Matched With Her Cowboy Billionaire Ex-Fiance Page 15

  Did he think that the matching process meant he owned her? That wasn’t the case, and if he didn’t step back, Taylor would be forced to give him a piece of her mind.

  Kali Stanford smiled, sidling away from Bryson and leaning into Taylor. “Hi, Ms. Dean. Are you ready for your horse? Mr. Dean arranged the ride and he said you’d prefer the sorrel mare. Does that sound good with you?” She led Taylor toward the side stable and leaned over when they were out of earshot of Bryson. “Watch yourself. There’s something off about that guy.” She nodded as she helped her up onto the already saddled horse. “Your girl’s name is Sandy. She’s very docile and she knows her way back. If you get lost, just slacken the reigns and she’ll bring you right home.” Kali pushed her dark blonde braid behind her back and patted the gorgeous horse’s neck.

  “Let’s head out, Taylor. I’d like to get up there before nightfall.” Bryson’s demanding tone set Taylor’s hackles on edge.

  Great. She’d been matched to someone she’d thought would be a good candidate for someone else based on the things she liked about him and on paper, he was appealing – even his picture and mannerisms – but in person, there was something predatory about him that Taylor never would have seen, if she hadn’t been on the receiving end of his attentions.

  She tapped her heel to Sandy’s rear flank and wheeled her toward the back door which was being held open by another staff member.

  She wasn’t sure what Bryson was up to, but for some reason she’d never longed more for something to come up and rescue her from having to follow him.

  Chapter 18

  Taylor

  The warmth of the horse was hard to feel through the thick leather of the saddle.

  Taylor took a deep breath, having pulled up the lower part of her balaclava to cover her mouth and nose as she followed behind Bryson’s horse. He hadn’t even bothered to wear anything more than a sweatshirt and a baseball hat. The lack of respect for the weather left Taylor even more resigned against him. He most likely wasn’t from Montana, even though his profile declared him to be a lifelong resident, considering he wasn’t dressed appropriately in the middle of November for a horse ride.

  She shook her head as he wheeled the horse to the side and then kicked his flank toward the ruins just up ahead. Was he trying to show off? There was no good way to show off on a horse unless it involved being kind, careful, and conscientious. None of which Bryson displayed.

  What was she doing out there? She didn’t really want to be there anymore. Not-so-gently, Taylor mentally chided herself. What had she expected? There wasn’t a perfect match out there. She’d looked. But there was a perfect opportunity to be happy and if that involved a match, then so be it.

  Plus, Dad wouldn’t match her to just anyone. They both promised they would help the best they could. Matching her to Bryson had to be because they saw something promising there. Wasn’t that how Taylor worked? She took the most unlikely of matches and they thrived.

  Her issues had to stem from nerves. She wanted to compare Bryson to Roman – where he came up short in all of the aspects except the history part of things. She didn’t have a bad history with Bryson where she did with Roman. Surprisingly, that carried more weight than Bryson’s creep factor to make her choose to continue with the date.

  “Hey, Bryson, how long do you want to go?” Taylor called after Bryson. For all of her mental bravado, Taylor was already ready to go home. She clenched her teeth as Sandy broke into a jumbly trot as she transitioned from the smooth trail to the rocky, brushy overgrown trail Bryson had taken as a shortcut.

  He was too far ahead of her to hear what she’d asked. Wasn’t that rude? Already Bryson was on her nerves. That didn’t bode well for a man she was supposed to be a good match to marry.

  Sighing, Taylor gripped the reins with both hands and leaned over the horse’s neck as they turned into the wind. What in the devil was she doing out there? Was she really that desperate for a date?

  “Hurry up, Taylor. If I’d known you weren’t good on horses, I would have picked something else for us to do.” Bryson angled his horse to the side, looking more uncomfortable on the horse than Taylor was on the date.

