“Yep. As hard as it’s gonna be for me tomorrow, I’m letting you go.”

The sadness in his eyes and voice told her he’d resigned himself to whatever the future might bring, and that through it all, he would be there for her.

The words I love you pushed for release. But somehow they couldn’t get past the tightness in her throat. Instead, she slipped her arms around him and hugged him, praying that somehow, someway, they could eventually be together.

Chapter 28

Wyatt ripped the last portion of the annulment and tossed the pieces onto Steele’s desk.

“McQuaid, you should have told me you loved Greta back at the hotel.” Steele tapped his cigar over an ashtray. “Then we could have avoided all of this unpleasantness with Mr. Hallock.”

“I was aiming to until I got a look at Hallock standing there.”

Hallock had already left with his new lady friend to track down Reverend Zieber to marry them as quickly as possible. Wyatt didn’t blame his friend for being eager to see the deed done before anything else put a hitch in their plans.

He’d been biting at the bit too, ready to get out of town with Greta, away from anything else that might try to take her away from him. But while he’d been wrapping up things with Steele, she headed over to secure her spot on the stagecoach.

“I had the feeling the two of you would be good for each other.” Steele allowed himself a smile. “I’m just glad I was right and that everything worked out well in the end.”

If everything had worked out so well, why did Wyatt feel as if he’d been plowed over by a dozen steers?

Steele’s assistant was in the process of writing out the official agreement for their cattle deal, including Steele’s percentage of the investment. “Sign right here, Mr. McQuaid.” The assistant held the pen above a blank line at the bottom of the sheet.

Wyatt glanced over the paper, took the pen, then scrawled his name. As he straightened and glanced out the front window of Steele’s house, his sights snagged upon the tall, lanky form of Roper Brawley crossing the street with his two cowhands on his heels.

He’d had to bank his anger toward Brawley while searching for Astrid, but now that the little girl was found, he allowed the embers to fan to life. “Ain’t right that Brawley’s getting away with killing my herd.”

“We can’t do much about it since he’s claiming you took the cattle from him in the first place.”

“You know that ain’t true,” Wyatt said, just as he had the last time he’d talked to Steele about it several days ago, right after the slaughter. “I bought those cattle fair and square from miners coming over the Front Range. And they had my brand on them.”