Marriages of convenience didn’t always work, he told himself, despite how well things had turned out for his brothers. And thanks to the appearance of Mia and Casey in his life, he’d just managed to escape a marriage that he could see now would have been a misery.
There would be no merger with Cornice airfields after all and he was suddenly okay with that. King Jets had been doing nicely up until now and would continue to do so.
“Fine then. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” Jackson turned to leave. He’d only taken a few steps when Marian’s voice stopped him.
“Are you sleeping with her?”
“Don’t do this,” he said, turning to look at her. “To either of us.”
“It’s just a question, Jackson.”
“One I’m not going to answer.” He wasn’t going to discuss this with Marian. Frankly, since they weren’t engaged, it was none of her business who was in his bed.
“You just did answer it,” she pointed out.
“Marian,” he said, thinking that maybe now was the time to end this after all. Why drag it on for another six months? Make it a clean break, he told himself. Walk away a free man.
But she cut him off before he could say anything more.
Her features went smooth as glass. “Never mind, Jackson. Forget I asked. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to be alone.”
He wanted to say something but what the hell was left? Hadn’t he done enough damage already? He let himself out the front door and quietly closed it behind him. Rain pelted him, but it felt damn good after being in that overheated and yet cold-as-hell house.
He paused on the front step, lifted his face to the sky to let the rain wash over his face and from inside the house, he could have sworn he heard the nearly musical tinkle of crystal shattering.
Nine
“She’s got good ideas,” Travis acknowledged a few days later, lifting a glass of King Vineyard Merlot. He sniffed the bouquet, smiled to himself and indulged in a sip.
Adam took a drink of his brandy and rolled his eyes at Travis’s wine connoisseur behavior. “Gina’s already cooing over the changes Casey suggested for her Gypsy Web site.” He shook his head. “Been following me around the ranch for two days, talking my ears off about nothing else.”
“That’s good,” Jackson said, pausing for a gulp of his favorite Irish whiskey. He felt a quick stab of pride in the fact that Casey had so easily come up with new, fresh ideas for the King family businesses. Plus, there was an extra added bonus to her working for the family. “It’ll keep her busy.”
“That all this is?” Adam asked from his seat on the leather couch in his study.
Jackson stood up, walked to the fireplace and stared down into the flames as they licked and curved over the dry logs stacked in the hearth. “What else could it be?” He turned his back to the flames then and looked from one brother to the other before saying, “She had a meeting with Mac Spencer a couple of days ago.”
“Is that guy still trolling in Birkfield?” Travis demanded.
“Hell yes,” Adam said. “I actually caught him looking at Gina when she leaned into the car to get Emma out of her car seat.” The memory of it must have been enough to make him angry all over again, since Jackson saw his oldest brother’s jaw clench. “Never wanted to hit a man so badly in my life.”
“Did you?” Jackson asked, wondering if his brother had had the satisfaction denied him.
Adam sighed, disgusted, and took another drink. “Gina wouldn’t let me. Said I’d get my hands dirty by slugging anybody that nasty.”
“Would’ve been worth it,” Travis mused. “A damn public service.”
“That’s what I said,” Adam muttered, then shifted a look at Jackson. “Didyou hit him?”
“Came close,” Jackson admitted wistfully and silently added that he still wished he had. Just the idea of that bastard looking at Casey, touching her hand…“He ran so fast, I’d have had to chase him down though and I was too busy arguing with Casey.”
“One day, some husband’s going to get to lay that guy out on the sidewalk,” Travis said and smiled dreamily, clearly hoping he would be the lucky winner.
Jackson looked at his brother and realized how much Travis had changed over the last year or so. Once, he’d been interested only in his wines and a string of uncomplicated beauties who sailed in and out of his life in a steady stream. Now, he was settled. With Gina and their daughter Katie.
“Hope I’m there to see it,” Adam muttered.
“Me too,” Jackson said, letting go of musings about his brother to savor the idea of smashing a fist into Mac Spencer’s face.
“Did we care this much about that guybefore we had women in our lives?” Travis asked no one in particular, then answered his own question. “Women sure liven things up, don’t they?”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Jackson said, staring now into the amber liquid in his crystal tumbler.
“Not that talking about our women or dreaming about punching Mac out isn’t a good time,” Adam said into the silence, “but Jackson, was there a particular reason you wanted this meeting? Everything okay over at King Jets?”
“What? Oh, yeah. Fine.” Jackson grimaced a little and said, “Well, I’ll need to hire another pilot soon. Dan Stone is going to quit. His wife’s scared and he won’t let that go on much longer.”
“Good man,” Adam said, with a shake of his head. “I like Dan and I know he loves flying as much as you do, but it’s right he put his family first.”
Jackson lifted a brow. Wasn’t that long ago that Adam had been devoted solely to the King ranch. But he guessed Gina had changed everything for Adam. Brought him back from the despair he’d hidden away in. His wife and daughter had given Adam exactly what he’d been lacking. Made him care about something more than the land and his brothers.
“But,” Adam was saying, “I don’t see how you needing to hire more flyboys has anything to do with us.”
“It doesn’t.” Jackson stalked over to the closest chair, and dropped into it. Damn it, he didn’t want to think about how much his brothers had changed. How everything seemed to be changing, including himself. For one damn minute he wanted the world to stand still so he could make sense of it again. But since that wasn’t going to happen…“I came to tell you I went to see Marian this afternoon. Told her I wouldn’t be marrying her anytime soon.”