His for the Taking - By Ann Major Page 0,62
engagement party!”
“I got jealous, damn it!”
“Well, I don’t want you marrying me because you feel obligated, because we have a son. I want my husband to love and trust me. I grew up without love, so maybe I’ve wanted that my whole life!” She paused. “Look, I told you—you can see Noah whenever you like. But we can’t marry because you don’t respect me, and I need your respect more than I need anything else. Added to that, I don’t want our marriage to cut you off from everybody you’re close to.”
“I don’t care about them! I want to live in Austin. With you.”
“You cared enough to hit Lyle. No matter what you say, you’ll come to resent me in time. If I let you go, you’ll find someone else, someone who fits in the way Lizzie did, who’s really right for you.”
“And you’ll go back to Austin and settle for Greg?”
“No. Being with you has taught me what it’s like to feel passion. You’ve helped me grow stronger. I’m not going to settle again because now I know I deserve someone who loves me and who respects me, too.”
“But I love you and respect you.”
“I wish you did, but you don’t. You’re just saying you do to get your way.”
“I was a fool. I made a mistake.”
“You’re right about one thing. We both nearly made a terrible mistake.”
Slowly she slid her engagement ring off her finger and handed it to him. “I’m feeling very tired, Cole. I need to lie down. Will you please give me the keys to your truck so I can go home?”
When he reluctantly dropped the keys in her hand, she walked away, stumbling on the first stair of his porch, maybe because the tears that had been threatening to fall were blinding her.
Cole rushed forward to help her, but she cried out when his fingers grazed her elbow. When she turned, and he saw the raw anguish in her luminous eyes, he realized how profoundly he’d hurt her.
Struggling to push him away as the whole town of Yella gaped, she said, “Don’t touch me! I won’t allow you to treat me like I’m something low and despised.”
“I don’t despise you. I love you! I swear I do!”
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered on a heartbroken sob as she hurried past him toward his truck.
Eighteen
Cole felt as though his soul was shattering into a million pieces. He stood in the barn outside Raider’s stall listening to the music drifting from the ranch house, where his engagement party remained in full swing.
He loved Maddie, but like a fool he’d never told her until tonight. He’d probably loved her for years.
A pain as terrible as what he’d felt when he’d believed Maddie had left him six years ago fisted around his heart and squeezed hard. Only when she’d run from Yella had he learned how much she’d meant to him—that he couldn’t live without her.
For six years, he’d endured, breaking Lizzie’s heart in the process. He didn’t want to suffer like that for the rest of his life, or make some other unlucky rebound lover suffer as he’d made Lizzie suffer.
How could he have gone on believing that maybe the gossips were right about Maddie? “How did I screw it all up so fast, Raider, old boy? What the hell can I do to get her back?”
The gelding rasped in a breath. Then he snorted.
“I have to get her back.”
Raider’s ears pricked forward. Then Cole heard a footstep behind him and turned to see Adam striding into the barn.
“You didn’t totally kill your engagement party. There’s still a few diehards. Your mother just left.”
“At least someone’s happy.”
“I don’t think so. Surprisingly she seemed a little chagrined. In fact she asked me to find you. So, do you wanna punch me, too?”
“I think I’ve made enough of an ass of myself for one night.”
“For once, you admit it,” Adam said.
“For once, I won’t resent you throwing it in my face. Look, I know you had it harder than I did growing up without our dad. But that wasn’t my fault!”
Adam smiled. “Who else can I blame? Dad’s dead, and you’re here. But I want to talk about Maddie. I don’t resent you so much that I’d try to come between you two. I was just trying to be your brother and her friend.”
“I know. I just let a stupid remark get to me.”
“I like Maddie. I like Noah. I think you and she are right for each other.”
“Like