The Rancher Rejects Her Heart (Billionaires of Evergreen, Texas #13)

Chapter One

‘YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE Foxtown,’ Lady Geena signs to me, and I’m nodding, smiling, pretending my heart isn’t shattered into a million pieces.

This ring was supposed to mean forever.

But I was wrong.

I put the ring in my other pocket before signing back my reply. ‘It’s fine.’

I don’t think any other answer is inappropriate. And anyway, I am fine. Or I know I will be, even if I can still feel myself fragmenting into a thousand pieces.

But I’m good at this. I’m good at holding it together. I’m good at being professional and capable and invisible until it’s safe to fall apart.

So I smile, accept the water glass from the flight attendant, and buckle my seatbelt while pretending that my world isn’t ending as the jet engines start to roar.

Lady Hampton is talking to the pilot. I can see them through the open cockpit door, and she’s using her voice, which means she’s comfortable with him, which means he probably knows sign language too.

But even as I try to focus on their exchange, I’m also trying not to think about how Joseph’s probably boarding his own flight right now.

Does he know I saw?

Does Glenda?

Do they care?

I press my palms against my thighs and focus on my breathing.

In for four counts. Hold for four counts.

Out for four counts. It’s a technique Dorcas taught me, something about calming the vagus nerve, and I’m doing it now because if I don’t calm down I’m going to have a full panic attack on this beautiful private jet.

In for four counts. Hold for four counts. Out for four counts.

The jet starts moving. We’re taxiing toward the runway, and through the window I can see the terminal getting smaller, and somewhere in that terminal is Joseph, and somewhere in that terminal is my cousin, and somewhere in that terminal is the life I thought I was going to have.

But I’m here. On this jet. Flying toward something unknown with a stranger who showed me more kindness in five minutes than my fiancé had in...

Oh God.

I can’t even remember the last time Joseph was kind to me.

When did that happen? When did I stop noticing? When did I start accepting crumbs and calling it love?

My fingers curl into fists against my lap as I strive to recall the best memories we shared as a couple.

But all I remember now was Joseph telling me three years ago that I was boring.

..and how a part of me had just shrunk in shame because I believed him.

He was popular, after all. So of course he’d recognize someone who wasn’t like him?

The engines roar louder, and we’re picking up speed, and my stomach drops as we lift off the ground, and I’m watching New York disappear beneath us, and—

Oh.

Lady Hampton catches my eye from across the aisle. She’s watching me with that same gentle concern, and for a moment I think she’s going to ask if I’m okay, but she doesn’t.

She just offers me a small, understanding smile.

And somehow that’s worse.

Because it means she knows.

She knows I’m breaking.

And that underneath the professional exterior, I’m a complete mess.

The flight attendant appears with champagne. Lady Hampton accepts a glass, but I shake my head—alcohol sounds terrible right now, my stomach is already in knots—and ask for water instead.

“Of course, miss.”

The jet levels out, and I force myself to take a sip of water, to breathe, to not think about Joseph or Glenda or the way he was looking at her like—

Stop.

I press my palms against my thighs.

Focus on something else, Evianne. Focus on anything but him. Them.

And so I do my best to just think about the jet and its plush leather seats while Lady Hampton across from me, sipping her champagne with elegant grace.

She’s so composed. So put-together. The kind of woman who probably never falls apart in airports or makes impulsive decisions or—

My phone buzzes again, and this startles me. We have signal here?

I glance at my employer afer taking it out of my pocket, and she smiles and nods, giving me permission to check my messages.

Joseph: Can’t wait to see you in two weeks. Love you.

The lie sits there on my screen, glowing.

Love...you?

I wonder what he was thinking or feeling when he typed those words.

Did he ever love me, really?

I turn my phone face-down on the seat beside me and close my eyes because I can’t...I can’t look at those words right now, I can’t pretend they mean anything, I can’t—

My throat is tight.

My eyes are burning.

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

But it’s too late.

The first tear escapes, and then another, and I’m turning my face toward the window because I cannot fall apart in front of Lady Hampton, I cannot be that person who has a breakdown on her employer’s private jet during their very first meeting.

So stop crying, Evianne!

Stop!

But it’s really too late.

Silent tears are sliding nonstop down my cheeks, and I’m trying so hard to be quiet about it, to not make a sound, to not draw attention to myself, but my shoulders are shaking and my breathing is hitching and—

A tissue appears in front of me.

