Redeemed Cowboy (Whiskey Valley Bryant Brothers)

I’m too busy glaring at Ryan to look at the doctor. "You're welcome anytime," I respond to him with gritted teeth.

Ryan turns on the vet. "What were you thinking?" he asks. "I told you that this horse was wild."

The vet looks at Ryan with surprise. "That horse behaved perfectly fine for Mia. She's fine. I wouldn't have let anything happen to her."

Dr. Stone says it calmly, but that seems to make Ryan even more mad.

He takes a step toward Dr. Stone. "That's not your call. I don't want Mia to be put in that position.”

The vet grabs his bag. "All right, well, everything is done here. I'm going to go now." Obviously, he’s not willing to stand there and keep listening to Ryan berate him.

The doctor walks off in one direction, and I walk off back toward my office, but Ryan is right on my heels. "You work for me, and you listen to what I tell you to do. That horse almost sent Ronald to the hospital. He needs tamed before you go traipsing in there with him."

I'm barely holding on to my temper. "I know what I'm doing, Ryan."

He throws his hands in the air. "And if you're going to be flirting with a vet, then do it on your own time. Don't do it on mine."

I rear back, my eyes wide. "Flirting? I wasn't flirting with him. He needed help. And I was here to help."

"Are you sure about that, Mia? Because the doc seemed pretty protective of you."

“He helped me when I almost fell... any man—hell, any decent man would have done the same.”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “I guess it was a convenient stumble, huh? Glad he was there to catch you.”

I open my mouth and start to stutter. I stare at him, trying to understand what he's saying, and then it hits me. "What? You think I did that on purpose? You think I’m so desperate for a man... that I’m so frumpy... that what, I’ll fall and then hope he falls in love with me? Oh my God, Ryan. You sound ridiculous right now. You may think I’m a frump, but surely to God there’s a man that would appreciate someone like me." I use air quotations when I say the word frump.

Ryan starts to stutter, but I don't let him get a word out. "That's right, Ryan. I heard what you said about me. I know you think I'm a frump, but believe it or not, it's not that farfetched to think that a man might be nice to me... that one might actually like me."

"I didn't—" he starts, but I interrupt him and hold my hand up. "I heard you, Ryan. When King asked you to take me with you as your date for the Cattleman's Ball, I heard you say that I'm a frump. You can't take it back. You can't say I heard it wrong or whatever. I heard it with my own two ears, and you know what? It doesn't matter to me what you think... not anymore."

I'm so frustrated I can't stand it. I know I have work to do, but I'm not going to sit here in this office and listen to this anymore. I grab my keys and phone off the desk and head back up to the main house. Ryan is just standing there with his mouth gaping open, staring at me. He’s at least smart enough to not try and stop me.

Chapter 4

Ryan

I'm so mad right now that I could spit nails. I bang my hand up against the doorframe and watch as Mia walks out of the barn. She has brought so many emotions out of me that I don't even know what to think right now. All I know is when I came in and saw her in there with that horse, my stomach dropped. And I couldn't help it. I was mad. Literally, I was shaking mad ... and scared. I can't remember the last time I've been scared like that, and I probably didn't handle it the right way, but I've always just let my emotions run rampant. That's who I am.

I stalk out of the barn and run into my brother, Griffin. He holds his hand up. "Whoa, what happened? Are you okay?" he asks.

I'm sure he can tell that I'm pissed, and he puts his hands on my chest to stop me from going anywhere. "Fine," I spit out.

Griffin laughs. "You're not fine. What happened? Does it have anything to do with Mia all but running up to the house?"

I cross my arms over my chest. "We need to do something about her."

Griffin puts his hands in his pockets and starts to rock back and forth on his feet. "Okay. What do you suggest we need to do?”

I throw a hand up in the air, pointing toward the house. “She doesn't listen anymore. She just does whatever the hell she wants to do."

He shakes his head. "That doesn't sound like the Mia I know."

I stare at him, and when I don't say anything further, he asks, "Well, what did she do?"

I thrust my hand through my hair. "I guess Dr. Stone needed help with the new stallion I brought, and Mia decided that it was okay for her to get in that pen."

Griffin looks behind me at the open barn and then back at me. "I guess she's okay, right?"