by Rosie Harper
“I think we should talk, Lucy.” Colby said, his tone cold and his eyes just as frigid as his voice. Lucy stopped in her tracks and she stared at him, horrified, as he sat at the table with her phone in front of him. Her mouth dropped open and his glare intensified. She took a cautious step toward him, looking between him and the phone on the table. It was still locked, so he hadn’t broken her pass code, but when he pushed the button to light up the screen the recent messages from Elias were visible on her lock screen. Her shoulders fell and she felt tears build up in the corners of her eyes. Colby didn’t say anything as she read the messages that he had seen.
“Everything’s set up, babe! We can go early if you can get him out of the house tomorrow.”
“Lucy, did you find a safe? I need to let my guy know whether or not we will need him to crack it.”
Lucy looked into his eyes and felt the stab of betrayal he was experiencing. She opened her mouth to say something but she didn’t know what. She didn’t know what she could say that would fix this. Colby growled angrily and slid her phone across the table to her. He stood up and started to head toward the back door.
“Get out.” He growled opening the door to leave.
“Colby!” She shouted after him, making him stop. Tears were slipping out of her eyes and she saw his expression soften slightly before becoming enraged again. He slammed the door shut and stomped over to her.
“What? What can you possibly have to say?” He shouted. Lucy flinched at his biting words but stood her ground.
“I’m so sorry. I was going to tell him to call it off. I do love you, and I wish I could give you what you so deserve.” Lucy said, her voice cracking a little through her tears. Colby’s anger began to fade but it was replaced with pain.
“So was it all a lie?” He asked, clutching the back of one of the chairs. Lucy shook her head, her tears fogging up her vision.
“No. The only lie was my name. Everything else I’ve told you is true.” She said, wiping the tears from her eyes furiously. Colby shook his head in disbelief and gave a weary shrug.
“Then why’d you do it?” He asked. Lucy heaved a sigh and shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Because Elias asked me to. He promised me that this would be the last job and then we could retire from the con and he’d finally marry me properly.” She answered. Colby’s eyes widened and he swayed a little, pulling out the chair to sit down on.
“You’re already married?” He asked incredulously. Lucy shook her head frantically and wrung her fingers.
“No, not really. Elias and I grew up together. We started dating when I was eighteen and that’s when he convinced me to run away with him. So I did.” She started explaining. Colby stared up at her, listening quietly to her story. Lucy ran a hand through her hair and took another step toward him. “We tried to make an honest living at first, but there weren’t many jobs and the ones we could get didn’t pay much. Eventually, one of his old managers came up with a con to steal from the company. Elias was pulled in and it worked. After that, he started planning his own cons and I joined him. We were making more money but we had to stay on the move. We went home once, but it was only for a day as we were passing through. We couldn’t stay anywhere for long in case someone reported us. We’ve been together for nine years now and he did propose and had it blessed by his cousin who was a former priest, but that’s it. I just wanted to get out, to stop running. I want everything I told you I wanted.” Lucy explained. Colby nodded, his eyes looking away from her and down at the table. His fingers traced the grains and he processed the information.
“So what are you going to do?” He asked, lifting his head to look at her. Lucy shrugged, despondency setting in.
“Get out of your life, I guess. Try to convince Elias to leave you alone and keep moving.” She said forlornly, thinking of the life that lay out before her. They were never going to stop, no matter how much she wanted to. Colby nodded and stood up. He crossed his arms over his chest and pursed his lips.
“Is that what you want?” He asked. Lucy frowned in confusion.
“What do you mean?” She asked. What she wanted didn’t matter, she had no choice. Colby met her eyes, the hurt still lingering in his but mostly replaced with a resolve she didn’t understand.
“Do you want to leave me and be with him?” He asked. Lucy let out a harsh chuckle and shook her head, letting her hands drop to her sides defeated.
“No. I want to be with you, I want what you’ve shown me but I can’t have that.” She said, a tear slipping out of her eye again. Colby took a step closer to her and brushed the tear away.
“You could.” He said, his lips close enough to hers that she could feel his warm breath blow across her lips. She looked into his eyes, searching for any lies or deceit and found none.
“Really? You still love me after all of this?” She asked uncertainly. Colby smiled and lowered his lips to hers.
“I do.” He mumbled, kissing her deeply. He pulled back and Lucy smiled at him, tears in her eyes.
“If I have the choice, then I choose you.” She said. Colby smiled at her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Then you still love me, too?” He asked, resting his forehead against hers. Lucy nodded.
“I do.” She whispered, kissing him again.
THE END
BONUS BOOK 4
A Cowboys Wild Heart
Mail Order Bride
By: Avril Adams
A Cowboys Wild Heart
“What do you mean you want to leave New York?” Felicia asked incredulously. Emily shrugged and dodged another pedestrian. Walking in Manhattan was like trying to swim upstream—only it didn’t matter what direction you were going. It was almost impossible to walk side-by-side with someone for more than a few steps before another pedestrian bustled between you and carried on their busy way. Emily opened her mouth to reply but was halted when yet another person did the same thing. She groaned.
