Page 65 of A Montana Fake Marriage

“The lawyer handling the inheritance has agreed to draft a post nuptial agreement. He said he can have it to us by Monday.”

Again, she nodded, not trusting her voice. This was actually happening. He hadn’t been bluffing.Tell him!the desperate voice in her head screamed.Tell him you love him and you don’t want the money.

But the words didn’t come.

“I called a divorce attorney. He’s not the same guy dealing with your inheritance. Looks like we can get some paperwork drawn up, and you can sign it after your money is released to you.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers after avoiding her gaze for that statement. “Then you can do whatever you want to. You don’t have to keep being a ranch hand.” The wry smile made her heart break even more. How was that even possible?

The dams burst at that moment.

Tears streamed down her face, and a sob escaped her body.

She didn’t even have the strength to push Caleb away when he pulled her into his strong arms. His hand traced down her back, warm, comforting, and familiar. Her whole body shook with sobs, though she wouldn’t be able to confess why this decision was so heartbreaking to her.

Not to Caleb, at least.

How would that look?

To have accused him of something only to wish she could have taken it back so soon? He deserved so much better than she had to offer.

“I’ll aways be here for you, Sammie. I want you to know that.” His voice was quiet, but he managed to lodge his words in her heart and her head.

Sammie pulled away from him then, pushing past him as she wiped at her face, unwilling to look at him. “Yeah, I know. You always have.” Even to her, that voice sounded void of feeling. “Goodnight, Caleb.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Why did he feel so…lost?

Years.

Caleb had been friends with Sammie for years, and suddenly it felt like he’d lost hold of even that. It didn’t matter that he told her he’d be there for her. Nor did it matter that he told himself he wouldn’t abandon her.

He knew better.

Caleb got one look at her when she entered the bedroom the other night, and all he wanted to do was pull her into a body-crushing embrace. He’d craved her touch, and fighting that craving had nearly done him in.

Then she’d cried.

Those tears ripped right through him, shredding his resolve. In that moment, he’d wanted so badly to tell her he didn’t care how she felt about him, he was going to keep her all to himself. He’d nearly offered anything just to get her to stop crying.

But he didn’t.

Caleb had held her close, rubbed her back, and whispered that they’d be okay. They’d come out of bad situations before.

Only this time, the bad situation was breaking his heart more than anything else.

He hadn’t told his parents what happened. They’d asked. His father had brought it up several times already. His mother was concerned.

A divorce? Didn’t he want to wait? To think things over before he let go of the woman he loved?

Of course he did! That was the problem. He’d let himself get so deep into the throes of love with the woman that he couldn’t think straight. But she didn’t love him. She’d made that perfectly clear as far as he was concerned. She’d gone against him in every sense of the word. She’d reached out to her father, she’d let him weasel into her mind and her heart. And she’d lost faith in him.

If she’d loved him, nothing like that would have been so easy.

Caleb grunted as he threw his back into using the fence post driver. He’d intentionally chosen to help the wranglers today—the guys who needed to repair some of the fence that sat between them and the property to the north. The last thing he wanted was for their cattle to get out and graze on something that would put his project at risk.

He was still monitoring the feed he’d given them and all the other animals he was working with. If anything got compromised, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to mentally handle it.

There were two other guys working with him. He wasn’t sure of their names, but he didn’t care to. Sweat beaded his brow as hehammered down the fence post again. After he was done, the guys would come over and put the wire where it belonged.

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