The Cowboy And The Debutante (11 page)

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Authors: Stella Bagwell

BOOK: The Cowboy And The Debutante
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“Just like anyone who has a baby,” she answered. “They make a special place for him or her.”
“And how could you be a mother?”
She lifted her head and looked at him with dark, wounded eyes. “You make me sound like a freak! Just because I entertain people for a living doesn't make me different from other women. I want the same things. Need the same things.”
But her career did make her different, Miguel thought. And if she couldn't see that, she was headed for big trouble. “You've already had one broken engagement. You don't think your career had anything to do with that?”
“No. Scott had already agreed that I should tour until we started a family.”
“Maybe he got tired of you being gone,” he said, then shot her a knowing glance. “Men and children do require attention.”
Anna started to lash back at him, but then suddenly noticed they were on a different road than the one they'd traveled into town.
She peered out the window. “Where are we... going?”
“You don't recognize where you are?”
She licked her lips as her heart began to pound with anticipation. “It's dark. And it's been a while since I traveled around Ruidoso.”
“We're going up the mountain.”
She jerked her head around, tried to find his expression in the darkness of the vehicle. “Sierra Blanca? Why?”
“Don't ask why. Just enjoy it.”
It was a good thing Anna wasn't squeamish of heights. The narrow asphalt road climbing the mountain was drastically steep and nothing more than a maze of treacherous switchbacks. But Anna's thoughts weren't on the journey. She was too busy trying to figure out why Miguel was taking her to such a place.
At the top he parked, and the two of them climbed out to the ground. At twelve thousand feet, the night air was cold. Anna rubbed her hands over her bare arms as she joined him at the front of the vehicle.
“What are we doing up here?” she asked.
“Appreciating the view,” he answered, then took her by the shoulder and guided her toward a paved area where one could safely look off the mountain.
Even though it was cold and she was at a total loss as to why she was standing atop Sierra Blanca, she still gasped with sheer pleasure and wonder as she gazed off into the valley of mountains stretched below them.
“Did you ever come up here in the winter and ski Apache?” he asked.
“Many times. I was never as good as my brother or sister. Adam is very athletic and since Ivy is more petite than I she's more graceful on the snow. But I always managed to make it down the mountain without breaking my neck.” She glanced at him. “Did you ever ski?”
He grunted with wry amusement. “No. Social sports were never my style. But Charlene loved it.”
“Charlene. Was that your wife?” she ventured.
He nodded. “For a year and half.”
His admission completely stunned her. “Only for that long? Then you've obviously been divorced for a long time. How...why are you not able to forget her?” she asked in a strained voice.
His roughly hewn profile turned, and his gaze found hers in the darkness. “You misunderstood me, Anna. I've forgotten Charlene a long time ago. Forgetting the pain she caused is another thing.”
“Tell me,” she urged softly.
His hand moved up her shoulder to rest beneath her hair at the nape of her neck. “You're cold. We should be going.”
“I want to know,” she said her gaze refusing to let his go.
His fingers pressed into her warm skin as he sighed and looked away. “Charlene was from a very rich and notable family in Albuquerque. I met her at a charity function put on by the sheriff's department. She was beautiful and flashy, and I suppose it was flattering to a young struggling deputy to be pursued by a woman like her. But I married her because I thought she loved me. Because I thought I loved her. Yet it took me only a few months to figure our marriage was...not much more than an adventure to her. After the novelty of being married to a real cowboy deputy wore off, she wanted her freedom.”
Horrified, Anna shook her head. “But if she had your son, surely she must have taken your marriage seriously.”
His face was suddenly carved from stone, and the caustic laugh that erupted from his lips chilled Anna far more than the mountain air.
“Charlene was furious when she discovered she was pregnant. I had to beg, cajole, do everything I could think of to prevent her from getting an abortion. She wanted a divorce, and I wanted my child. It was the only bargaining power I had.”
