The Cowboy and the Angel

by Lietha Wards

  Almost as if on cue, Alex walked into the office. She stood abruptly and smiled at him, but to her surprise, the smile wasn’t returned. “Alex?” she said, puzzled by his hard expression.

  “Jason is expecting me,” he said evenly, barely sparing her a glance.

  Angel looked past him to Margo, who had a curious expression on her face, and then back at him. “Oh,” she responded in confusion, and then reached over and pushed the intercom to let Jason know that he was here.

  She tried not to let his indifference upset her. Maybe he wanted to keep their relationship a secret. However, everything about his expression and his posture bothered her. He was completely indifferent. Not once before had she been around him where he didn’t run his eyes over her in close scrutiny, in contempt or otherwise, but this time, he didn’t. There were no comments about her clothing, either. It was as if the last two weekends they’d spent together hadn’t happened for him, and more hurtfully, neither had the day when they’d made love.

  The door to Jason’s office opened before she had a chance to show him in. Jason’s eyes went to her with clear concern registering in them before he invited Alex into his office. Alex finally did look at her then, and what she saw in his eyes startled her.

  It was anguish.

  Had she imagined it? If she hadn’t, why would he let her see it, even if it was just a brief glimpse? Guilt was something she was sure he never felt, and to see it in his eyes to such a degree completely stunned her.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Margo said as she stared at the door of Jason’s office. “Did you two have a fight?”

  “No,” Angel replied. “At least not that I know of.”

  “I was sure you two were a couple after Red said he’d practically threatened his life if he saw him with you again.”

  “He what?” she said in astonishment.

  She smiled. “You didn’t know?”

  Angel shook her head. “Is Red—”

  “He’s fine.” Margo grinned. “He found it quite amusing, actually. Red grew up in a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia. He joined the military at a young age and got his degree through them. Trust me, he can handle himself.”

  Angel breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t wise to give physical threats to a lawyer. Just then, a tall, shapely, and rather beautiful woman walked into the office. She paused and looked around.

  “Can I help you?” Angel said.

  “I’m looking for Alex Harrison.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Margo’s head shoot up. “Alex?”

  “Yes, is he here?”

  This must be another cousin that she didn’t know about, or at least she hoped it was. However, the sick feeling that started in her gut told her otherwise. “He’s in a meeting.”

  “That’s all right,” said the woman. “He’s expecting me.”

  “Oh.” Angel pushed the button on her phone again. “Mr. Garrett, there’s a—” She paused, looking at the woman.

  “Oh.” She smiled. “Lucy Byers.”

  “A Lucy Byers here to see Mr. Harrison. She says that he’s expecting her.”

  “Send her in,” came the terse reply.

  “Right this way,” she said, flicking a curious gaze at the woman.

  After Lucy entered the office, Jason asked Angel to close the door. She was going to offer them coffee or water, but Jason repeated his request and she quickly obeyed.

  “What is that about?” Margo asked.

  “I don’t know, but Alex told me once before that I had no reason to get jealous,” she said with faltering courage.

  “And you are?”

  “Didn’t you see her?” Angel gestured towards the closed double doors of Jason’s office. “I’m dying to know what that’s about. It didn’t look like two friends in conversation when I went in there. It looked like a lawyer and his client. And that woman is absolutely beautiful.”

  “She doesn’t hold a candle to you,” Margo said honestly.

  “You’re prejudiced,” Angel replied, slanting her a worried look.

  “Honey, the way that man has been looking at you for the past few months tells me something different.”

  Did she really think so?

  Just then, Priscilla burst into the office with a look of overwhelming joy on her face. “Angel, I’m so happy for you!” she said, hugging her sister.

  “W-what?”

  “My God, I heard that Alex was getting married!” Priscilla grabbed her hands and examined her fingers. “Where on earth is your ring? Oh, who cares!” she cried, grabbing her and hugging her again. “Just imagine! All this time you’ve been in love with him, and he finally realized it!”

  At that moment, the door to Jason’s office opened and all three of them moved into the room. Unfortunately, Prissy’s back was to Jason’s door. She couldn’t see the look of guilt that crossed Jason’s face, the faintest hint of crimson rising to Alex’s perfectly sculpted cheekbones, or the look of outrage on the gorgeous woman standing beside him.

  “Excuse me!” said the woman as she looped her arm through Alex’s. Prissy turned around as the woman held up her other hand, showing an engagement ring. She wiggled her finger to make it sparkle under the office lights. “I think it’s me you mean to congratulate.”

  Prissy froze and glanced at the ring, then back at her sister. “Oh God.”

  “Excuse me,” Angel said as she reached for her purse, surprised that she was able to move and recover so quickly from her initial shock. “I need to take an early lunch.”

  “Angel…” Prissy began, but then she trailed off, feeling her sister’s anguish all the way to the bone.

  She didn’t need pity, but she needed to get out of there before she burst into tears or worse, from the nausea that started to build, throw up. She couldn’t meet Alex’s gaze, although she could feel it on her face.

  “Take all the time you need.”

