9781618857279MakeMineaCowboySullivanNC by Sandy Sullivan Read Free Book Online

half of us in
bed with her. When she couldn’t accomplish that, she went after the sheriff.
She succeeded there.” Joel rubbed his eyes with forefinger and thumb like he
had a headache.
    “I
bet it’s a bit awkward for Jeff then if he ever gets stopped by the guy.”
    “The
two of them keep clear of each other. Jeff caught them in bed together. The guy
was lucky Jeff wasn’t armed at the time. Jeff just beat the shit out of the guy.”
    “He
didn’t press charges, did he?” she asked, her voice a slight pitch higher with
worry. She liked his family even though she’d only met them a short time ago.
They seemed close, like families should be. She loved her own parents, but they
constantly seemed to be on her tail about one thing or another. When was she
going to marry? What about children? Even though she was only twenty-five,
shouldn’t she be thinking about her future? Did she plan on writing novels for
the rest of her life? She needed a day job to pay her bills. She’d been lucky.
Her first novel took off three years ago and hit the NY Times Bestseller list,
as did her second. Her third flopped…badly.
    “No.
Art knew better, even though he could have.” He sighed and shifted in the seat.
“Jeff loved her.”
    “I’m
sorry for him then. It’s not fair to put someone through the heartbreak. Just
leave if you don’t want to be married to them.”
    “She
did want to be. She wanted the money and land she thought went with the Young
name, she didn’t want Jeff or their son.”
    “They
managed to have a child? We wasn’t at dinner.”
    “Yeah,
purely by accident, I think. She hated being pregnant. Hated Jeff during the
whole pregnancy. They fought constantly. She made everyone miserable while they
were married. We were all thrilled when it broke up.”
    “No
one noticed any of this before they got married?”
    He
shook his head. “You couldn’t have told Jeff anything anyway. He never thought
badly of her, even when the rest of us could totally see her flirting. He kept
telling everyone she was being friendly.”
    Silence
enveloped them for a minute as she contemplated how she would have felt had one
of her brothers gone through the same thing with a spouse. She probably would
have kicked the woman’s ass for hurting her sibling. “I’m sorry for his pain.”
    “We
all were. I hated seeing him hurting, but I’m glad he saw her for what she
truly was. Unfortunately, because they have a child together, he still has to
see her on occasion.”
    “Does
he have custody?”
    “Yeah.
Mom and Dad made sure she didn’t take off with their grandson. He’s a cute three
year old and gets into everything.”
    “I
bet he’s a total cowboy, like his uncles and dad.”
    “Yep.
He has a set of boots, a cowboy hat, and the whole nine yards.”
    “I
need to get a picture of him. I bet he’s a doll.”
    “Looks
like his dad.” He cleared his throat. “Do you want to be there when the foal is
born?”
    “I’d
love to.”
    “Even
if it’s in the middle of the night? It’s very possible it’ll come sometime
tonight when you’re asleep.”
    “I
don’t mind. Wake me up no matter what time it is. I’ve always wanted to see a
foal come into the world.”
    “We
can check out her progress when we get back to the ranch.”
    The
time had flown. Before she knew it, they were pulling back up to the gate of
the ranch. “See? I could have made it back without your directions.”
    “I
see, but it does help having a GPS telling you where to go. They do get lost
out here on the back roads.”
    “True.”
She laughed. “But I memorized some landmarks as we were headed into San Antonio
so I’d be able to find most of the way back.”
    “I’m
glad I went. It was great to sit and talk to you. You’re an interesting woman,
Mesa.”
    “Thank
you.” She scrunched up her nose as they pulled up in front of the hitching post.
“I think.”
    He
laughed and leaned over to kiss her cheek. Goose bumps rose on her