  She set her jaw to the side and narrowed her eyes at him as she passed by. She was raised on horses and that man, that computer man, had the audacity to suggest that she wasn’t good on horses? If she was a markswoman, she’d suggest he go out in the field and hold an apple on his head for her. She half-snorted at her own mental joke. Maybe she should suggest it because she wasn’t a markswoman.

  From behind her, a commotion and yelling drew her attention. She turned, her horse responded to the body commands she gave subconsciously and they faced back toward Bryson.

  A collection of bones or something must have startled Bryson and his reaction to finding them scared the horse. The mare reared, not once, not twice, but three times, moving around in a frantic circle as it tried to shake Bryson from its back.

  Hard whinnying mingled with Bryson’s shrieking. He sawed on the reins, pulling and yanking. The horse’s eyes rolled, showing white edges around the irises. It bared its teeth, nostrils flaring. Hot breath from both Bryson and his horse fogged in the air around them as they continued freaking out.

  Taylor stared, unsure what to do to help.

  Suddenly, from the side of the building by Bryson, a rider came out of the shadows and grabbed the newly fallen reins from Bryson’s horse.

  “Whoa, sh. It’s okay. You’re fine.” Taylor would recognize that husky low tone anywhere. Until that moment, she’d been passively bored, but with his arrival, Roman had turned up the awareness of her nerves. As if cognizant of the tingling sensations over Taylor’s skin, Sandy side-stepped, moving and adjusting as if she, too, was nervously excited.

  Holding the reins to Bryson’s horse, Roman adjusted his grip and slid from his own horse which stayed in its position by the building, protected from the wind. Roman steadied the horse, patting her face and head as he soothed it with nonsensical words and sounds.

  After the horse settled down, he studied Bryson from under the brim of a black Stetson. “You city boys should know better than to come out this far without a proper escort.” His long dark brown leather duster flapped around his legs as he continued steadying the horse. He had no idea what kind of a figure he struck with the light fading fast. “What are you doing out here, anyway?”

  Taylor’s horse shifted again, softly nickering and bringing Roman’s attention toward her. He blinked in the wind, narrowing his eyes as he took in her appearance. “Taylor? Are you here with him?” Roman jerked his head toward Bryson whose face had turned ruddier with embarrassment.

  Taylor pressed her lips together, nodding as her expression was protected behind the balaclava. She didn’t want Roman to know she was there with a pansy. Bryson had no idea what he was doing and Taylor wasn’t sure she wanted anyone to know she’d been matched to him. What did that say about her? Taylor needed Roman to think she was with a good contestant. Someone that might be able to make her happy.

  Even if she severely doubted Bryson’s ability to walk without peacocking.

  Roman flicked his gaze between Taylor and Bryson. “Well, let’s take this date back to town. This isn’t the best place to make good impressions.”

  “Forget it. I don’t need this from you. Or you.” Bryson swung his leg to the side and stumbled as he fell from the horse. He landed with his hands on the ground and his knees almost touching the cold rocks. He stood, lifting his chin and staring down his nose. “You can watch her, or don’t. I could care less. She’s your problem now.” Bryson dusted his hands together as if to say he washed his hands of Taylor as a problem and he no longer wanted to deal with her.

  Shame flooded through Taylor. She hadn’t don’t anything wrong, but there he was blaming her. Before Taylor could stick up for herself, Bryson stomped from the small town limits, swinging his arms as he stormed away.

  Roman watched him go, continuing to hold Brys
on’s horse reins.

  Taylor moved her horse closer to where Roman stood. She stepped down from her horse, sighing as she claimed a seat on a weather-worn wrought-iron bench. She slumped back against the back of the seat and looked up at the sky. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t. She couldn’t. No. Not right then in front of Roman. She just couldn’t.

  Had she really been matched to a control freak like Bryson? How was that possible? How wasn’t it possible? She’d found him attractive as a candidate herself. Maybe her tastes were off. Maybe she didn’t really know anything about what made a good option and what didn’t.

  How many women had Taylor matched to a jerk like Bryson because they looked good on paper?

