Page 16 of The Cowboy Who Looked Again

“Cowboys have a code,” Misty said simply. When she’d first come to Three Rivers, she’d been dead set against dating. She still was, to be honest, but she could admit a cowboy really pulled at her heartstrings. Something about the hat, the boots, the drawl, and the way they took care of the things and people that mattered to them really spoke to the soft parts of her heart.

Misty just didn’t have very many of those, as her fleshy heart had been hardened over the years of her life, as she saw man after man march through her life and leave nothing but harsh footprints and pain behind. Link had somehow snuck into the few soft parts of her heart she did have.

“So, we just need to follow the yellow brick road over to True Blue,” Janie said. “I was waiting for you to wake up.”

“I want to shower,” Misty said.

“I’m sure they’ll have your favorite shampoo sitting on a table in that barn,” Janie said. “Because Link’s been working on getting food, clothing, and supplies since you called him, and Misty, that man…he is nowhere near over you.”

Misty took a sip of her coffee, something dangerous vibrating in her chest. “So what?” she finally asked. She joined Janie at the table and looked earnestly at her. “I mean that seriously. I’m not over him either, but so what? We have thirteen more months on this project, and then you and I both return to Dallas.” She wanted to cry, but she held back her emotion. “Do you know how far Dallas is from Three Rivers?”

“Far,” Janie said without missing a beat. Her dark eyes turned into hard marbles. “Do you know what you have waiting for you in Dallas?”

Misty opened her mouth to respond, but she swallowed the retort. Nothing. Nothing was what she had waiting for her in Dallas.

She swallowed and reached for her coffee again. She took a huge sip, which burned her tongue and the roof of her mouth. Now wanting to scream, she managed to get the hot liquid down before she coughed. “My job is in Dallas,” she said.

“Oh, yes,” Janie said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She still wore that look of steel, and Misty wouldn’t get out of this conversation without several wounds, she knew that. “I also forgot how much money Link has, but then, I remembered I could do an Internet search.” She picked up her phone. “So I did that, because not only did an incredibly sexy and rich and tall, dark, handsome cowboy bring me coffee and quiche this morning, he brought phone chargers.”

Misty noted that her phone was indeed plugged in as Janie tapped on it. “He’s not dark,” she said, only because it was her only argument against what Janie had said. “He has blue eyes and sandy hair.”

“And he’s super rich.” Janie turned her phone toward Misty. “That man would take care of you every minute of every day for the rest of your life. No job necessary.”

Misty didn’t even look at her friend’s phone. They’d looked up the Glovers and Shiloh Ridge Ranch as part of their town research before they’d even come to Three Rivers. Then again after she’d started dating him. She knew this was the largest and most profitable ranch in the Panhandle. She knew Link was the oldest son of the oldest son here at Shiloh Ridge, and that meant he was in line to run this place at some point.

“I like my job,” she said, a completely weak argument. “I don’t even know why I’m arguing this. I don’t want to be married. I don’t want kids.”

“Don’t you?” Janie asked, and then she got to her feet. “Your non-boyfriend brought toothbrushes and paste. He said he knew you wouldn’t even want to come over to the barn without breakfast and brushing your teeth.”

She left the kitchen, calling, “So hurry up and eat. Then we need to go get clothes and supplies. Groceries in town. Check on our apartment. All of that.”

Misty sat at the eat-in table with her too-hot coffee, her mind spinning. Her phone buzzed, and she reached to plug it into the charger Janie had been using. Link had texted with, Did Janie give you your quiche?

She mentioned it, Misty tapped out. But I haven’t seen it or eaten it yet.

I put it in the oven on warm, he said.

Misty simply stared at the words, sure they couldn’t be true. The only thing going through her mind was, Why?

So she tapped to call him. “Hey,” he said easily. “It’s quiche Lorraine, with bacon, not ham.”

“Of course it is,” she said, her flirty smile matching her tone. They’d gotten quiches at a tiny diner in Parma several months ago, and she’d made a big deal about the quiche Lorraine being better with bacon while the restaurant had made theirs with ham.

“Link, I just—thank you for everything, really. But I want to know why you’re doing this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you brought me a toothbrush. Coffee. My favorite breakfast food in the world—oh, and you put it in the oven so it would be warm when I woke up and finally dragged myself out of bed.” She didn’t mean to sound so frustrated, but in fact, she felt the same emotion pulling through her. “I wasn’t nice to you. I used you. I hurt you, and you have no idea, because I was too weak to tell you, but I feel so guilty about that. I hate it. I hate that I made your life anything but wonderful, and I’m sorry.”

She exhaled heavily. She hadn’t realized how much the words had been choking her until they all came out. “I can breathe again. Your turn.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” he said quietly.

“Coffee? Quiche? You told me you don’t cook, so that didn’t come from your kitchen, where you said breakfast would be.” She knew where he’d gotten their quiches, and that was down in town, at the Ackerman Bakery. That was an eighty-minute round trip, and it was barely eight-fifteen.

“I took supplies to a lot of people this morning,” he said. “So stop feeling like you’re special.”

“Okay,” she said lightly. “I’m not special.” Except she was, and they both knew it. He’d said exactly that to her before, and she’d fired back at him that she wasn’t special. Then he’d hooked one leg over hers and rolled toward her. Kissed her. Told her she was incredibly special to him.

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