Dylan's Redemption, page 1
Dylan’s Redemption
BOOK THREE: THE MCBRIDES
JENNIFER RYAN
Dedication
For all the Jessies out there who have overcome hardship and found themselves on the edge of life and oblivion and found the strength and courage to prevail. I wish you all a happy-ever-after.
Life and love are precious. Hold on to both.
Contents
* * *
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
An Excerpt from At Wolf Ranch
About the Author
Also by Jennifer Ryan
An Excerpt from Full Exposure by Sara Jane Stone
An Excerpt from Personal Target by Kay Thomas
An Excerpt from Sinful Rewards 1 by Cynthia Sax
Copyright
About the Publisher
Prologue
* * *
Senior Prom . . .
HE COULD HAVE asked any girl, Jessie thought and gazed up at the night sky. She couldn’t believe Dylan McBride asked her to the dance. Based on all the whispers and backhanded comments, neither could anyone else.
The stars glimmered brightly overhead. Jessie stood out on the veranda. Rock and roll emanated from the elegant ballroom more suited to waltzes and string quartets than the sounds of rowdy teenagers and thrashing guitars.
If her father discovered her gone . . . Well, it didn’t bear thinking about. Hard to explain living with someone who’d rather drink himself to death than offer you a kind word. You learned to hate them as the love between you withered like autumn leaves and died.
Pushing aside her tormented thoughts, she focused on the stars above and the fact she was here, tonight, with Dylan. She’d give anything to kiss him again, feel his lips on hers, warm and urgent, making her heart slam so hard against her ribcage it just might burst out of her chest. Breathless when the kiss ended, the corners of his mouth would tilt with that cocky half grin of his and melt her heart. Even now, she felt the unfamiliar flutter in her belly that made her both excited and anxious to kiss him again.
“I thought you wanted to dance.” Dylan walked out the French doors and across the veranda to join her at the stone wall. “Might as well get your money’s worth out of that killer dress.” His eyes skimmed over her from head to foot, making her skin warm despite the slight breeze chilling the air.
“I needed a break from all the whispers and snide remarks. They’re taking bets on what I have on you. How in the world did the Queen of Geeks get the most popular everything to ask her out?” Her social-outcast status had reached monumental proportions freshman year and soared ever since.
“Don’t listen to them. No one knows you the way I do. They don’t see the real you,” he said, looking away, embarrassed by the words spilling from his lips. He gazed up at the night sky with her and brushed his hand down the back of her hair.
She cherished the light touch on her head. Normally, she didn’t let anyone get this close. Her father would rather hit than be gentle.
She smiled and turned to face him. “You know, there’s a little poetry mixed in with all that rough-and-tumble jock.” She recognized the gleam in his eye and inhaled sharply, aware of how close they stood together.
“I don’t have a single memory over the last ten years that doesn’t include you. I think you’ve been following me around since the day we moved here.” His husky voice drifted away on the wind.
She didn’t know what to say. He’d been the butt of many jokes because of her blatant interest. Maybe it was the dance, or her first real date with Dylan—tonight she felt older, wiser.
“You’re the only one who doesn’t look down on me.” Nervous, she smoothed an imaginary wrinkle on her dress.
Dylan was the only normalcy in her otherwise turbulent life, and he graduated in a few short days. She’d miss him come fall when he left for college. She didn’t want to face her junior year without any friends, without Dylan.
“You didn’t embarrass me. Well, sometimes,” he admitted with that half smile again. “Mostly I like the attention. You’re good for my ego.”
“Like your ego needs my help.”
Another part of his anatomy sure did. Dylan wanted to grab fistfuls of her chocolate brown hair and crush his mouth to hers. He loved touching her soft hair, did it whenever she came within reach. The sparkle in her more-green-than-hazel eyes and the sway of her black strapless gown as it ruffled slightly in the breeze made his body tighten and a small groan form deep in his throat.
Her hair never looked prettier, hanging free from its usual ponytail. For the first time, she wore makeup. Tonight she looked like a girl, not another construction worker on her dad’s jobsites. If nothing else, tonight he’d given her a chance to be Cinderella. She looked damn good as a girl.
He ached with wanting her and the hurt that in a few short days, he wouldn’t see her again for a long time. She didn’t know that. No one knew. He wondered if their friendship could survive the distance he was putting between himself and this town, his family’s demands, and, reluctantly, her. Maybe she’d wait for him to come back. A constant in his life, one he hesitated to give up. He needed to go, but all of a sudden he wished he could take her with him.
Something inside told him to take her along. A whisper from his heart, though insistent, he ignored. What could he do? She was still in high school.
“Let’s get out of here,” he commanded, his voice rough.
