Colton Cowboy Jeopardy (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Chapter 3

The sudden storm lashed at the warming hut and lightning revealed all of the gaps in the aged and weary structure. Mia rarely wallowed in regret. She’d invested years of effort and tears learning how to accept her strengths and her weaknesses equally. Right now, she wished she’d accepted Jarvis’s generosity rather than resisting him due to her innate stubbornness and the fear Regina had planted in her heart.

Silas was restless, too, and she blamed either the weather or her own edgy energy. The combination definitely wasn’t helping matters. She fed him, rocked him and changed him. She bundled him snug in a blanket and when that failed, she tried letting him rest in only his diaper.

Nothing worked. Her eyes were bleary and she was well beyond frazzled as she dealt with her son. In the parenting classes, they’d warned her there would come a time when nothing soothed the baby and she would want to pull out her hair. Like all the other parents in the room, Mia had chuckled nervously, not believing things would get bad enough to sap her patience and make her short-tempered with her child.

She believed it now.

If she’d thought consoling him had been a challenge when Jarvis found them, this was a whole new level of agony. Standing here when she had zero help nearby was a lousy time for a revelation. There was no one to trade off with, no option to walk away and take a breather, as the instructor had recommended.

“I’m trying, baby,” she murmured, pacing as far from Silas as possible. “What is it you need?” She didn’t want to let him work up another good cry. Not that she thought anyone would hear him over this storm.

Sitting on the sleeping bag, her legs crossed, she swayed gently side to side and watched his little face pinch, his body coiled for his next hearty wail. A good mother would be impressed by her son’s lung capacity. Mia, feeling like a failure in every aspect of life, burst into tears herself.

“Oh, I’m sorry, baby. What was I thinking?” She tucked Silas into the security of his car seat and paced the three strides to the door of the hut. Swiping at her cheeks, she tried to pull herself away from the brink of a self-destructive meltdown. Nothing would improve if they were both sobbing.

How was it her father had been such an amazing single parent and role model after her mother had died? His commitment, patience and love had given her a solid foundation of confidence and self-worth, despite the grief and loss they were both coping with. He’d filled in and worked around that missing piece of her heart.

And then that foundation had been ripped away, thanks to Regina. The woman had entered their lives in a whirl of affection and companionship, things her father sorely missed after years as a widower. In short order, Regina began suggesting that Mia’s resistance to a new mother figure proved she needed less attention from Norton and more independence. And Norton had fallen for it. Despite her stepmother’s antics and efforts to drive them apart, her father’s courageous example in the years prior had inspired Mia to raise her son alone.

It had been the right decision, the only logical solution, even knowing her husband wouldn’t tolerate such a tectonic shift in their marriage dynamic.

On the other side of the weathered door, she could hear the wind changing and another swath of rain battering the hut. A leak in the roof splatted on one end of the sleeping bag Jarvis had delivered. She hurried to move things around the small space, while Silas continued to cry.

Steeling herself, she opened a bottle of water and indulged in a brief fantasy about ear plugs. As if she’d ever use them to blot out her son. She reminded herself that this was a moment, not forever. Her baby was safe even if he was currently unhappy. And she was a single parent by choice.

Roderick had been quick to remind her they’d agreed not to have children in order to better focus on their respective careers and the things they wanted to accomplish in the world. Of course, she hadn’t gotten pregnant on her own; she’d been consistent and careful about preventive measures, and yet, by some miracle, she’d conceived. In her mind it was meant to be. Roderick saw it as a betrayal.

She’d been proud to leave modeling behind to be the wife and partner of a tech mogul with strong philanthropic values. They’d traveled, joined humanitarian projects around the world and she’d launched and managed his charitable foundation. They’d been happy and close and in love. Or so she’d thought. Why was she so easy to discard?

The better question was why she was rehashing all of this now. Her husband had stepped out of her life, or, more accurately, pushed her out of his with aloof efficiency. It was done. He’d run the numbers and projections of parenthood expenses, including college, against his anticipated income and basically written her a check to cover that amount. No one could fault him for shirking his responsibility. Though Silas would never know his father, she was sure it was better than growing up around a parent who would ignore him.

“Not my first hard day,” she reminded herself. “Won’t be the last.” The only good news, she thought as she adjusted her belongings again to avoid another leak, was that Jarvis had left.

She couldn’t imagine how crowded it would feel in here with him. His presence overpowered everything, including her good sense. The instant attraction had surprised her, once

the distress of being found had worn off. Her pulse had fluttered and the ripple of temptation over her skin had scared her almost as much as the instinctive urge to trust him.

Mia hadn’t trusted anyone other than herself in quite some time. She loved her father but questioned his decisions, which typically revolved around Regina’s preferences. Although she’d accepted his feedback and advice about her new career options, going into real estate felt pretty foolish while she was hiding out in a leaky warming hut.

Had Regina set her up from the start? Was the scene at the country house an elaborate scheme to permanently force her out of her father’s life?

The answer couldn’t be yes. But Regina did gain from the stunt, which made her speculation seem more plausible than paranoid. With Mia gone, Regina would now be the sole woman in Norton’s life. Mia was no longer there to defend herself from any of Regina’s lies or to protect her father from his wife’s lavish spending habits.

She shoved her hands into her hair, pulling out the tie and finger combing the long, thick waves back from her face. Clearly, the stress and lack of sleep were catching up to her. Regina was cunning, to be sure, but from day one she had avoided any action that could possibly cast her in a negative light. Why would she put her status as Mrs. Norton Graves at risk by having an affair?

Mia should have the upper hand, with the incriminating video saved on her phone as well as backed up to a secure cloud storage. But all the advantages in the world were useless while Regina had the leverage.

Half of the leverage, she thought, picking up Silas again. Her sweet boy was still crying, but she was calm enough to make another attempt to soothe him. She sat in the lone chair, which she considered a testament to good craftsmanship rather than too brittle to be useful, and rested Silas on her chest, heart to heart, hoping he’d calm down.

These parenting challenges would only become more complex as her son grew. Someday, she hoped to find someone willing to become her partner in this adventure so she wouldn’t go through every day alone.

Those days were light-years away at the moment, but they could happen. She sang softly to Silas, stroking his dark, baby-soft curls while her mind drifted between the past and the future. Lasting love was more than fairy tale or fantasy. Motherhood confirmed that for her every day. Even the strident moments of motherhood underscored that soul-deep truth.

There was someone out there for her. A man who would treasure her for more than her connections. For more than the status of dating a former model. Someone who wanted to be both partner and father.

“We’ll find the right someone,” she whispered into Silas’s hair. It was the same promise she made to him every day, in one way or another.