Anna's heart ached for all he'd gone through and lost. And ached, too, for the chance to take away his pain and bitterness. “What happened after your son was born?”
“After Carlos was born, Charlene's motherly instincts must have kicked in because she made a complete turnaround. She wanted her son. She also still wanted a divorce.”
“Did you try to fight for custody?”
He nodded gravely. “At first I fought hard. But Charlene's father was councilman for the city of Albuquerque and big buddies with most of the judges. Besides that, her family had enough money to keep me in court forever.” He shrugged with weary acceptance. “In the end I gave Carlos up, because I knew they could give him so much more than I ever could. Since then Charlene has remarried, and thankfully her life is settled now. Her husband is good to Carlos and treats him as his own.”
Anna turned to face him, and her palm found the middle of his warm chest, the rapid thud of his heart. “But you are his father, Miguel. Don't you think he needs you?”
His eyes blinked, his throat worked to swallow, and then his fingers lifted and gently brushed across her cheek. “Nobody has ever needed me, Anna. Nobody.”
Chapter Seven
A
nna knew a crippled horse when she saw one. Although the limp in his right foreleg was slight, the swelling around his hoof and fetlock were marked enough to worry her.
She motioned at the newly trained groom who was leading the horse around in a small circle so Anna could observe his gait.
“That's enough, Dale. Put him back in his stall.”
“You want me and Sam to rub it with liniment or something?” the young man asked.
Anna shook her head. “No. I'm not sure what's wrong. I don't want to start any treatment until I have someone look at him. Do you know whether Mr. Chavez has been down here to the ranch yard yet this morning?”
“Yes, ma'am. He's already come and gone. Him and another hand went over to Roswell to see about a load of alfalfa.”
So that meant he wouldn't be back at the ranch for several hours, Anna calculated. She would have preferred to have his opinion about the horse's foot before summoning a vet. He knew horses inside and out, and he could possibly advise her on how to care for this one, but she dare not wait until he got back to the ranch. The animal was one of Chloe's best runners. She didn't want to take the chance of postponing treatment. His condition might grow worse.
A week had passed since she and Miguel had gone into Ruidoso for supper. Since then Anna hadn't pushed her company on him, and he'd more or less stayed out of her way. Because he felt that was the safe thing for him to do, she supposed. But his revelations that night had told her much. Now when she looked at Miguel she knew he wasn't just a hard, arrogant man who preferred his own company. He'd been wounded by a callous woman. He couldn't forget his broken marriage because he still had a son somewhere out there whom he loved and missed. Anna figured until he'd made a steady, concrete connection with the boy, he would continue to hang on to the bitter past.
She wasn't at all sure what she could do about Miguel or even if she should do anything. She tried to tell herself he was right about them being like ice and fire. Maybe they were no good for each other. Maybe he would never love her. But she couldn't ignore the way her heart throbbed at the very sight of him, or the pure joy she felt whenever he was near. She loved the man. She couldn't let him go without a fight.
At the ranch house she located the name and number of the veterinarian her mother normally used. Unfortunately he was out for the day so she tried the second number her mother had jotted down as an alternative. After a quick discussion with his receptionist, Anna learned he was tied up for the morning, but he could come to the ranch later that afternoon. Anna assured the woman she'd be waiting.
 
“What the hell is he doing here?” Miguel mouthed out loud as he pulled the pickup to a stop a few yards away from the stables.
Elmer, the old wrangler sitting next to Miguel, glanced at his boss then out the window at the young veterinarian standing with Anna in the open doorway of the building.
“Guess the missus needed a doctor.”
Miguel snorted. “She doesn't need his kind of doctoring.”
Elmer strained to keep a grin off his face. “Chloe says he'll do in a pinch.”
“He might know about animals, but not about women. I'll bet he's spent five minutes doing his job and another forty-five talking to Anna.”
“Hmm. Well, I don't hardly see anything wrong with that. Miss Anna's probably lonely with all her family being gone.”
