The envelope named a date I had no way of meeting, and there was only one man who could move it. I had worked too hard to lose this ranch to creditors, yet the only way to keep it meant staying under Jude's protection.

He made his protection sound like arithmetic, steady and unyielding. The debt bound me here, and every day the line between business and something far more personal blurred. I told myself I needed the stability he offered, but the truth was I craved the way he claimed the space around me, the way his guilt made him both careful and possessive.

I buried my fear of being cast out again beneath practical tasks, but the brush of his fingers on the ledgers reminded me how close surrender lay. If the auction came, I would have nothing left. If I gave in to this, I risked losing even more of myself to the man who could either save me or trap me forever.