I blink through my tears and see Lady Hampton standing there, her expression so gentle it makes me cry harder.

She doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t sign anything. Just hands me the tissue and then—

Oh.

Lady Hampton sits down in the seat next to mine and takes my hand.

I wait for her to sign something to me, but she just...stays.

And I think...that’s what does it for me.

I’m a stranger to her, and yet she cares enough to do this...while my own fiancé—

How did it end up like this?

How?

I don’t know how long I cry. Minutes? Hours? Time feels meaningless up here in the clouds with my life in pieces below me.

Eventually the tears slow down.

Gradually, I realize I’m all empty and hollowed out.

But at the same time, I feel...lighter for some reason.

Is that normal? To feel lighter after crying?

‘I’m sorry’, I sign to Lady Hampton when I finally have enough composure. ‘That was unprofessional. I shouldn’t have—’

She cuts me off with a gentle shake of her head. ‘You’re human. Humans cry. It’s okay.’

The kindness—that simple, matter-of-fact kindness—makes my throat tight all over again.

‘I just...’ I don’t know how to explain it. How to put into words what I saw at the airport, what it meant, what it’s still meaning as I sit here flying away from everything I thought my life was going to be.

Lady Hampton waits. Patient. Not pushing.

‘I caught my fiancé.’

I sign slowly, because if I’m going to do this, if I’m going to tell her, I might as well tell her all of it.

‘At the airport. Right before I met you. He was kissing someone else.’

I wait for shock. For awkwardness. For her to regret hiring me.

Instead she just signs back, ‘I’m so sorry, dear.’

That’s it.

No platitudes or judgments.

Just...the truth, which was that what happened to me was indeed something anyone would feel sorry about.

It’s a truth that could’ve been accompanied by pity, but all I see is genuine compassion, and my chest squeezes tight at how she doesn’t even make any attempt to minimize or fix or explain away my pain.

‘It’s fine.’

That’s the second time I’ve told her that, isn’t it?

She’s probably tempted to call me a liar at this point, but she’s just too nice to do so.

We sit in silence for a while with the jet engines humming, and the flight attendant discreetly refreshing our drinks.

Throughout it, Lady Hampton holds my hand, and honestly, every time I feel the warmth of her touch, it just makes me want to cry even more.

It makes me miss my mom. I want to call her so badly, but I know I’ll don’t because I don’t want her to worry.

‘Can I tell you something?’

Lady Hampton’s sudden question has me nodding immediately.

‘When my husband died—’ Her hands move slowly, carefully. ‘I thought my life was over. I loved him so much. And when he was gone, I couldn’t imagine ever being happy again.’

I wait, not sure where she’s going with this.

‘But you know what I learned?’ She meets my eyes. ‘Sometimes God removes people from our lives not as punishment, but as protection.’

All I can do is nod. I grew up attending church, but God...has always remained like a distant figure, maybe because I never knew my own dad. But I know He’s real. I know He’s good. My mom says He is, and since the one thing my mom isn’t is a liar (unlike me)...

‘Thank you.’ It’s the only honest thing I can say at this moment. ‘Thank you for being kind. And for not...judging.’

‘Why would I judge you for someone else’s betrayal?’

‘Most people would think I’m stupid for not seeing the woods for the trees.’

‘Most people don’t know better.’ Lady Hampton squeezes my hand once more before returning to her seat across the aisle. ‘Rest now. We’ll land in a few hours.’

I nod and turn back to the window. The clouds slide past below us, endless and white and peaceful, and I...I can’t remember when was the last time I felt that.

Because all those years with Joseph...

I was just so, so busy trying to make him happy and earn his approval. Because I knew the one thing he wanted was the one thing I just wasn’t ready to give up, I tried so, so very hard to make up for it.

But I guess...it just wasn’t enough.

Time passes, and my eyes are getting heavy. The adrenaline is finally crashing, and I let my eyes close.

Just for a minute...

But that minute stretches into something a lot longer because the next thing I know, Lady Hampton is gently shaking my shoulder, and I wake up to her smile as she signs, ‘We’re landing soon. You should eat something.’

Oops!

I sit up in a start. ‘I’m so sorry.’

She looks at me chidingly. ‘I was the one who asked you to rest. You needed it.’

The flight attendant appears with a tray—fresh fruit, yogurt, orange juice—and I realize I haven’t eaten since...when? Breakfast? That feels like a lifetime ago.