Release Date: September 27, 2018
Cover Design: Wicked by Design
Model: Steve Kalfman
Synopsis
I fell in love with Austin before I even knew what the word meant.
Miranda was the only girl who ever had a chance at owning my heart.
Defined by the land we grew up on—ranches, pastures, lakes—Mason Belle, Texas, wrote our story. And then it tore out the pages.
Six years later, Miranda had managed to slip away again. But this time, I refused to let her run.
I fell in love with Austin before I even knew what the word meant.
Miranda was the only girl who ever had a chance at owning my heart.
Defined by the land we grew up on—ranches, pastures, lakes—Mason Belle, Texas, wrote our story. And then it tore out the pages.
Six years later, Miranda had managed to slip away again. But this time, I refused to let her run.
Excerpt
Miranda lifted her hand to
tuck her hair behind her ear. Like a movie, a flashback of the past, a vision
of eighteen-year-old Randi, blinked before me. I’d always found that habit
seductive, primarily because she wasn’t conscious of the fact that she did it
when she was nervous. I loved the innocence in her expression and the way her
eyes almost cowered behind her lashes. It was pure and as close to angelic as
Randi ever got.
It took effort to soften my
tone. I ignored the bell that rang over the door. She was on the defensive. If
I wanted to have a discussion, I’d have to make her believe she was safe. “Can
we talk?”
Her pupils narrowed, though
her expression remained flat. “About?”
I’d thought about this
conversation more times than I could count, yet when the chance to have it
arose, my mind went blank. I shrugged. “What have you been up to?”
She shook her head in
disbelief. “Really? You have me alone in a corner, and that’s the
question you want an answer to?”
No. It wasn’t even the tip
of the iceberg. “It’s a good place to start.”
Miranda shifted in the
seat, uncrossing her legs and crossing them again. She was thinner than she had
been in high school. I hadn’t noticed it so much on the ranch, yet sitting
across from her, it was quite obvious. “Okay… I moved to New York. I met Eason
the day I got off the bus. He helped me get into school for paralegal work and hired
me in his law firm. We’ve lived together since, and I still work at the
practice.”
She’d summed up six years
in a handful of meaningless sentences that told me nothing other than stats I
could have found on Facebook if she used social media.
“Are you happy?” It came
out before I realized what I’d said.
The question appeared to
surprise her as much as it had me. “Sure. New York’s a great place to live.”
There was no smile in her voice, nothing that indicated she loved life.
That wasn’t a ringing
endorsement. Warning bells, sirens, whistles, they all went off in my head. For
a girl who’d been with a man as long as Miranda had Eason, I expected more. He
obviously defined her life if she lived with him and worked for him.
“Is Eason good to you?”
Her features scrunched, and
that look was all Randi. The Randi I’d loved. The one who died the day
that car crashed. “Of course.” She appeared offended, yet she didn’t defend
him.
Miranda watched me
intently, although she remained quiet. I hadn’t realized until that moment how
desperate I was to hear the sound of her voice, to engage in a normal
conversation. I wanted to forget the last six years and pretend like there’d
never been an accident. I’d kill to see her tilt her head back in laughter or
witness one genuine smile.
“I’m not going to bite you,
Miranda. You can talk. We can catch up. That’s what friends do.” Friends.
I hated that word. She’d never be a friend. We may never be anything more
again, but I’d never place her in that category in my life.
“I don’t know what to say,
Austin. You’ve made it pretty clear how you feel about me since I arrived at
the ranch.”
I needed something to do
with my hands. They shook beneath the table, and if I didn’t get my nerves
under control, I’d start babbling. “I’m sorry.” I paused, and her facial
muscles relaxed. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.” It was an excuse. “Not that
anyone had to warn me.” And that sounded awful. “I didn’t recognize you.” That
was the painful truth.
She wrapped her hands
around her mug, yet she didn’t lift it. Her thumb traced circles on the
ceramic. “I don’t look all that different.” It wasn’t just her appearance. “So,
what was it then?”
“You cut your hair.” There
were days I marveled at my conversational brilliance.
She grazed her fingertips
over the ends self-consciously. “You don’t like it?”
