“I may not have grown up on a cattle station, but I spent my youth in the California desert, sleeping under the stars as often as I slept under a roof. It was remote in its own way.” She let herself smile at the good memories. It had taken years of therapy for her to tease out the happy times among the sad and scary ones with her alcoholic mother, but Elena made an effort now. “I hope to explore all that the ranch has to offer.”

She’d tried on a lot of hats since running away from home at seventeen. She’d been a beauty influencer with her online makeup tutorials and endorsements that had helped finance college courses. A businesswoman in the years Gage had known her. Then, after that, a supportive wife to her husband’s career. None of those things had worked out for her.

She wasn’t sure where to turn next, but she knew for sure running hadn’t done her one bit of good. She was done being reactive. Over the years, she’d let her family dictate her choices. Then Gage’s overbearing father. Then her husband. Now, she was taking her life into her own hands.

For good.

Gage led Elena through his now quiet house half an hour later, not sure what to make of the changes he saw in her.

She wasn’t the same woman he’d dated six years ago. But just because he could no longer see her fiercely competitive side didn’t mean it wasn’t there. No matter how she downplayed her presence in Montana, he couldn’t shake the sense that she was here to right an old wrong. To make him pay for not standing up to his father on her behalf.

And yet, what had she expected when she’d completely hidden her past from him? He’d been blindsided by the revelation that her father was a wanted man. That she’d spent much of her teens on the run from the law with him. That her mother was an alcoholic with a violent streak that had landed both parents in jail more than once. Not that any of that reflected on Elena in the least. But it had hurt that she hadn’t confided any of it, leaving him to find out from his father’s private investigator. Her lack of trust showed how little she thought of him.

Now, she was back. And he didn’t know what to think about it other than her presence was still more intoxicating than any bourbon. Even walking four feet behind him, Elena’s draw was magnetic, pulling him inexorably backward.

“Thanks for showing me the way,” she said as they returned to the living area outside her bedroom, the same spot where they’d spoken earlier in the evening. She retrieved her smartphone that he’d left there.