Page 117 of The Rancher's Wedding Deception

Joyce decided she had waited long enough and let out a little cry of dismay. “I simply can’t believe this.” It was time to stab a knife straight into her niece’s heart, and have her bleed to death, right here and now. “Tell me it’s not true, Andie. Tell me you were completely honest—”

“Will you excuse us for a moment?”

Joyce had been ready to have her words cut off. But what she had not imagined was that the person doing the interrupting would be Paul himself.

She opened her mouth to protest—

“I would like to speak to my wife in private.”

—but felt her courage wilt at the way Paul’s gaze turned steely as he stared at her.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Rage and frustration warred inside of Joyce, but because shedidknow Paul well enough to know that he would only find a way to make her pay if she refused—

Joyce managed a smile, not wanting to lose face in front of a crowd like this. “Of course.” Afterward, she forced herself to turn and walk away, smile in place even as she cursed her niece to perdition.

Andie didn’t know what to feel, much less think, as she watched Paul dismiss her aunt with a few choice words. She might have only been with Joyce for a couple of days, but she had seen enough to know that her aunt normally wouldn’t take that lying down. It just showed how much influence Paul wielded over other people—

“Look at me, Andromeda.”

—and now, for better or for worse, it was her turn to pay.

Just bear with it,she urged herself while fighting back tears.

Because itwaspossible that she had indeed imagined what she thought she saw earlier.

And so whatever he throws at you—

Whatever it was that she had to pay for being a stupid, greedy, shameless liar—

Just bear with it, Andie. Silently. Humbly. Repentant—

Oh God.

Because she had finally mustered the courage to look into his eyes again.

God.

And it seemed like she was hallucinating again.

Oh God.

“Let me ask you one more time.”

I just don’t understand—

“Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Just don’t understand why his words were gentle, his tone quiet, and his eyes, oh God—

“I’m s-so sorry.”

It had her choking the words out because what she saw in his eyes hurt so, so much.

“I didn’t just lie to you. I lied to my aunt as well. And my own mom.”

And then the truth came tumbling out. All of it. The bank manager’s office. The scam. The mortgage. Her mother’s impossible faith and her own impossible fear. The gossip aboutJoyce, the desperate plan, the lie she’d told to extract money from a woman who would only give it if she thought it would hurt Dolores.