Читать книгу Mr Right? - Stella Bagwell - Страница 8

Chapter Four

Later that evening, before it was time to meet Marshall, Mia sat on the bed in her cabin and slowly sifted through the stack of photos in her hand. She wasn’t at all sure why she’d packed the snapshots when she’d left Colorado.

Maybe she’d brought them along as a reminder of all she’d left behind. The photos were the only images she had of herself with her birth mother. They’d been taken during Mia’s twenty-sixth birthday party, which had been held at Janelle’s lavish home.

A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. She still couldn’t think of the mansion in Denver as her home. But for nearly two years Mia had lived there with her birth mother. During that time she’d tried to fit into Janelle’s rich social life and accustom herself to the role of an heiress. All of which had been a drastic change for the young woman who until then had been struggling to work her way through school.

With a sigh, Mia stared at the snapshot in front of her. No one could mistake the identity of the tall woman with her arm draped affectionately around Mia’s shoulders. She was almost the mirror image of Mia, only older. One minute Mia had been a young woman in nursing school who longed for the safe and secure home she’d had when her father had still been alive and working their potato farm, a young woman on a long and seemingly fruitless search for her birth mother. The next minute she’d not only found Janelle Josephson but she also discovered the woman was unbelievably rich. After that, Mia and her adopted mother’s life had taken a drastic turn.

For years Mia had hunted her birth mother and for just as many years Nina had tried to dissuade her from the search, insisting that Mia’s birth mother didn’t want to be found. But Mia had felt driven to find the woman who’d signed her baby girl over to a stranger.

In the end, both Janelle and Mia had been shocked at the occurrences that had separated mother and daughter. Controlling parents had led a teenage Janelle to believe her baby was stillborn. She’d had no idea that her daughter was alive and searching for her. As for Mia, it was difficult for her to absorb the fact that she had a wealthy mother, one who seemingly loved her and was only too happy to lavish her with all the treasures and resources that money could buy.

What happens when a person goes from poverty to riches? Mia was a good example of that age-old question. Suddenly she could have any material thing she wanted, but none of it had made her happy.

For a moment the turmoil in Mia’s heart brought a stinging mist to her eyes. But then she determinedly pressed her lips together and shoved the photos in the nightstand drawer.

Right now she needed to put her troubled reflections away and put on the cheeriest face she could muster. It was almost time for her to walk down to the lodge and meet Dr. Cates. And she wanted to give the jovial, flirty doctor the impression that she was just as carefree and happy as he.

Minutes later, Mia walked into the lounge and spotted her date sitting on the end of a plush leather couch. He was focusing intently on the BlackBerry in his hand and for a brief moment Mia paused to study his sexy image.

Even after she’d become an heiress, she’d never dreamed a man of his stature would show interest in her. But she realized that if the doctor knew the real truth of her past, he wouldn’t be sitting here waiting to have an evening with her.

Tonight, however, she wasn’t going to dwell on that, she wanted to have fun and see if she could remember how to enjoy herself on a simple date.

Mia was walking across the lounge and had almost reached the couch where he was sitting, when he happened to look up and spot her approach.