Page 102 of On His Ranch

“It’s the shirt.” He grinned at her.

She returned the smile. “No, not just that. Something else. Did something… happen?”

“Yeah, you could say that, I guess.”

“You planning on telling me, or should I guess?”

Chase leaned forward, his expression solemn. “It’s been three weeks.”

Piper gave him a weird look. “I know that.”

“It’s been three weeks, and I can’t stop thinkin’ about you.” His eyes were earnest as he continued. “I’ve been in a few relationships, you know that. The last one… it really messed me up, Piper.”

She reached forward and surprised them both by taking his hand, giving it a squeeze. “Go on.”

“Well… I won’t get into everythin’, mostly because it doesn’t matter. It’s been a long time—a year or more.”

She nodded encouragingly.

“But suffice it to say, there was this girl. She was beautiful, and I was lonely, even though I hadn’t realized it at the time. And lookin’ back, I can see she just told me the things I wanted to hear, but see, I believed it at the time. I fell hard. I was so stupid,” he scoffed.

“I bet you weren’t. You’re the smartest person I know.”

“I ‘preciate you sayin’ that, but in this case, I was stupid. Believe me. Everyone tried to tell me—my ma, Senior, they all said somethin’ was off, that she seemed too good to be true. But I didn’t wanna listen. Things moved pretty fast.”

She squeezed his hand again, forcing herself to listen when really all she wanted to do was ask: how fast, how far, how serious had they been? Forcing the green-eyed monster back down, she said, “I’m listening. You can tell me anything.”

“It’s not somethin’ I talk about a lot,” he admitted.

And that’s when it hit her. She knew what was different. Chase—her big, strong rancher daddy—wasvulnerable. It was all over his face, his softened tone. And it was all because of this girl—whoever she was.

“Because… because you still have feelings for her?” Piper asked, hating the way the question made her feel. Because if he did, she didn’t know what that would do to her. So much for not caring.

“No, I got overherpretty quick. Maybe I wasn’t as in love as I’d thought, or maybe it was because I saw her for the lyin’, connivin’ bitch she was.”

Piper drew her breath in sharply, unsure of which bothered her more: that he’d thought he’d been in love with another woman, or hearing that someone had played him.

He bent down and kissed her hand, hard. “I’m sorry. I shouldna said that, no matter how mad she makes me. You deserve better’n that.”

Her heart did a somersault in her chest. “No, um… it’s okay. Go ahead.”

“Well, anyway, one day I found her rifling around in the barn.” His eyes sparkled at her.

Piper was quick to take the bait. “Ah,thatexplains why you’re so sensitive about the barn.”

“I guess it does. Anyway, she explained it away and I believed her. Next thing I know, one of the cows gets sick, which made for an expensive vet visit. While I was busy with that, some of the papers in my office go missin’.”

She gasped at the sheer audacity of it. She couldn’t imagine anyone being gutsy enough to dare when it came to Chase. “Why would she do that?”

He shrugged, and the old, familiar cynical look was back in place. “Because she didn’t love me. She never had. She was a spy, paid to come and get whatever info she could on Whitfield Ranch.”

“But… butwhy?”

“We’ve had offers to buy us out for years. Long before I took over. Senior never wanted to move, and God willin’, never will. And I wanted to take it over, to make it my life’s work. But when I took over, I dunno. I guess those people sensed a weakness, because ever since, weird stuff has been happenin’ at the ranch.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well, as it turns out, that cop that came out got a lead. They were able to piece it together and track it to Maisel Farms, a family that’s been after our ranch for a decade or more. Carolyn—that’s her name—turns out, she’s the sister of the men who’ve been makin’ offers to Senior for years.”

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