The Cowboy Earns a Bride (Cowboys of Chance Creek Book 8) (11 page)

“He says he didn’t,” Hannah put in, “but Rob doesn’t believe him.”

“What did Autumn and Ethan say?”

“Oh, Ethan thinks it’s a hoot, as long as it’s fixed before their next batch of guests come. Autumn’s too wrapped up in Arianna to care one way or the other,” Claire said.

Luke shook his head and left. For a few months there’d been a hiatus on practical joking around these parts, but it looked like they were back with a vengeance. At least he wasn’t mixed up in any of it. He wouldn’t allow himself to get pulled into it, either—he’d keep his attention squarely where it belonged, on Mia and her baby.

Besides, he didn’t have time for practical joke feuds. He didn’t have time for anything anymore—not with the bulk of the Double-Bar-K’s chores falling squarely on his shoulders.

His very sore shoulders.

He opened the cabin door five minutes later to find Mia humming as she prepared a simple dinner. He watched her for a moment, warmed by the knowledge that she was cooking for him. He loved having Mia close by and he would do anything—work any amount of hours—if it meant he could be the man to provide a home for her. In a way he felt like he was handing her a canvass to paint the picture of her life on. That’s what he wanted to be—the bedrock that she stood on, the palisade that protected her. Luke struggled to arrange his thoughts into coherent words. He knew he wasn’t the most eloquent of men, so he could only hope she understood his desire. It went so deep he could hardly comprehend it himself.

He entered the main room and sniffed appreciatively. Mia’s cooking had improved during the time she’d hung around with Fila and Camila, and the meals she made relied far less on packaged food than they used to. Holt must not have found her yet—her mood would be darker if he had. He wondered where his father had spent the day. He hadn’t seen him since he stumbled out of the office, struck dumb by the news that Mia’s baby was Ellis’s, but he knew he’d see Holt soon enough. If his father didn’t want this wedding to take place, he’d do everything in his power to prevent it, no matter what bet he’d made with Lisa.

The thought of what Holt might get up to had bothered him all day. For all Luke’s bluster about Holt not kicking him off the ranch, he knew his father was perfectly capable of cutting off his nose to spite his face. What if Holt did give him the boot? How would he make a living and support Mia and the baby? Ranching was all he knew.

“My dad’s on the warpath,” he said without preamble when he entered the kitchen.

Mia stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek and for a moment he lost track of his worry, distracted by the deliciousness of her so close to him. “Dinner’s in half an hour,” she said. “I’ve got some news, too.”

“Did you hear what I said?” He let go of her reluctantly and leaned back against the counter.

“I’m going to start a business.” Mia whirled around and picked up a wooden spoon, then stirred the pot on the stove.

“Dad’s—what? What kind of business?”

“I’m going to be a wedding planner! I’ll do everything from helping brides pick out their stationary and word their invitations, to handling receptions, the setup of party rentals, to finding the best location for destination weddings.…”

“Wait, hold on.” He couldn’t keep up. “What are you talking about?”

“Me. Becoming a wedding planner. Working for myself. At first I’ll still work at the restaurant while I’m building my business, but maybe someday I’ll move into it full-time. Of course I’ll refer all my brides to Fila’s for catering. I’m going to practice on Rose. Isn’t it a great idea?”

Mia wanted to start a business? Now? Where would she get that kind of cash? It wasn’t like either of them had much to spare; between the ring and the truck he’d just spent a small fortune. “Are you kidding?”

“No.” Her cheeks flushed pink. “I’m not kidding. I thought you’d be happy for me.”

The tension that had tightened his muscles for hours threatened to do him in. Wasn’t it bad enough that the ranch chores were out of hand, Amanda Stone probably needed a new roof, and he’d just taken on enough debt to keep him walking a tightrope for years? Now she wanted to add more chaos to the mix? “You can’t do that,” he managed to say finally.

“I
can’t
?” Mia looked furious, her hands planted on her hips. “Guess what, Luke Matheson—you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do with my money.”

“Our money, you mean.”

Something flickered in her eyes. “It’s not
our money
yet. And even when it is you don’t get to take control of it.”

“When it’s
our
money, we’ll both need to agree on what we spend it on. And I don’t agree you can blow it on a wedding planning business.”

“Well, I don’t agree you can spend
our
money on that outrageous ring! Or that stupid truck!”

