But this time he chose the simplest.
“Rose.”
“Yes?”
“I still have something for you.”
Silas Whitmore was convicted of forgery, fraud, attempted murder, and cattle theft.
The masked riders confessed he had hired them.
The raid had never been about stealing cattle.
Silas wanted the cedar box.
He knew Samuel had hidden evidence somewhere.
The raid was meant to draw everyone outside while a fourth man searched the house.
Silas had built an empire by stealing from the daughter he pretended to support.
When the courts finished unraveling his finances, almost half of the Whitmore ranch legally belonged to Rose.
More importantly, the mortgages Silas had placed against her property were voided as fraudulent.
The Carter debt was different.
Samuel had genuinely borrowed the money.
But he had used much of it paying taxes and legal fees on Rose’s behalf.
Rose could have walked away.
She didn’t.
One December morning, she arrived at Carter Ranch carrying a ledger.
Ethan opened the door.
Snow covered her shoulders.
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving your ranch.”
“No.”
“You haven’t heard my plan.”
“Still no.”
She walked past him.
“You owe the bank eight thousand four hundred dollars.”
Ethan stared.
“How do you know that?”
“I asked.”
“That’s private.”
“Apparently not.”
She opened the ledger.
“The southern meadow can support four hundred additional cattle if we restore the irrigation channel. Carter Ranch has access to the railway road. My land doesn’t.”
Ethan stared.
Rose continued.
“We combine operations. I provide cattle and grazing acreage. You provide transport access and winter pasture.”
“Rose—”
“We split profit.”
“No charity.”
She slammed the ledger shut.
“Do I look charitable?”
Ethan smiled.
“No.”
“Good.”
He stepped closer.
“Business partners?”
“Business partners.”
They shook hands.
Neither released the other.
Rose looked down.
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“You’re still holding my hand.”
“I noticed.”
“You should probably stop.”
“Probably.”
He didn’t.
Neither did she.
By spring, Carter-Whitmore Cattle Company had become the most talked-about operation in the valley.
Rose refused to use only Ethan’s name.
Ethan refused to use only hers.
So they used both.
Victoria surprised everyone.
She sold half her jewelry and opened a dress shop in Red Hollow.
People expected her to fail.
She didn’t.
It turned out Victoria had inherited her father’s stubbornness but not his dishonesty.
She also possessed an extraordinary instinct for business.
Within a year, women traveled from three counties away to buy dresses from Victoria Whitmore & Co.
One afternoon, Rose entered the shop.
Victoria looked up.
“What do you want?”
“A dress.”
Victoria nearly dropped her scissors.
“You?”
“Don’t make this unpleasant.”
“For what?”
Rose hesitated.
Victoria’s eyes widened.
“No.”
“Victoria.”
“He asked?”
“Not yet.”
Victoria screamed.
Rose slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Quiet!”
“You think he’s going to propose!”
“I think he might.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Victoria grabbed her arm.
“You are not meeting the man who nearly thought he was your brother while wearing those trousers.”
Rose glared.
“That sentence was unnecessary.”
“It was accurate.”
Three hours later, Rose stared at herself in the mirror.
Victoria had chosen a deep green dress.
Simple.
Elegant.
Rose barely recognized herself.
“You look beautiful,” Victoria said.
Rose looked at her sister through the mirror.
For years, those words from Victoria would have meant everything.