  She heard Jason’s voice follow her out the door, but she kept walking and didn’t acknowledge him.

  Prissy could practically see her sister’s heart break from the expression on her face, and she turned and walked up to Alex. “You bastard,” she snarled as she slapped him hard across the face. Something flashed in his eyes, but she was too angry to read it. Surprisingly, he said nothing, but he did give her a subtle nod as if to say ‘Yes, I am.’ Then she turned to the unknown woman and ran her gaze over her with open contempt. “Good luck,” she said scathingly before turning and leaving the building.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Angel spent most of the afternoon crying in the park. She didn’t care how chilly the air was, either. She wasn’t going back to work.

  She was a complete fool to think that a man such as Alex felt something for her. The noise of her cell phone ringing distracted her. It had been going off all day, and she knew it was either Jason, Margo, or her sister. It wouldn’t be Alex. He didn’t care about her, or how much he’d hurt her. He’d used her! He just stood there with that beautiful woman on his arm and didn’t say a word, as if nothing had happened between them.

  She wiped her eyes with her tissue. It had become saturated long ago, but she didn’t have another one. Alex was getting married. It felt as though her world had shattered. She hugged herself and bent forward at the pain that shot through her at that realization, and released another sob.

  It was late afternoon when she finally took out her phone and called her sister for a ride. Prissy was there in record time, and gave her a hug when she found her sitting on a bench in the park.

  “Do you want to talk about it, sis?” she said sympathetically.

  Angel shook her head. The concern Priscilla showed made her even more miserable. She appreciated it, but it just seemed to remind her of how horrible she felt.

  “I’m so sorry about that earlier. I thought he’d proposed to you. I mean, he seemed to really care about you. God, Angel, please forgive me,” she blurted out with a helpless look.

  Angel gave her a weak s
mile. “It’s not your fault. I should have known better than to fall in love with a man who could have any woman he wanted.” She released a shuddering breath, trying to hold back the new tears that threatened to fall. She was sure she didn’t have any left and was completely dehydrated, but the burning that prickled her eyes told her she was wrong.

  “I’d like to know where that woman came from, and why he jumped into marriage so quickly.”

  “I don’t want to know anything,” Angel said as she stood up. “I want to go home.”

  “Okay, sis,” her sister said with genuine compassion. “I won’t say another thing about it.”

  True to Prissy’s word, she didn’t utter another word about Alex. Angel shut herself up in her bedroom for the rest of the night, stating that she had a headache, which was true. She’d read that dehydration could do that to people.

  ***

  The next few weeks were horrible. Angel wanted to put everything behind her, but Reidsville was a small town and news about Alex’s engagement reached her constantly. Angel hadn’t realized how bad rumors could get until she began listening to them. People repeated stories of the woman being pregnant, love at first sight (because no one had seen her before, or so they claimed), or that Alex had always had her somewhere and only finally proposed to her. However, no one seemed to remember that he’d taken Angel to the Lavender Banquet, or that he’d been seen with Angel prior to that. She decided it was because their families had known each other for so long—people just chalked it up to them being friends.

  It was more than that, though.

  Angel had let him cross a barrier with her, and not one day went by that she didn’t miss him so much that her gut ached, her heart hurt, and her head throbbed. She cried herself to sleep every night. Never in her life had she thought that love could be so painful. Unfortunately, it was one sided, and that made it worse.

  Then she saw the child.

  She was running an errand for Jason and saw the ranch truck outside Sherri’s boutique. Alex was leaning against the front fender, smoking a cigarette. He hadn’t seen her yet, and he looked completely relaxed as he took a draw off his smoke. To Angel, he looked completely jaw-dropping handsome in that pose. She felt her heart tear anew as she looked at him, knowing he never thought much of her and was even marrying someone else. She’d thought he might care about her from the look on his face at work that day she found out, but love was out of the question. Obviously, he didn’t care much.

  Steeling her courage, she continued walking, refusing to let him see how he affected her. He straightened immediately and stared at her as she neared him. Try as she might, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.

  “Angel,” he said.

  She shook her head and started past him, but he tossed his cigarette on the sidewalk, reached out, and grabbed her arm. She pulled out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me, Alex,” she shot at him.

  “It isn’t what you think,” he told her.

  “You don’t know what I think.” She was surprised that she didn’t stutter from being on the verge of tears.

  “I didn’t make you any promises,” he said with an expression that revealed nothing.

  “No, you didn’t,” she admitted as her heart tore in two. That statement made him look over her head for a moment, and she swore she saw something akin to guilt in his hazel gaze before he focused back on her.

  “We should talk.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  “Angel, you need to give me a chance to explain.”

  “Explain…” she trailed off, gesturing with her hands and trying to ignore the prick of tears that threatened to fall. “Explain why you suddenly changed your mind about me.”

  “Not here,” he replied, looking past her for a moment.

  “Why the heck not? It’s as good a time as any, or—” This time, her voice did tremble. “—you could have told me you were engaged before we had sex,” she said in a subdued tone so a passersby wouldn’t hear her words.

