Page 73 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
Chapter 19
Three weeks later…
MIAthrummed her fingers across her steering wheel. She could do this. She couldsodo this. She forced herself to open the door, took a big breath and stepped out of the car. She took a look around and smiled, imagining Sam here. The ranch was beautiful; nothing over the top, but the home was beautiful and everything was in good condition. Not to mention he had some pretty amazing-looking horses grazing in the fields closest to the house.
She drank in the timber fences and big oak trees, the recently mown grass that stretched along the length of the driveway. It was strange to think she’d spent so much time with Sam, but she’d never seen where he lived and he’d never talked all that much about it. She wondered if he had any other stock, or whether it was just horses, and she strained to see a field in the distance and wondered where his boundary fence was and how much land he had.
Mia forced herself to look back at the house. What she had to do now was stop gawking at his ranch and get up tothe front door, except that her boots felt like they were filled with lead and her hands were so sweaty she had to keep rubbing them down her jeans.
She had this. Mia walked up the steps to the two-story, cream, timber house and bravely raised her hand to knock. What she’d had with Sam, it wasn’t just physical. He could pretend all he liked, but she knew that he felt the same. If he didn’t then he was a damn fine actor, but she wasn’t letting him get away with walking out on her without a proper explanation. He was either an unfeeling bastard, or he couldn’t deal with his feelings, and she was hoping it was the latter. It had been almost three quarters of a month now. Three weeks of mourning him and trying to hate him, of moaning to Kat and trying to keep her heartache from her family. Of working Tex without him and trying to emulate everything she’d learned from him. Of expecting him to call and hearing nothing, and deciding that her fate rested in her own hands. It was time she gave him a second chance to see if he regretted the way things had ended between them. She knew how stubborn a person could be, because she was as stubborn as a mule sometimes, so this was Mia stepping up and putting her heart on her sleeve—again.
Mia heard footsteps and stood back. Her heart was pounding as she waited, hoping she didn’t crumble when she saw him. She wanted to stand there and tell him how she felt and demand to know if he felt the same.
The door swung open and Mia held her breath, tingles running up and down her body, her mouth opening to…
Ohmygod.
“Hi. Can I help you?”
“I, I…” Mia stared at the beautiful woman who’d opened the door. She had long dark hair and even darkereyes, and she had the cutest baby on her hip who was smiling straight back at her. A noise from inside signaled that there was another child, too.
“I think I have the wrong place,” Mia finally managed, standing back and looking around. She must have remembered it wrong, or maybe she’d turned down the wrong drive. “I was looking for Sam.”
“You’ve got the right place. Can I let him know who came by while he was out? Or do you want an iced tea? I’ve just made a jug.” The woman laughed when her daughter waved her pudgy little hand. “I could do with some adult company here!”
Mia wished she could hate her, but she didn’t. This woman, this beautiful, kind woman who was standing there inviting her in without any idea of who she was to Sam, wasn’t the one to hate. A big diamond glinted on her ring finger, a wedding band resting below it. Mia’s stomach turned. How could she have been such a fool to let Sam play her the way he had?
“Thanks, but I’ll keep going.”
Mia turned, hands shaking, legs trembling so badly she wondered how she’d even make it to the car. But the woman took a few steps, moved closer, her smile haunting Mia.
“You sure you don’t want me to tell Sam you stopped by?”
Mia turned back in time for the baby girl to hold her chubby little hand up. She waved back to her, acting on autopilot, trying not to lose it.
“We’re missing him so bad while he’s away, aren’t we pumpkin?”
The words were like a fist into Mia’s gut, winding her, felling her, making her want to scream.
“It’s fine. I’ll catch him another time.”
Blue came bounding around the corner then, and Miadropped to pat him, unable to resist the dog. It wasn’t his fault his owner was a lying dirt bag.
“Hey,” she cooed, bending low, her face touching his fur. Tears fell and wet his coat, but she only gave herself a moment before pushing up and walking to her car. She kept her head held high, ignored Blue when he ran back to her, sending him away with a point of her finger as she’d seen Sam do.
When she was in the car she numbly clipped her seatbelt and started the engine, forcing herself to drive slowly as she glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the woman standing, still watching.
Sam had told her he wanted a no-strings-attached relationship. He’d always refused to stay over. He’d made it clear that he wasn’t interested in anything serious or committed. He’d been horrified when she’d told him she loved him and questioned how he didn’t feel the same.
He’d just forgotten to tell her that he had a wife and child at home waiting for him. That he couldn’t love her because he was already too busy loving someone else.
Tears started to fall steadily down her cheeks, blurring her vision. How could this have happened to her? How could the man she trusted so much, a man she believed was so much better than that, have used her in that way? Even when he’d hurt her, when he’d refused to acknowledge his feelings for her, refused to acknowledge the way she felt for him, she’d never hated him.
But this was so much worse than what she’d thought. She’d slept with another woman’s husband, and she was going to have to live with that forever. She would never, ever hurt another woman like that intentionally, and she sure as hell wouldn’t have accepted being the other woman for Sam if she’d known. Growing up, she’d seen the painher mother had been through, watched her silent misery as her father had cheated on multiple occasions right up until she’d passed away. People talked, and even kids whispered, especially when she’d been a teenager and Mia had always known that for all her father’s good traits, fidelity had not been one of them. It had been awful knowing her father had a mistress when her mom was so sick.
And now she could cause someone else’s heartbreak. If Sam’s wife found out? She’d be the one biting back tears, trying to decide if she was strong enough to leave a man she loved, just as Mia’s mother had. That beautiful, sweet woman back there had been so kind, not having any idea why Mia had turned up on her doorstep, what she’d done with herhusband.
Mia gasped, the noise catching in her throat and bringing another big sob.It wasn’t fair. She pulled over, stopping her car on the side of the road and slamming it into park. She let the tears fall, sobbed silently, slumped against her steering wheel as she cursed Sam with every bone in her body. Except for her heart. Her heart was too busy despairing, the pain inside of her so deep. How could she have let this happen? Had she been so intent on having fun, on playing along with a no-strings affair, that she’d somehow missed the warning signs?
