Chapter One



Does a heart make a sound when it breaks?



Bowie Matthews didn’t know, but he knew the pain. Looking at this blonde lingerie model made that pain real for him again. Clearly, Governor Ted thought she was something he would be interested in. Obviously, the governor had planted a seed in her head that Bowie would be interested in her, because she sat next to him, wanting to talk. Bowie scowled at her.



“Miss, I don’t know why you are talking to me, but I’m not interested.” He could have cared less that he was rude. He tipped his black Stetson cowboy hat and left the fundraiser for Governor Teds re-election. He grumbled to himself about what a shitty day it had been. He hated people trying to set him up. He sat in his truck with his head on the steering wheel. The woman he wanted was two-thousand miles away.



*



Mira Horton sat across the table from her mother.



“I’m so happy you came home to visit.” Mira’s mother, Tia, vibrated in excitement. “So much has gone on here in the last ten years. We’ve missed you so much.”



Mira was smiling, but that’s not how she felt inside. Not after ten years in New York, living a lie, using a friend’s affluent family and claiming them as her own. She’d lived the city girl’s dream of eating at the best restaurants, wearing the trendiest fashions, being engaged to the up-and-coming super star attorney, Jason King. Now she was at her mother’s kitchen table, broke and broken. The laser-focused emerald glint she’d once had in her eyes was gone.



“Mira, you look so beautiful. Please tell me about New York.”



Mira couldn’t meet her mother’s gaze.



“What’s wrong, honey?” her mom asked with a questioning tilt of her head.



Mira sighed and dropped her shoulders. “Mom, I’m so ashamed.” Her voice cracked. “After I tell you about the ten last years, you might not want me here.”



“That’s not possible.”



“I spent every dime you sent me on society life. I met a man whom I thought was wonderful. I was living the city girl’s dream—until my lies were uncovered and Jason threw me out, leaving me with nothing. I had to sell Grandma’s ring just to get home.” She began to sob, tears streaming down her face. “I’m so alone. All I have to show for the last ten years is a suitcase full of clothes and shoes.”



“It’s okay, honey.” She embraced Mira in the kind of hug only a mom can give a hurting child. “It will all work out. Go lie down. We’ll talk later. I have to go to work at the library for a while, but I’ll come home early, and we’ll talk more.”



“Okay.” Mira nodded as her mom kissed her cheek and headed for the door.



Mira couldn’t sleep that night. She wandered the old house that had been in the family since her great, great grandfather had it built in 1866. Their homestead happened to be close enough to the Union Pacific Railroad that he’d been able to sell the land and build and stock a general store. That was where the town name Murphy came from. At one time, Murphy Horton owned all the land on which the town now sat. She walked around the house, which had been updated and added to many times over the years. It still had that 1860’s charm of exposed brick and wrought iron. She grinned as she touched the rough red brick on the fireplace.



 I love this old house. I can’t believe I forgot how much I missed it.



She felt like she was home, something she’d never been able to find in New York.



As she settled down, her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten since her flight from New York twelve hours before. The fear of what her mom would say had pained her and eating had never crossed her mind. Not that she could have bought something to eat even if she’d wanted to. She’d spent every penny she’d had on a prepaid phone and the plane ticket. She rummaged through the refrigerator and pantry and came out with a can of soup and crackers.



“Humph,” she groaned. Her mom always kept everything stocked to feed an army. She ate the soup and found her way upstairs to her childhood bedroom, falling asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.



*



 Bowie Matthews used his key and walked into 210 River Street, one of the many properties he owned in Murphy, Wyoming. Of everything he owned, he loved this house almost as much as the people who lived there. It was the first home built in town and had been pristinely maintained by four generations of Horton men.



Bowie dropped a folder embossed with the Matthews Enterprises logo on the table. He always made sure Rob and Tia had the most current insurance documents and power of attorney for the home. He was often gone. If something happened, he wanted them to be able get repairs handled quickly and at no out-of-pocket expense to them.  This home and the people who lived here rent-free were family to him. His father had been gone from his life since he was seven. Rob and Tia Horton were, in a way, his parents, since his mom had passed years before. He’d saved their family home out of love and respect for them. He felt indebted to Rob and Tia for keeping him moving forward after his mother passed.



The new living room carpet he’d installed for them caught his eye. Bowie toed off his boots and, cursing himself a masochist, walked into the living room.



I’m just going to inspect the carpet installation and leave.



 He muttered to himself as his feet hit the soft gray carpet.



 Bowie never even looked at the carpet. The picture sitting on the mantel of a green-eyed blonde in her cap and gown held his gaze. Feelings of love and anger swamped him. He owned this house because the blonde in the picture. Mira Horton went off to New York, leaving him holding an engagement ring. But what angered him the most was that her parents had lost everything because they’d spent their life savings sending her to college. Yes, the mill closing had left her father jobless, but she should have stepped up and handled her life like an adult, not a princess.