I wasn’t sure why it
mattered if I did or didn’t. “You always loved your hair. I’m just surprised.”
“Is that it?”
I couldn’t figure out how
to get away from this. “I don’t know. You don’t sound like you, anymore. And
you showed up in a limo for Christ’s sake. You looked like you stepped off the
runway, not an airplane.” I didn’t mean to be harsh. “It caught me off guard.”
A tear trickled down her
cheek. “If anyone had told me you worked at the ranch, I wouldn’t have come.”
My chest constricted
painfully. All these years, I’d believed she hid from Jack. Now I had to wonder
if it was me.
She swallowed hard and
closed her eyes. When she opened them, any emotion that had surfaced had
cleared. They were empty again, soulless. “I didn’t mean it the way you took
it.”
“How’d you mean it?”
Charity came around with
the coffee at the perfect moment for Miranda and the wrong one for me. It
didn’t escape my attention, or Miranda’s for that matter, that Charity refused
to look at her and only spoke to me. People in Mason Belle hurt for a long time
over Miranda’s disappearance. And if they continued to treat her the way
Charity and I had, they wouldn’t have to worry about her ever returning.
She waited for Charity to
leave before she responded. “I owe you an explanation. You more than anyone.”
There was a pause, and I was afraid if I filled the silence then she’d quit
talking. “I never meant to hurt you.”
I ached, seeing her this
way. Nothing about her had healed in New York. She’d withered into something
unrecognizable. “What did he do?” I whispered.
“It doesn’t matter.”
But it did. Without regard
for my actions, I reached out and placed my hand on top of hers. “You can
always come home.” I didn’t have a clue where that had come from. Mason Belle
would not open its arms to the princess who’d shunned them, not without a lot
of explanation.
She snickered, and her
shoulders dropped. She did not, however, remove her hand from underneath mine,
and I took the chance to give her fingers a gentle squeeze.
“It’s not that easy,
Austin.”
I kept my voice low. “Why
not?”
“Sometimes you can’t come
home.”
That was bullshit. It might
be uncomfortable. People might expect apologies. Even still, she absolutely
could make that choice, just like she’d made one to leave.
“Why? Because of some guy?
Some job? A fancy town? You can leave every bit of that behind.”
She stared at me with
wonder instead of gall.
“If you want to come back,
you can. But it would take the gumption of the girl I knew, not the one who
showed up in a Hummer with a man in a suit.”
As if I’d slapped her, the
mention of Eason had her withdrawing her hand. “And just walk away from my
life?”
“You’ve done it before.”
She flattened her lips and
nodded defensively…slowly. “And there it is.”
“Damn, Randi. Come on. What
do you expect?”
“Nothing. That’s why I’ve
tried to keep my distance. You came looking for me, remember?”
“Your sister sent me.”
She reached into her pocket
and pulled out a wad of cash. “Of course, she did. I should have known you’d
never come on your own. God knows you never made any attempt to find me before,
but Sarah waves her hand, and you’re on a mission.” She tossed a few dollars on
the table and slid across the bench.
Shit. I pulled my wallet
out and tossed a couple of bucks down. Miranda had made it to the front door
and grasped the handle when Charity decided now was the time to chime
in.
“You’re wastin’ your time,
Austin. Let her go. She’s not worth it.” Disgust lifted her lip in a snarl, and
I’d never hated the sound of a Southern twang until that moment.
“Ah, shut up, Charity.” I’d
have to apologize for that later. Hopefully before Brock found me to turn my
face into a punching bag for speaking to his wife that way.
Miranda had heard her and
pushed open the door with all the strength she could muster. The bell rang
wildly, and I took off after her.
“Miranda!”
The last thing either of us
needed was another scene, especially in the middle of town. “What?” She spun
and then screamed, “What do you want, Austin? To humiliate me? Are you
out for blood? Tell me what you need so I can make it happen. I’ll do anything
you ask. I just need this to end.” Tears ran down her cheeks, her shoulders
shook, but she held her ground.
I didn’t have an answer,
because I didn’t know.
“That’s what I thought,”
she murmured in defeat.
Giveaway
One of Five
ARC's for Gravel Road
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