Page 10 of Deceit & Desire

I gently gripped her wrist and pried her jabbing finger away from my chest, holding her hand at a safe distance as I stared down at her, trying to feel out exactly how far she was willing to take the things she’d just said to her father in that hospital room.

Damn her, and damn the years she spent in the business world developing such a good, unreadable poker face. She was easy enough to read when I had her off-balance, but now? Now I might be in over my head because she’s on total lockdown, and I have no idea what she’s thinking.

Zoe shook her head and arched a brow at me. “I’m thinking clearer than I have in years. I’ll do whatever it takes to make my daddy as happy as he was when he spotted your ring on my finger.”

I gritted my teeth, then huffed out a frustrated sigh. “Pretend I’m a dumb as dirt cowboy and spell out whatever it is you’re trying to say to me.”

Zoe’s lip curled in a near-feral snarl. “You think you’re the only one who’s willing to cross lines to save your ass and my family’s ranch? Think again.”

My hands shook and my heart pounded so hard I could hear my pulse roaring in my ears. “Spit it out, Zoe. Tell me what you really mean.”

Zoe gestured to the engagement ring on her finger. “If my father is dying of lung cancer and, God forbid, potentially refusing any treatment for it, I want him to die happy, knowing that we’re together and the ranch is in the best possible hands.”

Just like that, she knocked the wind out of me, and I couldn’t think straight, much less breathe. “I’m fine with your father knowing the ranch is in expert hands between the two of us, but I don’t want to lie to him about the reality of our relationship, not after everything he’s done for me.”

Zoe’s spine snapped ramrod-straight, and she locked gazes with me, her green eyes blazing with determination. “I’ll marry you for real, if that’s what it takes to put my father’s mind at ease and safeguard Twisted Creek.”

“I beg your pardon?” The elevator spun around us and I went light-headed.

Surely I didn’t just hear what I thought I heard?

My heartbeat turned erratic, and I struggled to keep my breathing calm and even. If she really meant it—and I was pretty damn sure she didn’t because how could she possibly mean it—it was a better opportunity than anything I dared to hope for when she told me she was coming home to check on her father after I told her he’d collapsed.

Zoe gave me a grim, decisive little pat on the back. “You wanted a fiancee? Well, congratulations, buddy, because I’ll do you one better than that. You’ve got yourself a wife, but Daddy can never know the truth, Roman. Not ever.”

The elevator doors slid open, and Zoe strode out into the hospital lobby like she hadn’t just dropped a bomb on me that I would never have seen coming in a million years.

She doesn’t mean it. She can’t. She’s just freaking out about her dad being sick, and as much as I’d love to just take what she said and run with it, I’m not sure I can.

It took the elevator doors almost closing with me still staring after her to shake me out of my thoughts. I jabbed the door open button, then jogged to catch up with her as she strode across the parking lot toward my truck. Too stunned to even begin to analyze what just happened, I beeped the truck un-locked and climbed in behind the wheel.

Zoe chewed on her bottom lip for a second and gave me some hardcore side-eye. “So, did you just suddenly lose the power of speech, or what?”

I shrugged and cranked the truck over. “I’m just thinking. That’s all.”

Zoe just nodded and stared out the window as we left Bozeman behind and headed for Twisted Creek Ranch in Blackwell. As we approached the outskirts of Blackwell, the sinking sun bathed the rugged Montana landscape and the distant mountains in a blazing orange glow that made it look like the entire world was burning down around us.

Neither of us made an effort to speak as we drove through Blackwell’s familiar streets, aiming for Twisted Creek Ranch a good way beyond the edge of town.

As we approached Tanner’s Hollow Farm—the small farm next door to Twisted Creek Ranch—Zoe sucked in a gasp, going rigid as all the color drained from her face. “Oh my God, that poor horse. I’m going to be sick.”

I slowed the truck, following her line of sight to where a man in khaki pants and a polo shirt stood, violently whipping a malnourished buckskin colt that was hitched to a fencepost by its reins.

It can’t get away from him.

White-hot rage boiled my blood as I pulled the truck off onto the shoulder and slammed it in park.

“Stay in the truck, baby. I’ve gotta see a man about a horse.” I growled the words through gritted teeth. “My Glock is in the glove box if you need it.”

Zoe’s face crumpled with horror and rage, but she gave a jerky nod, hot tears leaking down her cheeks as she stared out the window, apparently unable to look away from the sorry piece of shit whipping the horse.

“What are you going to do?” Zoe’s voice was hoarse, as if it pained her to speak.

I cracked my knuckles and shrugged. “I’m going to make him stop beating that horse, one way or another.”

Zoe bit her lip. “I’d tell you to be careful, but judging by that look in your eyes, I don’t think you’re the one who needs a warning.”

I barked out a dark chuckle, shaking my head as I shoved the truck door open and hopped out, slamming it shut behind me.

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