Her words hit him like a slap to the face. He’d bought the ring and the truck for her. “I need that
stupid truck
for my work here on the ranch. And that outrageous ring is going to stop people from talking about you!”

“You mean you hope it makes people stop talking about
you
! I’m starting that business. And I notice that Jake and Ned and Rob do just fine with their old trucks.”

He’d done just fine with his old truck, too. Luke leaned toward her, the ache in the back of his neck blooming into a full-blown migraine. Couldn’t she see he was trying to make her happy? Couldn’t she see he wanted the best for them—the best for the baby? “We’ve got two weeks to pull our wedding together. And a couple of months to get ready for that child. Do you know anything about being a mother? Because you sure as hell don’t know anything about starting a business!”

She gaped at him. “That’s not fair!”

“Nothing about this is fair. It’s not my fault you slept with Ellis, but everyone’s acting like I drove you to it. Next thing they’ll say I can’t support you, let alone keep you out of another man’s bed.”

Mia dropped her spoon and her eyes filled with tears. Remorse flooded Luke. He was taking out his anger on the last person who deserved it. “Mia—”

She didn’t stop to listen to him. She didn’t stop at all. She grabbed her purse, her jacket, her keys and stuffed her feet into her boots. A minute later she slammed the front door behind her.

“Fuck.” Luke slammed his fist down on the counter. He didn’t need his father to drive Mia away.

He’d done a fine job of that himself.

“It’s over.
I won’t go back. Luke’s just as bad as Ellis,” Mia told Autumn, who sat curled up on her sofa looking like the Madonna cradling her newborn baby. Mia sat nearby. “I’m sorry. You’re the last person I should vent to. You need peace and quiet to enjoy Arianna.”

“That’s all right. You can tell me about it. I might not be much help, though.” Autumn traced a finger over Arianna’s softly rounded cheeks and Mia melted a little. In a few more months she’d have a baby to hold, too. Autumn looked up, caught Mia watching and smiled. “I know Luke loves you, Mia. That’s obvious.”

“He loves my looks, you mean. That’s all he’s ever noticed about me. He thinks I’m too stupid to start a business.” As hard as she tried to hold it back, a tear slid down her cheek. She’d thought Luke saw past all that to what was inside her, but of course he hadn’t. No man did.

“Did he say that?”

“He said if I work people will say he can’t support me. Then he made a crack about me visiting other men’s beds.” She blinked rapidly as more tears threatened. “It’s so unfair. It’s not like I had a parade of boyfriends, and I thought Ellis loved me.” It was like the pageant all over again—everyone believing the worst about her. No one taking her side.

“Luke said that?” Now she had Autumn’s complete attention. “That doesn’t sound like him.”

“He was mad. Holt’s gone off the deep end, of course.”

“What did he do?”

“I don’t know,” Mia wailed. “We didn’t get that far. Luke was too busy being an ass!”

“Sounds like emotions were running high.”

Mia huffed out a breath. That was one way to put it. Another way would be to say the Matheson men were out of their minds. “Anyway, I’m done. I knew it would never work with Luke. I should have saved myself the heartache. I rang Thayer’s Jewelers and told them we didn’t need the ring after all, and I called Ellie’s Bridals and told her I didn’t want the dress.” Mia’s voice wavered and she wiped her eyes with the back of her arm. Got herself under control again. “Do you think Luke will let his mom know she doesn’t have to plan a wedding supper? Or should I call her, too?”

“Why don’t you wait a day or two? See what happens. I’m sure Luke will apologize.” Arianna yawned and Autumn’s face went soft. “Oh, you’re just the sweetest thing!” She planted a kiss on Arianna’s head.

“She really is,” Mia said, calming down a little. “It doesn’t matter whether Luke apologizes or not. He doesn’t respect me, and I won’t marry a man who doesn’t. Plus he seems to think he’ll get to control my money the minute we’re married.”

“What money?” Autumn looked up quickly. “I’m sorry—that wasn’t nice. I just didn’t know you made much at the hardware store.”

“I don’t.” Mia hesitated. She didn’t think it was wise to tell anyone about the two hundred grand now sitting in her bank account. “But if and when I have some, it’ll be for me to manage—not my husband.”

“Maybe you should tell Luke how you want to handle things and see if you can come up with a compromise.”

Mia shook her head. “Forget it. From now on I’ll stay single. I don’t need a man.”

