Page 7 of The Forever Cowboy (Noble Ranch #1)

Sterling stumbled out of bed, feeling as though he’d been run over by stampeding cattle.

A glance out the window told him that dawn was already breaking and morning light was creeping upon the ranch.

He hadn’t meant to sleep so late, had only planned to rest for a couple of hours. But after the past nights of dealing with the sick cattle and getting so little rest, the sleep deprivation had caught up with him.

Still in the flannel shirt and denims he’d worn yesterday, he crossed from his bed to the door and didn’t look into the mirror attached to the dresser.

Every time he viewed himself there, it brought back memories of his wedding day, when he’d stood in his room with Maverick and had been getting ready, so full of excitement and hope.

Instead, Sterling combed his fingers through his hair, grabbed his hat from the hook on the back of the door, and headed out, not even bothering with changing into fresh garments. He had no one to impress, especially not Violet.

He paused in the hallway and listened for any sounds coming from the kitchen, where he’d left Violet and Hyacinth.

Silence met him—the same silence that had been present since his family had left.

The women were being awfully quiet. They’d probably thrown down blankets in front of the stove and gone to sleep too.

Guilt pricked him, as it had when he’d left them and walked upstairs. He could have offered them his sisters’ room for the night. He also hadn’t needed to order them to be out before he came down.

He’d been trying to justify his callousness, telling himself Violet wouldn’t leave anyway. She would probably plead for a ride back into town or maybe ask him for suggestions for where she could go next.

He started down the steps with a light tread so that he wouldn’t wake them if they were still asleep.

Could he blame his unkindness on being tired? The surprise in seeing Violet again so unexpectedly? Regardless, he shouldn’t have been a donkey’s hind end. Especially if what she’d told him about her father was true.

Sterling hadn’t wanted to believe her, didn’t trust her.

But what reason did she have to lie about why she was out in the middle of the night with Hyacinth?

Why subject herself and Hyacinth to the elements?

Why visit him when she hadn’t bothered to respond to even one letter? Unless she was desperate.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs in the front hallway, he paused once more. Violet was here in his house.

His heartbeat stumbled forward. Not because he was anticipating seeing her again. No, all he was feeling was irritation that she’d sought him out. Really.

After running away from him and then closing herself off to any communication, she had a lot of nerve seeking him out now that she supposedly needed him.

And her apology last night didn’t mean anything.

She’d given it in reaction to his putting her on the spot and calling out her selfishness. She wouldn’t have apologized otherwise.

What exactly had she apologized for anyway? Certainly not for rejecting him or calling off their wedding. She apparently had no remorse for leaving him or losing him. She hadn’t missed him or wished she’d stayed with him, had gone on with her life as if he hadn’t meant anything to her.

No, she was only sorry she hadn’t broken up with him in a kinder and gentler way.

He shook his head and forced down the pain that was crowding into his chest.

This was why he hadn’t wanted to see her again or be anywhere near her. Because just a few minutes in her presence was unearthing all the pain and heartache he’d worked so hard to overcome.

Scowling, he continued down the hallway, this time letting his footsteps echo loudly, hopefully warning the women he was coming and that he wasn’t happy.

He paused at the closed kitchen door, half tempted to push through without knocking.

But as frustrated as he was, he wasn’t an ogre.

He wouldn’t barge in on two women, not even in his own home.

He knocked. “Violet, I’m coming in.”

Silence met him. From the absence of light coming from underneath the door, the women had turned out the lantern he’d left them. They were obviously asleep.

Should he let them slumber longer and come back later?

He pressed his hand against the door. Letting them stay another hour or two wouldn’t hurt anything, would it?

He stuffed both hands into his pockets, slowly pivoted, then stopped.

Something was off. They should have heard his footsteps, at the very least his voice. What if she’d taken his instructions to be gone by dawn seriously after all? Had she left?

Without bothering to knock or call out another greeting, he pushed open the kitchen door. Even with only the faint light of dawn to illuminate the room, he could tell they weren’t there.

He maneuvered to the worktable to light the lantern, only to discover it was gone.

Maybe they were using the outhouse.

He made his way to the back door and stepped outside onto the stoop. He scanned the yard, garden, shed, outhouse, and even the field beyond. Everything was dark with no sign of a lantern light.

Had they gone upstairs to one of the bedrooms?

With his pulse charging forward, he reentered the house, found another lantern and lit it, then made his way through each room. As he returned to the front hallway without a sign of them anywhere, a strange tension twisted through him.

He went to both barns and searched among the stalls and haylofts. After scouring every possible spot they could have gone, he halted in the ranch yard, the morning light softly cascading over mountains and glistening on the pine trees with their fresh layer of frost.

Violet had definitely taken his instructions to heart and departed from the ranch. “Good riddance,” he whispered into the chilly morning air. But even as he spoke, the tension inside him only tightened.

The temperatures were still too cold for the women to be outside for long. Violet wouldn’t want Hyacinth to suffer again as she had last night. Did that mean she’d gone back home?

What if she’d been telling him the truth about her father wanting them to become dance girls at one of the saloons?

It sounded too far-fetched to be even the least bit true.

Not for a respectable man like Mr. Berkley.

Even if he’d gotten into financial trouble due to gambling, he wasn’t the sort of man who would subject his daughters to such degrading work.

On the other hand, what reason did Violet have for making up a story like that?

Sterling shifted his gaze toward the lane that led through the ranch and out to the main road to Breckenridge. He knew exactly how he could clear up the confusion. He would go directly to the Berkley residence and speak with Mr. Berkley about the matter.

Sterling blew out a breath of exasperation. Why was he allowing himself to care? Violet wasn’t his problem. She’d chosen to end things with him. Let her figure out her life on her own.

But even as the bitter thoughts pushed to the front of his mind, his heart pulsed with the need to make sure she was okay. His pesky heart.

The truth was, he had always let his heart have too much importance…and look where that had gotten him in the past. Hadn’t he learned that he couldn’t let his heart dictate his decisions? Especially not with Violet.

Putting his head down, he forced himself to walk toward the cattle barn. He had dying cattle and his herd to save. He was too busy to worry about Violet. That was all there was to it.