Yep, her losses and the rejection still stung something fierce. But maybe she’d been looking too much to people to make her life meaningful instead of looking to the Almighty first. Was it time to get her life squared away and solidly built upon the good Lord, who wasn’t gonna leave her even when everyone else did?

Judd waggled the deed at her.

She reached for it but hesitated. Was she really ready for this next step?

And why not? Why not move on? Why let her feelings for Jericho dictate things?

A spark flared inside. She wasn’t a weak woman. Nope, she was strong and determined and capable. She’d prove to Jericho and everyone else that she had exactly what it took to build a place and run her own ranch. And someday, if Jericho ever came back, she’d show him she’d gotten along just fine without him.

She let her fingers close around the deed. “When do we leave?”

Judd’s lips and mustache curled up into a smile. “The sooner the better.”

At the exhalation of a breath in the hallway, Ivy guessed one or more of her brothers had been listening to the entire exchange with Judd. No doubt they were relieved she was getting out of bed and living again.

It was time to forgive them for their part in sending Jericho packing. But that didn’t mean she’d forget what they’d done. Maybe not ever.

Chapter
27

Jericho pushed open the door of the Little Blue Angel. The piano music, cigar smoke, and coarse laughter greeted him. Through the haze of the dimly lit interior, he searched the crowded saloon until his sights alighted on Dylan.

At a table in the center, Dylan leaned back in his chair and grinned as the woman on his lap wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek. Another woman hovered above him, her fingers combing his hair. With low necklines, tight bodices, and painted faces, the women were clearly of ill repute.

Didn’t matter what kind of women they were. Dylan seemed to attract females the way spilled molasses attracted ants.

He picked up a shot glass and downed the dark liquid in one swallow before tilting his head and capturing a kiss from the woman on his lap. She happily obliged, letting her hands roam freely over his chest.

Jericho paused, and the swinging door slammed into his backside. The sight of the kiss and the intimacy only stoked something inside him, something that reminded him of Ivy and that day in the cave when she’d knelt beside him, grabbed his shirt, and kissed him with a fervor that had set him on fire as easily as the flames did the mountain forest. He hadn’t been able to resist drawing her onto his lap and kissing her until they’d both been breathless from their wanting.