CHAPTER 1
cade
Idon’t see her at first. Just Evie—perched on the middle rail of the fence, arms draped over the top board, chattering away to someone on the other side.
A stranger?
I hurry over to her and….
No, she’s not talking to a stranger. She’s talking to….
Sarah.
Her name still tastes like betrayal. Ten years haven’t dulled the edge of pain she inflicted on my family and me.
She’s smiling at my daughter like she has the right. Like she didn’t betray me, leaving me with a gut full of broken glass.
Blue Rock Ranch, my family’s cattle ranch, adjoins Kincaid Farms. I know Maverick Kincaid hired Sarah as the vet for his farm after she assisted his fiancée, who owns Longhorn.
I knew it was bound to happen…that I’d see her, eventually.
Wildflower Canyon is a small town with many ranches and only two vets. For a while after Sarah’s father, Dr. Sam Kirk, passed, there was just Dr. Bodie Tiller. I know Bodie’s relieved Sarah is here.
I am not.
“Evie,” I snap, sharper than I mean to. “Step away from the fence.”
“Daddy!” Evie looks at me with wide eyes. “This lady is helping Bluebell. Her leg was hurting. Apparently, she has a….” My four-year-old turns to Sarah. “What did you say she had?”
Sarah meets my eyes for a fraction of a second before focusing on Evie.
“A strained tendon.” She crouches to my daughter’s height. “That’s like when you run too much, and your leg feels sore. Bluebell must have stepped wrong in the pasture.”
“Will she be okay?”
My kid loves animals, and she knows Bluebell, since she’s gone riding with Mav’s sister Joy, who helps me out by babysitting—sometimes at our place, sometimes at the Kincaid homestead, or her boutique on Main Street.
“Evie—” I begin.
“She’ll be fine with rest, a bandage, and some medicine. No riding for a couple of weeks,” Sarah continues, speaking over me.
After, she straightens and holds my gaze with thosegreen-hazel eyes of hers. The eyes I used to love waking up to.
“Hello, Cade.” Her voice is husky. I remember it well.
“I love you, Cade, so much.”
“Sarah, you have no idea how good it feels to hear you say that.”
I shut that memory down fast.
“You know my daddy?” Evie is beside herself with delight.
I grit my teeth for a moment to find control. “Time to get back home.” My daughter scrambles down from the fence, little boots hitting dirt.I soften my voice. “Tillie made chocolate chip cookies. Why don’t you go and see if she’ll give you some?”
And I will deal with the woman who dared to speak to you, knowing who you are—because there’s no way anyone could not see that Evie was mine.
Evie’s eyes are blue-gray like mine. Her hair, longer and lighter, frames a face with the same tilt of the nose I’ve got. She’s a mini-me.
