Page 2 of Forbidden Rancher's Return
The word drops into the barn like a stone.
Working. As if he's always been here. As if the last time I saw him wasn't a memory that still tastes like river water and fear.
I step inside. Hay dust drifts in the light. The horses don't care who's feeding them.
"What are you doing in my barn."
Not a question. A warning.
Rowan turns back to the bale. He tears a flake loose with both hands and sets it into the feed trough like the horses are the only creatures here that deserve an explanation.
"Feeding."
"I have ranch hands for that."
"Not enough hands."
I swallow.
The farm is mine because my daddy willed it to me before the cancer took the rest of his breath.
He made sure the land stayed under my name. Iron-clad and stubborn, the way he lived.
Half the developers in the state would cut off a hand for this ridge. I've turned down seven figures twice and never lost sleep over it.
He also made sure Rowan Cade stayed off it.
That was the last order my father ever gave.
Rowan ignores it the way men ignore storms when they think they can stand in the rain and win.
"You don't get to just show up."
His shoulders shift. He sets another flake down, then faces me again.
"You don't get to keep pretending I never existed."
The words sting. Not because they're cruel. Because they're true.
I keep my expression still. I've practiced still since the day my daddy died and the whole town watched me bury him like they were waiting to see if I'd crack.
"I didn't ask you to come back."
Rowan's gaze drops to my mouth. Just for a beat. Just long enough that I feel it low in my stomach.
Then his eyes lift again.
"You didn't have to."
He walks past me. Close enough that the heat of him brushes my arm.
Not touching. Worse. Like he knows I'll feel it anyway.
He grabs a length of rope from the hook and checks the knot with quick hands. The pocketknife comes out again. A clean slice through frayed rope. Blade open, then folded shut.
He works the way he always has. Like his hands already know the answer and the rest of him is just keeping up.
My eyes track it like they can't help it.
