Read The Cowboys Heart: 3 for Free Online

enough from me so as not to cause any issues.
    When Hudson still didn’t say anything, I leaned around and
kissed his cheek. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
    He sighed and pulled me around so I was on his lap. “I’m not
mad at you.” He kissed me deeply, making me forget about everything but him and
how soft his lips were, how strong and warm his arms were. “But I don’t like
the idea of your ex being in the same house with you.”
    I ran my finger across his lips and kissed him again. “I
know. But you don’t have anything to worry about, Hudson. I love you. In fact,
you can stay here, too, if you want.” I smiled seductively, which earned a
chuckle from him.
    “Well, I’m certainly staying tonight,” he said, a wicked
gleam in his eyes.
    My breath caught and my heart raced. “Good, because I need
you, Hudson. More than you know.” Then I was lost to his kiss again, blocking
out everything but him and our mutual need.

Chapter Five
    T he next couple of days flew by in a blur. The
dude ranch skyrocketed much faster than any of us anticipated. We’d hired two
new employees just to keep up with the demand. Hudson worked from sunrise to
sunset making sure things were going as they should, checking on guests,
teaching riding lessons, caring for the horses. I really don’t know how I
could’ve managed without him. He hadn’t spent another night with me since we’d
brought Jamie home, , but I knew it was because Hudson had his own home and
ranch to care for, too, and it didn’t have anything to do with his feelings
toward me, but it was still hard not having him around all the time.
    Jamie was recovering well and spending a lot of time with
his dad, which made me happy. It made Jamie really happy, too, happier than
he’d been in months. But, that led to me spending quite a bit of time with the
two of them as well, which at first was awkward, but now it just felt normal.
We’d have breakfast together, clean up together, and watch the morning news
together. Oddly, it was better now than it had been during our marriage.
    Yesterday, we’d gone to the grocery store together, all
three of us. Phillip and Jamie had a shopping cart race in the parking lot, and
that left me laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. I liked seeing Jamie so
happy, and doing so many familiar things with Phillip again – It unsettled me.
It’s like we hadn’t fallen out of love and he hadn’t cheated on me and we
hadn’t gone through a yearlong nasty divorce. But when I left myself relax and
get comfortable, my thoughts would wander to Hudson and to the fact that
Phillip had a young girlfriend at home. Nothing about this was right, despite
feeling that it was.
    Yet, more than once, I found myself wondering if my decision
to divorce Phillip had been the right choice. I’d been so angry and hurt, I
hadn’t ever given him a chance to apologize or make things right. Maybe if we’d
gone to counseling, we could’ve saved our marriage. But I hadn’t even
considered that as a possibility. I found out he was cheating, and the very
next day I was meeting with a divorce lawyer.
    I had been known to be impulsive before. But to think that
might have contributed to tearing my once happy family apart tore me up inside.
I shook the thoughts from my head. No matter what I did, Phillip had started it
when he slept with another woman. I didn’t have all the blame in this, and I
wouldn’t let myself fall back into the trap of thinking that way.
    “Mom, we should take Dad on a horseback ride around the
property. Maybe have a picnic or something,” Jamie said.
    I took a deep breath. That’s what Hudson and I had done
shortly after we met. Took a nice ride, had a romantic picnic. That was a
special memory I had with him. I couldn’t rewrite that by doing the same thing
with my ex-husband.
    “That actually sounds like a lot of fun,” Phillip said with
a smile.
    I groaned. With both of them agreeing, I knew there was no way
I’d win this