SECOND CHANCES AT MG RANCH (12 page)

Chapter 19

The next few weeks went by without much of a hitch.  Loren and Sam had gotten back in
to their normal routine of morning rides and tending to the ranch.

Loren felt as if she were living in a fantasy world.  Not only did she share her days with Sam, but her nights as well.

Today was Thanksgiving Day and Loren was most thankful for the love that she shared with Sam.  She had already called her parents to let them know that she had decided to spend Thanksgiving with Sam and her new friends.

Her Mom sounded a little disappointed, but said that she understood.  This would be Loren’s first Holiday without her parents. She promised them that she would see them for Christmas.

Hal and Missy were hosting Thanksgiving dinner at their house.  Loren and Sam were only responsible for bringing the dessert.

Most of her morning had been spent in the kitchen making a Peach Cobbler and
a Swiss Chocolate cake.

The back door creaked open and Sam stuck his head in cautiously.  “Is it safe to come in?” he asked.

Loren looked up from icing the cake.  “Of course it is safe to come in,” she said, rewarding him with a pretty smile.

He walked over and stuck his finger in the icing to give it a taste. “This is very good.”

“Well, surely you didn’t expect anything less.”

Sam responded with a soft chuckle.  “What can I do to help?” he asked.

She swiped the last bit of icing on the cake and covered it with the lid.  “You can pack these in that box over there to transport to Missy’s,” she answered.

“It will cost you a kiss,” Sam teased.

Loren wrapped her arms around his neck in a playful manner.  “It’s a deal,” she said, planting a kiss on his warm lips.

Sam responded by pulling her closer to him and deepened the kiss.  His hands had started an adventure of their own, traveling down every valley and around every curve of her soft body.

Before she could protest, he had cleared a spot on the kitchen table and gently laid her back.  He stood between her legs and pushed up her skirt, revealing lacy pink panties.

This woman had no idea how crazy she made him.  Sam pulled down her panties, pulling her closer to the edge of the table.  Their lovemaking was quick, but satisfying.

An hour later they were pulling into the Brown’s drive. Loren was gazing out the window when she caught a glimpse of Clouds of Smoke and Two Socks sparring.  They were both growing into fine young horses.

She was pondering the idea of offering to buy Clouds of Smoke, but was wondering if she should discuss it with Sam first.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Sam’s familiar voice.  “You go on in and I will bring the cobbler and cake.”

Loren hopped out of the truck and headed up the steps.  She couldn’t wait to see Missy.  She had missed her new friend and was anxious to see how the pregnancy was coming along.

Once inside the house, she gave a brief hello to Hal and proceeded to the kitchen to see if Missy needed any extra hands.

If felt like the breath had just been knocked out of he
r as she entered the kitchen.  To her surprise, she and Sam were not the only ones that the Brown’s had invited over for Thanksgiving Dinner.

“Come on in Loren.  I would like for you to meet my friend Stephanie,” Missy said, before she could turn tail and run in the opposite direction.

Before Loren could bounce back from the sudden shock, Stephanie walked over to greet her.  “Hi, I am Stephanie Woodrow, and you must be Loren.  Missy has told me so much about you and well, the whole town has been buzzing about the new girl over at MG Ranch,” she said, extending her hand to Loren.

Loren took her hand in a brief hand shake, but was eager to let it go.  She hop
ed that Stephanie didn’t notice her eagerness to avoid prolonged contact with her.

A fake smile was pasted on Loren’s face as she exchanged introductions with Stephanie.  “It does seem that news travels fast around this town.”  She couldn’t think of anything else to say.  For once she was speechless.  It was too bad that Sam wasn’t around to witness it.  He teased her merciless about how much she talked.

“Yes it does,” Stephanie replied.

As if Missy finally noticed the awkwardness that Loren was experiencing, she walked around the bar with a stack of plates.  “It would help me greatly if you could finish setting the table,” she said, handing the stack of plates over to Loren.

A small amount of relief washed over Loren, as she took the plates from Missy’s hands. The good Lord only knew how she was going to force herself to get through this night. At least for a moment she would not be in the same room as Sam’s old flame.

Loren walked to the next room and tried to focus on positioning the
plates on the table at each place setting.  Most everything else had already been brought in and placed on the table, including the food.

Her heart was beating wildly inside the cavity of her chest, as she wondered if Sam had known that Stephanie would be present or if he would be
just as shocked as she was.

