A Ballad for Her Cowboys (4 page)

Aiden longed for the familiar surroundings he’d grown up in. The ninety-acre ranch had to be on the prettiest piece of land in the state and he didn’t feel whole unless he was there.

By the end of their first full day of tending the horses, Aiden and Seth began to compare notes of the many ways they would ensure their ranch was better than the one they worked at. For one thing, the animals would have better facilities and for another, they wouldn’t be running a family-friendly resort.

‘Couples only,’ Aiden said when he had to save a kid being trampled to death under the hooves of a stallion the boy antagonized, not once, but twice.

‘Maybe a singles ranch?’ Seth suggested, picking up on Aiden’s idea. ‘It would cut down on the amount of activities we’d have to provide. We could offer a little riding, a spot of fishing, and maybe a day out at the local rodeo, but the rest of the time, we’d just need to find ways to throw people together.’

‘We wouldn’t need to hire a lot of staff either. It’s a good idea, Seth and one worth thinking about.’

They ate the supper provided by the ranch in the canteen, grateful to discover it was marginally better than the coffee they’d had earlier. When they first took their seats at the long dining table, it had been filled with other staff members, all of them shouting to be heard over the others. With nowhere else to go, Aiden and Seth stayed put until the cook, claiming that he needed to clean up, finally threw them out.

Two circuits of the staff compound did nothing to tire them out. They returned to sit on the stoop of the bunkhouse, reluctant to go inside until they had to, and Aiden sensed Seth’s resolve to stay away from the bar wavered almost as much as his.

‘I guess we are gonna have to see her some time or another,’ Seth said. ‘We can’t avoid her for the rest of the month.’

‘You’re right. Besides, maybe she needs to know that we can be discreet about what happened between us. She might be afraid we’d say something incriminating in front of her husband.’

‘She may not thank us for the reminder,’ Seth warned him.

Aiden smiled to himself, turning away lest Seth noticed. He’d felt her gaze on him last night—all of him. Misty didn’t need to be reminded of anything. She never forgot, of that he was sure. ‘We’ll play it by ear, okay?’ He turned to head into the bunkhouse.

‘Hey, I thought we were going to the bar.’

‘You can go in your work clothes if you want. I need a shower and a shave.’

Fifteen minutes later, Seth finally emerged from the washroom. Aiden sighed, watching his friend comb his hair and look as if he was seriously considering wearing some cologne. Seth caught Aiden staring at him and placed it back in his locker without putting any of it on.

‘I guess the guys might get the wrong impression.’ Seth laughed and headed for the door. Aiden didn’t tell him he knew who Seth did want to make an impression on.

By the time they walked into the bar, Misty began the song she finished her set with the night before. At least Aiden thought it was the same one. He’d been in shock so he couldn’t be sure.

She dipped her head when he caught her gaze, a blush crawling over her cheeks. Aiden turned away, more to spare her than himself. He knew seeing him and Seth caused her some discomfort and he had no desire to make things worse for her. As for how he felt—he felt like he’d been kicked in the gut, just like the previous night.

Seth was convinced that she’d been ‘the one,’ but Aiden didn’t believe in such things, no matter how special the woman. And Misty was special, no doubt about it. But his personal belief always been that they built her up to be some sort of perfect woman in their minds, and he felt sure reality wouldn’t match up to the fantasy. But now she was there in front of them and looking just as perfect as she did last time he touched her.

They hadn’t shared a woman since that night with Misty. They never even discussed doing it again either. Both of them seemed to come to a silent understanding that no one would ever match up to her, so why bother. They both dated individually on and off over the years, but it had never been anything serious for either of them. Aiden didn’t really want the burden of a wife and family to worry about along with everything else, but Seth seemed far less afraid of the responsibility it would bring. So why hadn’t one of the very beautiful women he dated ever gotten him to put a ring on their finger? Maybe Seth held them up to some imaginary standard set by Misty and they all left him wanting.

Aiden closed his eyes and let her voice wash over him for a second. She’d lost none of her natural talent. If anything, she improved. What in the hell was she doing squandering her gift in a place like this? If nothing else, she was gonna have to answer to him for that.

