“You’re the one who—” Walker didn’t bother to finish his statement. “Tell me this, then. Who are you always talking to on your phone?” He needed something to focus his anger on. Might as well be her.
“Work.”
“I thought you were on leave.”
“They can’t seem to do without me.”
“And when you’re married? What then? Are you going to take off again? Leave me holding the bag?”
She sighed. “Walker, give me a break. I’m doing the best I can.”
Walker went to the window, but Avery and the others were out of sight. Could she really marry another man? Live on the same ranch as him and Elizabeth?
That would be hell.
“I can’t do this.”
He didn’t realize he’d said the words out loud until Elizabeth set down her tea on the nearest flat surface and marched right over to him.
“You will do this.” She jabbed a finger in his chest. “You will do this because you owe me. Because your family owes mine. Because my parents are gone, and you owe me every goddamn thing you can.”
She left him stunned, slamming the bunkhouse door behind her. Alone in the sudden silence, Walker felt all chance for happiness in this lifetime slip away.
She was right; he owed her everything.
Which meant he was going to lose it all.
“I think it’s a great location,” Gabe was saying enthusiastically about the new settlement when a group of men Avery didn’t recognize tromped over the crest of the hillside, their arms full of wooden stakes and white ribbon. She was already regretting her moment of false enthusiasm for giving Gabe a tour. For one thing, she didn’t want to encourage Renata, Boone or anyone else to interfere in her life. For another, she didn’t want to push Walker into Elizabeth’s arms.
Did he understand her feelings were hurt, or did he think she was callous enough she could transfer her affections to someone else? She had every right to be angry and upset, she told herself, but she couldn’t help but worry she’d cut off her nose to spite her face.
“What on earth? Who are those guys?” Boone pointed at a group of strangers a few hundred yards ahead of them. He hurried in their direction, the rest of their little group trailing behind.
“Are those surveyors?” Avery asked, taking in the equipment they were carrying.
“They could be,” Gabe said.
“Do you think Montague sent them?” Savannah asked.
“Probably.” Jericho scowled. “Out to make more trouble.”
Boone had reached them already and was deep in conversation, gesticulating as he spoke. “…don’t have any right to be working here. We haven’t lost yet!” he was saying as they approached.
“Fulsom gave us permission,” a man said. “Montague needs us to survey the property so he can start making plans. It’s already May—building season is passing by, and when he takes over this land, he needs to be ready to break ground.” Several of the men were already at work hammering stakes into the ground and running ribbon between them.
“What are you outlining?” Jericho demanded. “An airplane terminal?”
The foreman guffawed. “It’s a house! Airplane terminal,” he repeated as if that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
“That’s a big house,” Savannah said. “Almost as big as my parents’,” she added in an undertone to Avery.
“What else would you expect from Montague? He builds only the best,” the foreman boasted.
“I thought he was going to build an amusement park,” Boone said.
The man waved that away. “He thought about it. Figured this was easier—and more profitable.”
“I don’t want to listen to this,” Savannah said. “Avery? Come on, let’s go somewhere else. Fulsom is just yanking our chains.”
“That’s what I think, too,” Jericho told her. “You ladies head out. Angus, Byron, mind going with them? Take Gabe here to see the rest of the place. Boone and I will sort this out.”
Avery was only too happy to walk toward the manor, but Gabe’s presence was a clear reminder of how off-track her life had gotten. Her thoughts returned to Walker. What was he doing now? More to the point, what was he thinking about?
Elizabeth was with him, while she was wasting time with a man she couldn’t care less about.
“Do you really think Montague will build three hundred houses that big out here if you lose?” Gabe asked. “Who’s going to buy them?” They walked past the tiny houses that had already been built and picked up the trail that led to the manor.
“We’re not going to lose. Like Savannah said, he’s trying to intimidate us. It’s a bluff,” Avery asserted. She refused to think about the possibility she could be wrong.
Color flared in Savannah’s cheeks. “Fulsom is going for drama again,” she said indignantly. “He plays with us like we’re a bunch of pawns, and I, for one, am sick of it. You should run away while you can, Gabe.”
“Sorry. Can’t do that.”
“Those jerks up there are only half of what’s making me so mad.” Savannah shifted Jacob in her arms, bouncing him gently to settle him down as she walked. “That stupid Star News had Jericho and me in their sights this time. You should have heard their laundry list of all the pitfalls of green energy. They made us look subhuman for even considering it. They blasted us for our electric trucks. Had ten ranchers on the show, and each of them doubled over in laughter when they heard about them. ‘Electric trucks?’” she parroted. “‘What kind of fool drives an electric truck?’ I’ll tell you who: any fool who gives a damn about the world he lives in!”
“They’re trying to make us so upset we make a mistake and lose,” Avery said.
“They’re trying to ruin everything we’ve worked so hard to build!”
“At least they didn’t attack you,” Avery said soothingly. She bent close to give Jacob a little kiss. A familiar longing kicked up inside her, but
