Chance wiped his brow with the bandanna he’d stuck in his pocket and stood back to watch their approach. Might as well appreciate the sight of a pretty woman while he had the opportunity. In a few minutes they were going to be on opposite sides of something or other. That much was clear from the scowl on that pretty face of hers.
She was tall, five-eight at least, he gauged from a distance, and thin as a poker in her fancy doeskin-colored linen slacks and bright orange blouse. Her black hair was cropped short as a boy’s, emphasizing wide cheekbones and eyes as dark as coal. There was a hint of Native American ancestry in her angular features.
He put her age at anywhere from late twenties to early thirties. She had the brisk no-nonsense stride of a man, but as she neared, he saw that she had the surprisingly ample curves of a woman beneath that clinging silk blouse of hers. His body reacted as if he’d just spotted a primed and waiting sex goddess in his bed.
The reaction, of course, was the result of too many months of celibacy. This woman wasn’t at all his type. She was way too skinny, and that determined jut of her chin warned him she’d be a handful of trouble.
“Mr. Adams,” she called out as she neared. She sounded way too grim to be dropping by for the sheer pleasure of it.
“That would be me,” he confirmed, glancing at Petey. When his son determinedly refused to meet his gaze, Chance looked the woman over from head to toe, hoping to rattle her. The action was as instinctive as breathing. He’d always enjoyed flirting with a pretty woman, no matter the circumstances. If he could distract her from her mission, so much the better. Instead, though, her gaze remained fixed squarely on his face as she patiently withstood the examination.
“Satisfied?” she asked eventually.
There was no hint of color in her cheeks, but Chance felt his own flaming. “Not by a long shot,” he said, trying to reclaim the edge he’d lost
She shrugged. “Let me know when you are. I can wait.”
He concluded that trying to best her was a losing cause. “Who are you?” he asked since no one had seen fit to fill him in.
“I’m Petey’s teacher.”
He’d guessed as much—Petey was coming home from school, after all. And the woman with him had a prim and prissy attitude about her, just like every teacher Chance had ever had, though she was definitely a whole lot sexier than most.
“You have a name?” he asked.
“Jenny Adams.”
Chance flinched. This was a turn of events he hadn’t anticipated. He’d heard all about Harlan Adams’s sons. He hadn’t heard a word about any daughters. Then again, Adams was a common enough name. Maybe she wasn’t kin at all.
“Adams?” he repeated cautiously. “Any relation to Harlan Adams?”
Her expression brightened. Those great big eyes of hers sparkled like coal well on its way to turning into diamonds.
“He’s my father,” she said with pride. “My adoptive father, actually. I was Jenny Runningbear before he married my mother and adopted me. Do you know him?”
“Oh, I know him, all right,” Chance said coldly. “Or maybe I should say I know all about him, since we haven’t exactly been introduced.”
“Dad!” Petey protested, tugging urgently on his jeans.
Chance ignored him. Before he could stop himself, he blurted what he’d intended to keep secret for a while longer yet. “Harlan Adams is my uncle. He and my father were brothers.”
She gaped at that, clearly stunned. Petey looked equally shocked that his father had done precisely what he’d been warning Petey not to do.
“That’s not possible,” Ms. Jenny Adams declared.
“Why? Because dear old Dad hasn’t mentioned his long-lost brother?” Chance said, surprised at the bitterness in his voice. Apparently Hank’s resentments had taken hold, after all. “They haven’t been on speaking terms in years, not since he rode my daddy out of town and stole his heritage out from under him.”
Genuine bemusement washed across her face. “That’s not possible,” she repeated, her tone a mixture of shock and outrage. “Obviously you don’t know my father at all if you think he’s capable of doing something like that.”
Chance forced a smile. “Oh, I assure you it’s more than possible, cousin Jenny. It’s a genuine fact.” He regarded her with a touch of defiance. “Unless you’re calling me a liar.”
He glanced at his son, who was following the exchange with a mixture of shock and relief. Apparently Petey figured this revelation was the next best thing to salvation, since it had served to distract his teacher from whatever she’d been intent on saying about his behavior in school today.
Chance thought Petey’s optimism was a bit premature. He doubted that Ms. Adams could be distracted so easily, at least not for long. She struck him as the kind of woman who was all sass and vinegar, the kind who’d needle a man until she got her way or provoke a fight just for the sheer fun of it. It was all there in those flashing black eyes. True, this news had thrown her, but she was visibly gathering her wits as the tense silence dragged on. He found he was looking forward to doing battle with her. Herding cattle wasn’t near as much of a challenge as arguing with a pretty woman.
“Well, I must say this is quite a shock,” she said eventually. “You’ve just moved into town, according to Petey’s file at the school.”
“A couple of months ago,” Chance confirmed.
She shook her head. “Daddy has a brother? I just can’t get over it.”
“Had a brother,” Chance corrected. “He died a few months back.”
Sympathy flared in her eyes at once. “Oh, of course. It was in Petey’s file. I’m so sorry.”
“No need for you to be sorry. You didn’t even know the man.”
Her eyes flashed for a second as if she might chastize him for being rude, but then her expression softened, once more sympathetic.
“I’m sorry just the same,” she insisted quietly. “I’ll have to tell my father you’re here. I know he’ll want to get to know you. We’ll have you come to dinner at White Pines.”
The ever-so-polite invitation grated, probably more than it should have since it was uttered with absolute sincerity. “No, thanks, darlin’. I’m not the least bit interested in dropping by for barbecue and coleslaw.”
This time her gaze narrowed at his rudeness. “Oh?” she said. “And why is that?”
She said it in that cool haughty way that might have tickled him under other circumstances. Chance forced another smile. “That would make it seem too much like I was a guest in my own home.”
“Excuse me?”
He regarded her with feigned surprise. “Why, darlin’, haven’t you figured it out yet? I thought for sure you were quicker than that.”
“Figured out what?”
He kept his gaze steady and his voice even. “That I’ve moved to Los Piños for the sole purpose of taking that big old ranch away from your daddy.”
* * *
Jenny felt a lot like kicking dust straight into Chance Adams’s arrogant face. Unfortunately, since she’d come to his house just to tell him his son required more discipline, she couldn’t see that throwing a temper tantrum herself would accomplish much. It might give Petey the notion that the only things separating them were age, height and power. It wouldn’t be a good lesson at all.
However, forcing herself to remain calm in the face of Chance Adams’s outrageous claim required every bit of self-control she possessed.
The