Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
No, he’s never actually said those words to me, I realize.
“It’s all a lie, isn’t it? You’re no journeyman ranch hand, getting by on a shoestring. You’re a billionaire. Your family’s land surrounds mine, and for years all you’ve people have ever done is torture others until they submitted to your will.” I point to Ranger’s brothers. “The McLaughlin brothers used to terrorize my father!” I drop my hand at my side. “And you’re one of them.”
I’m married to the enemy.
Suddenly, I can’t hold back as the hot tears spill down my face. What have I done? A loud sob escapes my lips as I run back into the house and slam the door in Ranger’s face. What is his real first name?
I realize that I’m not even sure.
I collapse in a heap on the entryway floor. The painful wail of my tears is the only sound in the surrounding emptiness of the house.
What have I done, what have I done, what have I done?
12
RANGER
I sit in my family’s living room at the Lazy M ranch, nursing a whiskey and wishing my dumbass brothers would shut up already. From my spot by the window, I can hear them in the kitchen, bothering our cook about dinner and recounting the day’s events. Including all about how I duped Darcy and married her just to get the farm deed. I tune out my brothers while I sip my drink and stare out the window.
Through the spotless glass windowpanes, the sun is setting on what has quickly proven to be the worst day of my life. I wish I could take it all back, I muse, lifting my glass to take another sip only to realize it’s empty.
I’m out. I reach for the crystal decanter and pour myself another generous serving of the expensive whiskey. The kind that goes down too smooth and costs a pretty penny. No point pretending I can’t afford a hundred more cases of it, I think bitterly as I take a long pull of my now full glass. Darcy knows who I am.
It’s the one thought that stands out among all the others and that has been replaying in my mind all afternoon, despite my efforts to drown it out with the alcohol. Because Darcy knows that I’m a McLaughlin, I no longer have to hide my wealth, my identity, or how I really feel for her. The problem is, I’m not entirely sure what that means anymore, I consider as I take another pull on the whiskey.
I love her.
The simple fact sneaks into my musings, and I growl slightly. And now I have to get her back.
I shake my head. No way in hell will she come back to me. I guess I have no right to be surprised by her reaction. Hell, I’d be pissed too because this is not how I wanted Darcy to find out about my family or me.
That’s the worst of it, I acknowledge. If I’d been able to tell her in my own good time, I could have explained it all, and helped her see what a beneficial thing this is.
“Shit,” I curse aloud. I wince as I think about how I pretended to be a poor cowboy with nothing to my name. On so many occasions, I wanted to just buy her a new tool or pay for a handyman, but the ruse had required I stay in character.
No diamond ring. It hurts to think about that especially. I’m not sure that Darcy ever really dreamed of a big wedding, but she certainly deserves some piece of jewelry. And instead she got nothing but a lie.
“Fuck!” I yell out loud and squeeze my eyes shut.
There’s so much I could have given her.
I open my eyes and go back to gazing out the window. I can’t see the Fields farm from here, but I know that a few acres beyond the rolling hills of the Lazy M Ranch is the Fields property. And Darcy.
I close my eyes again as I picture the humble little farmhouse, its fading paint, mismatched curtains, and carefully swept porch. I can see the neatly made beds and the tidy, sunny kitchen. I can almost smell a pie cooling on a windowsill or bread baking in the oven. I let my mind wander further and start to imagine what Darcy might be doing right this moment, but shake the thought away. I open my eyes and am disappointed to find myself in my family’s opulent home, instead of next to my wife.
I glance around the fancy living room. I can’t help but compare this place to the simple life I’ve been leading the last few months. I’m grateful for my family’s wealth, but as I look around our massive homestead, I can’t help but feel a twinge of sadness as I compare it to Darcy’s home.