“Well, when Arianna’s ready to get married you can plan her wedding.” Autumn’s attention drifted again. Mia didn’t blame her. The precious little girl in her arms was worthy of her mother’s undivided attention.

“I hate to ask, but can I have my old room back for a while? I promise I’ll help out with the baby,” Mia said. “And I’ll pay rent, of course.”

“Sure thing. We won’t have any guests for the next month. We blacked out the dates specifically to give us time to get used to being parents. It’ll be great to have another pair of hands around for a few weeks. By then you and Luke will be back together.”

Mia sighed. Was no one prepared to take her seriously? She shook her head. They never had, had they? So why should they start now?

As Autumn cooed to Arianna, Mia came to another important decision. It was no use speaking up about the past—what had happened with Fred Warner. No one would listen to her. Nothing would change. She’d just expose herself to more ridicule and gossip.

And she’d had enough of that.

“Who was that?”
Jake asked later that evening when Luke clicked off his phone and stuck it in his back pocket. The two of them were out in front of Jake’s cabin where they were trying to un-jam the snowplow blade on Jake’s truck in the glare of the cabin’s floodlights. More snow was due overnight, which meant they needed to be able to plow the driveway and lanes around the ranch. It also meant he’d have to make time to get over to Amanda Stone’s house, too, in the morning to shovel her walk again. Which was the least of his problems right now. He took a deep breath.

“Thayer’s.”

“Is Mia’s engagement ring ready?”

“No. They called to tell me she said she doesn’t want it.”

“Shit.” Jake turned to him. “She must be pretty pissed if she’s given back your ring.”

“You think?”

Rob stepped out onto the front porch of the main house, spotted them and waved. A minute later he joined them. “What’s up?”

“Mia dumped Luke.” Jake went back to working on the mechanism holding the snowplow blade in place.

“A one-day engagement. That’s got to be a record or something,” Rob put in.

“Shut up.” Luke’s jaw tightened as he fought for control. He didn’t know whether to go find Mia and talk some sense into her, or give her time to cool down. The thought of doing nothing had his shoulders bunching and the muscles in his neck tying themselves in knots.

“Calm down. You’ll get her back,” Jake said. “Just go find her and turn on the Matheson charm.”

“I don’t think that will work. Not this time.” Mia had already proven herself immune to it.

“And you were worried that Dad would scare her off. Where’d he go, anyhow?”

“I don’t know. He got a phone call this morning and he’s been gone all day.” Luke was glad he hadn’t seen Holt. If it wasn’t for his father, he wouldn’t have flown off the handle and yelled at Mia like that. Jake was right, he needed to talk to Mia—just as soon as she got home. He’d waited an hour in the cabin, then packed up the dinner she’d made. Jake’s knock on the door to ask for his help had come as a relief. He couldn’t sit still another minute. He could see now this wedding planner idea was important to Mia. He could scare up a few dollars to help her get started, maybe.

Emphasis on maybe. In truth he was a tiny bit relieved she’d cancelled the ring. He did want her to have something special enough to stop all the speculation about his commitment to their marriage, but after their blow-out he’d had to admit to himself the ring would take years to pay off. That wasn’t very practical. Not to mention the damned truck payment. The fact that Mia hadn’t even been impressed by it—or the ring—galled him. Why’d he let his brothers convince him he needed something so flashy to win Mia’s love?

And why had he pushed Mia so hard to accept a ring she didn’t even want? The ring she’d liked was far more affordable. He should have let her have her way.

“Did you see what Cab did to my topiary horse?” Rob asked them. “Sick son of a bitch.”

Despite his problems, Luke chuckled.

“It’s not funny. I’m going to have to take the whole damn bush out and start over,” Rob said.

“Aw, come on—there’s still enough left you can turn it into a horse,” Jake said.

“A quarter horse, maybe,” Luke said.

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Rob’s eyes flashed with anger. “Those bushes aren’t cheap, I’ll have you know. Not ones that big.”

“I’m sure you’ll recover from the expense,” Jake said.

Luke’s laughter died away. He wasn’t sure he’d recover from his own expenses any time soon. It weighed on him that his credit card had a running total, too. He’d never meant to accrue it, but life was expensive and until recently Holt had barely paid any of them for their help around the ranch. Instead he’d given them an allowance that was enough to make a payment on a beater truck, cover drinks at the Dancing Boot and that was about it. He’d used his credit card to bridge the gaps in his income. That had been a mistake.