Miguel gave the man an odd look, but said nothing. He didn't want to sound jealous. Because he wasn't, he assured himself. He just didn't want Dr. Dalton getting chummy with Anna. The man was known for his philandering, and she'd already been hurt by a man with a roaming eye.
But as Miguel got out of the truck and walked over to the two of them, he had to fight the urge to take the veterinarian by the collar and boot him off the Bar M. He didn't want this man or any man looking at Anna in a possessive way!
Anna didn't miss the dark look on Miguel's face as he approached her and the doctor. She didn't know what could be on his mind, but from the expression on his face she figured it had to be her. She seemed to be the only one or thing that could rile him.
“Miguel, have you met Dr. Dalton?” she asked.
He nodded coolly at her and the young, blond vet. The man was tall and slim with a walrus mustache that drooped around his mouth. Miguel couldn't help but wonder if she thought him handsome. She'd certainly been smiling at the doctor a moment ago when he and Elmer had driven up.
“We've met.”
Anna frowned at his brusque response. “One of the horses is lame. You were gone, so I thought I'd better have Dr. Dalton look at him.”
“And what did he find?” Miguel asked her, rather than acknowledge the vet.
“He's afraid it might be a hairline fracture. I'm going to need to drive him in for an X ray tomorrow.”
Miguel's narrowed eyes darted over to the other man. “Why don't you take the horse back with you now and save Anna a trip into Ruidoso? You have your stock trailer with you.”
He shrugged in a noncommittal way and tugged uncomfortably at the brim of his straw hat. “I'd rather not put the horse in my trailer. I've had some distempered animals in it this morning.”
Miguel's face grew so dark, Anna actually believed he was going to explode.
“Then get it the hell out of here!” he practically shouted. “And I'll tell you another thing, Dalton. If one of Anna's horses so much as sneezes I'm going to hold you personally responsible!”
Anna watched the young vet open his mouth to defend himself, but then he must have decided a quick exit would be the best recourse. He snapped his mouth shut and stalked off to his pickup.
After he'd started the engine and pulled away, Anna whirled on Miguel. “What do you think you're doing!”
“Trying to save Chloe's horses. The damn idiot! What did he think he was doing coming out here with an infected trailer?”
“Maybe he's disinfected it before he drove out here and simply wanted to be extra careful,” she reasoned.
He rolled his eyes with disbelief. “Maybe you should have been paying more attention to it than him. The thing was full of horse manure!”
Anna flushed. She hadn't noticed the nasty condition of the trailer. But Miguel needn't be so smug about it.
“Okay. So he shouldn't have been up here spreading germs. You didn't have to talk to him like he was...a piece of trash.”
“As far as I'm concerned that's just what he is.”
Anna gasped. Then before she could respond, Miguel turned and stalked off into the stables. Stunned, she stared at the spot where he'd disappeared, then anger propelled her to race into the barn after him.
“What is that suppose to mean?” she hurled at him once she'd gotten within earshot of his back.
Not pausing in his stride, he continued on toward the tack room. “Just what I said. And tomorrow you'll not take that horse in by yourself. I'll be going with you!”
She grabbed him by the arm and forced him to stop and face her. “Why?”
His eyes took the time to roam her face. Bright color burned across her cheeks, and her green eyes were sparking like burning pinon. Miguel fought desperately with himself to keep from taking her into his arms and kissing her breathless. He wanted to possess her body and soul. But to do so would be asking for a heartache far worse than Charlene had ever caused him. “Because I don't want you to be alone with him.”
Anna's lips parted as she stared at him in stunned wonderment. “Are you...jealous, Miguel?”
His nostrils flared. “No! I simply don't want Chloe coming home and finding her daughter mixed up with a man like him.”
Anna didn't know what sort of man Dr. Dalton was. She really didn't care. All she wanted was her horse's ailment tended to. And as for her getting mixed up with a man. She already was. With him. Didn't he realize that? Or did he just not want to?
“You really think I'm a silly nitwit, don't you? You have this notion if someone wasn't around to tell me what to do, I wouldn't know how to take care of myself.”