‘Is there a back way out of here?’ he asked the bartender after he ordered a couple of beers. He elbowed Seth in the ribs to stop him gawking at the stage. ‘You’re staring,’ he murmured out of the side of his mouth.

The guy placed the beers on the counter. ‘Not except for the fire exits.’

‘Where are they?’

The bartender pointed to a couple of doors located in plain view on either side of the hall. Aiden ignored the weird look he got from the guy as he walked away.

He turned to Seth. ‘You know, I figured she stayed here until we left last night. This is the only way out.’

‘So she is avoiding us.’ The defeat in Seth’s voice matched Aiden’s mood.

‘I guess so. But like I said, she’s probably embarrassed.’

Seth shushed him and pointed to the stage. ‘She still sounds amazing,’ he whispered. Aiden nodded but didn’t speak. She looked amazing, too.

Misty finished the song and left the stage quickly, all but ignoring the applause of the audience. Aiden craned his neck to see what the layout was beside the stage and saw her disappear through a doorway. He turned to find Seth, just in time, to spin around and watch him head down the hall toward the door Misty used.

Aiden shouted for him to come back, but Seth already knocked before he could reach him. Aiden had no choice but to stand there with Seth and wait for her to answer.

Suddenly the door opened, a hard and angry version of the soft, happy woman they once known faced them. Misty’s brown eyes lost the warmth Aiden remembered as she stared from one to the other of them.

Seth tried to speak. ‘Misty, hey…’

He dropped her gaze, leaving an awkward silence hanging between the three of them. Aiden and Misty stared at Seth but it appeared he had nothing more to say.

Aiden stepped forward. ‘Sorry about that. We just wanted to say hello. Just wanted to see how you were.’

The smile died on his face when she continued to stare at him like he’d murdered a kitten. Her demeanor began to irritate him a little, especially considering that if anybody had the right to be pissed; it was them, not her. He bit his tongue, still keen to show her that they were her friends.

‘What’s wrong?’

Misty sighed, shrugging her shoulders. ‘Well, I guess I kinda hoped you two would show a little class and not do this.’

‘Do what?’ Seth rediscovered his voice.

‘Approach me, speak to me in the hopes of…well, I’m sure I don’t need to spell it out for you boys.’

‘No, you don’t.’ Aiden took a step back, placed a hand on Seth’s arm. ‘Come on buddy. We made a mistake.’

Misty’s eyes narrowed, glittering with scorn. ‘You sure did.’ Her brittle laugh saddened Aiden. He didn’t know this person. ‘You are sorely mistaken if you think I’m the naïve little fool I once was. What did you think—that you could just roll up to my door and expect me to fall into bed with you again?’

‘Jesus, lady, what in the hell gave you that idea? Seth and I just wanted to stop by and say hello.’ Aiden scrambled for the right words—words to defuse the situation and take the anger out of her eyes. ‘We know you are married, from the stuff we read about you in the newspapers and saw on TV a while back. We weren’t here to try to seduce you.’

‘So what do you want? Money, is that it? Well, you missed the boat on that one too. The days when I had any money, not that I’d have allowed you to blackmail me for it, are long gone.’

Another silence fell over them and Seth looked to be just as stunned as Aiden by her outburst. Again Aiden tried to turn away, at a loss what to say to her in the face of her apparent hatred for them, but Seth didn’t give up as easily.

‘What in the hell has happened to you, Misty?’

Regret clouded her eyes for a moment before she quickly chased it away. ‘What happened to me is that I was fucked over one too many times by one too many cowboys. I’m not the fool I once was.’ She shrugged. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you.’

‘We were friends once, if nothing else. All we wanted to do was visit with you. I guess Aiden’s right. We made a mistake. The Misty we knew doesn’t exist anymore.’

With that, Seth walked away, punching the wall for good measure. Aiden hoped he hadn’t busted his hand up.

Turning to her, Aiden had so much he wanted to say, but knew it fell on deaf ears. He shook his head in disgust. At least he had the satisfaction of seeing she had some shame over her behavior when she blushed and looked away.

Aiden went to look for Seth before he let loose and did something stupid that would get them fired.

