Brazen (Brazen #1)(51)

He rubbed his cheek over the top of her head in a comforting gesture as he walked up the stairs to her room.

He deposited her on the bed, tucked her underneath the covers and then kissed her lightly on the forehead. “You rest, Jaz. I’ll come check on you later.”

He’d always been so adept at reading her, and he’d obviously sensed her desire to be alone for a while.

“I love you,” she managed around the tightness in her throat.

“I love you too, baby. Now get some rest.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

After two days of being an invalid, Jasmine was ready to crawl out of her skin. Zane and Seth both fussed over her, but Seth seemed more distant with each passing day.

Her head no longer ached quite so vilely, and her ankle, while a little stiff, was no longer as swollen and so tender. She could manage quite nicely on her own, though she’d be lying through her teeth if she denied loving Zane and Seth carrying her around.

She stretched in her bedroom, flexed her ankle and walked around the room in circles. It was something she’d done each morning before one of the guys walked up to carry her down. This morning, though, she knew there was no point in leaning on them any longer. Her ankle was fine.

She stopped her pacing to stare out the window at the clouds rolling in from the southwest. They were in for a thunderstorm. It was a perfect day to stay in and listen to the thunder clap and the rain patter. She hoped it set in and wasn’t just a quick shower.

After glancing at her watch, she grimaced. She’d napped way late. In another hour or two, Carmen would have dinner ready. If she went down now, she’d avoid being carried down later, and she could also sit and visit with Carmen in the kitchen and hopefully watch it rain.

After showering and dressing, she headed for the stairs, pleased when she navigated them without so much as a twinge. The living room was quiet and empty and Carmen hadn’t taken up residence in the kitchen yet.

She’d take the opportunity to catch up on email and see if Wildscapes had faxed her contract to her yet. She’d almost forgotten about it with everything else that had gone on.

When she neared the study, she saw the door was open two inches, and she heard the murmur of conversation from within. She was about to push open the door and sing out a hello to Zane and Seth when she stopped cold.

She put her ear closer to the door, not sure she’d heard correctly. Were they talking about her family? Surely not.

“I think we’ve done her a disservice by shielding her all these years,” Seth said. “We should have tried to locate her brother from the beginning.”

“Maybe so, but I don’t regret keeping her here,” Zane said.

“I’ve made enquiries about him,” Seth continued. “We owe it to Jasmine to make sure she has options.” She heard the rustle of paper and then Seth resumed. “She turned down a position with a magazine. They wanted to hire her to do a regular column. She didn’t even tell us about it. What else is she giving up because she thinks she wants to be here with us? I thought the year in Paris would do her good, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Are you bringing him here?” Zane asked.

“She needs her own family,” Seth said quietly. “We need to consider the possibility that she’ll be better off with them.”

Jasmine stepped away from the door, shock numbing her. His painful words echoed in her head. Seth, Zane and Carmen were her family. This was her home. Not with some brother she barely remembered and who cared nothing for her.

He couldn’t have said any louder or clearer that she no longer belonged here.

She stumbled away from their voices. She had to get out, get away before she succumbed to the urge to confront them. She wanted to barge in there, demand to know what right they had to make decisions for her, but more than that, how could they say that she didn’t belong here, that they weren’t her family?

This betrayal hurt more than Seth’s rejection, more than his harsh words, because this wasn’t some front he was putting on for her. It wasn’t something designed to deceive her. It was said when she was nowhere around, said to Zane when there was no ulterior motive. No reason for him to say it if he didn’t really mean it.

A chill chased down her spine, and she shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands. She headed blindly out the back door into the warmth of the late afternoon. She walked, had no clear idea of where she was going. Panic clawed at her throat. She’d never considered that she wouldn’t be welcome here.

In the distance thunder rumbled, and she remembered too late that a storm was due. When the first drops of rain splashed onto her bare shoulders, she looked up to see, to her surprise, that she was a good half mile down the road leading away from the ranch into town.

And now that she’d realized how far she’d walked, her brain caught up with her body, and her ankle whined its protest.

Still, she didn’t turn back. The exercise would do her good. She couldn’t go back until she knew what she would say. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t heard. She trudged further down the road.

A few miles from the ranch and fewer still to town, the sky above her opened up and the rain fell in huge drops.

Yeah, the day couldn’t get much better. She limped along like a bedraggled cat, hair plastered to her face, clothes stuck to her skin like a Seal-a-Meal bag.

She heard a rumble down the road and glanced up to see a truck headed her way. As it drew closer, she blew out her breath in a sigh. J.T.