  “We made love, Angel, there is a difference,” he corrected tersely. “You don’t know the difference, so don’t assume it was cheap. As for the engagement, it happened after we’d been together.”

  “And that’s why it was just sex. The fact that you—we—could do that, and you’d get engaged to another woman a week later. There isn’t a difference, Alex.” She turned to go, but he grabbed her arm and swung her back to face him. There was no mistaking the anger in his eyes.

  “There is,” he gritted out. “Lucy was unexpected. It’s been years since I last saw her.”

  “And your love was so strong that you jumped from my bed to hers,” she snapped back with equal anger. Alex released her suddenly as a shrill ‘Darling’ reached her ears.

  She turned to see Lucy and a boy of about seven or eight. He had black hair and green eyes, and facial features that were all too familiar. The realization hit her like a wrecking ball. Her eyes went from the child to the woman, and then finally to Alex. Oh God, he has a son with her! She didn’t realize that she was standing there with her mouth wide open until she heard Alex say her name. She swallowed hard as her eyes focused on his expression, and there was definite guilt present in it this time.

  No wonder! He had a son with this woman. Suddenly, she felt sick.

  “Excuse me,” Lucy said as she brushed past Angel as though she didn’t exist. “Alex, your cousin was delightful!” Then she finally turned to Angel. “Aren’t you that secretary?”

  “She’s a paralegal,” Alex corrected.

  “Isn’t that the same thing?” she said, gazing over Angel’s form and then grinning as if she knew Angel wasn’t a threat.

  “No, it isn’t,” Angel finally managed to say, sounding firm.

  “Oh?” Lucy fluttered her unbelievably long lashes at Alex, dismissing Angel again. “I’m exhausted, darling, would you be a dear and take Max and me home?” She put emphasis on the word home.

  Angel turned and walked away, ignoring Alex as he called her name again. She surprised herself by moving steadily, even though she felt like she was collapsing. All of her dreams had shattered in an instant. She’d wanted to be the one to bear his children, and now there was nothing left of her dreams. Whatever hope she had held onto was gone. Every excuse for why he wasn’t marrying her disintegrated. Just when she’d thought she couldn’t cry anymore, she surprised herself. Tears slipped from her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

  When she got home from work, her mother told her that Alex had called several times.

  “I don’t care,” she said, feeling the exact opposite. Why did he insist on torturing her?

  “Honey, maybe you should at least give him a chance to explain. He sounded very subdued.”

  “If you mean guilty, he should,” she said, climbing the stairs to her room.

  “Angel, you need to eat supper. I’m insisting on it tonight. Every night for the past few weeks, you’ve hidden in your room or moved about the house in another dimension.”

  “Mom, I’m a big girl, don’t worry,” she said as she stopped, turned, and looked down at her. “Put some leftovers in the fridge, and I’ll get them later.”

  “I know you are, Angel, but this is your first heartbreak.” Margaret hadn’t missed the puffiness around her daughter’s eyes, and knew she’d been crying again.

  Oh God, why couldn’t everyone leave her alone? “I’m fine,” she insisted, turning to go to her room.

  Later that night, she heard her parents arguing, and the door slammed soon afterwards. Curious, she got up to look out her window and saw her father get in the truck and tear out of the driveway. She leaned her forehead against the windowpane, wondering what had sparked such an argument. Her father would calm down. He always did when they’d argued before. He was a stubborn man, but her mother had him beat. He might have the temper, but she had staying power. Angel sometimes wished she was more like her mother and could stand up to her father as well. She wasn’t worried; her parents foug
ht sometimes, but they loved each other and always made up in the end.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, Maria responded to a brisk knock and opened the front door of the Harrison house. “Señor Stanford?”

  “Is Alex in?”

  “Si,” she answered, waving him in and closing the door. “I will tell him you’re here,” she said, pointing towards a room. “Please wait there.”

  George walked into the sitting room and stood waiting, his arms meeting behind his back and his legs set firmly apart. Some habits were hard for a military man to break.

  “George?” Alex walked in several minutes later and nodded at him. “What’s wrong? Is Angel okay?”

  George had always liked and respected Alex, but seeing his baby girl hurt so badly made him want to knock a few of his teeth out. “No, she’s not. She’s not eating. She won’t talk to her mother, and she hasn’t joined us for dinner since you two had a falling out. Then,” he added with anger, “I have to listen to her mother constantly telling me to fix it. So I came to the source.”

  Alex straightened himself to his full six-foot-four height and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He hadn’t been eating either. He was just as lovesick as Angel seemed to be, but he’d made a promise and he had to keep it. “What do you expect me to do, George? Tell her I love her? Do you want me to lie?” He just had. “Do you want me to come over there and hold her hand? I never made her any promises.”

  George stuck a finger out towards him. “You have no idea what it’s like to see your child hurting. Angel is a good girl. She doesn’t deserve this heartbreak!”

  “Everyone has to have a first heartbreak. Angel will get over it—”

  “What happened between you two?” he interrupted.

  “That’s none of your business, and you should know better than to ask,” Alex responded tersely. “She’s an adult—a woman. Maybe you should let her grow up a little.”