“Fine by me. It’s not like I’m friends with any of the girls. Can’t exactly invite anyone to my house and hang out, right? My dad’s not exactly the welcoming committee.”
“In all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never complained about your old man. In fact, whenever someone brings him up, you change the subject.”
“What’s to talk about? He’s a drunk, everyone knows it, so there isn’t much to say. Between the kids at school and living with him, sometimes I wish I could just disappear. Lord knows, no one would miss me.”
“I would.” An ache welled from his chest to the back of his throat. She wouldn’t want him feeling sorry for her. But he did.
“Come on, Jess, let’s go for a drive and look for shooting stars. There’s something I need to tell you.”
Jessie thrilled at the idea of being alone with him. He leaned in, took her hands, and pulled her to him. His arms went around her, lips settled over hers in a kiss so soft and sweet she ached with wanting to keep this safe feeling forever. She only ever felt this way with him.
The kiss ended with a soft brush of his lips over hers. He stared down at her and something inside her shifted and tipped. Her girlhood crush turned into a full-fledged love, bursting from her heart and filling her soul.
Dylan stepped back, grasped her hand, and took off for the exit. He didn’t stop until they were in the front seat of his car. Caught up in the excitement, she giggled, and Dylan gave her another of those lopsided smiles that made her insides flutter.
They drove away from the dance and all his friends and settled into the cozy car, the music blaring, his hand holding hers, and the comfort of just being together. The town lights faded behind them. Turning off onto an old, dirt logging road, they rolled and bumped to a stop on a rise overlooking the surrounding hills and trees. He killed the engine.
Jessie stared into the night, at the land, and the glorious star-speckled sky, and sucked in a quick breath. “Dylan, this is gorgeous. How did you find this place?”
“Since I got my wheels, I’ve been scouting out the back roads. I come here a lot. Day or night, you can’t beat the view.”
“No wonder no one uses this road. I don’t know how we made it this far over all those ruts.”
“My superior driving skills.”
“There’s something superior about you, but it’s not your driving skills. More like your attitude.”
“You think so, huh?” He poked her in the ribs to make her laugh. Instead, she inhaled sharply, winced, and pressed her arm to her side before she thought better to hide her response.
“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”
His brow wrinkled as he studied her. She couldn’t tell him the truth. “It’s nothing. I got hit with a board the other day at work and it left a bruise. That’s all.”
His palms glided up her arms to her shoulders. He pulled her to him and whispered in her ear, “Let me kiss you and make it better.” r />
She thought he’d take her mouth again; instead his lips brushed a kiss on her bare shoulder. His head dipped and his lips pressed to the swell of her breast above her gown. The zipper on her dress slid down her back, his fingertips following its progress over her skin. The silky material swooshed and pooled around her waist. He came back to her mouth and kissed her hungrily. Her hands seemed to have a mind of their own, and she let them have their way with him. While his hands roamed her body, she explored his, stripping away obstacles.
An unfamiliar shimmering kind of heat spread over her entire body like hot waves rolling over a road in the dead of summer. She didn’t know how they ended up naked in the backseat together; she only remembered the minute he’d locked eyes with her, his gaze one of pure emotion and need. Nodding her head in agreement, she pulled him down to her again.
On a star-studded night, on a deserted stretch of road, and in the backseat of a car, she gave herself to him with her whole heart.
If she’d known the love she felt that night would be eclipsed by the agonizing pain she suffered after, she’d have done it anyway.
Chapter One
* * *
Eight years later . . .
“J.T., WHERE THE hell did you go?” Greg’s deep voice came from behind her. She hadn’t heard him come into her Hope Construction office. She sat at her desk, facing the window, looking into nothing.
Swiveling around in her chair, Jessie glanced up at him and mentally shook off her stupor. No matter how hard she tried, whenever she was tired, her mind took her back to him, to the hurt.
“Sorry, just thinking.”
“From the look on your face, I’d say you were remembering again.” Greg’s voice held deep concern.
“Just reminding myself how everything can change in a moment.”
“I wish you’d stop punishing yourself for being human.”
“Human? I’m a cliché. I went to the prom with the high school’s star quarterback, lost my virginity in the backseat of a car, ended up an unwed pregnant teen. Dumped by the quarterback, almost killed by my alcoholic father, and then to add insult to injury I lost . . .”
She couldn’t finish. For some unknown reason, today her mind brought it all back. She’d let the ghosts out of the closet and didn’t know how to usher them back in. They lashed at old wounds and made her bleed.
Jessie hadn’t spoken of the past in a long time. Part of her daily existence, she tried her best to push through, cope. Today felt different. She wished she knew why, so she could put a stop to it.
“And you lost her. Not your fault. You did everything possible. No one could have asked more from you. It just happened. The doctors tried everything and did their best to save her.”
