Page 91 of The Cowboy's Second Chance Bride

He went to where his investors were standing, waiting for the ceremony to begin and to get their recognition. He signaled for the mayor to meet him at the ribbon, and his assistant ran up to hand him giant scissors. I stood to the middle, keeping his attention on me.

The mayor gave a speech thanking the Beck Group and its investors for bringing more jobs to the area with the new hotel and entertainment space. As if Vegas needed more of that. But this plan was different, apparently. The hotel would be more like a resort with excursions, a bubble for the rich to get lost in without having to hop from location to location. A lot of money had already gone into the project.

Everyone was beaming and congratulating themselves when Sabrina stepped out of the crowd. “Excuse me.” She had to say it a few times to get everyone’s attention. When she had it, she continued. “I’m sorry. I have a question. What happens if the Beck Group isn’t the rightful owner of this land?”

“That’s impossible. A title search is done before permits are handed out,” the mayor said.

“Except that I am the rightful owner of this land. I filed the paperwork today.” She handed the mayor a card. “This is the name of my lawyer. He can answer any questions you might have. And it’s very suspicious that permits would have been allowed, considering the Beck Group wasn’t the rightful owner. Makes me think shady things are going on in city hall.”

Sabrina stepped up to my dad and handed him what I knew to be a copy of the deed he had gifted her mom all those years ago. “My mother left this to me. She didn’t know its value, but my dad did. He made sure my ownership was all legit, with the proper paperwork in place. All that was left was for me to file with the city, which I did earlier today. My dad was very thorough. He was like that with his taxes too. Which was never the threat you thought it was. You lost, Mr. Beckett. You lost all those years ago with my mother, and you lose now.”

To the investors, she said, “I’m sorry about your financial loss.”

An older woman with gray hair, wearing a pantsuit, stepped out of the crowd and up to Dalton. “Mr. Beckett, consider yourself served.” Then she handed one to each of the investors.

“I’ll see you in court,” Sabrina said.

His response happened so fast that I was one second behind. I didn’t know why I hadn’t seen it coming. Sabrina had single-handedly brought the Beck Group to its knees with her lawsuit, though, she wouldn’t have had to do it had Dalton not been a crook.

He lunged at her. “You’re as stupid as your mother!” he raged as he grabbed her by the front of her shirt.

And my girl—well, she didn’t take shit from people. I’d taught her well, if I do say so myself.

“Take your hands off me, and step back,” she said.

But that just made Dalton pull her closer. “I will destroy you.”

She leaned in and grabbed his shoulders while shifting her weight onto her uninjured foot. She was quick as she delivered a knee to his groin, making him drop like a sack of potatoes. “You’re lucky I didn’t show you my right hook. But I am so tempted.” She pulled back her arm, preparing to take a swing.

I grabbed her around the waist and swung her away. “You got him, killer. Figuratively and literally. He can’t even breathe.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck and stretched up to kiss me. “Thank you for teaching me self-defense. You were right. I did have to put my hands on his shoulder.”

I kissed her back and let her slide down to the ground. “Ready to get out of here?”

“Let’s go home,” she said with a smile.

Nick moved to stand next to us, and with his phone held out in front of him, said to Dalton, “That’s considered assault, brother, putting your hands on a person like that. We all got it on video in case you question the accusation.” He patted Dalton on the head.

“Hey,” Sabrina said, grabbing Nick’s arm. “Come back with us. I think you’d like the ranch and possibly some of the people there.”

I took her hand and let her out of the crowd. “What did you mean when you said that to Nick?”

She tucked in close to me, putting more weight on me as she limped and smiled. “You’ll see.”

Epilogue

SABRINA

Two Years and a Few Months Later

The all-out decorations the town did for Christmas were my favorite, no matter how cold the actual temperature was, and the previous year, it had been really close to freezing. The ambience, the warm lights, the large, decorated tree, the carolers, the roasted chestnuts, and the hot chocolate warmed even the coldest person. I knew this because Kathy Weyman was laughing and smiling—as she did every year. That was the magic of it.

Of course, having a steady job and warm place to live had gone a long way toward helping her too. That had been all Fort and Cricket’s doing. They’d seen a town member in pain and offered to help. Kathy accepting it had been the first step. Letting go of grudges had been the second. She’d been happy to go on a morning talk show and admit how Cal’s dad, via Jonathon Smith, had paid her to provoke me.

All of us had been letting go of the ugly. Morgan’s divorce from Dalton had been finalized a few weeks earlier, and she was glad it was behind her. Dalton’s greedy reach for the ranch had proven unsuccessful. As had his fight against me and the land deed. Bribing a city official and banking that the land deed he’d gifted my mom had died with her had been a dumb gamble. Just because she’d died young didn’t mean she hadn’t had a will that had left the land to me. Dad had told me about it in his will, but in my grief, I’d forgotten, only to be reminded when the fire happened.

Funny that. Had Dalton been less controlling or greedy, he might still have his company—not be bankrupt—and be the owner of a resort. Who knew when I would have found the paperwork in that box?

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