Just as Loren placed the last plate on the table, everyone flooded into the dining room at the same time.  If Sam was surprised to see Stephanie, his facial expression did not reveal it.

Stephanie took a seat next to Sam, which left Loren to sit across from him, next to Missy.  She really wasn’t crazy about Stephanie sitting so close to Sam, but she guessed that she would just have to deal with it.  It would only be for a few short hours and then he would be all hers again, she reminded herself.

Hal said grace and then the room was filled with the noise of chatter as everyone began to enjoy the feast that Missy had prepared for them.

Loren seemed to be the only one that noticed Stephanie cozying up too close to Sam every chance that she got. She wore a low cut party dress that gave him a tasty view of her cleavage every time that she leaned in close to him.

Even though Sam didn’t really appear to be interested, he did look. She had to fight the urge to kick him under the table.  Doing so would only cause a scene
, and draw unwanted attention to her.

Loren chatted with Missy about the upcoming arrival of their baby. They were hoping for a boy and had already decided that his name would be Halston West Brown.

Missy had also educated Loren on her friendship with Stephanie.  She had told her that they had been friends through most of their school years.  She touched lightly on their trip to Paris, but failed to mention anything about Sam being heart broken.

Then she went on to tell her about Stephanie and Sam being high school sweethearts.  Missy gave her the impression that she thought that they would pick up where they left off and rekindle their relationship.

Loren was starting to feel nauseated to her stomach as she sat quietly and just listened.  What if Missy was right?  What would that mean for her?

“Honey, you are looking a bit pale.  Are you okay?” Missy asked, briefly touching Loren’s arm.

“Yes, I am fine.  I think maybe I just need to step outside for a moment and get some fresh air,” Loren answered.

Sam appeared to be tuned into whatever Stephanie was saying to him.  Loren doubted that he had even noticed when she excused herself from the table.

She went through the kitchen and let herself out the back door in search of that fresh air.  Stepping out onto the deck, she took in a big gulp of the cool night air.

Tears threatened to flood her eyes, but she held them back tight, promising herself that she would not cry.
  She closed her eyes to the dark night and willed her mind and heart to be strong.  A few more hours and she would be back in the safety of her home and hopefully in the arms of the man that she loved.

The door creaked open behind her.  Loren thought it was Sam and turned to speak.  The words died on her lips as she saw Stephanie
close the door behind her, as she stepped out onto the deck.

This night just kept getting worse.  “Excuse me, I was just about to go back in,” Loren said, as she made an attempt to step around Stephanie.

Stephanie purposely blocked her path to the door. “I don’t know who you think you are fooling, but I want you to know that you are not fooling me,” she said.

Loren was a bit
surprised at her words.  It took her a moment to recover from her disbelief.  “I am not sure that I understand what you are talking about,” Loren replied, keeping a straight face.  However, the blood running through her veins was about to reach the boiling point.

“Don’t play dumb with me.
We both know that you are out to trap Sam into some kind of relationship with you, but I am here to tell you, that it is not going to happen.  I will not let you do this to him.”

Loren made an attempt again to deny what Stephanie was referring to.  “I am sorry, but I really don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Don’t be coy with me.  You know exactly what I am talking about. We both know that you have been screwing Sam, hoping to trap him into some kind of ridiculous relationship with you,” Stephanie spat back at her.

This night was turning out to be a total nightmare!
“My relationship with Sam is none of your business.”  Loren felt like scratching this woman’s eyes out of her head!

“That is where you are wrong.  Anything to do with Sam is my business because I love him and I will not give him up without a fight
.” Stephanie’s words bounced off Loren’s retreating back, but they did not go unheard.

Loren turned back around to face her rival. 
“Maybe you should have realized that seventeen years ago when you left Sam high and dry.” Before Stephanie could answer, Loren stepped back through the door and into the safety of the kitchen.

But
Stephanie was fast on her heels.  She caught up with Loren just inside the door and grabbed her arm to whirl her around to face her again.  “And exactly, what is that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“You are the one who broke his heart, and you are just jealous that I am the one putting the pieces back together.”  Loren replied.

“You, my dear are nothing to be jealous of.  When Sam is done playing with you, he will come back to me.  I promise you that,” Stephanie sneered.

Stephanie still had her hand on Loren’s arm.  “Keep telling yourself that
if you must, but don’t ever touch me again.”  Loren pushed Stephanie’s hand off her arm.

