Confessing to the Cowboy - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,41

to her stomach.

She’d never felt those kinds of feelings before and knew she would never feel them again in her lifetime...unless somebody threatened Matt. Only for him did a killing instinct rise up primal and strong inside of her.

She’d already proven she’d do whatever necessary to keep her son from harm and she would go there again if she thought Matt were in danger.

And now Cameron knew what she was capable of, what kind of a woman she had been. He knew that she’d not only killed a man, but had run away rather than stick around to face the proverbial music.

But even in those frantic moments of half thoughts when she’d stared down at the man who had been her husband, the man she had killed with a fire poker, she’d known that there was no possibility that she’d ever get a fair trial. She’d known that she’d be tried and convicted and they’d throw away the key forever.

As she’d grabbed up her sobbing almost two-year-old son and held him close to her chest, she’d truly believed that running had been her only option. She couldn’t fight Jason’s friends, she couldn’t stand up to his power or influence.

And now it didn’t matter. The decisions she’d made then had now been placed with Cameron. He held her fate in his hands and she expected no succor from him. He would do what he had to do as a lawman despite any personal feelings he might have for her.

She felt the ticking of a clock...the ticking away of time to the arrest she knew would have to come. Before that happened she had to have a talk with Matt. She had to explain to him what had happened, that the story she’d told him about a father who had died in a car accident wasn’t true.

It would be the most painful conversation she’d ever had with anyone in her entire life, but Matt needed to hear the truth from her before Cameron acted, before Matt heard some form of the story from a classmate or an unthinking adult. It was an ugly, awful story that should come from her.

She checked her watch. Matt wouldn’t be home from Jimmy’s until later in the day and if she sat here and thought for too long about everything that had been and everything that was about to come, she’d go completely out of her mind.

She needed to get back to work and keep her mind busy with pleasing customers while she waited for her fate to catch up with her.

By the time Matt came home she had changed her mind and decided to wait to talk to her son until she heard from Cameron. She had no idea what the future held, but decided she didn’t want to burden her eleven-year-old son with the baggage of her former life until absolutely necessary.

At least she had Cameron’s promise that Matt would be okay. Mary might not be around to watch him grow up, but she knew without a doubt that Cameron would see to it that he grew to be the kind of man who would make Mary proud.

Myriad thoughts—of not seeing Matt grow to a man, of missing him learning to drive, his first girlfriend or his prom, of not seeing him married, not enjoying grandchildren—nearly cast her to her knees with a keening grief.

“Are you okay?” Lynette asked her at closing time.

“I’m fine. Why?” Mary looked at the pretty waitress who had been practically dancing through her duties all evening.

“You just seem kind of withdrawn...quiet,” Lynette replied.

“And you seem unusually happy,” Mary countered, not wanting to think or talk about her own somber mood and the reasons for it.

Lynette smiled. “Denver was in earlier to eat. We went out last night and had such a good time together that he’s taking me into Evanston for dinner tomorrow night.” Her smile faltered slightly. “And Maddy came in after he left and spent her whole time eating and shooting me looks to kill.”

“So, she doesn’t want Denver, but she also doesn’t want anyone else to have him, either,” Mary said.

“Apparently,” Lynette replied drily. “But Denver told me he was the one who broke up with her, that he was finally done with her for good and he doesn’t need her money or anything else from her anymore. He’s ready to move on and find somebody who can really be his soul mate.”

“Just take it slow. Denver has a history of dating somebody new but also