The Rancher's Redemption

“Are you okay?”

She shook her head, aware of the heat of a tear trickling down her cheek.

“Did Adam . . . hurt you?” He cleared his throat. “I heard you two guys fighting.”

“No. He just broke my heart.” Lizzie dissolved into wrenching sobs. “Can you take me home, Ben? Please?”

* * *

It took a long time for Adam to stumble to his feet, wash his face in the bathroom, and get some clothes on. He walked out into the kitchen, expecting Lizzie to be sitting there, but there was no sign of her. He checked the other rooms, his fear rising as he searched for her. Her car was at the Cortez ranch and she had no other way of getting home.

Had she taken a horse? He couldn’t imagine her doing so, but she’d been desperate to get away from him, and who could blame her? For the first time in his life he’d fricking lost it big-time. He put on his boots, grabbed his jacket, and headed out toward the barn, his steps slowing as a truck came up the ranch drive.

He waited until it came to a stop, and then walked over as Ben got out of the driver’s side to face him.

“She was walking home,” Ben said abruptly. “I picked her up and made sure she got there safely.”

“Thanks. I . . .” Adam shoved a hand through his disordered hair.

“She was sobbing so hard, I had to put her key in the door and help her up the stairs. What the hell did you do to her?”

Like Adam, Ben rarely lost his temper, but he was obviously spoiling for a fight now. “What’s wrong with you, Adam? Why do you have to destroy everything good in your life? Like how dare you be happy, and have someone who loves you?”

“It’s not—” Adam didn’t even know why he was bothering to interrupt. He had nothing useful to say.

Ben shook his head. “Do you know how lucky you are to have been loved twice? Have you any idea how much I’d like a woman to look at me the way Louisa looked at you, how Lizzie does?”

“It’s not that simple.” Adam stumbled over the words, but Ben still wasn’t done.

“I remember when Lizzie brought you home after Louisa’s funeral, soaked to the skin, covered in mud, Dad’s pistol in your pocket. She practically goddamn carried you up here. She was exhausted, and scared, and so desperate for you to live that she would’ve done anything for you.”

Adam winced. “She did.”

“And this is how you repay her?” Ben snapped. “Years of silence because you’re too much of a coward to say thanks for saving my life? Finally getting with her only to ditch her again because she’s not your sainted Louisa?”

Adam looked away from his brother’s furious gaze. There was so much he wanted to say, but the words were ashes in his mouth. How could he defend himself when Ben was right about so many things?

He could only repeat himself like a fool. “It’s not that simple.”

“Yeah, it is. But you’re just like Dad, Adam, too damned stubborn to realize it.”

Ben slammed the driver’s door before heading for the house without another word or a backward glance. Adam could only watch him leave.

Chapter Twenty-One

The silence in her apartment was the only thing that mattered right now. On her return from the ranch, Lizzie had crawled into bed and stayed there, curled up in a ball of hurt so visceral that she’d been afraid to move in case she shattered. When it became too light to ignore the fact that she was going to be late for work, she managed to send a text to Yvonne pleading illness, and went back to sleep.

When she woke up properly the second time, it was the next day, and she had to get up to pee. One look in the bathroom mirror was enough to confirm that her makeup was all over her face, and that her eyes were puffed up from crying so hard. She took a shower and put on her pajamas, stuffing the dress she’d worn with such anticipation over to Adam’s place into the laundry basket to deal with later. Not that she’d ever be able to wear it again.

She moved slowly, as if someone had physically hurt her, wincing at the brightness of the sun, and craving cold water and coffee in equal measures. When she checked her phone, there was a message from her mom with an attached picture of Roman whizzing around in a teacup and grinning, which almost made her cry. She focused on his face. He was the most important thing in her life. Nothing else mattered except keeping him safe.