Sam walked into the kitchen and instantly felt the tension between the two women.  “Is eve
rything okay in here?”  He looked from one woman to the other waiting for an answer.

Stephanie glared at Loren before turning her attention to
Sam.  “Everything is just fine.  We were just getting to know one another.  Isn’t that right Loren?”

Sam looked at Loren
over his shoulder with a worried glance as Stephanie whisked him back into the dining room as if nothing had ever happened.

C
hapter 20

A few hours later they were all saying their goodbyes.
Loren did her best to avoid Stephanie. She wanted to do nothing less than smack the smirk off that evil woman’s face.

However, the woman was relentless.
She walked right up to her like she would have a best friend.  “Loren it was so nice to meet you. I am looking forward to spending more time with you,” she said, leaning in towards her.  Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Loren took a step back when she realized that she meant to hug her.  Stephanie’s step was quickly reclaimed, along with a look of satisfaction when she saw the confused look on Loren’s face.

Loren was convinced that this woman was really insane.  She couldn’t even stand to be in the same room with Stephanie, let alone spend time with her.  Of course Loren knew it was all show for Sam’s benefit.  Surely he could see right through her false pretenses.  Love was blind, but not that blind.

“Oh, didn’t Sam tell you?  He is going to be giving me riding lessons starting next week.
Isn’t that great?” Stephanie said.

“I will be giving lessons to Stephanie and her son Jordan,” Sam corrected.  He could feel the tension starting to build in the room again, so he ushered Loren out the door and into the truck before anything else could be said
.

Once inside the truck, Loren turned on him.  “When were you going to tell me about the riding lessons and why didn’t you tell me that your old flame was going to be here tonight?”

Loren was obviously upset.  Sam guessed it had something to do with her earlier conversation with Stephanie, or maybe she was jealous.

“Wait a minute now, first I had no idea she was going to be here tonight.  I was just as surprised as you were.  Second, the decision to give riding lessons
to her and her son was mine to make.  I didn’t even know she had a son until tonight.”

“Well, don’t you think you should have asked me first, considering that MG belongs to me?
  That is where you will be giving the lessons, isn’t it?” Loren asked.

Sam looked shocked. 
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  “I didn’t realize that I needed to ask your permission,” he said with disappointment.

The
rest of the ride home was quite.  Loren watched the scenery pass by out the window and debated on whether she should ask Sam to stay at the bunk house tonight or allow him to stay with her as he had the past few weeks.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t even realized that they had stopped in front of the barn and Sam had cut the engine.  They sat in silence for a few minutes, with Loren starting out the window, and Sam looking at her.  He knew something had happened with Step
hanie, but Loren didn’t seem to be ready to talk about it.

“
Honey, are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine, just tired,” she said as she climbed out of the truck.

They both saw to the horses. Loren filled the water buckets while Sam gave them their normal ration of oats and a few flakes of hay.  She didn’t stop him when he took her hand in his on their short walk up to the house.  The warmth of his hand felt good, and it felt right.

Once inside the house, he led her up the stairs to her bedroom just like he would on any
other given night.  They would eventually have to talk about what had happened with Stephanie, but for tonight they had reached a mutual agreement to just love one another.  Their love making was slow and sweet this time.  They finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning.

Morning came with the sun spilling in through the soft blue curtains of Loren’s bedroom.  She stretched as she climbed out of bed and walked over to look out the window.

The sunshine was deceiving, making one feel as if it were a warm spring day.  It was cold out and a light snow had fallen over night.  Maybe it would be enough to build a snowman.

As Loren bounced down the stairs, her nostrils were filled with the aroma of coffee, bacon, and eggs.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” Sam greeted her as she stepped around the corner into the kitchen.

Sam must have gotten up at the crack of dawn.  He was fully dressed.  If he only knew how sexy his jean clad body looked as he stood in front of the stove preparing breakfast.  The best part was that he wasn’t preparing breakfast for just anyone, but for her.

“Good morning,” she said, pouring herself some coffee.  Loren smiled at Sam as he motioned for her to sit down.  For someone who was just using her as Stephanie had suggested, he sure did waste a lot of time spoiling her.

Sam set a plate down in front of her, and then filled his own plate. He sat down opposite her and said grace. 
They both dug into their breakfast like starved rats.

After they were both finished eating, Loren cleared the table and began
loading their dirty dishes into the dishwasher.  After she placed the last dirty plate inside, she turned her attention back towards Sam.

