Sheriff Danner wanted Lena in town.
Abel refused to decide for her.
That mattered.
They sat at the kitchen table while the sheriff argued.
“The jail’s stone. My office is twenty feet away. I can keep deputies around her.”
Abel looked at Lena.
“What do you want?”
Danner sighed.
“Cross—”
“She decides.”
Lena stared at both men.
Part of her wanted to run.
To hide inside the sheriff’s office until Silas was chained in a cell.
But another part remembered standing barefoot on the road while three men decided what happened to her body, her property, and her future.
She was tired of men deciding where she belonged.
“I’m staying.”
Danner frowned.
“Mrs. Grayson—”
“I’m staying.”
Abel nodded once.
No praise.
No argument.
Just acceptance.
Danner looked between them.
“You two are going to shorten my life.”
“Probably,” Abel said.
The sheriff left two deputies nearby.
By sunset, the valley became unnaturally quiet.
Lena helped Abel board the broken window.
“You think he’ll come tonight?”
“Yes.”
“You always answer frightening questions so calmly?”
“Would lying help?”
“No.”
“Then yes.”
Lena rolled her eyes.
Abel glanced at her.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She blinked.
“Good?”
“Means you understand danger.”
“That might be the least comforting thing you’ve ever said.”
“I’ve said worse.”
“When?”
“You weren’t there.”
Again, that tiny almost-smile.
Even with fear surrounding them, Lena felt warmth.
Then Abel became serious.
“If anything happens, cellar door is under the pantry rug.”
“I know.”
“Stay there.”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“Lena.”
“I’m not hiding while you get killed defending me.”
“That’s not your decision.”
She stared at him.
“You just said decisions about me belong to me.”
“This one is about me.”
“That is conveniently inconsistent.”
“Probably.”
She crossed her arms.
“I can shoot.”
“I know.”
“You’ve never seen me.”
“Matthew told me.”
She blinked.
“He talked about me that much?”
“More than you know.”
For the first time, curiosity overcame fear.
“What else did he say?”
Abel hesitated.
“That you made terrible coffee.”
Lena gasped.
“He said no such thing.”
“He did.”
“My coffee was excellent.”
“He said it could remove rust.”
She slapped Abel’s arm.
The contact startled both of them.
Lena pulled her hand back.
Abel looked at the place she had touched.
Then at her.
A slow smile appeared.
This one lasted.
Lena’s heart did something inconvenient.
Then a shot cracked from the darkness.
The front lantern exploded.
“Down!”
Abel pulled Lena behind the stone trough.
More gunfire came from the ridge.
Deputies shouted from the barn.
Horses screamed.
A flaming bottle shattered against the side of the house.
Fire climbed the wall.
“They’re trying to burn us out!”
Lena shouted.
Abel fired toward the ridge.
“Cellar!”
“No!”
“Lena!”
Another flame landed near the porch.
Smoke thickened.
Abel grabbed her shoulders.
“Listen to me.”
His face was inches from hers.
“You being brave doesn’t require you to stand where bullets are flying.”
“And you?”
“I know this ground.”
“So do I now.”
For one second she saw fury.
Then respect.
He thrust a revolver into her hand.
“Stay behind stone.”
“I will.”
“Do not shoot unless you see a target.”
“I know.”
“Lena—”
“I know.”
They separated.
The attack lasted twenty minutes.
It felt like hours.
Two riders tried to reach the barn.
The deputies drove them back.
Another attempted to circle behind the smokehouse.
Lena saw him.
She fired once into the dirt near his horse.
The animal reared.
The rider fled.
Abel looked toward her.
She gave him a furious stare that said do not lecture me now.
He almost smiled.
Then someone fired from close range.
Abel jerked backward.
Lena screamed.
He fell behind the trough.
“Abel!”
She crawled toward him.
Blood darkened his upper arm.
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve been shot!”
“Grazed.”
“That is blood!”
“I’ve had worse.”
“Stop saying things like that!”
Another shot struck stone.
Abel pushed her lower.
Then they heard horses approaching from the south.
Silas’s men stopped firing.
A voice shouted.
“Sheriff!”
Danner had returned with six armed ranchers from Redemption.
The attackers fled.
Two were captured.
One was Orin Grayson.
Again.
By midnight the fire was out.
Part of the porch was blackened.
The outer wall had burned.
The barn roof smoldered.
