Page 63 of Forbidden Rancher's Return

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"You think standing next to her changes what this ranch is worth. What it costs to run." He shakes his head. "You've beengone eight years, Cade. You don't know what this mountain does to people who try to hold on too long."

"I know what it does to people who try to take what isn't theirs."

The words land flat and final.

Halford holds my gaze for one long moment. Then he nods at the deputy.

"You know where to find me," he says to the room. To no one in particular.

He walks out. The door closes.

The air in the room shifts. Lighter. Like a pressure that's been building for weeks just dropped by a fraction.

Beck exhales from the wall. "Well."

"Yes," I say.

Calla's hand finds mine at my side. Her fingers lace through mine. Firm, unhesitating, in full view of Deputy Marsh and anyone else watching.

"You okay," I say quietly?

"Yes."

"No."

"I will be."

The most honest answer she's given to that question in years. Maybe ever.

I squeeze her hand once.

She squeezes back.

The sheriff reappears in his doorway.

"I'll have a deputy drive past your ridge road twice a day until Thursday. After the investigator's report comes back." He pauses. "If it says what we think it says, Harlan Grayson is going to have a very difficult month."

"Thank you, Tom," Calla says.

"That's what this office is for." He looks at me briefly. "Good to have you back on the ridge, Rowan."

"Thank you, sir."

We walk out into the cold morning together.

The street is quieter than yesterday. But I feel the watching. Curtains, doorways, and the cafe window. The whole town tracking the three of us crossing the sidewalk back to the truck.

Let them watch.

Calla looks up at me as I open the passenger door.

"You said you weren't a hired hand," she says.

"No."

"What are you then."

I hold her gaze. "Whatever you need me to be."

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