Cowboy Took a Girl Sold by Her Brother, Only to Realize She Was Carrying His Salvation

Chapter 2

The sun was already sliding behind the mountains when Blackwood Ranch came into view, and Sophia had spoken barely a dozen words the whole ride. Xavier hadn’t pushed. Whatever had broken her to such desperate circumstances, she didn’t owe him her story.

He pointed out the landmarks as they passed — the winter pasture, the creek that ran year-round, the fence line he’d sweat over last spring. She listened, nodded, and watched the land with a hunger that made him curious.

The ranch wasn’t much by some men’s standards. A main house of solid timber, a barn, a corral, a bunkhouse. But Xavier had raised every beam with his own hands, and he took a quiet, stubborn pride in it. Fields of grazing land stretched east; the creek cut through the property, giving them water even in the driest years.

Two men emerged from the barn as they approached. Miguel, the old vaquero who’d been with Xavier since the beginning, raised a hand in greeting before his dark eyes landed on Sophia and went curious.

“Boss,” he called. “Wasn’t expecting you back till tomorrow.”