  “What am I doing?” She shook her head, blinking back tears. As she blotted the tears from her cheeks. She pulled at her balaclava, releasing her hair to fall around her shoulders as she leaned forward, bracing herself on her elbows. “Great. I just have to have this happen in front of you. Perfect.” She laughed while crying, closing her eyes and huffing as she shook her head.

  How ironic that she couldn’t get a date and then the one she was finally able to get was with a man she had to be rescued from. Not just rescued from either, but saved by Roman himself. What kind of a twisted game had her dating life turned into? She’d almost prefer going back to being single and alone than being with anyone like Bryson.

  Roman bent, grabbing for the reins of his own horse before moving to claim a seat beside Taylor, letting the horses stand for a minute. “I don’t think you need to be embarrassed about anything. His being a jerk doesn’t mean it reflected badly on you or even our parents. He just turned out that way.” He leaned over, nudging Taylor with his shoulder. “If I wanted to be in a situation like this with anyone, it’s you. You’re safe. I hope you feel the same way about me.”

  She shook her head. “How are you safe, Roman? Yeah, you protected Bryson from the horse rearing, but… you being safe to me is you turning around and not seeing me cry. Or worse, being nice to me, making me feel even more like a loser.” She shook her head, the weight of failure crushing around her. “You know, I always thought that if I could just get you out of my head, I wouldn’t have any problem dating. Maybe even had a reason to hate you. But I could never do that completely. Now, that you’re back and I’m all kinds of mad at you, I still can’t get you out of my head and that’s driving me nuts. I can’t move on.”

  She stood up, pacing back and forth, hysteria rising inside her. “I can’t move on. I can’t get you out of my head and I need you to clear out. I need to see you with someone else, be with someone else, so I can get you out of my head. Do you understand?”

  Did she even know what she was saying? Not really, but it made sense as she tried to work through what she needed to happen to survive him being home.

  With no planner, she had no idea what worked and what didn’t, what would make her happy and what wouldn’t. The chaos of her life had spilled over into her problem-solving logic where she was neither finding solutions nor being logical.

  She whimpered under her breath and stopped walking. “I’m sorry. This is not your fault or your problem.” Yet he’d stayed. He’d stayed there for her, when someone who’d been matched to her had abandoned her. She cleared her throat. “You stayed. Thank you for staying with me. I’m… I feel like I’m all over the place lately. I can’t even figure out who I really am.” She sighed and approached Sandy who hadn’t gone from where she’d been left.

  Roman stood, his hands tucked into the deep pockets of his duster. He moved up to stand beside Taylor and her horse, watching Taylor as if she might lose it again. “I know I left you once. But I want you to think about all the other times I didn’t leave you. All the times I stayed. All the times I was there for you. This isn’t anything abnormal on my part, Taylor. I’ve always been there for you. I will always be there for you. Don’t let the one time I slipped up be the one time that defines how you think of me. Of us.”

  Taylor raised her gaze to his face, her heart heavy as she tried considering his words. “You’re right, Roman. You always were there. Always. When it mattered and when it didn’t. When you left, though, you didn’t come back. You stayed away. That’s the part that I can’t get over. You’re back now, saying you want things, but I don’t think you really know what you want. This place…” Taylor shook her head. “It’s hypnotic. I can see what the magic does to clients. It’s captivating and endearing. You’re getting wrapped up in it again. You’re thinking of the good ole days when we were together and everything was idyllic.”

  She climbed onto the bench, her boots clicking as they hit the metal. Swinging herself back into the saddle, she looked down at him from her perch. “You’re going to wake up someday soon and realize this isn’t what you want and then you’ll leave again, leaving the rest of us in your wake.”

  Roman’s jaw ticked and he nodded curtly, moving to return to his horse’s saddle. Once he was in place and held the lead on the other horse, he glanced at Taylor, his expression neutral. “Are you ready?”

