Chapter One: Roaring Fork Roughstock

ROARING FORK ROUGHSTOCK

He carries a secret that could cost him everything.
She must trust the man she swore to hate.
And the truth between them burns hotter than the lies keeping them apart.

PORTER

I came to Morris Ranch to make things right, even though Cici Morris hates me for what she thinks I did to her brother. Keeping my promise to Maverick means living with her contempt, but I can handle that. What I didn’t expect was discovering the ranch is being systematically destroyed—or falling for the fiery woman determined to save her family’s legacy. Now, someone’s threatening not just the ranch but Cici herself, and I’m trapped between the promise I made and protecting the woman I’m falling in love with. If I tell her the truth about that night, I could lose her forever. If I don’t, I might lose her anyway.

CICI

I’ve spent two years rebuilding my life after losing my parents and nearly losing my brother in an accident. The last person I want help from is Porter Wheaton—the man responsible for almost destroying what’s left of my family. But with mysterious accidents plaguing the ranch and our finances in shambles, I’m running out of options. Working beside him daily is torture, especially when I start seeing glimpses of a man nothing like the monster I imagined. As we uncover a web of threats surrounding the ranch, I find myself drawn to his quiet strength and unwavering support. But just when I start to trust him, I discover what I believed ended up being wrong—and the truth could change everything I thought I knew about family, loyalty, and love.

Prologue

Porter

I stopped myself from breaking into a run when I left the attorney’s office where I’d been given the worst news I could imagine. For the next three hundred and sixty-five days, I’d be living and working on the Morris Ranch, attempting to turn the failing roughstock-contracting business profitable.

If I was unsuccessful, my brothers, sister, and I would lose our own ranch—the Roaring Fork. The reason why we would was troubling in itself, but I couldn’t think about that now.

Instead, I had to figure out how in the hell to convince Cecily Morris, who everyone called Cici, to allow me to even set foot on her property. There wasn’t a word in the English language strong enough to describe her feelings for me. Hatred, loathing, scorn, among other synonyms, didn’t come close.

I knew why; I was just powerless to do anything about it. What she believed—what everyone did—wasn’t something I could dispute. Soon, I’d face trial for driving while intoxicated and causing an accident that had almost cost Cici’s younger brother, Maverick, his life. It was only by the grace of God he’d lived.

What the police report stated wasn’t exactly the way it had all gone down, but as Maverick lay in my arms, breathing what I feared was his last breath, he made me vow to never reveal the truth. When I made the promise, it was as much to God as it was to Mav.

Whether he lived or died, I’d given what I considered a sacred oath to keep the secret he’d pleaded with me to. In exchange, I’d begged the Lord to spare his life.

He’d lived up to his side of the bargain. I’d live up to mine. It didn’t matter that I was reviled by everyone in my hometown of Crested Butte, Colorado, along with most everyone who lived in Gunnison County. They could hate me all they wanted. The important thing was for them to never learn the truth. It was the least I could do.

I jumped in the truck I’d parked a block away and drove three miles out of town before finally pulling off the highway and onto a dirt road. Only then, did I reach inside my pocket and withdraw the envelope I’d stuffed in it.

“You’ll find the remainder of your instructions in what I’ve just given you. You are forbidden from sharing its contents with anyone, including your attorney,” the lawyer had said when he handed it to me.

Inside, I found a single sheet of paper that had been folded in half. I closed my eyes as I opened it, fearing what it might say.

The words handwritten on the otherwise lily-white paper sent chills down my spine and my stomach churning.

I know what really happened. Soon, everyone will.

Over my dead body, and that was what it might very well come down to.

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