Page 7 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
Chapter 3
“YOUneed to stop laughing at me!”
Mia glared at her friend, refusing to laugh along with her. They were sitting outside, enjoying the warm air now that the sun had gone down and dusk was settling around them. The pool twinkled as light reflected on it, the darkened fields of the ranch slowly disappearing as night blanketed the sky. Mia reached for the half empty bottle of wine and offered Kat more before pouring her own glass.
“He can’t be that bad. You’re just exaggerating because he stepped on your toes.” Kat ran her hands through long dark hair, scooping it up and twisting it away from her neck.
Mia shook her head. “No, he did more than step on my toes. He made me feel worthless.”
“Honey, there are hundreds of women out there who’d like Sam Mendes to make them feelworthless.”
Kat burst into giggles again, laughing at her own joke, and Mia fought the urge to strangle her. Her friend hadn’t seen how goddamn cocky the man had been, but then shecouldn’t exactly disagree.She’dbeen one of those women until today, harboring a crush on the hot Texas bachelor.
“Just because he’s handsome doesn’t mean I have to like him.”
“So you’ve noticed? Howhandsomehe is, I mean.”
“Why am I friends with you?” Mia glared at her, not about to admit how much she’d thought about him since the one time she’d watched him in the past, before she’d met him. Those dark eyes and honey-laced drawl at his exhibitions had been enough to make her fall for him back then, but not now. “Honestly, I’m not sharing my wine or my pool with you again if you keep sticking up for him.” She wished Kat was wrong, but she was so, so right. She sighed. It had only been a couple of months since she’d returned from overseas, and it was nice to just sit and be with a friend, someone she’d known all her life and who knew her well enough to tease. Even if she was driving her crazy right now. The two closest people to her in her life were Kat and her sister, but with Angelina working up a storm as an attorney in California, it wasn’t like they had much time to talk, let alone hang out in person.
“Come on, I’m only teasing. And besides, if he gets through to the horse, then isn’t this as much about Kimberley as anyone?”
Kat was right. Mia took a slow, tiny sip of her drink as she stared at the pool shimmering under the lights. She missed Kimberley so much. They’d always promised one another that they’d never let their favorite horse be sold if anything ever happened to them. Only neither of them had ever truly expected anything terrible to happen, and yet here she was with her own favorite horse, Indi, safely stabled for the night, and her best friend Kimberley’s stallion behaving like a madman out in the field.
“I miss her so much,” Mia confessed, not bothering to fight the tears that began to pool in her eyes as they talked about the friend they’d lost.
“I know, so do I.”
They sat in silence a while, the mood between them oddly somber where earlier it had been playful. The three had been best friends since elementary school, and Kimberley’s death had been hard.
“So you think I need to give him a chance, is that what you’re saying?” Mia asked.
“I don’t know why you were so prickly in the first place,” Kat said. “Sorry, but it’s true.”
Mia loved Kat because she was always brutally honest with her. She was a straight shooter and she didn’t sugarcoat her words.
“Even if he shuts me out and won’t let me deal with my own horse?”
“If it helps the horse, then yeah. Don’t you want help getting through to him?”
Mia thought about it for a moment. “Fine, I’ll stay out of his way and keep my mouth shut.”
Kat gave her a wicked grin. “You know,” she said, drawing the words out slowly, “it has been alongtime since you dated.”
“Oh my god, are you kidding me?” Mia pushed her, wondering if she should push harder and shove her in the pool. “I donotwant to discuss my love life right now.” Especially in the same breath as talking about Sam. She wasn’t going to let herself think about him like that, not ever again. “Besides, you have no idea who I’ve been sleeping with. I could have some hot cowboy in my bed waiting for me right now. Maybe I’ve told him to stay quiet while you’re here?”
Kat laughed. “Yeah, but yousodon’t. Maybe you should lighten up a little and bat those pretty little lashes at the horseman next time he’s here.”
Mia could have killed her, but instead she took a big sip of wine and got up to put some music on, padding across the concrete. She had homemade pizza in the oven, another bottle of sauvignon blanc chilling in the fridge, and her pretty fairy lights were twinkling all around the outside of the house and down to the pool. It was a beautiful night and she wasn’t about to ruin it by getting all grumpy about Sam arriving on Monday morning.
No matter what Kat had just said, she wasn’t going to let him take over the one thing she was good at. She’d been in charge of all the horses on this property since her eighteenth birthday, when she’d proven herself to her father and both her brothers, Tanner and Cody, that she knew what she was doing. As far as she was concerned, it was going to stay that way, even if it did mean having to beg Sam to let her learn from him and be part of whatever training he had in mind.
Tex was a handful, he always had been, but when he’d been Kimberley’s horse, he hadn’t hated every single human he laid eyes on. It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t blame herself for the angry, unpredictable beast he’d turned into.
“I shouldn’t have laughed at you,” Kat said, surprising her. Mia hadn’t realized she’d gotten up, or that she was standing so close.
“Don’t be silly. I can handle it.” Mia walked inside and checked the pizza. She decided it was ready and took it out, pleased with her culinary efforts for the evening.
“You know, if this guy can’t get through to Tex, then no one would blame you for…”