“Sam, I think we need to talk about Stephanie
.”  The words had come out of her mouth without any warning.  Sam remained seated and took a minute before responding.

“There’s really not much to talk about.  We dated in high school and after graduation she left for Paris.
That was the end of our relationship.”

“I need to ask you a question.  Please be totally honest with me, even if it will hurt my feelings,” Loren
pleaded.

“I promise that I will be as honest as I can be.  So, what do you want to ask me?” he asked.

“Do you still love her?” The question came out quickly before she had time to change her mind.  The words left a bitter taste on her tongue.

Sam could
see that she was trying hard to hold back tears.  It was tearing his heart out to see her this way.  He got up and walked over to her, placing his hands on her arms. “Look at me,” he whispered.

Loren looked up and locked her eyes with his, hoping with all her heart that he would give her the answer that she wanted to hear.

“The answer is no.  I loved her once, but that was over a long time ago.  But I have to be honest with you, I wasn’t sure of that until the first time that we made love,” he confessed.

The tears began to trail down Loren’s face at the sound of his words.  He still hadn’t said that he loved her, but just knowing that he was no longer in love with Stephanie would be enough for now.

Sam held her in his arms until he had kissed away all of her tears.  Loren explained that they were happy tears.  She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but decided that even though they had taken their relationship to the next level that it still wasn’t the right time.

The next few weeks were great.
Well except for Stephanie and Jordan coming for riding lessons almost every day.  Loren didn’t really mind Jordan being around.  He was a sweet little six year old boy and they had hit if off pretty good considering how she felt about his Mother.

Jordan normally had his lesson first and then would come to find Loren in the barn and help her with other horse chores.  He wanted to learn everything there was to
know about caring for a horse.  He had big dreams of having his own horse one day.

Loren was especially nervous about today because it would be the first time that Sam would take Stephanie out of the arena to ride out in the open.  That meant that they wo
uld do some short trail riding and they would be doing it alone.

She trusted Sam, but she didn’t trust Stephanie
as far as she could throw her, which wouldn’t be far.  With them out of sight, there was no telling what she might try or even lie about.

Loren watched them ride out of sight, wishing she was going with them.  However, she had promised Sam that she trusted him and would not interfere.  She did a few breathing exercises to calm herself before going back inside the barn to help Jordan finish mucking the stalls.  It had proven to be hard work today, but Jordan didn’t seem to mind.
As long as it had something to do with horses he was happy to do it.

He reminded her of the way she was at that age.
She liked to think of it as being
“Horse Happy.”

Just as they finished up with the last stall, she heard sounds of hoof beats approaching.  Good, they had returned.  Sam and Stephanie had only been gone for about thirty minutes, but to Loren it felt like a life time.

Jordan helped her put away the pitch fork and other things they had used while mucking the stalls.  Then he went to wash up so that he would be ready when his Mother said it was time to go.

“Need any help unsaddling,” Loren asked as they hitched the horses to the post closest to the barn door entrance.

“Can I help too?” Jordan asked, before Stephanie could refuse.

“Boy that was some
fast hand washing,” Loren said.  She ruffled Jordan’s hair as he passed by her to greet his mother.

“Sure you can little tiger!  I will go wash up while you help Sam,” his mother replied.
Stephanie always did her best to ignore Loren in an effort to make her feel like she wasn’t wanted or needed.

As Stephanie passed by her, Loren noticed some pine needles stuck in her hair.  Now how did that happen?  Her mind immediately jumped to conclusions.
  She took a deep breath, and reminded herself that she trusted Sam.

She waited a few seconds and then followed Stephanie in to the barn.
She was standing at the sink washing her hands and she had a sneaky grin on her face like she was hiding some kind of secret.

Stephanie
had heard Loren walk up behind her and without asking, knew Loren had noticed the pine needles in her hair. Mission accomplished.

But what really fed the fire was
that Loren had no idea of how they got there.  Stephanie had pretended to fall off her horse.  Before Sam could get off his to horse to make sure she was okay, she had poked a few of the dried needles into her coat pocket. Then she had stuck a few in her hair before they made it back to the barn when he wasn’t looking.

T
he expression on Loren’s face revealed that she had accomplished exactly what she had set out to do.  And that was to plant the seed of doubt in Loren’s pretty little head.  She meant to win Sam back one way or the other even if she had to play dirty to do it.