Just leave, dummy. You have tortured yourself enough over her.



Bowie exited the house and quickly mowed the lawn. He sat in his truck and looked into the second-story window where his one-and-only had slept when she was his. She belonged to someone else now. He imagined any day Rob would tell him she was married.  Shaking his head, he drove away, knowing he would dream of her that night.



*



Mira was startled awake the next morning by a lawn mower. She peered out the corner of the second-floor window. There was Bowie Matthews, mowing her parents’ lawn, his muscles rippling under the black t-shirt clinging to his body. Her heart and body were telling her to go to him, while her brain was saying, Just the lawn boy!



You are such a horrible person.



Mira dove back into bed and covered her head as he turned towards the window. She knew he wouldn’t be around long. Her heart yearned to go back ten years ago. Bowie would hold her in his massive arms. He was 6’5” and 250 pounds of pure muscle, with short black hair and piercing blue eyes. He loved her. She knew that as sure as she stood there. As sleep began to claim her again, she thought back to the Saturday before she’d left for New York and how she’d left things with him. He’d been so devastated that she’d almost stayed. But the thrill of New York wouldn’t let her stay in sleepy Murphy, Wyoming.



She walked into the living room and saw the folder that Bowie must have dropped off. She opened it and was stunned to find insurance paperwork showing Matthews Enterprises as the owner of the home. She knew Bowie bought up everything he could. But why did he own her parents’ house? They’d never had a mortgage. Her dad had inherited the home from her grandfather.



He did this to get even with me. She tossed the folder on the table with a groan.



She wanted to know why Bowie owned her parents’ house. She wanted to storm his fancy building and demand answers. Clearly, he wanted her family beholden to him, so he could have some control over her. Mira paced the kitchen, trying to figure how the lawn boy had gotten control of her parents’ home.



The sound of the door opening brought Mira’s gaze up to her father’s sad green eyes. Her anger with Bowie was forgotten by the shame she felt. Mira stood across from her dad, ready for a well-deserved tongue lashing for all her mistakes.



“Kid, I love you.” The words of a father were never truer.



Her dad hugged her and pulled out a chair from the table. He motioned for her to sit.



Mira sat in stunned silence.



He squeezed her hand. “You are hurting, and I get that. I don’t want to kick you while you’re down. Your little adventure cost your mother and me everything. We just barely get by now. You know you are welcome here as long as we have this roof and food. But you must contribute. Tomorrow, go find a job. Get your life under control.”



With tears streaming down her face, Mira nodded. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her pain echoing from her quiet voice.



Her mother squeezed her shoulder. “Let’s go get you unpacked. I’ll help you pick out an outfit for tomorrow.”



Mira nodded and headed upstairs.



Her mom gasped when Mira opened her suitcases and saw clothes like she had never seen before. All the big names were there--Gucci, Versace, Michael Kors.



“Mira, these are stunning.”



“Your life savings in two bags,” Mira sobbed.



“What happened?”



“He figured out I’m from humble means and was living a lie.”



“Okay, explain,” her mom said warily.





Mira sighed. “I met Jason in a club about two months after school had started. I was wearing a borrowed dress from my roommate, one that came from a Fifth Avenue department store. Jason recognized the maker, complimented me on it and we danced all night. From that point on we were basically inseparable. We dated for three years and got engaged when he finished law school.”



Her mom nodded. “I thought it seemed really fast that you fell in love with him so soon after Bowie.”



Mira bristled at the name but let it go. Now wasn’t the time to be asking why Bowie owned her parent’s home. “We were waiting to get married until he made partner at his father’s firm. It was taking longer than we expected. We were fighting a lot and I really began to miss home. I didn’t realize how cold New York was--not the weather, but the people and the buildings.”



Her mom nodded with a small smile. “Sweetie. You’re used to the simple life. You never liked to rush. I remember when you were a kid. You would have a crying fit if I was in a hurry shopping or at the library. You wanted to talk to people and take in the scenery.”



“I thought we were truly in love,” Mira said as she sniffed and wiped away tears. “I was sick for two weeks and Jason stayed in a hotel until he was sure I was better.”



“I didn’t realize he thought you were from New York.”



“Jason wanted to go on a Teton’s skiing experience. I slipped and commented that it was close to Murphy. That’s when everything changed. I lied to him and said my grandparents lived here, but he knew me. He saw my lie for what it was. He didn’t throw me out right away. Instead, he had me investigated. Then he confronted me in his office, with his father present. Jason said to leave anything of value he’d purchased for me. I could take my clothes and was to be gone when he got home. He didn’t even give me enough money to get a ticket. All I had was Grandma’s ring. I pawned it to get enough cash to get home. Mom, I’m so, sorry.”



Her mom pulled her into a hug and they cried together