with him.
Macy stood on her terrace, looking out over her neighborhood as Pacific breezes whipped at her hair. The salty sea air freshened an otherwise smoggy day. Sometimes on a clear day, from one angled view on her terrace, she could actually see the ocean. Today wasn’t one of those days.
Since she’d left Wild River, she’d pretty much stayed isolated in her three-bedroom condo in Brentwood. Her only contact had been with a grocery store clerk, a gas station attendant and her neighbor Ella, who had come by to drop off her mail. She’d felt so odd, so out of place, that it had taken her several days to finally reacclimate to living in Los Angeles again.
Carter had insisted on driving her to the airport and had given her a goodbye kiss that buckled her knees. He held her in a tight embrace afterward, and she thought maybe he wouldn’t let her go. That maybe he’d realized he couldn’t live without her. That maybe he could take one more chance on a woman, the right woman. But Carter had let her go and forced himself to step away from her, though with great reluctance. That was something she could hold on to when she thought back on her time at Wild River. Carter hadn’t said the words, but at least, his actions told her, he wasn’t ready for her to leave.
“I’m here if you ever need me,” he’d said. “Wild River is only a plane flight away.”
But there was no true conviction in his voice. He was so certain that she’d step into her old way of life, paparazzi and all, without a look back. He had her pegged all wrong, but it wasn’t up to her to inform him. He’d pretty much laid his cards on the table the other night.
She asked herself why couldn’t she have stayed and allowed her fiery fling to flame out? Since when had Macy become such a stick-in-the-mud that now, suddenly, she held dear traditional values? Since when had she wanted the cliched husband and family and white picket fence?
Since she’d met Carter and fallen in love, that’s when. With him, she wouldn’t accept anything less than having his love.
She’d kissed Carter one last time in front of the airport’s security gate, then brought her mouth to his ear and whispered, “I’ll never forget you, Carter. And please reconsider about your father.”
She hadn’t waited for his reaction. She knew he wouldn’t be happy with her last words, but she had to say them. She’d whirled around with her overnight bag in hand and made her way through the security line without ever once looking back.
Memories of Carter consumed her thoughts. She kept going over the irony in her mind. For the time she’d lived at Wild River, she’d thought that Carter’s ownership of her mother’s cursed ring meant there was no hope for the two of them. She’d believed that no good would actually come from Carter falling in love with her, or her him. Their fate was cast. But the staggering truth was sharper and more painful. Carter simply
Thoughts of her gorgeous white-clad cowboy, astride his stallion, racing into town to sweep her up and ride into the sunset would be left for the late show in her dreams. It was the only place for them. And as soon as Macy realized that, her heart would stop aching, her stomach would stop clenching and she would get her head back in the game.
Carter had worked from sunup to sundown for the past eight days. He made appointments he really didn’t need to make, had meetings in his Dallas office with each one of his employees that were unnecessary and worked alongside his capable ranch hands in the barns and on the land. He dove into his work with uncanny vigor. His actions caused attention, garnering raised eyebrows and a few tactful questions from those close to him. None of his attempts helped him shake the feeling that he’d lost something valuable, something that couldn’t be replaced. This afternoon, as he stood by the corral fence watching the new colt lumber around the arena, separated from his mama and trying to find his own way, Carter felt one with him. Just like Midnight, he faced the uncertainty and stumbled around.
Earlier today, Carter had looked up an old girlfriend’s phone number. He’d stared at the screen that, with one tap of his finger, might have hooked him up with a woman, and then he cursed at his own stupidity.
“What the hell.” Instead of making that call, he’d grabbed a cold beer and strode outside.
He took a few gulps quickly, letting the foamy brew slide down his throat, and thought about how often in the past week he’d been tempted to call Macy. He’d thought about her at least twenty times a day. He wondered if she’d fallen right back into step with the Hollywood scene. And the more he thought about her, the more it irked him that she’d left the minute after he’d given her back that ring. Maybe that was all she’d ever been after. Maybe she saw her opportunity to play on his generous nature with well-rehearsed tears. She’d admitted she was broke. Just maybe, she’d played him for a fool. She might, at this very minute, be going after the other diamonds she’d sold at the Waverly auction.
Carter winced at his own suspicions. He’d been tainted by Jocelyn’s deception, and because of her he’d vowed to keep up his guard around women. His wavering trust was as thin as a split horsehair.
He swore an oath and told himself he was right to let her leave. They’d had a brief affair with no talk of a future between them, no talk of anything beyond the here and now. That night in New York, he’d seen a woman being hounded and pursued against her will and he’d intervened. His protective streak had kicked in big-time, and he told himself that’s all it was. He couldn’t watch Macy being badgered like that, and another round of protectiveness had kicked in when he’d seen the extent of her vulnerability. He’d invited her to Wild River because she’d needed an escape, a safe place to hide out, and not because she was beautiful and witty and the distraction he’d needed at the time.
“Hey, Rock,” he said when the golden retriever ambled toward him. “How’s it going, boy?”
The dog plopped his forlorn body down beside him. Rocky had been a victim of Macy’s departure, too. He’d spent the first five nights in her bedroom, waiting eagerly for her to appear. He’d sniffed in her closet, under her bed, in the bathroom, and when Carter would pass by her room, the dog would look up with a question in his disappointed caramel eyes. It was one thing to work through his own sense of emptiness with Macy gone, but seeing it expressed so damn desperately on the dog’s face was like a sucker punch to his gut.
“Yeah, I miss her, too.” Carter had been insane to think that he wouldn’t.
He polished off his beer in one quick gulp and strode to his Jeep. “C’mon, Rock.”
He knew the dog would follow in hope that Carter would lead him to Macy. That wasn’t going to happen. Rocky would just have to forget her, and in time he would. Carter might not be so lucky.
He sped off with the dog in the passenger seat. Rocky stuck his head out the window, and the warm August air hit his face and ruffled his whiskers in the breeze.
Though he didn’t have the first clue why, Carter drove across town and slowed as he approached his father’s house. He parked the Jeep in front. On a deep, unsteady breath, he turned his head to face the shack where he’d grown up, and he stared for a long while. He didn’t really see a broken-down porch with wood planks missing or window shutters loose on their hinges. He didn’t really see the dirt and neglect. He looked beyond that this time, to see something entirely different.
A chance.
He got out of the Jeep with Rocky at his side. “It’s a ten-minute visit,” he said to the dog. “And then we’re outta here.”
An hour later, Carter’s restlessness and jumpy nerves got the better of him. He powered the Jeep along the highway that led to Wild River Ranch and took the turnoff that led to the inn. He thought about that mysterious Gold Heart Statue, and whether his friend Roark was in any danger. He went over the facts on his mind about that text Roark had sent… Anything to keep him from thinking about Macy.
Rocky’s ears perked up when he heard Bill Fargo’s call of hello. Carter pulled the Jeep alongside Fargo as he
