Page 15 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
“They cantered around the ring and she jumped it. The crowd went wild and Tex was crazy. He knew he was the champion and she must have decided to jump it one more time.” Mia sighed. “Once was never enough for her, it was why she was so good, that way she loved to show off.”
“They didn’t make the next one, did they? He clipped the deck on his way over?”
She nodded. “They went into it so fast. Tex was galloping, both of them were overconfident, and she didn’t slow him enough. He took off all wrong, and it was too big and too solid for them to make it.” Mia was speaking fast but quietly, and he leaned forward to listen, feeling her pain. “He had a hell of a fall himself. He somersaulted over as she went flying. They both made it over, just not together.”
“She broke her neck?” Sam asked gently.
“She landed on her head. I saw it with my own eyes. I’ll never forget the moment she landed, like it was slow motion as she awkwardly hit the ground. But it was Tex flipping that killed her. He connected with her as she fell, and the impact on her neck killed her instantly.”
Sam reached for Mia’s hand, grazing her fingers and then clasping them. He might not be a team player and he knew he was a jerk sometimes when it came to his work, but he had a goddamn heart, and he could tell when someone else’s was breaking.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and he knew he was apologizing for more than just her loss.
“He suffered a big blow that day, physically and emotionally,” Mia said. “I took him when the medics were working on her, and we got him back to the truck and thevets checked him over. He was badly lame, but he seems to have recovered from those injuries.”
“What happened to him after that?” Sam asked. “Where did he go?”
“Her family sold off all her horses, him included, and they refused to let me take any of them at any price. They wanted them gone. Tex went to a new show jumper who couldn’t handle how hot he was, then some so-called horse whisperer who claimed he could sort him out. That was the last time I saw him, messed up and crazy, before he was sent to a stud.” She went silent for a moment, staring out the window, and Sam realized he was still holding her hand then. He reluctantly pulled back, breaking the contact with her warm, soft skin. “I found him there, in a tiny yard that was full of mud and shit. He was knee deep in it. It was disgusting, and it was like he’d actually gone mad there, locked up and with no one giving a damn about him. It was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.” Her breath shuddered out. “I went overseas to ride, but I never forgot about him and they finally accepted my offer to buy him after all these years.”
“He’s been through hell and back then,” Sam said, thinking about the stallion and knowing that everything was in the horse’s head then. He’d been screwed up by humans, that was for sure.
“He went from being so loved, the center of his rider’s universe, to being treated like crap. I fought for him, I tried so hard to buy him for so long, but now I’m wondering if it’s too late to save him.”
“I’ll be honest with you, Mia. It’s not going to be easy.” Part of him thought this particular horse might be damn near impossible to turn into a safe riding horse for Mia, but he decided to keep that to himself for now.
She smiled at him, and for the first time he felt like he was seeing the real her and not the person she wanted the world to see.
“I promised her, Sam. I promised her I’d always look after Tex, and she promised me she’d always look after Indi.” He saw her tears then, glistening from her eyes as she stared at him. “I let her down once, but I’m not giving up on him without a fighting chance now.”
Sam sat back, considered her, looked at the beautiful woman seated across from him and realized how stupid he’d been not to see past the money and beauty from the moment he’d met her. She was real and strong and determined, and it was blatantly obvious now.
“I’ll try my best, but I’m not making false promises,” he said, shooting straight. “I don’t like to over promise, but I’ll try my best to over deliver on this one.”
“I have your word?” she asked, her voice low.
He leaned in and held out his hand, smiling when she clasped it. “You have my word,” he promised. “So long as you pour me a beer and let me dive into that pool before I head home. In case you didn’t know, I’ve had one hell of a day. My new boss is a goddamn slave driver!”
She laughed at him and shook his hand, her cheeks pink now, the color seeping back into her skin as she stood and stared down at him. Damn she was pretty. He’d expected something so different, yet sitting here she was just a cute girl with her hair in a ponytail, still wearing her riding gear and not caring that her shirt was dirty.
“Fine. I’ll get you a beer, but if I find out you’ve left that poor dog in your truck instead of bringing him down here…”
Sam grinned. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Seems I’ve, ah, forgotten something though, I’ll be back in a minute.”
Sam tried not to laugh as he walked off to get Blue. Mia wasn’t so bad after all. It’d been a long time since he’d been able to relax and just enjoy a woman’s company, and if she hadn’t been his boss? Maybe they’d have gotten along better from the start.
He glanced back, saw her standing there by the pool and dragged his eyes away. He wasn’t going there. Sam forced himself to keep walking, breaking into a jog as he headed back for his dog. Mia was off limits. She was his boss, she was…beautiful. But beautiful wasn’t enough for him, because his fiancée had been beautiful too, but it hadn’t stopped her from breaking his heart and making him vow never to be vulnerable when it came to women ever again.
