With Family In Mind (Saddle Falls Book 1) by Sharon de Vita

their meeting. Had pretended to love him merely to get close to the Ryan family and get enough information to write an article about them—a kind of “how are they now” piece that came out around the tenth anniversary of Jesse’s disappearance.
    When Jake realized she was a reporter, and had used him to get to his family and garner information she might not otherwise have accessed, he’d been devastated. She admitted she’d never felt anything for him, and had merely been play-acting all for the sake of the story. It had hurt more than he could have believed. More importantly, he’d felt both guilty and foolish. Guilty because he’d exposed his family to her and her vicious manipulating, and foolish because he’d let a beautiful woman with sad eyes hoodwink him.
    He may have been naive up until then, but not anymore.
    Never again would he let a woman get close to his family like that, not unless he was absolutely certain who she was and what her intentions were. His family was far too important to him.
    Shaking his head, Jake blinked away the painfulmemory of Diana, focusing on Rebecca, trying not to be swayed by that beautiful face and body.
    One damn damsel in distress had already burned him, and he still bore the scars. He wasn’t up to going another round.
    Not ever.
    He would help Rebecca as he’d promised, he decided grimly, but only because he’d never break a promise, especially to his grandfather.
    But he damn well wasn’t going to trust her.

Chapter Three
    “I s it me you dislike, or reporters in general?” Rebecca asked, watching as Jake expertly wheeled her little Toyota around a corner.
    Lunch had been a highly energized affair punctuated by spilled milk, an overturned bottle of ketchup and a small mishap with a baby frog Timmy had magically pulled out of his pocket and let loose to hop across the table. Seeing the animal, Ruth had raced around the table at breakneck speed, barking frantically. When the madcap meal with the twins was over, Jake had offered to drive Rebecca into town to get her things.
    She was convinced he merely wanted to escape his nephews, who she’d decided were incorrigible, yet adorable.
    Jake had all but hustled her from the table, thenescaped the mess and chaos in the kitchen with a gleeful wave, and hopped into her spiffy little Toyota, since there was no point in driving two cars into town to get her things.
    Her question took him by surprise and he glanced at her before turning another corner, uncomfortable in the small, confined space of her compact car. Especially with her sitting so damn close. “I don’t know you, so how could I dislike you?”
    “Exactly,” she said, smoothing a hand down her jean-clad thigh. “So it’s what I do for a living that bothers you?” He had an incredible profile, she decided. The kind some thoroughly moody artist with talented fingers would do wonders capturing on canvas. Strong, incredibly masculine, yet his eyes were compassionate. Not even the scowl he’d been wearing since she’d announced who she was could hide the deep caring inside this man. She saw it in the way he related to his grandfather, the twins, and even Ruth, who was the loudest and probably the clumsiest, most uncoordinated and confused animal Rebecca had ever met.
    Jake’s unbelievable compassion for those he loved touched her on some deep, unconscious level she couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
    It was clear that beneath the blustering facade he tried to portray was a gentle, sensitive, caring man.
    “I don’t like reporters,” Jake said firmly, glancing in his rearview mirror before changing lanes. Especially female reporters, he wanted to add, but didn’t. She was close enough now that her sweet, feminine scent was wreaking havoc with his senses. Did thewoman’s mere scent have to make his blood rush through his veins?
    “Hmm, so I gathered,” Rebecca said with a hint of amusement. Apparently Jake’s compassion didn’t quite extend to her.