Page 40 of Promised to the Cowboy

I don’t know exactly when that happened. Maybe it started the first night I saw her. Maybe it happened a little at a time. I just know it’s true.

I don’t just want to be our little girl’s father.

I want to wake up beside Evie every morning for the rest of my life.

I want her muddy boots by my front door.

I want Captain Winky whinnying when he hears her voice.

I want our daughter to grow up believing this ranch has always been her home.

Most of all...

I want Evie to choose me.

Not because of our daughter. Because somewhere along the way, she decided I was worth choosing.

Ethan catches me alone that afternoon outside the barn.

He’s wearing his glasses and that flat expression he gets when every part of him has gone operational. He glances toward the house before he speaks.

“Marlon Ennis is dead.”

The words stop me cold. “What?”

“One of Sheriff Lucas’s deputies found his truck off a county road north of Helena this morning.” Ethan keeps his voice low. “Marlon was inside.”

“Accident?”

“No.”

One word. Certain.

“What happened?”

“I don’t have the full report yet. What we do know is that Marlon disappeared before Jenna named him as the likely local source feeding LandCorp information.” Ethan’s jaw tightens. “Now he turns up dead before anyone can question him.”

“Meaning somebody knew we were looking at him.”

“Or Marlon knew the net was tightening and tried to bargain with the wrong person.”

Neither option sits well.

I think of the bank manager behind his polished desk. Wire glasses. Careful smile. The man who held the future of both Stoneridge and Havenridge in one hand while quietly passing information to the people trying to take it.

“You think they killed him to keep him quiet.”

“I think Marlon knew names.” Ethan pushes his glasses higher up his nose. “Accounts. Shell companies. Who authorized what. Enough to hurt somebody sitting a long way above Vance.”

“Vance is in federal custody.”

“Exactly.” His eyes harden. “And LandCorp’s still moving money.”

My skin prickles. “What does Daniel say?”

“That we stop treating this like we have time.” Ethan looks toward Havenridge, though the other ranch is miles beyond the hills. “Both families. Tomorrow. Everyone gets the full picture.”

The last time we gathered both branches, Jenna stood in front of us with a flash drive and proved that the offers, fires, poisoning, and forged land documents all led back to LandCorp.