Breaking Jacob (2nd in Breaking Series)

Breaking Jacob

Jacob blew out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his brow with his shirt sleeve. Texas was too darned hot. He'd been here for two months and he still couldn't seem to get used to the heat. He checked his watch and saw that it was nearly seven in the evening. Maybe Susie and Sally would have supper ready by now.

He gathered up the hammer and nails he'd been using to repair the fences and stuck them in his saddlebags. He whistled and Kent looked up from down the row of fencing.

"I'm heading in." Jacob called and Kent nodded.

"Alrighty boss."

"I am no ones boss." Jacob argued as he swung himself up into the saddle.

"Your last name is Atkinson ain't it? This here is Atkinson Spread so that makes you one of the bosses."

"Don't let Liz hear you say that." Jacob said with a fond smile as he thought about his sister-in-law who had caused such a change in his rootless younger brother. Kent laughed.

"Mrs. Atkinson knows that she's the boss of the bosses." he replied and Jacob nodded. He wasn't about to argue with that fact. Because it was a fact, plain and simple. He started for home and thought about how much his life had changed in the last few months.

Stress seemed to have melted away and he felt years younger now, than he had back in Virginia. He no longer had to worry about whether or not the girls would have shoes to wear come wintertime or whether or not they'd have food to put in their bellies the next day.

Now they had more clothes than ten people could wear (though Sally's were all pants, shirts and split riding skirts because she insisted she had to be just like Liz) and they never had to worry about where their next meal was coming from.

Jacob was still getting used to the fact that he was a rich man. At first he had rebelled against the idea of using the money because he hadn't felt he'd earned it, but Brody had been quick to set him straight. Brody had said that Jacob had earned it because he had busted his back to make sure the girls were taken care of all those years. Jacob had reminded Brody that if it hadn't been for Brody's money there would have been many times he and the girls would have went cold and hungry but Brody had just shrugged.

Jacob thought about the ranch and how Brody had tried to sign the deed over to only Liz. He had said that the ranch was truly hers and he wanted her to have it all to herself. She had been madder than a wet hen when he'd said that and instead of allowing him to take his name off, she had kept it there and added Jacob's as well. She'd also said that as soon as the girls got old enough, if they wanted her to, she would add them to the deed.

That Liz was something else and his brother was darn lucky. Jacob was becoming darn lonely. Without all the stress and worry to keep his mind occupied he was realizing that he had never once in his life been in love. He'd die if his very experienced, reformed whore hopper of a younger brother ever found out, but Jacob had only ever been with one girl and that had only been one time and it had been ten years ago. Twenty-seven was too old for any man to be so inexperienced.

He didn't want whores though. He never had. He wanted a woman who would steal his whole heart and give him hers. No woman had been willing to settle on a poor, struggling farmer with two girls to raise, and eligible bachelorettes were hard to come by out here in Texas where there was more cattle than there were people.

Jacob rubbed his face to clear his thoughts. He'd always been the hopeless romantic of the two brothers. Brody had grown up believing that women were only good for sex and only meeting Liz had taught him differently. Jacob on the other hand had always craved having a woman all his own. A partner, a best friend, someone he could take care of. But he was beginning to believe that was never going to happen for Mr. Jacob Atkinson. Nothing good ever happened for him.