Logan looks down at the ring sitting in his open hand. “Thisis yours.” He tries to push it back to me. “It was a gift.”
But I bat his hand away. “You gave me your bull ring back. And I can’t keep this. Not anymore.”
His jaw tightens. “Why not?”
“It’s just not right.” I fight back the emotion. “And you know it, too. I married you with that ring on my finger, and I”—I bite my lip and then blurt out—“you know as well as I do what the ring means, Logan. What it stands for.”
He shifts uncomfortably from one foot to the other and puts his hands in his pockets. The ring disappears with them, and I almost cry out at the idea of never seeing it again.
He mutters something about no longer being in the mood to see Reid, and then he turns on his heel and opens his truck door. He steps into the cab and shuts the door behind him.
I watch his actions like it’s a slow motion movie—that truck we’ve gotten “stuck” in so many times, that back seat I lost my virginity in…
I sigh and touch my hand to my chest. I’m sweaty all of a sudden. I look up to see Logan staring at me out of his open window. I look back at him for a long moment, remembering every single time we’ve ever made love. And I know he’s remembering, too.
But then, he peels into reverse, backs out of the parking lot, and he’s gone.
Chapter Nineteen
Logan
I tear out of the auto shop parking lot and drive directly to Rick Murphy’s office.
“Good. I’ll get straight to work processing these.” Rick goes to take the signed papers out of my hand.
But I hold onto them too tightly, and he ends up with air.
He gives me a second look. “You’re sure about this?”
I force a nod. “I just want to look over them first.”
“Okay.” He waits while I stand in his office and go through the pages, stopping to stare at Macey’s signature.
“Logan.” Rick puts his hand on my shoulder. “If you’re having second thoughts…”
I can’t have second thoughts. Not when it comes to saving Macey’s future.
“Nope.” I straighten the papers and hand them over. “All set. Thanks for your help.”
Before he can say anything more, I turn and race out of the building and into my truck.
I make it to the fishing hole in record time. After parking, I grab my pole and tackle box out of the bed of the truck and head for the riverbank.
The first thought I had when Macey handed me back the ring was to tell her everything. The whole truth. I’d look her in the eyes and explain what happened.
Shortly after we returned from Vegas, I was fishing late afternoon right in this very spot. I was totally focused on the water and thinking about you and me and what a mess we’d gotten ourselves into. I wasn’t paying any attention to the few people strolling past.
But then a guy on his cell phone drifted close to me, and he was talking loudly. But I still wouldn’t have paid him any mind, if I hadn’t heard—
“Found out his name’s Benjamin Henwood. His saloon is called The Cowherd Whiskey.”
Something felt wrong. Chills ran down my spine, and I glanced behind me. I was completely hidden from view by the massive oak tree, but I could just make out the form of a tall, older man on the other side of the walking path. I’d never seen him around town. He was wearing an expensive suit and an earpiece. His hands were in his pockets as he paced back and forth while he talked.
“Yeah, I’ve found enough on him to have him put behind bars for life…no, it’s not deserved. All nickel and dime stuff, mostly when he was inebriated, but that’s why I pay you so damn much money—to make something out of nothing. Of course I’m out for revenge after what he did with my wife. Makes him fair game for payback. I’m going to take his life right out from under him.
“See how he likes it to have something taken from under your nose that belongs to you…no, that’s not enough. I want him locked up, too…last time I was here, my wife and I were passing through, and when I was in the city for business, she spent a couple days on her own in Hill Country.
“And the bar owner didn’t notice her wedding band?
