Page 9 of A Forever Kind of Rancher

She pulled the truck up to the front of the house and turned the engine off.

Okay. It was just Boone.

And something about that made her feel every inch a liar.

There was no just Boone. There never had been.

He’d been a particularly problematic thorn in her side for years.

Mostly because...

Of one moment. A very clear and terrifying moment—the minute she had first seen him.

She and Daniel had only been married for two weeks. It had been a whirlwind romance, and she’d been head over heels, and pregnant far too quickly, so they’d had a shotgun wedding, though Wendy had never felt forced.

She’d wanted it. She’d wanted to secure that life. She hadn’t wanted to be a single mother. She’d found an easy man. A fun man. A happy man.

Her life had felt lacking in those things, growing up with scarcity was a feeling Wendy was very sensitive to.

Daniel had felt like excess. Excessive joy, excessive drinking, eating, happiness. She’d loved it. And when their love affair had had consequences...he’d been kind and he’d done the right thing.

He’d told her he loved her.

She’d said she loved him, because it was best if they did, and eventually she was sure she’d meant it.

And then she’d gone to the very first cowboy thing she’d ever done with him, and Boone had walked in, and it was like everything in the world had fallen away. Like something inside of her had whispered, This is him.

She had never in her life believed in the concept of the one. Ever. But right when Boone had come in, it was like the universe had whispered across her soul. That it was him.

She had never been so completely devastated by the impact of another person in all her life. He was ruinous. And glorious.

And the moment she had first seen him, she had wanted to not see him just as quickly.

Had wanted to go back to living a life where she had no idea Boone Carson existed in the world.

It was just easier if she didn’t know.

When she was married to another man. Pregnant with that man’s child.

She had told herself that all of it was silly. Boone was handsome, that was all. And she’d been surprised by the impact of him.

You didn’t expect to see a normal man like that just...out and about in the world. That was all.

She was very, very good at telling herself that story.

She loved Daniel.

She had loved Daniel.

Did she still love Daniel?

Right now, she felt hollow.

She loved her daughters. She knew that much.

She let out a long, slow breath.

That was going to have to be enough, because it was going to be the thing that was driving her now.

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