Bull Rush (The Quiet Horsemen #1)

by Maggie Rawdon

I wouldn’t let a man touch her for a hundred times that. If I could help it, no other man will ever touch her again.

“One last thing…” I call after her, and she pauses but doesn’t turn around to look at me. “I just want to be clear. When I say I want my bed back, I mean with you in it.”

“Use whatever fancy French names you want for him, sugar. It’s still Hazel Stockton, the last I checked.” I see her nose twitch ever so slightly when I say her last name.

“Does that sit right with you? You knowing you’ve been living in my house on my ranch with my wife?”

“Last night. But tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the night after that… she’ll forget you even had a name when that engagement ring you got her is sitting on the edge of the sink, and her legs are wrapped around me.”

“Just don’t think you’re going to wear me down. You left. And you’ll leave again. I know you. I learned my lesson, and I know better this time,” she mumbles, her head already on the pillow, her eyes heavy. I pause at the doorway, holding there for a long moment and bracing myself against it for what I’m gonna say next.

“Haze… I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was… finding my parents like that…” I’m searching for the right words and failing. “It tore a hole in me. I was terrified it was going to happen again, and I wouldn’t be able to stop it. That it would be you next time.”

“Always leaving. Him leaving. You leaving. Why does everyone always leave me…” she mumbles, and I can tell she’s half-asleep from the way her words fade. “I’m not leaving anymore, sugar. Not unless you make me.” I kiss her forehead and make sure she’s well tucked in, looking back at her one last time before I

close the door. She deserves so much better than anyone’s ever given her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to her.

“Sugar, when it comes to you, I remember every single thing. Like you were branded on my soul.”