Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
She swipes at her face as she enters the house, and it kills me to see the tear tracks. I want to give her the kind of life where all she ever cries are happy tears. Right here and now, I resolve that our marriage will be the good kind. I’ll make sure she has dozens of reasons to smile every day. The boys too.
“Can I use your bathroom?”
“First door on the left,” I tell her just as my phone rings. Pretty sure it’s Nick Taylor. He’s the only one who’d be calling me so late.
“What do you have?” I bark at him as soon as she’s closed the bathroom door. Still, I keep my voice pitched low. I don’t want her overhearing this conversation.
“They’re not getting a prenup.” His voice is grim so I can only assume this means something bad.
“A what?” I mutter. “Speak country.”
He clears his throat. “Prenup means when you and your girl get hitched, you have a written agreement that her assets remain hers and your assets remain yours. It’s what the rich do when they want to hedge their bets for a divorce.”
“What the fuck? They actually agree to that bullshit?” Sounds plumb crazy to me. When I marry Maisy, won’t be a thing of mine that isn’t hers. It’s just what a man does. He gives everything to protect and provide for his woman.
“He’s worth millions. No reason for him not to divide the assets unless she has something he wants.”
I wrack my brain. She’s beautiful, no doubt about that. But for the money he’s worth, he could have dozens of women on his arm. The types that like them fancy restaurants and diamonds. Not a farm girl with dirt under her nails and a heart of gold. That’s when it hits me. “He wants her farm.”
“Seems he and Daddy cooked up a little plan. That land is prime real estate for Courage County’s very first mall. They’re already courting investors and actin’ like the whole thing is a done deal.”
“Fuck me,” I mutter. I knew Tristan had to be up to something, but this is devious even for him. That’s when another thought occurs to me. “Why not just wait? Place is already in foreclosure.”
“My guess would be they don’t want to tip their hand. Place goes into foreclosure and it goes to auction. Everyone round here knows that Tristan and his daddy aren’t farmers. Me and the boys would band together to outbid him on it. We’d even drag in the Scotts and go in half on the land if we had to keep it from him.”
The thought of Tristan being outbid makes me smile. He might be a snake but the ranchers and cowboys of Courage wouldn’t stand by and let him take what’s ours just so he can turn our beloved town into the next big city.
“Listen,” Nick says. “Whatever it takes, don’t let her walk down that aisle tomorrow. She’ll be in a world of heartache if she does.”
I can almost hear him sweet-talking her into putting his name on the deed too. He’ll probably wait a few months, give her the perfect little marriage, tell her that he wants to make sure the farm’s legacy is safe should something ever happen to her. She’ll agree for the sake of the boys. Course she will. She’ll be thinking that she’s keeping the place in the family. The rotten bastard.
“Over my dead body,” I agree, conviction ringing in my tone. I’m not letting what she thinks is her salvation turn into a nightmare. My heart twists as I think about her boys. Kids already been through the foster system, the loss of their parents, and now this. No, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them.
She comes out of the bathroom, just as I’m ending the call. I know I can’t possibly let her go back so soon. But to my surprise she doesn’t try to leave. She kicks off her shoes and settles on the plaid couch. “Is your name really Striker?”
“You’ve been going through my medicine cabinet.” I settle on the opposite end of the sagging couch. The frame groans under my weight and I make a note to buy new furniture, the pretty kind that she’ll like.
“Seems like I should know more about your life.” She shrugs.
Those were the pain pills I had over the summer when one of my horses got spooked. I was bucked off and broke my tailbone. It healed up but I still have a good bit of pills left. Reckon I’ll have to dump them before the boys can get here. Don’t want the little ones thinking I store candy in the bathroom.
“My name is Aaron,” I answer. It sounds foreign on my own lips. I haven’t been called it in ages. Hell, most times I forget I have a real name. “Principal decided I strike first, ask questions second. Striker kind of stuck after that.”