Page 62 of The Cowboy's Second Chance Bride

Yeah, I had betrayed her and our promises, and saying it had been to protect her and her father now sounded weak. But in the moment, it had felt very real. Devastating.

“I know you need space. Just don’t leave. Take some time, and then let’s talk.”

She shook her head. “Why do we need to talk? Why can’t you just make the decisions for me and tell me what you think should happen? Who cares how I feel or what I think? That seems to be your MO.”

“Where are you going to go tonight?”

“I will go wherever Cricket takes me. As soon as I get to my room and phone, I’m calling her to come get me.” She glared at me.

She rocked to the side to rest her weight on the bannister as she took another step. If I let her go, there might not be a hope of rekindling what we’d just started.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I said, exasperated, and moved in front of her. “Fine. You want to go? Go. But you will hear me out first.” I bent forward and grabbed her around the waist.

“What are you doing?” she screeched.

I flipped her over my shoulder, fireman style, pivoted on the stairs, and headed toward her room. “I can’t watch you hobble up these stairs anymore. You’re being ridiculous. I now see what I did was wrong. I get it, but we are going to talk about it. Ow! Why did you pinch me?” She’d gotten me on the back of my arm.

“For calling me ridiculous. You are the ridiculous one.”

I felt her fingers on my triceps again, going for another pinch, so I slapped her on the ass. “Stop that!”

She gasped. “You stop that, you giant goon.”

She wiggled like she’d rather fall to the floor than be carried another step by me, and I smacked her bottom again. When I made it to her room, I tossed her onto the bed like a sack of potatoes. Sabrina bounced, her hair flying into her face.

When she settled, she blew out her hair, moving what she could with her hands. “I hate you.”

I stood before her bed, hands on my hips. “I know; you have every right to. But?—”

“There’s no but. You don’t get a but.”

“Okay, fine. I did what I thought was best in the moment with the facts I had in front of me. It wasn’t an easy decision by any means. And this”—I pointed to what lay outside her bedroom door—“is the first time I have ever heard of a connection between our parents. I just thought Dalton’s actions were a way to control me. I told him then that if he made me pick, then I would pick you every time, and he said I really didn’t have a choice. And where you were concerned, he was right. Leaving you was the only way to protect you from him. That’s why I didn’t want you involved in any of this nonsense either. You have always been a target of his. Now I know he’s been gunning for your dad, and you, for forever.”

“He can’t touch my dad,” she said angrily.

“Oh yeah? Look at what he did to you the other day when that article about your dad came out. You were devastated. You went right into defense mode and were on the attack. Now you have an IRS investigation. You have to hire a lawyer to help with the estate accusations. And what about the adoption?”

She flinched.

“He wants to take everything you love away from you—your hopes, dreams, and memories. He will wear you down and ground you into pavement if he gets half the chance. What are you going to do then?”

She stared at me with shiny, narrow eyes. Maybe I was finally getting through to her.

“You said you had no choice, but we always have choices.”

“Yes, I could have talked to you and Travis. And you would have been by my side for sure. And then I would have had to watch Dalton destroy your family. How do we”—I pointed at both of us—“survive that? How do you not resent me? How does it not destroy us? You know it would have.”

“It’s not destroying us now.”

“We’re different people now. And your dad isn’t here. I stood in that hotel room, watching him tear my world apart, and I wanted to kill him. I wanted to kill my own father, and I was horrified by that because the worst thing I could ever do is become a reflection of him. Then he told me what I was going to do next, and I had to walk away.” Best thing I ever did was not go to Harvard but to the University of Texas instead. My father refused to pay for school, and I was fine with that. I didn’t want to be in debt to him. Becoming self-sufficient gave me the option of walking away from my family, so I did.

“I saw no other way to protect you than what I did. There was no way in hell I’d give that man anything he wanted. So I walked away from it all. And make no mistake: I will burn my company to the ground before I go work for him. Before I give up Mom and Brynna, this ranch, or a chance with you.”

Her lower lip trembled. “My dad loved you. He never understood why you stopped being a part of our lives.”

I brushed a hand down my face and wondered if I should tell her the rest. Would she find peace in the heartbreak? But I couldn’t keep any more secrets.

“Yes, he did. He knew.” I met her gaze and watched her work out my words.

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