Chapter 5

Thomas looked on as Mia tried to get friendly with the man, a trait he had never seen in her before. She liked to keep to herself and barely tolerated conversations with others. Thomas hadn’t minded that as she was the village belle, and she could be picky as she wanted to be. 

He loved how he was part of the small circle she talked with in the village and how the other men envied him for that. He continued to stare at the two of them. Though he could not hear what they said, he could see him smiling at whatever she had said, and he growled. Mia could be charming if she wanted to, and it killed him to watch a man getting the smile he had longed for years without working for it. It hurt his ego that a mere stranger won Mia’s heart while he had been struggling to even have an inch of it for years.

He needed no clue that she liked him. The food she set before him was too much for what would have been served as lunch, and he looked around to confirm his suspicion. He wa