“This is a good example of why right here. We’ve been walking for five blocks and I’ve barely—” she started, getting cut off as someone walked between her and her friend, roughly bumping into her shoulder. “Hey! Watch it!” She shouted at the person who was already swallowed by the crowd.
“I’ve barely been able to say two sentences to you without getting interrupted or cut off!” Emily shouted, her voice getting drowned out by some construction workers operating heavy machinery. Emily slapped a palm to her face in exasperation and looked around for somewhere they could go to actually have a conversation. Luckily, since it was New York, there were restaurants everywhere. She pulled Felicia into a diner and got them a table. Felicia just stared at her, waiting for the waitress to finish handing them their menus and waters.
“That’s just how any city is! It’s loud and crowded, that’s why it’s a city,” Felicia said, looking over the menu. Emily sighed and shook her head.
“I guess that’s my point. I don’t really want to live in a city anymore,” she said. Felicia’s dark eyes shot up to look at her in shock.
“Not want to live in a city? Where the hell else do you want to live? The suburbs? They aren’t all that great,” Felicia said with a snort.
“No, I was thinking of moving back to the country. You know, somewhere where it’s actually quiet and peaceful,” Emily said, a soft smile coming to her lips at the thought of being back with nature instead of the concrete jungle. Felicia dropped her menu to the table and gave Emily a disgusted look.
“The country? Seriously? Why? There’s nothing there! Nothing…just grass. You know how we were bored last weekend and just took a stroll and found that underground jazz club and then had pizza at three in the morning?” Felicia said. Emily nodded, laughing a little at the memory.
“Yeah, I remember,” she answered. Felicia gave her an obvious look and spread her hands wide.
“Well you can’t do that in the country! Not only would it be nothing but grass if you went for a walk, there would
n’t be any buildings—let alone an amazing jazz club—for like, twenty miles,” Felicia said, picking her menu back up and reading through it again.
“And as for three AM pizza? Count that out. Nothing’s open past six o’clock in the country,” she said, giving another disgusted snort. Emily pursed her lips and sighed. Her friend wasn’t wrong, but she wasn’t sure that was the life she wanted to have anymore.
“You’re right,” Emily said. Felicia huffed and continued to read her menu.
“Damn straight I’m right,” she mumbled. Emily studied the food options, her mind racing about what Felicia had said and what her heart was telling her to do.
“I guess… I just don’t want to be at underground jazz clubs and pizza places until three in the morning anymore,” Emily said, setting her menu down. Felicia ignored her for a moment, her eyes still scanning her choices. Eventually, Felicia put down the menu and the waitress came to take their order. Neither one said anything to each other while they placed their order and once the waitress left, Felicia just stared intently at Emily with narrowed eyes.
“Why the sudden change?” Felicia asked, all joking and attempts to belittle the country now aside. Emily chewed on her lip and shrugged.
“I just don’t feel like me anymore. I moved out here straight out of high school and for ten years now it’s been everything I hoped the city would be—and a few things I hoped it wouldn’t,” Emily said. Felicia nodded.
“You mean the whole getting kicked out of your apartment in college so that they could tear it down and rebuild it into fancy studios you couldn’t afford?” Felicia asked. Emily nodded and sipped her water.
“Yeah, that was one thing I hadn’t been hoping for. Getting mugged was another, nearly getting hit by taxis every day, too. But that’s not to say I regret it. I don’t, it’s been an amazing experience. I just… want something else…” She said, trailing off. Felicia watched her carefully.
“What do you want that you can’t get here?” She asked Emily. Emily chewed her lip nervously and averted her eyes. Felicia frowned suspiciously at her.
“What do you want that you can’t get here, Emily?” She asked again, her tone with a hint of warning and caution to it. Emily winced and sipped her water again.
“I don’t want to work at the café anymore and I’m… lonely,” Emily said, a blush rising to her cheeks. Felicia looked around at the nearly full diner and the thousands of people walking on the street. She turned back to Emily with a raised eyebrow.
“I get not wanting to serve pastries and coffee anymore, but how are you lonely?” She asked, gesturing around to all the people surrounding them.
“Being in a crowd isn’t the same as being with someone. I mean, I have you and some other friends, yes. But I don’t have someone to share my life with like you do. I mean, how you found Cassie beats me. There’s so many people here, to find one—the right one—is almost impossible!” Emily said. Felicia sighed and nodded.
“I guess I did get lucky. We met at the café, of all places. She came in every morning and ordered the same drink, trying to work up the courage to give me her number,” Felicia said, her eyes glazing over and a smile coming to her face as she remembered. Emily watched her friend reminisce and felt the pang of loneliness shoot through her. Felicia shook her head and studied Emily.
“Alright, I can understand that. But how is moving to the country going to increase your odds of meeting someone?” Felicia asked. Emily made a face of uncertainty and shook her head.
“I honestly don’t know. Maybe it’ll just be a smaller pond so it’ll be easier to catch a fish,” Emily suggested. Felicia gave her a deadpanned look and shook her head.
“If there’s any fish left to be caught. That’s the problem you run into with small, country towns. If there’s any to be had—chances are, they’re already had.” Felicia said bluntly. Emily’s shoulders slumped and she stared depressed down at the table. The waitress arrived with their food and they remained silent while they both picked at their sandwiches.
