Page 26 of A Montana Fake Marriage (Sagebrush Ranch Sweethearts #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Caleb woke up alone. Sammie hadn’t come home. There was too much work to do on the ranch for him to go hunt her down. Bo had him working with some of the horses that needed extra training.

His focus was nonexistent, and he hadn’t seen Sammie at breakfast. He kept glancing over to the barn where he knew Sammie was supposed to start working, but she hadn’t shown up, and it was already eight in the morning.

Then he caught sight of her.

Sammie wandered toward the barn, not casting a look in his direction and acting like she hadn’t just ignored him all night. He abandoned the horse in the coral where he’d been working and lunged over the fence. His boots kicked up dirt as he ran toward the barn to chase her down.

Sammie had made it inside a stall with a shovel in hand when he cornered her. She gasped, staring up at him with wide eyes. “Caleb.”

He blocked the doorway so she wouldn’t be able to escape. They needed to have a talk, and he didn’t care if it was here or somewhere more private. “Don’t Caleb me. Where were you last night?” His voice was sharper than he intended.

She looked away, her cheeks flooding with color.

“ Sammie ,” he murmured, stepping closer.

“We have that conversation about money, and then you avoid me all day and you don’t come home.

Do you know how worried sick I’ve been?” He reached for her hand and tugged her closer, his fury still simmering beneath the surface.

“You can’t just shut me out. And when you don’t come home, I can’t help but fear the worst.”

Sammie attempted to tug her hand free, but he wouldn’t let her. That flush spread down her neck, and she gnawed on her lip before she shook her head. “I just needed some time.”

“ Time ? What does that even mean? What’s going on with you?

For the past couple of weeks, you’ve been distant.

And don’t bother denying it.” His chest rose and fell with effort.

He couldn’t tell if it was due to his emotional state or his physical one.

He could feel his heart cracking in his chest as he watched her for signs that he’d overreacted, or he was seeing something that wasn’t there.

Unfortunately, he didn’t see any of that.

“Sammie,” he whispered. “Talk to me.”

She looked absolutely terrified. That wasn’t a good sign at all. Her eyes dropped to their hands, and she rubbed his hand with her thumb. Then she stopped and blew out a hard breath. “I saw my father.”

“ What ? Where? Is that where you were?” His hand tightened on hers, and she flinched. “Sorry,” he mumbled, relaxing his grip.

Sammie shook her head. “I wasn’t with him last night. I had a girls’ night with Hallie and Katrina.”

He frowned. “You did? Why would you hide that from me? And what does that have to do with your dad?”

A sigh burst from her lips. “They’re not related.

But you asked what was going on, and that’s what I’ve been dealing with.

” Something told him that he wasn’t getting the full story.

She was still keeping secrets. He probably had their past friendship to thank for that gut feeling.

It took everything in his power not to hold onto her again and demand that she tell him what else was bothering her.

But knowing Sammie, she’d only say that talking with her dad was a big enough problem.

She was right.

His jaw ticked, and there was a muscle in his cheek that spasmed as he held onto that little bit of information.

Sammie’s father would have only had one reason for seeking her out.

And it wasn’t good. Caleb wouldn’t have been surprised if her father had opted to bribe her to keep her away from Caleb all together.

The fact that she wasn’t looking at him made his blood simmer further. She was avoiding him like she knew exactly what she’d done.

“I never wanted you to talk to him—at least not alone,” Caleb ground out.

Still, she didn’t look at him. “I know.”

Before he could say something more, the sound of boots scuffing along the floor in their direction caused him to hold his tongue. He waited until whoever it was passed them, then he whirled back to Sammie, his voice nothing more than a hiss. “I knew this would happen.”

She blinked, her eyes widening briefly before he could see the walls coming up around her, the subtle edge to her tight jaw more of an indication than anything else. “What exactly are you referring to?” Sammie asked icily.

He gestured to her vaguely. “This. You. The way you’re shutting me out.

I’m the one who has been here for you from the very beginning, and suddenly you’re pushing me out.

I don’t think that’s any coincidence. Your father starts talking to you more, and now you want to hide away from me?

