Page 26 of A Jilted Bride for the Cowboy

Cadence wrinkled her nose. “They plan to come visit, but I’m not sure I want them to. I’m liable to get an earful, and everyone in the vicinity will find out what an ungrateful wretch I am.”

Graham studied her expression as the horses ambled out into an open meadow. “Did they so badly want you to marry someone you didn’t love that they wouldn’t understand?”

“It’s the money and the embarrassment. My mother says I could have handled things better. And she might be right.”

“How so?”

“Well, I didn’t want to face the fact that our relationship wasn’t based on love and mutual respect. I could have — should have — owned up to that months ago and broken up with Paul. Long before the invoices started rolling in.”

Graham mulled her answer. “Why didn’t you?”

“The million-dollar question, for sure. I guess I naively thought things would get better? That we’d be okay? Mostly, I tried not to think about it.” She let out a long breath. “I was a coward.”

Graham chuckled. “And here I thought that word was reserved for me. I’ve never been one to stick out my neck for what I wanted. It’s easier to go with the flow and hope for the best.”

“You?” Cadence shifted in her saddle to search his face. “You were plenty brave to call Paul out.”

He gulped. “Something came over me.”

“Like what?”

Man, he didn’t want to go here. “I can’t bear when people are mistreated.”

“That’s noble, but people are mistreated all the time.”

“Because it was you, okay?” Heat infused his face, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t the sunshine.

“I used to wonder, back in college, if you had a thing for me.”

Right now would be the perfect time for a rockslide or a flash of lighting or even a mountain lion sighting. But no. He cleared his throat. “Kind of.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Seriously? He glanced at her, but he couldn’t sustain eye contact. Not when it was this personal. He wasn’t ready to pin his heart on his sleeve. Didn’t know if he ever would be. “I wasn’t the type of guy a girl like you would notice.”

“I noticed you.”

“I mean, that way. You dated the jocks in college. You were in the middle of the in crowd. I… was neither.”

“Guys like you weren’t interested in girls like me. Just the fact that you never made a move proved that to me.”

Come again? Graham scratched his neck. She didn’t make any sense. He remembered their college years. He’d been bookish and withdrawn. He’d lived for chess club, because it was a safe place. A place where he hung out among equals.Was respected. Didn’t have to prove anything.

He couldn’t be hearing her correctly. Why would she have been in the popular group if she didn’t belong there? Of course, she belonged. She was pretty. Vivacious. As sweet as she looked.

Some guy a whole lot better than Paul should have seen the treasure she was long ago.

Someone a whole lot better than Graham. Someone different. Someone like… Maxwell, maybe. Nice guy. Hard worker. Respectful. Though he might be a little young for Cadence…

But why not Graham? Didn’t they already have a wee bit of a connection? He’d admitted it. She’d admitted noticing him. And he had a clear playing field here at Sweet River Ranch. No competition in the running that he could tell.

Wasn’t she still mourning a broken relationship?

It didn’t sound like it. Maybe… maybe he should stop being a chicken.

He looked over at her, this time holding contact for more than a fleeting second. “Are you telling me we were both aware of each other back then, and neither of us did anything about it?”

She lifted a shoulder and offered a wry grin. “Sounds like it. I guess I was waiting for the guy to make the first move the way my parents taught me.”

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