Maybe now they would both forget about her.

Chapter 3

Misty shut the door as Aiden walked away, her hands and knees shaking from a mix of anger and nerves. She sank down onto the hard wooden chair in front of her makeup table, wincing when she caught sight of her reflection. No wonder Aiden and Seth had been so surprised at the change in her. She’d surprised even herself.

The tears came not long after they left. What
had
happened to her? Did Wade fuck her over so badly, she didn’t even recognize friendship when she saw it? Misty cried for her broken dreams, her lost career—and for the optimistic young woman she’d been when she first met the men she had just insulted.

She owed them an apology. Misty scrubbed the smudge makeup from her eyes with a remover pad, blew her nose, and walked out into the bar, hoping they would still be there. Typical of her luck, they had gone. She returned to her dressing room, packed her small bag and headed home.

She didn’t live on the compound. So she had to use a car she hired locally at an exorbitant rate to get to work and back. It was yet another expense she hadn’t allowed for, along with buying all her own meals and paying rent, due to her not being willing to stay in the lodgings provided by her employer. Sharing a room with a handful of teenage girls working through their summer holiday might have been fun a few years ago, or if her mind had been in a better place, but not right now. Misty didn’t want to have to put on a show for others when she was offstage too.

The small two-room apartment she’d rented gave her what she needed the most—somewhere safe to lay her head at night in blessed peace without the fear of drunken insults from her ex-lover and soon-to-be ex-manager. She ran from him so many times, but he’d always found her. Maybe this time, she’d run far enough. Or hopefully, the ink would be dry on the legal documents before he showed up.

Misty’s new home seemed particularly welcoming after the night she’d had. The sparse, modern interior still seemed cold when she looked around at the modular furniture and minimalist décor, yet it gave her some much needed shelter from the world. She was grateful she had the foresight to rent it, in spite of paying too much rent for what was basically a box with no soul.

Aiden and Seth turning up in the very town she’d chosen to live in as she tried to escape her past seemed cruelly ironic. Sure, they weren’t the problem she was hiding from, but their appearance proved to be a painful reminder that she could never totally forget who she was or where she’d been.

Her mom told her much the same last time they spoke on the phone. ‘Tracy, you need to sort this thing out with Wade once and for all. Running away never solved anything.’

She’d grimaced when she’d heard the name that no longer seemed her own. Her mother refused to call her ‘Misty,’ even though she’d been the first to use it. Whenever Tracy Tucker acted a little too uppity for her mother’s liking, she shortened her name to ‘Miss T’ as a joking chastisement. The rest of the family picked it up, and it stuck ever since.

By the time she cleaned up the apartment, did some laundry, and fell into bed, she felt worse than she had earlier. Why had she treated them so badly? In her defense, she hadn’t known until they opened their mouths what they wanted from her. She’d been on the road too long and with Wade for far too many years, to simply believe that they just wanted to rekindle a friendship. Yes, their relationship had become a sexual one, but they’d started out friends. And she missed them for a long time after she’d abandoned them in Nashville. More than once she toyed with the idea of looking them up, but her route never took her close enough to where they’d told her they lived. But then she met Wade, fell in love—or whatever she wanted to call the temporary insanity that had rid her of her senses whenever she got around him.

Misty didn’t want Wade to be the last thing on her mind tonight, as he was so many nights, so she allowed herself to remember her time with Aiden and Seth. Not the sexual part—the part she rarely allowed herself to think about—especially if she wanted to stick to her resolution never to do that again with anyone. No. Misty wanted to think about the fun and feel again the optimism singing in Nashville the first time had given her. She’d been so sure her life was going places back then. Oh yes, it was going places all right. Straight down the pan.

Determined to shake her blues by morning, Misty turned her pillow over to the cool side, gave it a thump, and settled down to sleep.

When she woke, she lay quietly in bed, trying to guess the time by the noises outside of her window, but the street stayed quiet. The thin streak of light crawling across the ceiling, where it seeped in at the edges of the blind, told her the sun hadn’t come up yet, so she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. When she gave up on that, Misty tried to put a name to the way she felt.