You want to avoid me? I haven’t done anything wrong. ”

Warm, rosy reds flooded her cheeks, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Actually, I’m not.”

She let out a huff, and a sharp laugh chased on its heels. “I never thought you would be the one to resort to blaming my father for me being in a mood. You’re internalizing this way too much.”

Her words gave him pause. Was he looking for trouble when there wasn’t any?

Sammie hadn’t requested that they change anything about their relationship.

She’d been dealing with her father coming to town.

He knew how much she hated his attention.

Hadn’t she become somewhat reclusive after visiting home during college?

Dang it. She was right.

He yanked his hat from his head and ran a hand through his hair, turning from her as he attempted to make sense of why exactly he was so on edge.

When her father had hurt her before, he’d been protective of her, but he’d always given her space to work things out.

That was in college when they’d been friends. Now they were… more.

Heat seared up the back of his neck like a wildfire unleashed, and he took in a deep breath before returning his hat to his head and returning his gaze to her.

“What did he want?” This time, he focused on keeping his voice low and calm.

Pushing her away was out of the question.

He wouldn’t turn into someone she hated as much as she hated her father. He refused to let that happen.

She eyed him warily—but more than that, there was something shrewd and dark beneath that worried stare. Before she spoke, he knew he was in trouble.

“Why didn’t you sign a prenup?”

Her words were a slap to the face. He could almost feel the sting in his cheek as the heat shifted from his neck to his face. “What?”

Sammie crossed her arms, and her voice lowered as more footsteps passed them. “I’ve been pretty na?ve all my life when it comes to money. You helped me see that.”

His mouth fell open, whether out of shock or because he wanted to stop her from continuing, he couldn’t tell.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t willing to let him get in any words.

She wanted to control the conversation. He could see it in the way she stared at him—and it reminded him a great deal of her father.

Stomach souring, he clenched his hands and forced himself to listen.

“There are only a few things in this world that people want. And at the top of that list is money.”

Hearts shouldn’t hammer this hard, he knew that.

Maybe he would end up having a heart attack or a stroke.

He could feel the blood roaring through his body as the implications became clearer by the second.

She wasn’t going to stoop so low as to accuse him of trying to get at her inheritance. She couldn’t.

Sammie wrung her hands together and looked away, her flush deepening and her eyes full of angry emotion.

“There’s only one reason why you would agree to marry me.

The more I think about it, the more I realize what an idiot I was.

What kind of person would offer to marry someone for a whole year and not get anything out of it? ”

He was going to throw up. There was no way around it.

Based on the way his stomach churned from her accusation, he knew it was only a matter of time.

He wanted to scream at her, point out that she’d let her father get into her head.

But he didn’t. He turned that part of his emotion off and kept his voice calm and collected.

“I would think a friend would offer to do something like that.”

To her credit, she flinched. They’d been friends a lot longer than they’d been romantically involved. He’d grown to love her when she had nothing to her name. Why wasn’t she thinking about that right now?

When her eyes shut tight, and she shook her head, he knew without a doubt she’d already made up her mind.

Somewhere along the way, she’d thought she found evidence that he wanted to take advantage of her.

While he didn’t want her to tell him where those thoughts were coming from, he couldn’t ignore a sick and twisted desire to see where she was planning to go with this.

Sammie heaved a sigh, her breath shuddering. “It’s not just the fact that you didn’t bring up a prenup. It’s that you never talk about our finances.”

“ Our finances?” He couldn’t help it. Incredulity laced each bitter word on his tongue.

His brows shot upward, and he took a step toward her.

“ Our finances. You have the gall to stand there in front of me and claim that I’m trying to take over your inheritance while at the same time demanding to have access to mine? ”

She flinched, and for a brief moment, he felt guilt.

Hadn’t he told her he would take care of her?

Hadn’t he assured her that no matter what happened, they had enough to meet their needs?

He hadn’t lied. He was more than happy to provide for the both of them with or without her inheritance.

The money her mother left her hadn’t been a subject that weighed on his mind whatsoever.

Now? Now, he could see the hypocrisy of her accusation.