Cinderella's Convenient Husband

Her first impulse had been to settle into the booth with him and spend the evening catching up on the past, but she knew that she fell in love too easily and she’d learned that lesson the hard way. She felt almost proud of the way she resisted that urge.

She waved good-night to the cook and left before she gave in and returned to the corner booth where Seth sat. Keep walking, Lynn. The night air bit into her clothes and she shivered in her leather coat. It had been her grandfather’s and would keep her warm once she buttoned it.

The employee parking area was well lit, and Lynn approached her truck with no trepidation. But the stenciling on the side gave her pause. The McCoy Ranch—Home Of The Best Beef In Montana.

For how much longer? She had barely one hundred head left because that was all she could work on her own and still make ends meet. Tears burned the back of her eyes at her own stupidity. Trusting too easily had been her biggest weakness. Though she’d never be able to look at the world with a truly cynical eye, a part of her had been forever changed when Ronnie had taken her money and left her.

The highway ran behind the fence and she listened to the cars flying past. She’d never understood the obsession everyone had with getting out of Sagebrush. She’d loved her hometown and had never ventured farther than the airport in Billings to pick up friends.

Suddenly her entire world was in danger of falling apart and she was at the end of the line. She’d tried everything she could. She’d sold all the horses except for Thor, her gelding, leased part of the grazing pasture, boarded horses for the folks in town and taken this job. But there still was more debt than she could cover.

What was she going to do? Her plan, which had seemed so brilliant in the middle of the night, seemed a little weak today. She’d worked double shifts at the diner, and as she waited on tables, her mind had puzzled over the options.

There seemed damn few. Then the past had to walk in the front door like the precursor to a bad storm and look at her as if she was…what? A woman. It had been a long time since any man had looked at her like that. Ronnie had taken more with him than she’d realized. He’d taken part of her femininity with him, leaving her vulnerable and unsure in the one area she’d always been confident.

“Lynn?” Seth’s voice brushed over her like a warm wind, but she knew better than to believe what it promised. A man’s silky voice at night had never brought her anything but pain.

Damn. Instead of a clean getaway, now she was going to have to face him again. She pivoted toward him. He was cast half in shadows by the lamplight. His features were sharp and bold and for a minute he looked more comfortable than she’d ever seen him.

That disturbed her, but she shook it off. She needed to get home and get a good night’s sleep so she’d be prepared for her meeting tomorrow.

“Yes, Seth?”

“Why are you working here?”

“I like the change of pace.”

She’d never been able to look anyone in the eye while she lied to him. And it had gotten her into hot water more than once.

“You look tired,” he said.

She felt the fatigue as if for the first time. She glanced up and met his gaze. He compelled her to tell him the truth and she did. Just a little bit, a sop for her conscience. “I am.”

“Why are you really working here?”

“I don’t know. The people, I guess.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s too quiet at the ranch.” That was the truth. With the hands gone and the big old house to herself, she needed some conversation to distract her.

“If you ever need anything, Lynn, let me know. I owe your family.” She’d never seen him so earnest before. She’d seen him tough and ready to take on three older boys in a fight. She’d seen him eager to learn how to rope and brand cattle. She’d seen him with his dreams in his eyes as he’d looked at the night sky and told Matt about the solar system.

“You don’t owe us anything. You worked those summers you spent here.” And he’d given her brother someone to imitate. Someone to bond with and look up to. Especially after Daddy had died. She thought maybe the McCoys owed Seth more than he’d ever know.

A red tinge colored his neck. “Well, I tried to do my part.”

She realized then that Seth wasn’t all that comfortable with praise, and it made him seem a little more human. “I’ve got to go.”

“Will you give Matt this note when he comes home?” he asked, holding out a sheet of legal paper that had been folded neatly into thirds. Matt’s name was printed in large block letters. There was nothing timid about Seth, she thought.

“Sure,” she said, trying to convince herself that whatever she’d felt for Seth Connelly had died a long time ago. But somehow her hormones didn’t get that message. Her skin tingled when their fingers brushed. Her breath seemed harder to come by and her heart beat a bit faster. Chills spread up her arm. Her nipples tightened and her breasts felt heavy. For some reason her feet seemed planted to the ground.

She recognized the symptoms. Lust. Not now, she thought. Not again. The last time she’d followed her impulses around Seth she’d ended up brokenhearted. She’d learned too much and come too far from that sixteen-year-old girl to behave that way again. Or at least as a thirty year old she’d like to hope she did.

“I’ll stick it in the next letter I mail him,” she said.

“Thank you.”

She tugged her hand out from under his. “You’re welcome.”

She didn’t like the way he made her feel. Didn’t like that for the first time since Ronnie had taken her money and her heart, she was interested in a man. Especially didn’t like that the man was Seth.

Resolutely, she marched toward her truck and unlocked the door.

“Uh, Lynn?” When she turned to look at him, his eyes held the maturity of age and she knew that whatever she remembered of him she’d always liked him. Which was dangerous to her. Because he looked as if he needed a shoulder to cry on.

“Yes?”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and then stepped closer to her. “It occurs to me that I owe you an apology.”

Oh, God. “I can’t imagine why.”

He moved another step closer. So close she could smell the coffee he’d drunk with dinner. “For that kiss I stole when you were sixteen.”

She didn’t want to have this conversation with Seth now. Never sounded like a good time to chat about it.

“You didn’t steal it.”

“I felt like I did after I walked away without a word.”

“Hey, I’m a mature woman now. I barely remember an embrace that long ago.”

“Really?”

No, but she’d rather give away the ranch than admit it. She shrugged.

“It haunts me,” he said simply. He started to walk away, his shoulders set and his stride bold.

His words cut through the protective layers she’d wrapped around herself. “Seth?”

He stopped, glancing over his shoulder at her. A light snow began to fall and it dusted his head and black trench coat.

“I…”

He nodded. She wasn’t sure he understood what she’d been trying to say.

“Me too,” she said finally and opened the door to her truck. She climbed in quickly and drove away, watching Seth standing there in the lightly falling snow.