“What if you found someone first and then moved?” Felicia said, looking at Emily thoughtfully. Emily gave her a quizzical expression swallowing her food.
“How would that work?” Emily asked. Felicia shrugged and pulled out her phone. She began checking on websites and newspapers, all the while not saying anything to provide clarity for Emily. Emily continued to eat, her brow furrowed in confusion at her friend’s behavior.
“Ha! Here!” Felicia declared triumphantly, handing Emily her phone. Emily took the device and read what Felicia had been searching for so intently. She gave Felicia a doubtful look and glanced back down at the ad.
“This is a mail order bride ad,” Emily said plainly. Felicia nodded, a wide smile stretching across her lips.
“Yup. See? I found you someone! And he lives on a ranch, ohh,” Felicia crooned proudly. Emily blinked at her and then looked back down at the ad.
“It’s a mail order bride ad!” She repeated, a little more apprehensively. Emily set the phone down on the table and stared at it distrustfully.
“So? That’s what you want, isn’t it? To find someone to share your life with on the country side doing country things,” Felicia said, eating her sandwich. Emily raised her eyes from the phone and frowned at Felicia.
“Yeah but answering a mail order bride ad? Isn’t that a little desperate?” Emily asked. Felicia rolled her eyes and swallowed her food.
“Aren’t you a little bit desperate?” Felicia asked bluntly. Emily pouted and swirled her straw around her water.
“No,” she answered pitifully. Felicia gave her a sympathetic look and patted her hand.
“Yeah, you kinda are. I mean, if you’re talking about moving across the country to find a small pond, why not use some dynamite to catch the fish and make the process go that much quicker,” Felicia suggested. Emily read through the ad again, chewing her lip.
“Well, he is pretty good looking. He owns his own horse ranch and I do love horses…” Emily said, starting to concede. Felicia grinned at her widely.
“There ya go. You love animals, and didn’t you used to train horses for competitions way back when?” She asked. Emily smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, back in high school in Kansas and a little bit in college upstate. It would be nice to be around them again.” Emily sighed. Felicia banged the table with her hand and pointed at Emily.
“Alright, so you’re going to answer this ad, move to Texas, and marry the cowboy guy,” she prescribed with finality. Emily laughed and shook her head.
“Why not,” she gasped, emailing herself the ad so that she could respond to it later.
***
Jared read through the email he had just received. He had posted his ad a few days ago and had only had a handful of replies. Most of them were from incredibly desperate women who turned him off with either poor spelling and grammar or far too many “I love yous” in their letter. He didn’t want a woman who did any of that. Honestly, he had been considering taking the ad down when he received hers.
“Emily Winethrope. She’s got a college education with a degree in communications, she’s from New York—not very encouraging,” he muttered to himself as he read through her letter. “She wants to get away from the city life and live somewhere quieter and slower paced. Well, I definitely have that here.” he said, looking around his isolated ranch. He owned 80 acres of land and the next house wasn’t for at least two miles. He loved the isolation. Not only was it necessary for his horses to have enough room to train and pasture, but he really didn’t like being surrounded by anything other than nature.
“Jared! I brought you some groceries! Where are you?” His sister called, letting herself into his kitchen. Jared rolled his eyes and closed the email. He walked into his kitchen to see his older sister putting away groceries in his fridge and cabinets.
“What are you doing?” He asked, leaning against the wall as she dug through her bags of produce. His sister smiled cheerfully
at him and tossed him an apple which he caught easily. She brushed her long, sun-kissed, curly blonde hair over her shoulder and continued to dig through the bags.
“I know it’s been a while since you’ve been able to make it to the market and I was there this morning with the kids so I picked you up some essentials. That’s all.” She said, smiling at him again and putting his bread in the fridge.
“No, I don’t like it in the fridge I like it on the counter,” Jared argued. Sherry rolled her eyes and closed the door, leaving the bread on the shelf in the fridge where she had placed it.
“It keeps longer this way,” she said, pulling out some bananas and putting them on his holder.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t taste as fresh,” Jared said, coming up behind her and removing the bread. “Besides, if it gets moldy I’ll just cut the mold off. It’s as good as new!” He said, tossing it on the counter. Sherry shook her head and chucked another apple at him.
“Knowing you, you actually believe that. Sorry to break it to you dear, but mold isn’t something you can have on your toast!” She said sarcastically. Jared smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead.
“Aww, having kids has really ruined you Sherry. You used to be fun—adventurous even. Now you get all upset over a little mold,” he teased, biting into his apple. Sherry rolled her eyes again and began to fold the empty canvas bags she had brought the groceries in.
“No, I just realized a good risk versus a stupid one. Speaking of stupid ones: how’s it coming with that wife ad you posted?” She asked giving him a facetious look. Jared gave her an unamused look and took another bite of his apple with a loud crunch.
“Actually I may have found someone not crazy or needy,” he said proudly. Sherry shook her head and let out a loud laugh.
“Yeah right! Any woman that answers an ad like that is going to be needy,” Sherry said. Jared sighed and tossed his apple core in the compost bin.