Page 14 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
Chapter 5
SAMwas still angry as hell as he strode around and up the path to the front door of the ranch house. He took off his hat and knocked, loudly. He was about to raise his fist and give the door a damn good thump when it swung open.
“Can I help you?”
He dropped the frown when he found himself face to face with a woman he guessed was the maid. He was angry with Mia, not the whole world, and this poor woman definitely didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of his scowl or his temper.
“I’m looking for Mia,” he said, glancing past her and into a hallway full of expensive looking antiques and paintings. The wooden floor was gleaming—it was polished to within an inch of its life.
“Mia doesn’t live here. She has her own house, over past the stables.” The woman smiled and stepped out, pointing. “You’ll need to walk around there. It’ll only take you a few minutes.”
He nodded and stepped back. “Thanks.”
Sam turned and headed back the way he’d come. Hehadn’t expected that she would have her own place on the property, not with a house as big and impressive as that to be living in. But then she’d mentioned being at odds with her father over the horses, so maybe she liked her own space. He knew that feeling well. Or maybe she was just a grown-ass woman who wanted her own house.
He kept walking, stopping once he reached the stables and looked around. He took a few more steps, then realized the low slung roof in the distance wasn’t another farm structure. Once he was closer he saw the start of a timber path and followed it, walking along the faded cedar towards a small yet contemporary dwelling, surrounded by modern grasses and shrubs, and facing a rectangular lap pool. It was completely at odds with the more traditional style main house, but he liked it, especially the glass wrapping around each side of the house. He liked seeing his own property from every room of his place, and he was guessing that was why she’d built it this way, so she had 360-degree views of the fields, the trees and the animals dotted around the place.
“Knock knock,” he called out when he saw the big doors open around the side. The house faced the pool, and he was tempted to strip down and jump straight in after working up such a sweat with Tex.
“Come in!”
When he heard Mia call out, he wandered around, intrigued by her house. If he wasn’t so angry with her he’d have taken more time to appreciate the architecture—it made his big old ranch house look positively ancient in comparison.
“Nice place,” he said when he saw her sitting on a cream sofa, bare feet curled up beneath her, coffee mug in hand.Even her furniture was at odds with the traditional feel of the rest of the ranch, but he liked that she had her own style. Mia looked pale, eyes bloodshot, and he wondered if she’d been crying.
He felt like an idiot then for being so damn mad with her, because whatever had happened with that horse was more than just an accident; it was written all over her face. Sam sat down on a chair beside the sofa, glancing out at the crystal-blue water of the pool once again. It really was an incredible place. Her sofas were modern but still looked comfy, with throws at one end and plenty of cushions, and she had neat little piles of books stacked everywhere along with fresh flowers.
“We need to talk,” he said reluctantly. “If you don’t tell me the truth about that stallion, then I’m going to leave today and I’m not coming back. You’re not giving me any other choice, Mia.”
“Just like that?” she asked, leaning forward and setting her mug down.
“Yeah, Mia, just like that,” he said softly, his anger slowly dispersing. He didn’t have the right to be angry with her, she didn’t owe him anything, but he did have the right to walk away if she didn’t let him in. “I’ve spent the last few hours trying to get that horse to trust me, but something’s happened to him, something so deep that he might be impossible to get through to,” he admitted. “I don’t want to walk away from an animal that needs help, but I need to know his past so we can move forward. It’ll help me know what buttons not to press, and it’ll keep me safe. And him.” He shrugged. “I’m only asking what’s fair.”
Mia nodded. “Do you want a coffee?” she asked.
He ground his jaw. Had she not heard what he’d justsaid? “No, I don’t want coffee,” he muttered. “I need your goddamn help, and instead of being honest with me, you’re offering me a hot drink?”
He watched as Mia settled back, drawing her knees up to her chin, eyes wide like she was a little girl about to tell a scary story. Sam leaned forward, wanting to hear what she had to say, wanting to know how a horse as magnificent as Tex had been scarred for life. Not to mention what had Mia all tied up in knots.
“Kimberley was my best friend,” Mia said, her voice low and soft, nothing like the firecracker who’d stood her ground so firmly only a few hours earlier. “You’ll probably remember the accident, like my dad said it was all over the news. She’d won more show jumping titles than I could possibly count, and I was jealous as hell of her in the best kind of way possible. Every time we went out, she’d beat me, but she was good for me. She made me determined every damn day to win, to push myself harder, to start beating her.”
“Tex belonged to this friend of yours, didn’t he?” Sam asked, feeling like an asshole for being so damn mean earlier now he’d heard part of the story. Mia was hurting and she’d been through as much as the stallion. Only she was better at hiding it than an animal with no control over keeping his emotions in check.
“Tex was her baby,” Mia explained, brushing under her eyes with the back of her knuckles. Her eyes met his then, and he didn’t break the contact. Vulnerable, emotional women weren’t usually the type to get under his skin, but Mia’s story was making him feel like the biggest jerk in the world. He felt an unfamiliar urge to want to protect her, to rise up and sit closer to her, to comfort her. He wonderedhow often she let her guard down like this and doubted it was very often.
“He was always difficult, but what gave him the edge when they were competing was how gritty he was. He’d get around a course at a hell of a speed and never knock a rail, and then he’d carry on like a madman after, rearing and trying to bolt on her, so pleased with himself. It was almost like he knew there was no one out there better than him.”
Sam smiled, imagining how stunning the big horse would have been in his glory days. “So how did he go from that to what he is now?”
“He loved Kimberley and she adored him right back. She knew how to make him work, and she was firm with him when he acted out. They formed a partnership that lasted about three years, and then they were invited to do a charity display.”
Sam saw the pain on Mia’s face as she spoke of what had happened. He doubted this was something she relived often.
“I remember now,” he said solemnly. “I remember hearing about it from one of my clients, how the rider and horse both had a terrible accident.” Sam recalled it, how devastating it had been, the reports about her fall. But the news reports had only mentioned what had happened to the rider, not the horse.
“She was showing off, jumping a flat deck vehicle with hay bales stacked on top. It was a hell of a jump to tackle, but she was confident as hell and she’d nailed it when they’d practiced earlier.”
Sam nodded, a lump in his throat as he imagined the scene, playing through his head now as if he’d been thereon the day. He might have heard about it before, but not like this.
