he said flatly.

  “More to the point, I’m not in love with you,” Jocelyn said. She didn’t add that she might never have been in love with him after her first infatuation, only jealous of her sister’s loving relationship with a man she’d wanted for herself. Jocelyn wasn’t proud of that realization, but she’d come to terms with it.

  Clay turned to face her. “Does North know how you feel?”

  “No.”

  Clay made a disgusted sound in his throat. “I wasn’t kidding when I said he can’t love you. He isn’t capable of it.”

  “That’s not really your problem, is it?” she said gently.

  “It is if you’re ruling out any chance of us being together in the future.”

  Jocelyn didn’t want to argue. So she didn’t say anything.

  “What happens now?”

  “You go on with your life. I go on with mine.”

  “That doesn’t work for me.”

  “Clay, I—”

  He grasped her shoulders and said, “I want more, Jocelyn. I want what you’re offering North. I’m not going to let you walk away. I’m going to be standing right here when North gets tired of you—and he will. You’ll never be happy with him.”

  “And I will be with you?” Jocelyn said heatedly. “I’m only an obligation to you!”

  “No. No,” Clay said, pulling her into his arms and holding her close. “That’s not true.”

  Jocelyn laid her head against his beating heart. She was confused. Was Clay right? Would North tire of her? He’d already tried to send her away—more than once. She leaned back and looked deep into Clay’s gray eyes, searching for the answers she sought.

  And was amazed at what she found. Hope.

  She laid a palm against his cheek. “Thank you, Clay, for caring so much.”

  “It’s more than—”

  She put her fingertips against his lips. “No. Don’t say any more.”

  “Just be careful, Jocelyn,” Clay said. “North can’t—”

  “Can’t what?” an irritated voice said from the doorway.

  North tried to shut the door behind him, but a huge deputy caught it with both his hand and his foot and said, “You okay with this guy, Judge Blackthorne?”

  “Yes, Harvey. Thanks,” Clay replied.

  The deputy backed out, and North shoved the door closed behind him before turning to confront Clay.

  Jocelyn felt her pulse speed as Clay released her. She realized their embrace probably appeared more intimate to North than it was.

  “What brings you here, North?” Clay said.

  “I came to get Joss.”

  “If I’m not mistaken, Jocelyn drove herself here,” Clay said. “I’m sure she can—”

  “She’s coming with me,” North said.

  “Why don’t we end this farce, so Jocelyn’s free to go when she wants and with whom she wants,” Clay said. “Why don’t you sell that Bitter Creek stock back to me right here. Right now.”

  North shot Jocelyn a look that asked whether she’d betrayed him.

  “I haven’t said a word,” she said.

  “She didn’t need to tell me what’s going on,” Clay said. “I figured it out for myself. After all, why else would any woman willingly put herself in the way of a bastard like you?”

  Jocelyn gasped, afraid Clay’s fighting words might actually provoke violence.

  To her amazement, although North’s jaw muscles worked furiously, he merely turned to her and said, “Let’s go, Joss.”

  “Don’t go, Jocelyn,” Clay said. “I can tell you stories about King Grayhawk that would make your hair stand on end. And it’s obvious the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Blackmail. Coercion. The destruction of lives and fortunes.”

  North’s hands fisted, and he took a step toward Clay as he said, “Go to hell, Blackthorne.”

  “That’s enough,” Jocelyn said, as the two men glared at each other. She turned her back on North and said, “Thank you, Clay. Think about what we discussed.” Then she turned to North and said, “I’m done here.”

  She could see the tension in North’s body, the dangerous shards of ice in his blue eyes, but she had no intention of allowing two men she cared about to pound each other to a pulp.

  “Stay away from her,” North said, pointing a finger at Clay over Jocelyn’s shoulder.

  Jocelyn shot Clay a look warning him not to retaliate, which kept him silent. Then she grabbed North by the hand and reached for the doorknob. “Let’s go,” she said.

  For a moment, North resisted. Then he followed her out the door.

  Jocelyn wasn’t sure how she felt about the fact North had followed her to Austin. She eyed him sideways as they left the courthouse, wondering whether he’d been motivated simply by a sense of possessiveness, or whether deeper feelings, feelings Clay had said North would never—could never—exhibit might be involved.

