He wanted Darci’s sunshine, her love, but he couldn’t allow himself to reach out for it. He would only destroy it, the same way he’d destroyed his first wife. And he couldn’t bear to see Darci without the joy of life sparkling in her eyes.

Darci stopped suddenly, and Cole looked up to see a discreet jeweler’s sign over a lighted canopy. “This place is a little expensive, but it’s the best choice downtown. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow and go to the mall.”

Cole clenched his teeth to hold back the reply he wanted to make. He was feeling more like a beggar relative with each passing moment. He, Cole Blackmore, the toast of the rodeo circuit, the man with the golden rope and a talent for making money grow, was having trouble accepting his new reality.

And the reality was he couldn’t afford even the simplest diamond for his wife.

“This is perfect.” He dragged her inside before she could protest.

An older, well-dressed man came forward to help them. After they told him what they were looking for, the clerk directed them to a glass case. As Cole stood looking down into the trays of gaudy rings, his common sense finally prevailed. He’d have to let his pride go, would have to find another way. The mere fact that none of these rings sported price tags told him he couldn’t afford even the simplest setting.

Somehow, Darci seemed to sense the despair curling through him. She gazed at the display case for a long minute, then grinned brightly at the clerk. “These just aren’t my style. Thank you.” Before the clerk could protest, she dragged Cole from the store.

He tried to pull her to a stop, but she charged forward like a horse with the scent of home in its nose. “Darci, wait.” She pulled her hand from his and kept walking, her steps clipping angrily on the sidewalk. “Honey, what’s the matter?”

Finally, he caught her shoulder and spun her around to face him. A single tear glistened on the edge of her eyelashes causing a knife of pain in his heart that almost brought him to his knees. Catching the crystal drop on his finger, he waited.

“You can’t afford a ring any more than I can. It was all a scam, wasn’t it? The offer to buy me out, to make me a rich woman, it was a lie.”

He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it when she rushed on.

“If we have nothing else between us, Cole, we have to be honest with each other. Do you have any money?”