But the house stood.
Abel sat at the kitchen table while Lena cleaned his wound.
“It needs stitching.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“From whom?”
“Everyone.”
Lena soaked another cloth.
Abel winced.
She glared.
“Thought you’d had worse.”
“That doesn’t mean this feels good.”
She tried not to smile.
Then she noticed a bruise near his ribs.
Another scar.
Then another.
This man wore his past quietly.
“You’ve been hurt a lot.”
“Ranching.”
“That scar is not from ranching.”
“Horse.”
“Which scar is the knife?”
He looked at her.
She raised an eyebrow.
Finally he touched a thin line near his left side.
“That one.”
Lena continued cleaning his arm.
“You never remarried.”
“No.”
“Because of Clara?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
He looked toward the lantern.
“I got used to being alone.”
Lena’s fingers slowed.
“Is that the same as wanting to be alone?”
“No.”
The room grew very quiet.
Outside, Sheriff Danner questioned prisoners.
Abel looked at Lena.
“What about you?”
“What?”
“Would you marry again?”
She nearly dropped the cloth.
“I buried my husband two months ago.”
“I know.”
“I haven’t thought about it.”
“That’s fair.”
She looked at him.
“Have you?”
He said nothing.
Her heartbeat changed.
“Abel?”
A knock interrupted them.
Danner entered.
“We have a problem.”
Abel stood despite Lena’s protest.
“What?”
“One of the men talked.”
“Who hired him?”
“Silas.”
“No surprise.”
“There’s more.”
Danner removed a folded paper.
“The railroad attorney didn’t arrive tonight because somebody intercepted his stage.”
Lena went pale.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes. Driver too. But Silas took the legal documents.”
“Why?”
“Because those papers include a deadline. If Silas can prove ownership of the spring by noon tomorrow, the railroad deal stands.”
“He can’t prove it.”
“Not honestly.”
Abel’s face tightened.
Danner continued.
“He stole county property ledgers. He may be planning to replace pages.”
“Forgery,” Lena said.
“Yes.”
“Would that work?”
“Long enough to create a dispute.”
Abel reached for his coat.
“Where is he?”
Danner shook his head.
“Probably at Grayson Ranch.”
“I’m going.”
“So am I.”
Lena stepped forward.
“No.”
Both men looked at her.
She held up Matthew’s letter.
“If he needs my signature, he won’t kill me before he gets it.”
Abel’s face changed.
“That is exactly why you’re not going.”
“You said I decide.”
“Not this.”
“We already argued about this.”
“And I was right.”
“You were shot.”
“Grazed.”
Danner closed his eyes.
“I’m surrounded by idiots.”
Lena ignored him.
“Silas needs me.”
“That makes you valuable to him, not safe.”
“It also means I can get close.”
“No.”
“Abel—”
“No.”
Her temper flared.
“You cannot become Silas by pretending protection gives you ownership over my choices.”
The words struck him.
Hard.
Silence.
Lena regretted them instantly.
But she did not take them back.
Abel looked away.
Danner suddenly became interested in his hat.
Finally Abel said, “You’re right.”
Lena blinked.
He faced her.
“I don’t like it.”
“I know.”
“I think it’s dangerous.”
“I know.”
“But you’re right.”
Her anger disappeared.
“So we go together.”
“Yes.”
Before dawn, they rode toward Grayson Ranch with the sheriff and four deputies.
The sky lightened slowly.
When they reached the ridge overlooking the property, Abel stopped.
Smoke rose from the yard.
Silas had gathered men.
A wagon blocked the road.
And standing beside the barn was Caleb Grayson.
He held a white cloth above his head.
Danner lifted binoculars.
“What’s he doing?”
Caleb began walking toward them alone.
When he reached the ridge, he looked exhausted.
“It’s over,” he said.
Abel studied him.
“Silas know you’re here?”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
Caleb looked at Lena.
“To tell the truth.”
Lena’s pulse quickened.
“About what?”
His eyes filled with shame.
“Matthew.”
Everything inside Lena stopped.
“What about him?”
Caleb swallowed.
“He didn’t die from fever.”
The world tilted.
Abel moved closer to Lena.
She did not feel him touch her.
He did not.
But his presence steadied her.
“What are you saying?” she whispered.
Caleb stared at the dirt.
“Silas poisoned him.”
Lena stopped breathing.