The Cowboy And The Debutante Read Free Page B

why you’re here on vacation. So you can rest and recuperate. And you will. You’ve only just gotten here. Give yourself time.”
    Anna sighed. “I’m not so sure I want to go back, Mother. I’m not so sure I want to keep playing the piano professionally.”
    Several moments passed in silence. Then, just as Anna was expecting her mother to burst out with shocked dismay, Chloe gentle smiled.
    â€œWhy haven’t you said anything about this before?”
    â€œBecause I didn’t want to upset you and Dad. I knew you would think I was losing my mind if I did.”
    Chloe shook her head. “Anna, you must live your own life as you want to live it. Not as you think we want you to.”
    Of course Anna should have expected her mother would say those words. And so would her father. They would hide their disappointment just to make their daughter happy.
    â€œYou would say that,” Anna mumbled.
    â€œSince when have I or your father ever lied to you?”
    Anna shook her head. “Not any time that I can ever remember. But I know how much you’ve always wanted my career to go forward.”
    â€œAnd it has,” Chloe agreed. “You’ve been making a great salary, you’ve traveled all over the world and seen all sorts of sights. But if your job is making you unhappy...then you need to stop and ask yourself what it is you really want.”
    Anna went over to her mother’s chair, knelt down at the arm and pressed her hand over her mother’s. “I have been, Mother. And I think I fell in with Scott’s plans to get married not so much because I loved him or even needed him, but because I wanted children and a home and I thought he could give those things to me.”
    Chloe’s gentle smile was understanding. “And you want those things more than you want to travel and play the piano.”
    Anna’s head bobbed up and down. “Does that sound crazy?”
    Chloe laughed softly, then reached over and patted her daughter’s cheek. “If it does then I’ve been crazy for the past twenty-five years.”
    She hadn’t really meant to blurt all of this out to her mother this evening, but she felt a bit better for it.
    Rising to her feet, Anna said, “Well, it does sound crazy, actually. A woman needs a man to have a home and children. And since I don’t want a man in my life, I’ve got to turn my attention to other things.”
    â€œWhat other things?”
    Anna’s slender shoulders lifted then fell. “I don’t know. Maybe I should just throw myself back into the music and forget about the children and the white picket fence. Maybe after six weeks of rest I’ll be itching to perform again.” A wan smile tilted her lips. “In the meantime, I’m simply going to enjoy being home. It was such a pleasure to ride Ginger this afternoon. Just being with the horses again is therapeutic for me.”
    â€œI’m glad.”
    Her lips suddenly thinned to a smirk. “By the way, I met your new foreman earlier before I went out riding. I didn’t realize Lester had left.”
    Chloe nodded. “Lester had reached retirement age and he and his wife wanted to do some traveling.”
    Lester had been on the Bar M for twenty years. He was a bowlegged, raw-boned, pipe smoker who’d rarely shown the top of his bald head to anyone. He’d been more or less like a grandpa to Anna and Adam and their younger sister, Ivy. Miguel Chavez was nothing like Lester.
    â€œWhere did you find Mr. Chavez?”
    â€œYour uncle Roy knew him. Miguel lived in Carrizozo for several years. Before that, Albuquerque, I think. What did you think of him?”
    Anna had thought far too many things. In fact, she was still wondering why that idiotic thought about his mouth had ever entered her head.
    â€œWell, I’m sure he’s a strong, capable man or you wouldn’t have him here.”
    A knowing