She knew she needed to get out, but sometimes that’s easier said than done when there are little hearts involved, there’s no money, other people are depending on you for their job and income, and investors want to see a return on their investment.

To make matters worse, Sean didn’t hide why he stopped being nice to her. She’d known almost to the minute the affair started. It wasn’t hard. The woman worked in their office. They didn’t hide it, but flaunted it in front of her. Sean left the office early with her, took her out to dinner and to exotic places for long weekends. She’d seen the bank and credit card statements documenting their affair. And all the extravagant gifts he bought her.

The expensive jewelry hurt her the most.

Trivial, yes. But it broke her heart to realize she’d been used to build the business he’d wanted but couldn’t pull off because he didn’t have the stamina to do the actual work.

It took her far longer than it should have to realize he’d never loved her. He’d simply needed her drive and talent to succeed.

Sean got caught up in his own ego and thinking the company would be the next big Silicon Valley success. But without her, it would have all come crashing down around him. His mistake was in thinking the woman who only wanted to be loved would do anything to get it from him.

She had more pride and self-worth than that, even if Sean had stomped all over them.

She’d worked hard to earn her degree and change her life.

She’d never settle for anything less than real ever again. She wouldn’t settle for a man who wanted everything from her and gave nothing in return.

Sarah ran her hands over the music box, pulled it to her chest, and thought of Luke, a man who said “thank you” and “I’m sorry” with his heart.

Chapter Sixteen

Time was passing too quickly on Sarah’s visit, and though there were still four weeks to go, Luke had no idea what he was going to do when she left. The ranch was his dream and he was finally living it. He didn’t know what he’d do if they couldn’t work out some way to see each other. Hell, he didn’t even know if she wanted to be with him. But the long drive back and forth from Carmel to Silicon Valley wouldn’t be easy for the long haul. He’d tried that in the past and failed. Plus, with the hours she worked and needing to be home with her kids, he feared they’d become some weekend thing.

And for the first time, he wanted more.

Maybe he could convince her to stay at the ranch and work from there. With technology today, she could probably do her work from anywhere. Despite what she said about needing to be at the office, if she’d just admit it, she didn’t have any real trouble working from Margaret’s.