The Cowboy and His Wayward Bride by Sherryl Woods

Author:Sherryl Woods [Woods, Sherryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2015-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

A knot of dread formed in Laurie’s stomach as they got closer and closer to White Pines. Once this ranch had been like a second home to her. She and Harlan Patrick had explored every acre of it on daylong horseback rides and picnics. She’d been welcome at family gatherings, included on special occasions, all because everyone had assumed that one day she and Harlan Patrick would marry.

She wondered what they thought of her now. Oh, she knew what Harlan Patrick had told her, that everyone, including his grandfather, cared only that she’d given him a daughter. That might be what they told him, but she had little doubt that resentment would be simmering below the surface. How could it not be? He was an Adams, and she had betrayed him.

Hands clenched, she stared out at the rugged, familiar terrain and tried to see the beauty in it that Harlan Patrick saw, tried to feel the same connection to the land. All she felt was uneasiness and the same restless urge to wander that had driven her away from Texas years ago.

As much as she loved the people here—as much as she loved one particular person here—it hadn’t been enough. She had desperately wanted a singing career. She had needed to be somebody, on her own, not just because she married into the wealthiest family in town. Marrying a man like Harlan Patrick would have been blind luck, not an accomplishment she could claim.

“You okay?” Harlan Patrick asked, giving her a sideways glance as he turned into the long driveway leading up to the sprawling house that had been built as a replica of the home his Southern ancestors had lost in the Civil War, then recreated after moving west.

“Sure.”

As if he could read her mind, he said quietly, “Nobody here hates you, Laurie.”

“Then why do I feel as if I’m on my way to my own hanging?”

“Don’t go blaming me for that,” he said less sympathetically. “I’m not accountable for whatever guilty thoughts you’re having.”

She scowled. “I have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about.”

“Then stop agonizing over what’s to come. You’re going to visit a few old friends, show off our beautiful daughter. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that I kept Amy Lynn from you. Don’t you think I know how that will make me look in everyone’s eyes, especially your sister’s? Sharon Lynn and I were friends once, but when I walked out on you, it changed things between us. This will only make the tension worse.”

He braked to a stop on a curve in the lane and faced her. “The only person whose opinion really matters here is me, Laurie.”

“Okay, then,” she said, accepting the truth of that. “What about you? Have you forgiven me?”

He hesitated at the direct question, then sighed. “No, but I’m working on it.”

That sinking sensation returned to the pit of her stomach. “Thanks. That really helped,” she said sarcastically.

He reached over and touched her cheek. “I love you just the same as I always did.

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