“We can’t always protect the ones we care about,” Chase said, his voice thick.

She studied him. Was it thoughts of his late brother behind the haunted look in his eyes? Or Cassie Decker?

After seeing Cassie and Chase in the stables together, she’d suspected his affection for Cassie ran deep. But it wasn’t until she had seen Cassie in his arms that she’d known just how deep.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Hugging herself, she nodded. “When I left Boston, I thought I put everything that happened there behind me.”

“Give it time. People here are still hurtin’.”

“And you think I’m not?”

“That’s not what I’m sayin’.” He studied her with knitted brow. “The Rileys and Bentons were almost forced into bankruptcy. At the time, Mrs. Benton was in a family way, and…Fred blames the loss of the child on them nearly losin’ the farm.”

“Oh God.” Emily lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “Will it ever stop?” Did her uncle’s destruction know no end?

Chase reached out his hand but stopped short of touching her. “I didn’t tell you that to make you feel bad. I hoped that knowin’ some of what happened would help you understand. It’s not you they’re mad at.”

“It sure feels like it is.”

“We Texans are simple folks. If someone does us wrong, justice is swift, and there’s satisfaction in that. Folks here don’t cotton to drawn-out trials and short prison terms.”

“My uncle will spend ten years behind bars.”

“Here, people hang for far less.”

“I guess that makes Boston more civilized,” she said. It was an old joke between them, but today, she made no attempt at humor.

“I’m not sayin’ our way is right,” he said. “It’ll take folks a lot longer than ten years to recover from the financial burdens Fields & Fields created.”

Emily covered her face with her hands.

Moving quickly, Chase wrapped her in his arms. Not with the passion he’d shown the other night, but ever so gently, as if consoling a child.

As comforting as his arms felt, Emily nonetheless pulled away. The memory of his arms around Cassie Decker was still too fresh, reminding her that the marriage had been thrust upon them by accident and was a mistake. The one night spent in his arms had been a mistake too.

He dropped his arms to his sides. “I don’t think they’ll bother you again.”

His assurance brought her no comfort. She would miss Alice and the twins.

“What about the rest of the town?” she asked. It was a statement as much as a question. If what had happened earlier was any indication, Haywire wasn’t all that much different from Boston.

“We’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

Suddenly, Emily felt tired. Weary. She had been dealing with the fallout from her uncle’s arrest and drawn-out trial for almost three years. She didn’t know if she had the stamina to keep going.

Regarding her with a look of sympathy, Chase backed away. “I’ll let you get some rest,” he said and turned.