Elijah left shortly after dawn.
Before mounting, he kissed Clara on the porch.
Not a secret kiss.
Not a guilty one.
A promise.
“Three days.”
“You said that yesterday.”
“I mean it today.”
“You’d better.”
He smiled.
Then he rode north.
Clara watched until the trees swallowed him.
The ranch felt too quiet afterward.
That irritated her.
She had lived alone for six months.
Now one night with Elijah Stone and the house already seemed empty without him.
“Ridiculous,” she muttered.
By noon she had repaired two fence rails, cleaned the chicken coop, and reorganized the pantry simply to avoid thinking about him.
At sunset, she heard a horse.
Her heart jumped.
“Three days, my foot.”
She opened the door smiling.
The smile disappeared.
Silas Crowe stood twenty feet away.
A revolver was pointed at her chest.
“Inside.”
Clara froze.
Crowe looked terrible.
His expensive coat was torn.
His face had not been shaved.
Snow clung to his boots.
“You’re wanted.”
“I’m aware.”
“Sheriff Mercer knows what you did.”
“I’m aware of that too.”
“Then you know coming here is stupid.”
His eyes darkened.
“I’ve had a very unpleasant week, Mrs. Matthews. I suggest you stop testing what little patience remains.”
Clara stepped backward.
Crowe entered the cabin.
“Rifle.”
She glanced toward the wall.
“Bring it.”
She obeyed.
He took it.
“Sit.”
“What do you want?”
“My money.”
“I don’t have your money.”
“Not mine. Stone’s.”
Clara understood.
“You think Elijah will pay you.”
“He’ll pay quite a lot.”
“You don’t know him.”
Crowe smiled.
“I know exactly what a man looks like when he’s fallen in love.”
Clara’s heart betrayed her.
Silas noticed.
“There.”
His smile widened.
“That.”
He forced her to write a note.
Elijah—
Come to the old mining cabin at Black Ridge. Come alone.
Clara.
She stopped.
“He’ll know something’s wrong.”
“Then make it convincing.”
She wrote another line.
Please. I need you.
Silas folded the note.
His accomplice waited outside.
Clara recognized him as one of Crowe’s ranch hands.
The man rode north.
“What happens after Elijah comes?”
“You and I disappear.”
“He’ll follow.”
“That’s why he’ll be given a choice.”
Clara studied Silas.
“You’re afraid of him.”
Crowe’s jaw tightened.
“Men like Stone think size makes them powerful.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That isn’t why Elijah is powerful.”
“Quiet.”
“He’s powerful because he doesn’t need weaker people beneath him to feel like a man.”
Crowe struck the table with the revolver.
“Enough!”
Clara stared at him.
She had found the wound.
“Thomas wasn’t afraid of you either, was he?”
Silas’s face changed.
Clara’s blood ran cold.
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“Your husband fell from a horse.”
“Yes.”
“Then there’s your answer.”
But his eyes said something else.
Clara stood.
Silas pointed the gun.
“Sit down.”
“What happened the day Thomas died?”
“Sit!”
“Did he discover you changed the papers?”
Crowe’s breathing sharpened.
“Thomas should’ve minded his own business.”
“It was his ranch.”
“He owed me!”
“He owed twelve hundred dollars.”
“He was going to expose everything!”
The room went silent.
Silas realized what he had said.
Clara felt as if the floor had disappeared.
“You saw him that day.”
Crowe said nothing.
“You were there.”
“He came after me.”
“What happened?”
“He threatened to go to the sheriff.”
Clara’s hands trembled.
“You followed him.”
“No.”
“You followed him home.”
Crowe’s face twisted.
“He was a fool.”
Clara nearly stopped breathing.
“What did you do?”
“His horse spooked.”
“How?”
Silence.
“HOW?”
Crowe shouted back.
“I fired into the dirt!”
Clara staggered.
Silas continued, anger pouring out now.
“I only meant to scare him. His horse reared. Matthews went over the side. That was it.”
Thomas.
Her Thomas.
Thrown from his horse because Crowe had frightened the animal.
“You killed him.”
“I didn’t touch him.”
“You killed him.”
“It was an accident.”
“You left him there.”
Crowe looked away.
That was the answer.
Thomas might have lived.
Clara remembered finding him.
The shallow breathing.
The blood.
Perhaps if someone had reached him sooner—
Grief became rage.
She lunged.
Crowe caught her wrist and threw her backward.
She struck the table.
“You stupid woman!”
Clara stared up at him.
“I’m going to watch you hang.”
Silas stepped toward her.
Then a sound came from outside.
A horse.
Crowe smiled.
“Stone works fast.”
Clara’s heart sank.
Too fast.
Elijah could not possibly have reached Stone Creek and returned.
The door opened.
Sheriff Mercer entered with his pistol raised.