  “I told Breed to tell you I’d be back after lunch,” Jocelyn said.

  “Apparently, he didn’t believe you.”

  “Why wouldn’t I come back?”

  North stopped suddenly on the sidewalk and turned her toward him, grasping her arms. “Because of last night.”

  Jocelyn blushed and lowered her eyes. “I loved what happened last night.”

  North abruptly released her. “I thought…”

  Jocelyn looked up at his face, which might have been made of granite, for all the emotion it revealed. “What did you think, North?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said.

  “It does to me.”

  “I thought maybe you didn’t want—”

  She put her fingertips over his mouth. “I wanted you. I always wanted you.”

  She saw his blue eyes flare, saw the muscle flex in his cheek, and became aware of a sudden tension between them.

  She ran her finger across his lower lip, her eyes sparkling with laughter. “In the middle of the sidewalk in downtown Austin?”

  He grabbed her hand away from his mouth and dragged her down the street after him. “Don’t push me, Joss. I had work to do this morning that didn’t get done.”

  Jocelyn dug in her high heels, causing North to stop and turn toward her, irritation now written plain on his face.

  “Yesterday you wanted me gone,” she said. “What’s changed? Why did you ‘waste’ your morning driving to Austin coming after me?”

  If she’d hoped North would reveal any softer emotion toward her, she was doomed to disappointment.

  “I offered you your freedom,” he said in a harsh voice. “You threw it back in my face. Now I’m holding you to our bargain. You’re mine until September.”

  “I don’t like the way you make that sound,” Jocelyn said. “You don’t own me.”

  “You don’t have to like it,” North said. “You just have to stick to our agreement.”

  Jocelyn felt like crying, but she’d be damned if she’d give North the satisfaction of seeing her fall apart. Clay had warned her. She knew she was fighting an uphill battle. But she’d been there last night when North had turned to her not once, not twice, but three times.

  It hadn’t been about the sex, although the sex had been wonderful. It had been about a man and a woman needing each other, wanting each other, finding solace in each other. And yes, she thought, loving each other. Even if North would never admit it.

  “I’ve got my car,” she said. “I’ll drive myself.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to change his mind. “I’ll follow you,” he said finally.

  “I want to do some shopping first.”

  He grimaced. “I’ll go with you.”

  Jocelyn pursed her lips. She couldn’t believe North was going to make the ulti
mate sacrifice. “I thought you had work to do.”

  “It can wait.”

  Jocelyn couldn’t hold back a smile. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  North reached for her hand, and she gave it to him. His grasp tightened and he started down the sidewalk. The sunlight felt warm on her face. And the skies had never looked so blue.

  12

  Kate was coming out the door of the courthouse when she saw Donnie Brown standing near the sawhorse police barricade blocking Eighth Street to traffic, arguing with his mother. Donnie’s head was hung low, his eyes on the ground, and his mother seemed to be haranguing him about something, punctuating her speech by stabbing her cigarette at him. Then Kate saw his mother storm away.

  Jack had more than once told her she should steer clear of Bomber Brown’s son. Which, of course, only made Kate go out of her way to be nice to him. Today, she felt downright sorry for him. “Hi, Donnie,” she said. “How’s it going?”

  “You should know,” he said, crushing out his mother’s cigarette stub with his booted foot. “You were sitting there when your dad let in all that evidence against my dad.”

  Kate ignored the edge in Donnie’s voice, attributing it to his recent tongue-lashing from his mother, and said, “He only did what he had to do.”

  “Donnie Brown!” A TV newsman stuck a microphone practically up Donnie’s nose and said, “How do you think the trial’s going?”

  Donnie said nothing, simply put his third finger up in front of the TV camera.

  “Cut!” the newsman said to his cameraman, making a cutting motion across his throat. He turned back to Donnie and said, “I’ve been trying to get a quote from you for the past month, kid. When are you going to give me something I can use?”

  “When hell freezes over,” Donnie said.

  The reporter shook his head, then moved off to easier prey.

  Kate understood Donnie’s frustration with the constant press attention. She felt the same way about the bodyguard who never left her alone. She’d forgotten what privacy felt like.