Page 9 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

“So, Ginny, dear. If you want to be with Cayden Chappell, you will need to walk away from Sweet Rose. From your family. From me.” She folded her arms, a knowing glint in her eyes, as if she knew such a thing was impossible.

Itwasimpossible.

Ginny’s fury roared again, and her fingers curled into fists. “I’ll think about it.” She spun and stalked toward the exit.

“You’ll think about it?” Mother called after her.

Ginny didn’t answer. She had to get out of there before she started sobbing. She made it back to her SUV, everything clenched tight. She peeled out, spitting gravel behind her as she tore away from the mansion she hated.

“I hate this,” she said aloud, pounding her palm against the steering wheel. “I hate whiskey. I hate Sweet Rose. I hate this dress, and this car, and I hate my mother.”

Tears rained down her face and she put her car on the highway leading south from Sweet Rose, and she just drove as the storm inside her swirled and brewed, blew and raged.

When she’d calmed, she only had one thought left: Her mother owned her. She’d been wrapping Ginny in thin bands of barely-there control for almost five decades. She couldn’t break free, even if she wanted to.

She was stuck. Trapped. Subject to her mother’s whims and wishes—at least if she wanted to be part of her family and take over the whiskey business.

Her car started to slow down, and Ginny looked down at the speedometer. “No,” she said, pressing harder on the accelerator.

It was no use—she was out of gas.

With the late hour, there wasn’t anyone on the stretch of Kentucky road, and Ginny was able to easily maneuver to the shoulder and ease onto it as her car continued to decelerate. When she finally came to a stop, it was as if everything in her life now existed on a hinge.

Her next decision would decide the rest of her life.

She didn’t have shoes she could walk very far in.

She wore a stained and stinky designer gown.

She had no food or water in her car.

She closed her eyes, everything burning inside her. “Time to be reborn from the ashes,” she whispered, and she reached for her phone.

After dialing, she held the device to her ear and exhaled one long stream of apprehension and nerves.

“Ginny?”

“Cayden,” she said. “I know it’s late, but I’m stranded on the side of the road, and I’m wondering if you could come get me.”

He started chuckling, of all things. “Is this going to be a pattern with you?”

“Probably,” she said, trying to tame her crying into laughter and failing. “You should know that upfront, I suppose.”

“You sound upset,” he said.

“Yes.” She could admit it. “I also have no idea where I am. I’m going to have to look at my map and send you a pin.”

“How long have you been driving?” he asked quietly, the slight jangle of keys in the background.

She pressed her eyes closed, because he was going to be her knight in shining armor again. “What time is it?” she asked.

“Almost eleven.”

“A while,” she admitted.

He didn’t sigh or huff. He didn’t press for more information. All he said was, “Send me the pin, sweetheart.”

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