Brielle Channing slid out of bed in the darkness before dawn, dressing quickly in a plain T-shirt, a pair of well-worn jeans and her favorite cowboy boots. She didn’t need any light to make her way down the stairs, out the back door and toward the stables—she’d traveled the familiar route more times than she could count.
She saddled up Domino, the black gelding with white markings, and tried not to think about the fact that this would be their last ride before Brie piled her bags into the back of her father’s truck and headed to the airport. She would miss her equine companion as much as she’d miss her parents and sister and brothers, but the hardest goodbye would be the one she said this morning, by the stand of ponderosa pines on top of the rocky ridge that formed part of the northern boundary of the Crooked Creek Ranch.
By the time she led Domino out of the barn, the sun had begun to rise, painting streaks of orange, pink and purple across the early morning sky. She lifted herself into the saddle, then let her horse take the lead, bending low over Domino’s back as the gelding galloped across the field, hooves biting chunks out of the tired, dry soil. The wind whipped through Brie’s hair and made her eyes sting, but she kept them open and focused to absorb all the sights and scents and sounds of the world around her—as if to lock them into her memory forever.
The sky was more light than dark now, and she could see the outline of the simple cabin that had been built as a shelter for cowboys caught by unexpected severe weather. The first time she’d given herself to Caleb Gilmore had been in that cabin, and the primitive shelter had become their private refuge from everything that wanted to tear them apart.
She was thinking about Caleb as she dismounted and led Domino to the narrow stream to drink. The boy she’d known for most of her life had always been serious and intense, and when he’d focused that intensity in her direction, she hadn’t stood a chance.
Not that she’d resisted. Not even for a minute. Because she’d loved Caleb Gilmore with every beat of her heart—and loving him had nearly destroyed her family.
The thundering hooves of Indigo, his prized stallion, crashed through her reverie moments before horse and rider came into view. As always, the sight of him made her body quiver and her heart sigh. Though barely twenty, he was already so much more man than boy: over six feet tall with a solid build that attested to years of work on his family’s cattle ranch. He controlled the powerful animal beneath him with a light hand on the reins and subtle signals from the strong thighs that gripped its flank. Indigo pulled up and Caleb slid off the stallion’s back, releasing the reins so the animal could dip its head to drink from the stream beside Domino.
Though Caleb’s face was shaded by the brim of his hat, Brie felt the intensity of his gaze on her. After a long minute, he finally said, “I hear you’ve decided on Columbia.”
She nodded. “It’s a really good school,” she said, because it was true, though not even a fraction of the whole truth.
“So’s UC Berkeley,” he pointed out, naming the college she’d originally planned to attend.
She nodded again.
“But California wasn’t far enough from Haven,” he guessed.
“I just think it’s best, for everyone, if we put some distance between us,” she said.
He shook his head. “Do you really believe that?” he challenged. “Because I can guarantee it’s not best for me, and I don’t think it’s what you want, either.”
She’d known this wouldn’t be easy, but she hadn’t imagined it could be this hard. After everything they’d been through over the past few weeks, her heart should be numb. But it wasn’t—it was torn open and bleeding, and she knew that going away from here, away from Caleb, was the only way to make the hurting stop.
She had to swallow before she could speak. “I’ve always wanted to get out of this town,” she told him, her voice breaking just a little. “And you’ve never wanted to be anywhere else.”
“You didn’t always want to get out of this town,” he contradicted. “There was a time when you wanted to be my wife and help me build our home on the Circle G.”
“That was before I knew that the idea of a Blake married to a Gilmore would give my grandfather a heart attack.”
“Your grandfather is a grumpy old man whose heart is kicking along just fine with his new pacemaker. And you’re a Channing, not a Blake.”
“My mother was a Blake,” she reminded him, as she retrieved a manila envelope from her saddlebag. “And her blood runs through my veins.”
He had no choice but to take the envelope she thrust into his hands. “There’s nothing I can say that will change your mind, is there?”
She shook her head. “This is a great opportunity for me.”
“And when you’re finished with school—what will you do then?” he asked. “Will you come home?”
She looked away. “I don’t know.”
“Yeah, you do,” he said, his tone resigned as he hoisted himself into the saddle again. “Good luck in New York, Brie.”
Then he rode away, Indigo’s hooves trampling the already broken pieces of her heart.
Seven years later
“We’re going to Las Vegas!”
The words stole the air from Brie’s lungs, like the first big drop of the Cyclone at Coney Island. But unlike the thrill of plunging eighty-five feet at sixty miles an hour, there was no exhilarating rise that followed—only an uncomfortable queasy feeling.
Judging by Lily’s