  Taylor furrowed her brow. “Wait, what are you doing out here, anyway?” Why would he be clear out there on that cold day? Why was anyone out there? Taylor had seriously questioned Bryson’s mental state and now she might have to ask the same thing about Roman.

  “I thought… never mind. It doesn’t matter. Go ahead and follow me in. It’s starting to get dark.” He turned the horses and led the way out of the buildings and to the well-traveled trail back.

  Taylor let the horse’s movements lull the anxiety from her muscles.

  What she’d said wasn’t fair. It wasn’t even how she felt, actually. He’d stayed for her more times than she could count – like when she’d been sick, when she’d lost her favorite cat and then her dog, when she’d won homecoming queen, when she’d lost prom queen, and even when she’d started having problems with her mother. Roman had been there through so much and he’d never judged her.

  Yet there she was, taking one moment in their past to say how he was as a person then and saying that had to be how he was now. She wasn’t fair. She could do better. She owed it to him as a friend, which she wanted to have him as, to do better.

  They reached the stables and Taylor called out, “Roman, wait.”

  He looked back as he handed the reins of the rented horse to the worker who stood beside the door. He backed the horse up that he rode and rested both hands on the saddle horn. “Yeah?” His expression hadn’t changed from the neutral version he’d presented her since she’d chewed him out at the small town.

  Taylor licked her lips, nervous but determined to apologize. He deserved better. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I wasn’t… I’m not very good at this and lately things have been crazy and I can’t seem to control any of it. I’m trying, but…” She inhaled and then looked him square in the eye. “I’d like to be friends. If I want to be friends, that means I need to let things go. You’re right. You were there for me so many more times than you weren’t. I won’t bring it up again.” She offered a soft smile.

  As if she’d given him a bouquet of flowers, a slow smile spread across his masculinely defined lips. Neutrality was gone.

  “Well, just in case I haven’t apologized properly, I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t make up for what I did, but I’ve regretted it every day since. I wish…” He glanced down at his gloved hands and then back at Taylor. “Never mind. I hope we can be friends, too.” He smiled at her, nodding so his hat covered his face for a moment and then came back up. “Night.” He rode off into the disappearing light.

  Kali appeared beside Taylor who stared after Roman, feeling more hopeful and peaceful than she had in a while.

  “He’s a good guy.” Kali nodded in the direction Roman had gone and held the reins while Taylor dismounted.

  “You know him?” Taylor turned to face Kali, accepting the help to climb down and get resituated as she climbed down the dismounting blocks.

  �
��Well, not well. He came in right after you guys and said he was there to check on a date or something. I told him what I thought about Bryson. I didn’t tell him you were with Bryson just that he’d taken a date out to the abandoned town and that I was worried about the girl he’d taken out there. Roman didn’t wait. He just tore out of here on his horse, determined to help. It was really quite amazing.” She sighed as she handed Sandy off to another ranch hand and walked in beside Taylor. “I need a guy like that. Except, I’m not a fan of the Wilson family or anyone with that kind of money, to be honest.”

  “I completely understand. You’ll need to let me match you sometime, Kali. You’d be a perfect client.” Taylor patted the woman’s hand.

  “I might take you up on that. Don’t work too hard.” Kali winked as they parted and Taylor made her way to her car.

  There was too much to take in as Taylor had to accept that maybe time had changed more than just Taylor and Roman. Maybe time had altered more in that town than she’d assumed.

  Chapter 19

  Roman

  “Hey, Mom. Have you noticed Taylor Dean seems a little off lately?” Roman pulled his hat off and hung it on the hook by the front door as he called out to his mom in the next room.

  He shed his duster, hanging it under the hat as he rubbed his hands together in the warmth of the home.

  Rounding the corner into the large living room, he stopped, narrowing his eyes at the sight of Mr. Dean sitting in a recliner near his mother. Nodding, Roman paused before walking more fully into the furniture setting. “Mr. Dean, I didn’t realize we had company. I didn’t see your car.” In other words, what are you doing here with my mother?