Page 17 of Made for You
I looked up, and there she was.
I sucked in a breath so loud I was sure Jake must have heard it, and the wine glass in my hand trembled so much I was worried the liquid I’d poured was going to slosh over the side. I set it carefully down on the pristine white tablecloth before I made a mess, and dragged my eyes back to the most beautiful woman I’d ever had the good fortune of meeting to see her arm looped through that of a tall, broadly built older gentleman dressed in a navy pinstripe suit. Siena was smiling up at the man, her expression openly adoring, causing my gut to turn over with jealousy.
I seethed as I took in her dark, shiny hair cascading in loose waves around her shoulders—a mix between the slick ponytail she’d worn the night we met and the riot of curls she’d rocked when I ran into her at the grocery store. She wore an emerald green dress that hugged her curves in a way that brought back vivid memories of how my hands had roamed the dips and valleys of her body, and I swore I could feel the ghost of her soft skin against my calluses.
Siena turned her head, scanning the dining room with polite interest, her gaze sweeping past our table at first before snapping back like a rubber band. Her eyes went wide and her lips parted slightly as she took in my slicked-back hair, clean-shaven jaw, and the tailored suit. For a heartbeat, I saw something appreciative flicker across her face before that warm, happy look in her eyes shuttered like someone had slammed a door. Her smile became smaller, more contained, and her spine straightened as if she was preparing for battle.
The transformation was so complete, it was like watching a different person slide into place.
I realized my mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut with an audible click of my teeth that made Jake’s head whip toward me, then follow my line of sight.
Before he could ask me what was going on, Eli stood and smiled, extending his hand toward the man in greeting. “Richard Bellrose, as I live and breathe.”
Bellrose, as in Bellrose Hotels, one of the world’s most well-known independent hotel brands. I’d stayed at their property in Jackson Hole once. It was, no surprise, absolutely gorgeous. Understated and not at all pretentious, though most truly luxurious things weren’t.
And then it hit me whereelseI’d seen the Bellrose name: on the construction signs for the new resort going up on the other side of the Valley.
Fuck.
My gaze snapped back to Siena, standing close to this powerful man and looking up at him with obvious affection, and the pieces of the puzzle started clicking together in my mind. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the picture they were forming.
Was Richard Bellrose the reason she wouldn’t give me the time of day?
The hand not holding my wine glass clenched into a fist at my side as jealousy burned in my gut like acid. I forced myself to breathe, to unclench my jaw—again—and to act like a goddamn civilized human being instead of the caveman who wanted to stake his claim.
“Good to see you again,” Richard said with a hearty pump of Eli’s hand. “How’s Sadie?”
While the two men exchanged pleasantries, Jake and I rose smoothly to our feet—years of our mother’s etiquette lessons kicking in automatically—and I stood transfixed, staring at the object of my obsession.
“Where are my manners?” Eli asked after a beat. “Allow me to introduce two of Bridger Falls’s finest—Jake and Gage Mercer of Three Pines Ranch, one of the largest cattle ranches in the state.” He tipped his chin first toward Jake, and then me.
It always caught me off guard when people described our ranch that way. To me, it wasn’t a multi-billion-dollar enterprise or one of the state’s most profitable operations—it was just home. The place where I’d learned to ride before I could walk, where Dad had taught us the value of hard work and treating the land with respect. I wasn’t naive about the scope of what my family had built over four generations, but when you lived it every day, it was easy to forget that others saw dollar signs where we saw legacy.
“Good to meet you, Jake. Gage.” He shook our hands before guiding Siena forward. I couldn’t help but note the way his hand rested on her lower back. I ground my teeth. “And this is my daughter, Siena.”
His daughter.
My brain stuttered to a halt, and I felt the breath leave my lungs in awhoosh.Relief flooded through me so fast it left me feeling dizzy, followed immediately by a new kind of confusion.
Why hadn’t Siena told me who she really was? Why had she lied to me?
I forced my expression to remain neutral, years of poker games with our ranch hands paying off as I attempted to process this bombshell. All the while, my mind reeled with questions I couldn’t ask.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Jake said to Richard, the two men exchanging polite platitudes as if my world hadn’t just been knocked off its axis.
“And you too, Siena,” he added, shaking her hand, his eyes narrowed as he flicked that too-shrewd gaze of his first to meand then back to her. “Why do I get the impression you and my brother have met before?”
She licked her lips, and I could see her pulse fluttering at the base of her throat. Her jaw tensed slightly before she lifted her chin with what looked like resolve. “Probably because we have.”
CHAPTER SIX
The momentI announced that Gage and I had already met, I wanted to snatch the words back. But it was too late. The damage was done, and now I was sitting at a table with my father, picking at what would otherwise have been a very lovely meal were it not for my appetite deserting me, while trying desperately not to look at the man who’d turned my carefully ordered world upside down.
Of course, I failed miserably.
Every few seconds, my gaze drifted across the dining room to where Gage sat with his brother and Senator Rafferty, only to find those piercing amber eyes already locked on me. Each time our eyes met, heat flashed through my body like lightning,followed immediately by a wave of panic that left me feeling dizzy.
“You’re awfully quiet tonight, sweetheart,” Dad said, cutting into his steak. “Everything all right?”
