By the time she got back to Portland, it was nearly five. She’d checked in at the office several times from the car, but decided there was no use in going in and facing the stack of paperwork that had likely piled up during her four-day stint in the woods. Instead, she went home and immediately drew the hottest bath she could, throwing one of her favorite bath bombs into the steaming tub. She inhaled the scent of sweet jasmine as the bomb fizzed in the water, turning it a rainbow of pink and purple as she slid into the bath.

She closed her eyes, leaning back against the porcelain, trying to clear her mind. Driving home, she’d spent most of her time on her phone with work, because if she hadn’t, she would’ve been forced to think about this week and Rhett’s predicament… and the absolute ridiculousness of her offering to marry him.

“Why did you do that?” she asked herself out loud, as if somehow the spoken words hanging in the air would give her the answer.

Well, first, probably because it wasn’t a terrible idea, in terms of getting Durbin to back off. She was still a little blown away by Rhett’s revelation that there was actual gold in the mountain. It excited the pre-teen-girl part of her who had loved The Goonies and other stories about kids finding treasure and going on adventures in the woods.

She had come such a long way from that little girl, but at the same time, she felt as if she was always in reach, always inside her, at the core of her heart and self. She may not have taken over the ranch like her Daddy would’ve preferred, but she’d always kept true to her Momma and Big Stan’s values.

Who would she be if she didn’t at least offer to help Rhett? Especially when the solution to his problem was a simple courthouse ceremony and her signature on a piece of paper? No big deal, right?

Marriage is always a big deal...\ his words from earlier echoed in her head like a bell. She pressed her lips together, sinking beneath the perfumed water, her curls floating all around her like some sort of sea witch. But the water blocked out only so much, and eventually, she had to breathe. Just like eventually she had to face her unshakeable feelings about Rhett.

She stood up when her toes were pruny, then ran the shower and washed her hair—bath-bomb glitter in her curls wasn’t a good look for the office. She’d cleaned out her fridge before she’d left for River Run, so she called her favorite Thai place and got take-out delivered.

“Mrow.”

“Hey, Peaches,” Nat said, petting the cat’s head. Peaches was Maddy’s, but Nat, with the help of the pet sitter, was watching him at her place until Maddy and Carter got back from their honeymoon. Peaches purred, jumping into her lap, and tried to stick his nose into the container of pad Thai.

“Be good and you’ll get some shrimp later,” Nat promised, pulling up her schedule for the week on her tablet. She had back-to-back meetings on Friday, and Wednesday and Thursday weren’t looking any better. But at least Liberty and Renee were going to return tomorrow. They were coming in early, so she had dinner with them scheduled. Renee had been gone for months, so she was eager to see her friend again. And she’d missed Liberty, too, even though her trip to London had been much shorter.

“Let’s see how Auntie Liberty is doing with that British guy who owns our building-to-be,” she said to Peaches, who was thoroughly disinterested once he realized she was not giving him any more shrimp. She checked her email, but interestingly, there were none from Liberty. She counted in her head. It would be four a.m. over there.

Weird, she thought. Liberty was really good about emailing her updates each night. She was always on top of stuff.

“Maybe Mr. Stuffy British Guy turned into Mr. Sexy British Guy,” she joked to Peaches, who did not find her funny in the least. His tail twitched back and forth, and she sighed, succumbing and giving him head scritches between his ears. His eyes closed in ecstasy as he began to purr.

“God, if I become a old cat lady, I better be a cool, cute one,” Nat muttered, even as Peaches purr soothed her and she closed her eyes, telling herself she was just going to relax on the couch for awhile.

She blinked awake, vaguely away of a dinging sound coming from her phone. Peaches had long abandoned her on the couch. As she straightened up, she rubbed sleep out of her eyes with one hand and reached for her phone with the other. A text message. From Rhett.

Does your offer still stand?

Her heart leapt in her chest. Her fingers hovered over the buttons. Part of her wanted to say no. Part of her didn’t want to go down this path because of all the aforementioned doom she knew was waiting at the end of this.

But that reckless girl inside her, the one who used to get on the wildest broncs without a lick of fear, sparked back up. She tapped out a response and pressed Send before she could stop herself.

Yes.