“I still feel like I failed. Maybe if I’d taken better care of myself?”
“You did everything right.”
She shook off her mood and the past and glanced up at Greg. Thick golden hair, blue eyes, square jaw, tall and lean, tanned from working outside, quite a handsome package. Rich, smart, funny, and a good friend. All the things a woman could want in a man. So why, when she looked at him, didn’t she feel anything? No longing to touch him, or to be anything more than friends.
It was the same with every man she met. Maybe she died along with her daughter and lived as a ghost of herself in some warped reality.
Besides, she thought of Greg as a brother. An only child, he’d always wanted a sibling and adopted her as his sister. What could she say? For them, it worked.
“Why are you here?”
“Did you get any calls today?” His tone asked a lot more than a simple question.
“I get about a hundred a day. Any call in particular you’re referring to? Did Pop outbid me on a job again, and he sent you here to rub my nose in it?”
“No.” He chuckled, though with little enthusiasm.
Ever since Pop fronted her the money to start her own business, they’d cultivated a friendly rivalry between their construction companies. She’d worked for Pop and Greg starting at fifteen, pregnant and alone, looking for a job to support herself through her pregnancy. She’d started in the office, helping Pop plan and organize jobs since she couldn’t do any manual labor in her condition.
Later, to their utter fascination, she’d taken on any and all jobs on the projects. They had no idea a young girl could do everything from frame a house to roof it. She’d earned their respect, their admiration, and their love. And one day she found she’d grown so close to them, they made her part of their family.
At eighteen, she’d even changed her last name to Langley to hide from her father, or anyone else who came looking for her. Not that anyone had, but she’d needed the security of knowing no one could find her.
“Dad says hello, but I’m not here about any bid. He called about some news he heard today. He wanted to come himself, but you know how poorly he’s been feeling lately.”
“Is it his health? Did the doctor say something about his condition?”
“No. Dad’s fine. Nothing’s changed. The news is about something else.”
Pop suffered from a heart condition over the last ten years. Some days it got the best of him. Most days, he got the better of it. Greg took after his dad and his zest for life. You couldn’t hold either of them down.
“How’s that new job you’ve got going on the outskirts of Fallbrook?” he asked, stalling, though she didn’t know why.
She eyed him warily. She hadn’t wanted to take the job near Fallbrook. The last place she wanted to go back to was her old hometown. Granted, she hadn’t moved far. She lived in-between the two towns, closer to Solomon, where most of her business projects were located. She avoided Fallbrook like cats did water and hadn’t been back, except to sneak into town to her and her partner’s antique and furniture shop.
“Running smoothly. Fifty track homes and a community park. My biggest project yet, thanks to Pop’s recommendation. Why?”
“Just wondering if you’ve gone into town.”
“You’re wondering if anyone knows I’m working there?” Still stalling, she waited him out.
“Something like that. Have you heard from your brother?”
“Not since he walked out the door while my father pummeled me in the kitchen. Why? You’re fishing, spit it out.”
Grimacing, he said, “I hate thinking about what happened to you.”
“You and me both.” The images crowded her mind clear as day. Her father beating her, her brother walking out the door, leaving her to fend for herself. Not his fault. Not really, when staying would have only made things worse.
“Rumors are still circling that you’re dead.” The grin died on his lips before he added, “At times, I thought you were close enough to it.”
Jessie didn’t have an answer and waited to see if Greg’s train of thought took another detour.
“Do you know who the new county sheriff is?”
“No. Should I? Did I break some kind of law becoming a business owner and building a new track of houses?” She didn’t mean the snippy tone. Greg’s hedging irritated her and made her nervous. “Out with it. What’s this all about?”
“The new sheriff goes by ‘McBride.’”
At the mention of his name, her breath stopped, and she stared at Greg as if he’d grown another head. “Mc—” She couldn’t even spit out the whole thing.
“That’s right. McBride. Looks as if your Dylan moved back to his hometown.”
She slapped her hands down on her desk and squared off with Greg. “He’s not my Dylan, first of all. Second, what’s this got to do with anything? You know I’ve put it all behind me.”
“Bullshit. Let’s leave off the fact that when I walked in you were reliving prom night and its aftermath. You may have gotten your GED, graduated college, worked your ass off to start your own business, and transformed from a broken girl into a strong woman. What you haven’t done is put the past behind you. You live with it every day. You don’t smile, you don’t date, you haven’t had sex in eight years, as far as I can tell, you won’t contact your family, and you spend all your free time alone in your workshop.”
True. Every word. Greg knew her well. She hadn’t realized just how good a friend he’d been to her all these years. He and Pop were the only people she allowed close.