“I'm beginning to wonder if you do,” he snapped. “Thirty more minutes and you'd have probably been making a date with Dr. Dalton. And this from a woman I heard swearing off men forever!” he added nastily.
Fury turned her face scarlet. “You don't know what you're talking about! Dr. Dalton and I discussed nothing but my horses. And even if we had discussed more, why should you care? You don't want me!”
It was all the goading Miguel could take. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he pulled her to within an inch of him.
“You don't know what wanting is, Anna,” he growled. “You—”
The rest of his words lodged somewhere in his throat as she suddenly pressed herself against him and grabbed his face between her palms. “And you think you do?” she whispered, her lips hovering a breath away from his. “If you did, you would know how I'm feeling right now. How I feel every time I look at you.”
Heartbreak or not, Miguel could not withstand her or the white-hot desire pounding through him like a pagan war dance.
“You shouldn't be saying such things to me, Anna,” he whispered roughly. “And I shouldn't be listening.”
She closed the minute space between their lips, and he was helpless to resist. He stood motionless, his hands gripping her shoulders tightly as she tasted, searched the hard contours of his mouth. It was both heaven and hell to let her kiss him. And he was trembling with a need as old as time when she finally pulled her head away from his, shook back her tumbled hair and caught his eyes with hers.
“You think I'm young and foolish. You think deep down that all I'll ever want is to play the piano for a crowd of people, to travel in the glittering world of entertainment. But that isn't what I want, Miguel. I want you.”
Hearing her say the words left him feeling naked and more exposed than he ever had in his life. Because he was sure if she looked, really looked inside him she would see just how deep and wide his desire for her had grown.
He glanced away from her and drew in a ragged breath. He couldn't lose himself to this woman. Charlene had stomped his heart. Now so little of it was capable of feeling, loving. If Anna went away, and she would surely go, the last of himself would go with her and he'd be a ruined man.
“We don't always want what we need, Anna. You'll realize that...when you get older...and away from here.”
She wanted to ask him what he needed. If not her, then his son? But at that moment two men noisily entered the opposite end of the long barn and they were forced to break apart.
Anna turned her back to him, breathed deeply and tried to compose her scattered senses. She hadn't really meant to throw herself at Miguel like she had. She hadn't planned to actually tell him in words how she wanted him. But in the heat of the moment her feelings had burst from her. Now she couldn't hide from herself or him.
“I'm not sure what's wrong with the horse,” she said, deliberately getting back to the point at hand. “If you would, I'd like for you to look at him and give me your opinion.”
“Why bother with my opinion now? You've already called in a professional.”
She turned back to him, her expression full of disbelief. “Surely you can't fault me for that! It would be negligent of me to take risks with one of Mother's best runners!”
Miguel knew his jealousy was unreasonable. He had no right to throw such accusations at her. But his heart was already forming the idea that she belonged to him, and he didn't have a clue as to how to stop it.
Heaving out a heavy breath, he said in a gentler tone, “I'll take a look at the horse, Anna. But you need to remember I haven't had eight years of medical schooling like Dalton.”
She turned to him and smiled as though he'd just plucked a star from the sky and presented it to her on a silver platter. “No. You've had many more years of experience. In my opinion that counts for much more.”
Miguel had never felt he had an ego. Especially one that needed to be fed. But Anna's words swelled his chest with a strange sort of pride.
“Come on. He's down here at the end of the barn,” she invited, then turned and headed down the wide alleyway covered ankle-deep in clean wood shavings.
Miguel followed and joined her in the horse's stall.
“I haven't done anything different with him,” she said. “Yesterday I took him around the track a couple of times. He never so much as stumbled, and later, on the walker, his gait was fine. But this morning his ankle is swollen and he's limping noticeably.”
Miguel approached the brown horse with gentle words of greeting, then after a few pats on the nose and neck to let him know he was a friend, Miguel lifted the horse's ailing foot.

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