Page 13 of Savage Secrets

It could be a lie…but he hadn’t denied it either.

“I knew what I was getting into when I signed up to help.”

“Speaking of…we haven’t discussed your pay.”

He leveled her in his stare. And that stare edged as deep as a warm, buttered knife into her. “I didn’t ask for money, Opal.”

She sputtered and set aside her mug on the tray. “I can’t have you working for free.”

“It’s not free. You’re giving me a place to stay and three meals a day. Right?”

“Well…yes. But—”

He looked down at the black contents of his mug. “It’s enough.”

“How can it be? You must have expenses.”

“Nope. I own nothing. Owe no one. And the guys on the Gracey haven’t exactly been warm and welcoming, though Ledger doesn’t seem to have a bone to pick with me. It was time to go.”

A chill that had little to do with cool autumn weather walked up her spine. She picked up her coffee again to ward it off. “I’m sorry, Zach.”

A beat of silence passed, then he gulped down his coffee and set the empty cup on the tray. “The animals look like they’re in good shape. The older horse isn’t in the best of health, but I don’t think a vet could do anything for him.”

“I know my dad had the vet out here a few times before…” Tears flooded into her eyes. A salty lump lodged in her throat.

“I’m sorry too, Opal.” He stood and, without a word, walked down the steps. He crossed to the barn that also housed the small quarters serving as the Springvale’s bunkhouse.

Long after she went inside, questions whirled through Opal’s mind. About what happened to her dad. About whether or not Zach would be warm enough in the bunkhouse.

And why he hadn’t argued with Feldman about the accusation he made.

She curled up in the corner of the sofa with a blanket over her lap and her phone in hand. The internet made it easy to look into people’s backgrounds. While what she planned to do rubbed her wrong, shehadto know.

A quick search pulled up several results for Zach Webb.

And an arrest record.

Researching a man she actually trusted feltsowrong, but the more she read, the deeper she had to dive into his background.

Hehadbeen arrested. More than one time. There were a handful of bar fights and similar charges for disorderly conduct. Even assault.

Finally, she landed on the answer she was hoping never to find—he did a stint in prison for manslaughter after a man accidentally hit his head and died during an altercation.

Her breath hitched, and she released it in slow increments. So…the death wasn’t intentional.

Zach hadn’t meant for anyone to die.

He was out of prison just shy of five years now. That probably meant he was still on probation. No wonder she’d never seen him in the Badlands bar or any other in their small town of Eden.

She closed the website and set aside her phone. The sounds of the house were familiar to her and yet new. She hadn’t lived here for a number of years, but the hum of the refrigerator and ticking of the clock made her think of better times.

When she thought about Zach, and all the hardships he’d endured on the Gracey Ranch and in his darker past…none of that mattered to her.

She trusted him with the ranch. She trusted him with Rainie, which was more than she could say for most of the men she knew.

Ever since Rainie’s dad walked out on Opal when she was in labor, leaving her to have the baby alone and raise her too, Opal didn’t have much faith in the opposite sex.

But she wasn’t having babies with Zach—he was helping her out in her time of need.

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