Page 16 of A Forever Kind of Rancher

Something that made her feel, deep down, like maybe she’d deserved for Daniel to betray her.

The thought made her feel like she’d been stabbed.

She hadn’t realized she’d been holding on to that feeling. But she had been. Deep down.

She’d been attracted to Boone for years, and she’d done her best to avoid him. Not that avoidance had done anything to make the feelings go away.

She’d done her best to keep it hidden.

Maybe Daniel had known, though, that part of her had always been tangled up in Boone.

She needed to stop thinking about that.

Why did you come to him, then? Knowing it was this complicated, why did you choose this?

Because he’d offered.

That was all.

It was never all. It was never that simple with him.

She took a sharp breath. “I just want to make sure that I’m paying you back, because you’re being so kind to me and...”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she hated that. Now she was crying? What was happening to her?

Why couldn’t she just take what he’d offered, which had been work. And she’d been grateful he’d done it that way because if he’d just given her a place to stay it would have felt loaded, and like charity she couldn’t afford to take, and he hadn’t done that because he’d known. She knew he had known. That she couldn’t take his charity, that she had to earn this fresh start.

That she couldn’t feel like she owed him.

So why was she now falling into crying like it was a favor? Like it was personal.

They were both trying so hard to not make it that and now she’d gone and made it very, very weird, and she couldn’t stop her throat from tightening, couldn’t stop a tear from falling.

She hadn’t cried.

Not once.

She’d gone from rage to determination and she didn’t want to weep now. But it was the kindness of it all.

From a man she’d love to call just another rodeo cowboy.

A man she’d love to lump in with her husband.

But she just couldn’t do that.

“I need to know what you want,” she said, trying to get a handle on her emotions. Her breath. Everything. “Because you offered me work, and I do know how to keep house. Do you need a meal? Do you need something organized?”

“I just moved in, and there are a lot of things yet to unpack.”

But the little cottage was perfectly set up.

“I can do that if you don’t mind me deciding where things go.”

“As long as you tell me where they end up, I don’t mind.”

“Okay, so what do you like to eat?”

“If you want to make me dinner I won’t complain but do something you and the girls like and just make an extra portion.”

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