Page 21 of Rancher's Return

But it was like the words froze in her throat whenever she tried.

Before her brother’s death, her house had always been loud and fun, filled with Jason and his friends and their mom making food for everyone.

When he’d died, it had been so deathly quiet, and she hadn’t dared speak above a whisper. When she was home, she tried not to speak or feel anything. She went out and she partied and she made up for all that quiet then. And came home with her parents none the wiser.

Until she’d gotten pregnant, of course.

Then they’d all figured out how to speak again.

But it was about new life, not about death. About Lily and what was best for her and what Marigold could do to be a good mom, not about losing Jason.

They didn’t talk about their loss.

Marigold didn’t know how to, not with them.

“All right,” Buck said. “It’s an awfully small town, though.”

“I know. I will talk to them. I will. I just... I need to figure all this out.”

“Seems fair. And you have yourself an investor, Marigold Rivers.”

He stuck his hand out, and she really had to think about that. But then she took a breath and clasped his hand in hers. It was rough. Hotter than she had imagined it would be. And for some reason, it made her tremble. And maybe now wasn’t the best time to reflect on the fact that it had been nearly eighteen years since a man had had his hands on her body.

“You have a deal,” she said, breaking the handshake as quickly as possible.

They were already going into business together. She wasn’t going to muddy the waters by feeling attracted to Buck Carson.

There were lines. And this was one she was never going to cross.

Chapter Six

After the boys went to school the next morning, he contacted Marigold. “You ready to go down and make an offer?”

“Yes. I called a buyer’s agent this morning.”

“Perfect. We’ll go take a tour, and then we can put in a formal offer.”

“All right. I’ll meet you down there.”

“Sounds good.”

He felt a bit like he was having an out-of-body experience when he got into his truck and started driving toward Lone Rock. He had been here a month, and it was starting to feel okay that he was home. Starting to feel familiar. Starting to feel like home, but it was still complicated. Sometimes it was like being in a time warp. Other times it was like he had never been here before in his life. Like he was a stranger.

But he was very firmly rooted in the here and now when he pulled up and saw Marigold and the real estate agent already standing in front of the building.

Her hair was so bright, like radiant copper. He hadn’t realized just how guarded she’d been when she was talking to him, because there was an easy pleasantness on her face that he had not seen before as she looked at the other woman on the sidewalk.

He parked his truck against the curb across the street and got out. Instantly he saw the tension rise in her body, saw her shoulders go tight. The corners of her lips pulled taut.

“Hi.”

“Hello, I’m Louisa Ramirez.”

“Buck Carson.” He remembered what they had discussed, her desire that he be more of a silent partner. He looked at Marigold, but she didn’t seem bothered that he had introduced himself.

“I’m excited to show you that—” The phone rang, and Louisa looked down at her phone. “Just one second.”

“Sorry,” he said out of the corner of his mouth while Louisa took the call, turning away from them. “I know you wanted me to keep this on the down-low.”

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