“Drop it.”
Crowe spun.
A shot exploded.
Clara screamed.
Mercer fell against the doorway.
Silas ran.
Clara crawled to the sheriff.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
“Not bad,” Mercer gasped. “Went through.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Watching the ranch. Stone asked me.”
Even from miles away, Elijah had thought of her safety.
Clara looked outside.
Crowe had taken Mercer’s horse.
The sheriff grabbed her arm.
“Don’t follow him.”
“He sent someone after Elijah.”
“What?”
“He’s leading Elijah to Black Ridge.”
Mercer struggled upright.
“We need men.”
“There’s no time.”
“Clara.”
She was already reaching for Crowe’s abandoned rifle.
“No.”
“You’ll get killed.”
“So will Elijah.”
She saddled her horse.
“Clara!”
She looked back.
“Send everyone you can.”
Then she rode.
Black Ridge lay twelve miles west.
Snow made the trail brutal.
Clara pushed the horse hard.
She reached the abandoned mining cabin near dusk.
Smoke rose from the chimney.
A horse stood outside.
Elijah’s black stallion.
Her heart stopped.
She dismounted quietly.
Voices came from within.
Crowe had arrived before her.
“So she isn’t here?” Elijah demanded.
“She’ll join us.”
“Where?”
“Put the gun down.”
Clara approached a cracked window.
Elijah stood inside.
Crowe held a revolver on him.
Elijah’s rifle lay on the floor.
“You expect me to believe Clara is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Let me see her.”
“When I have money.”
“How much?”
“Ten thousand.”
Elijah laughed.
Crowe frowned.
“You find this amusing?”
“No.”
Elijah’s voice became frighteningly calm.
“I’m thinking how disappointed Clara would be if she knew you valued her that low.”
Despite everything, Clara nearly laughed.
Crowe raised the gun.
“Where is the money?”
“At Stone Creek.”
“Then we ride.”
“No.”
Crowe’s eyes narrowed.
“No?”
“You take me to Clara.”
“I’m the one holding the gun.”
“Yes.”
Elijah took one slow step forward.
“But you’re also the one whose hand is shaking.”
“Stop.”
Another step.
“Stone!”
Another.
Crowe cocked the revolver.
Clara raised the rifle through the broken window.
“Drop it, Silas.”
Both men turned.
Elijah’s face transformed.
“Clara?”
Crowe spun toward the window.
Elijah moved.
He crossed the space with astonishing speed.
His huge hand closed around Crowe’s wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Elijah slammed Silas against the wall.
The revolver fell.
Crowe grabbed a knife.
Clara shouted.
“Elijah!”
The blade flashed.
Elijah jerked backward.
Blood appeared along his side.
Something inside Clara went cold.
She entered the cabin with the rifle leveled.
“Silas.”
He froze.
Clara’s hands were perfectly steady.
“Put the knife down.”
Crowe looked at her.
Then Elijah.
Then the rifle.
“You won’t shoot.”
Clara remembered Thomas.
The horse.
The months of grief.
The bullet through her window.
But she also remembered who she wanted to be when this ended.
“You’re right.”
Silas smiled.
Then Clara fired into the floor beside his boot.
Crowe jumped.
“I said put it down.”
The knife dropped.
Minutes later, riders approached.
Sheriff Mercer had found men quickly.
Crowe was taken into custody.
His confession in Clara’s cabin, combined with the financial evidence and Mercer’s testimony, would make escape nearly impossible.
Clara barely watched.
She was kneeling beside Elijah.
The knife wound looked worse than it was.
But there was blood.
Too much blood for Clara.
“No,” she whispered.
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It missed anything important.”
“Thomas said that.”
Elijah went quiet.
Clara pressed cloth against the wound.
Her hands shook violently.
“Elijah, don’t you dare.”
“I’m not planning to.”
“Don’t you dare leave me.”
His huge hand covered hers.
“Clara.”
“No.”
She was crying now.
“I just found you.”
His face softened despite the pain.
“You found me?”
“Yes.”
“Thought I found you.”
“Not now.”
A weak grin appeared.
“Terrible timing?”
“Terrible.”
He pulled her closer.
“I love you.”
The world stopped.
Clara stared at him.
Elijah looked suddenly uncertain.
“Well,” he murmured, “that wasn’t how I planned to say it.”
Clara laughed and sobbed at the same time.
“You idiot.”
“That doesn’t sound promising.”
She bent and kissed him.
“I love you too.”
His eyes closed.
Relief moved over his face.
Outside, snow began falling again.
But Clara no longer feared winter.
Not in the same way.
Winter had taken much from her.
But it had also carried a giant cowboy out of the snow and onto her porch.
A man who had arrived because of a promise to the dead.
And stayed because two living hearts had chosen each other.