Page 1 of The Rancher's Jilted Bride

Heaven

PROS:

Eat more than 1,000 calories a day if I want to.

Be there for someone's birthday.

Travel at a moment's notice.

Not have aching feet for more than a week.

A chance to move into a four-season state!

CONS:

Not enough $$$$ in the bank.

One wrong move and I'm dead!

Heaven closed herNotesapp with a sigh. It was on the first week of spring that she had told herself toseriouslyconsider the state of her life and whether a change was required. It was the last week of summer now, but she still hadn't gotten anywhere close to decidinganything.

Because you're a coward, that's why!

Heaven bit back another sigh. In the romance novels she read, the heroine's "inner voice" was usually nice and gentle. Like a sweet angel, for instance. So how was it that in real life,herinner voice sounded more like a grumpy old man?

Heaven continued to struggle with indecision as she headed out for work. Heads turned as she walked past other people, withmost men instantly attracted to her doll-like looks while the other women either snubbed or glared at her out of envy.

But since vanity had never been her greatest sin, Heaven remained completely unaware of any of this. If anything, her biggest challenge in life was her lack of confidence. With her mother dying shortly after her remarriage, three-year-old Heaven had been left in her stepfather's care.

And while he had cared for her and even spoiled her the best he could, he was also an extremely controlling man with an impossible ego. In her years growing up, Henry would constantly tell her she was never smart enough to do things on her own and that she would never succeed without her guidance.

Sadly, a tiny part of her still believed this, even when she had now been fending for herself for years, while he was the one behind bars.

Heaven made it to the bus stop in time, but when she heard another woman calling out frantically for the driver to wait...

Heaven pretended to lose her balance right after tapping the scanner with her bus card, and by the time she was back on her feet, the other woman was already climbing up the bus steps.

Phew!

A vacant seat caught her eye, but just as Heaven was about to sit down, someone shoved her away, and the next thing she knew, it was that same woman already occupying the seat and deliberately avoiding Heaven's gaze.

Um...wow?

Heaven moved to the back until there was a grab bar she could hold on to.

C'est la vie,Heaven thought with a mental shrug.

Having grown up with a stepfather who didn't think twice about cheating just to beat Heaven in a game of Monopoly, this was nothing new at all.

The bus finally began its journey to its next stop, and since she still had four stops to go,

Heaven's mind began entertaining flashbacks of the past.

She had been fourteen years old when the academy had gifted her with a scholarship, and two years after that, they had also offered her board and lodging, in light of the "change" in her circumstances.

In return, Heaven had been expected to participate in every show and program of the Academy as well as volunteer her non-working hours on "special" occasions.

If I go, people might think I'm ungrateful.

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